Appeal No. 2004-1137
Application No. 09/734506
50, including the liquid cryogen 51, the refrigerator 70, and the
gaseous cryogen located above the surface of the liquid cryogen)
thermally coupled to the vessel assembly, the cooling assembly
including a first cooling volume (the lower portion of Dewar 50
housing the liquid cryogen 51 and the sample bottle 10) operable
to cool the fluid sample to the storage temperature, and a second
cooling volume (upper portion of Dewar 50 which contains the
gaseous cryogen, refrigerator 70, and conduit 32) operable to
cool the withdrawn fluid in the conduit to a temperature below
the sampling temperature; wherein at least the storage vessel
(10) is disposed in the first cooling volume, and wherein the
vessel assembly is disposed in said second cooling volume at
least in sections (i.e., conduit 32, which constitutes a section
of the "vessel assembly" in Longsworth's sampler, is disposed in
the second cooling volume).
Appellant contends (brief, page 12) that Longsworth's liquid
cryogen (51) does not "cool the fluid sample to the storage
temperature" as required in claim 1 on appeal, and thus does not
satisfy claim 1's "first cooling volume." We do not agree.
While it is true that the liquid cryogen initially introduced
into the Dewar (50) cools the sample storage vessel (10) to 77º
99
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