Appeal No. 2004-1926
Application 09/714,670
Lovejoy discloses that it was known in the art to bright
anneal stainless steel (col. 1, lines 22-34). Lovejoy’s
invention is a process for “producing stainless steel having a
bright annealed-like surface without the need for annealing in a
controlled atmosphere” (col. 1, lines 6-10). Lovejoy anneals the
stainless steel in air and then electrolytically descales the
stainless steel at a current density of 1.55 to 7.75 A/dm2 using
an electrolyte consisting essentially of an aqueous solution of
at least one neutral salt selected from a chloride, sulfate or
nitrate of an alkali metal or ammonium (col. 2, lines 16-28).
Kiyo anneals stainless steel in a reducing or oxidative
atmosphere and then descales the stainless steel by electrolysis
at a current density of at least 10 A/dm2 using a 900 to
1,250 g/l aqueous sulfuric acid solution as the electrolytic
solution (pages 5-6 and table 1).
The examiner argues that “[t]he statement in claim 1 that
annealing is ‘in a bright annealing furnace in the presence of a
bright annealing atmosphere’ denotes largely apparatus
limitations upon the claimed process, and such apparatus
limitations do not render an otherwise known process patentable”
(answer, page 4). This argument is not well taken because the
appellant’s requirement of annealing in a bright annealing
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