Appeal No. 2004-0407
Application No. 09/062,053
REJECTION IV
The rejection is affirmed. As noted by the examiner, Sommi
discloses a process, essentially as claimed by appellants, in
which volatile essences are recovered from a fruit or vegetable
mash by employing a flash evaporation technique. Essentially,
the mash is heated in a heat exchanger 18, and then passed
through a series of vapor separators 19 and 27 under reduced
pressure (Sommi: col. 3, l. 59-col. 4, l. 12; col. 5, ll. 38-44).
The vapor stream from the vapor separators is subjected to
fractional distillation and subsequent condensation (col. 4, ll.
44-68). Ultimately, essence-rich condensate is collected and
added to a refined and concentrated mash end product (col. 5, ll.
8-63).
Appellants acknowledge in their brief (page 18) that mash is
subjected to “flashing” at reduced pressure in the vapor
separators of Sommi. To distinguish their claimed process from
that of Sommi, appellants assert that Sommi does not teach or
suggest providing a mash which “has not been treated in a manner
which degrades the quality of essence therein.” The basis for
this assertion is that, according to appellants, Sommi first
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