Appeal No. 2004-1043
Application No. 09/960,907
heating or cooling gas to the space 52 (page 26, lines
25-36; fig. 6). When a gas is not passed through the space
52, the space acts as a thermal insulating space (page 26,
lines 25-29).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have
modified the temperature control pipes in the cell used by
Beck to use heating or cooling gas to control the
temperature as taught by Berclaz because using heating or
cooling gas allows the temperature of the cell to be
controlled and also provides thermal insulation in the form
of an air space when heating or cooling is not necessary.
Regarding claims 9, 10, 26 and 27, it would have been
obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time
the invention was made to have modified the cell of Beck to
use a plurality of cathodes because using a plurality of
cathodes and a plurality of anodes increases the amount of
aluminum that can be produced.
Regarding claim 27, Weaver maintains "a proper
temperature control within very close limits" by using a
temperature sensor and controller (page 4, col.1, lines
1-26).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have
modified the method of Beck to use a sensor and controller
as taught by Weaver because the sensor and controller
allows the temperature to be maintained within very close
limits.
II. Claims 4, 5, 13, 14, 21, 22, 30, 31 and 39 are
rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over
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