Appeal No. 2004-1926
Application 09/714,670
THE REJECTIONS
The claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as follows:
claims 1-10, 22 and 23 over Zaremski or Lovejoy, each in view of
the McGraw-Hill Dictionary and the Handbook of Metal Treatments
and Testing; claims 27-29 over Zaremski in view of the McGraw-
Hill Dictionary and the Handbook of Metal Treatments and Testing;
and claims 1, 11-21 and 24-26 over Kiyo in view of the McGraw-
Hill Dictionary and the Handbook of Metal Treatments and Testing.
OPINION
We reverse the aforementioned rejections. We need to
address only the independent claims, i.e., claims 1, 24 and 27.
Each of the appellant’s independent claims requires
“annealing a stainless steel article in a bright annealing
furnace in the presence of a bright annealing atmosphere at a
temperature and for sufficient time to produce a bright annealed
finish on said article” and thereafter treating the article with
an electrolyte.
The McGraw-Hill Dictionary defines bright annealing as
“[h]eating and cooling a metal in an inert atmosphere to inhibit
oxidation; surface remains relatively bright.”
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