Appeal No. 2004-2284
Application 09/832,873
1975) With respect to the second embodiment, disc disperser 1 is “used as a predisperser,” and
the disperser 8 is the “main disperser” that functions as a rapidly rotating grinder, wherein steam
is introduced into main disperser 8 and can be introduced into predisperser 1 as well (page 4, ll.
9-11, and page 5, ll. 1-6 and 13-1). We note here with respect to claim 13, that the stock moves
from predisperser 1 by dropping it into screw feeder or conveyor 7 which drops it into screw
feeder 9 that introduces the stock centrally to main disperser 8. Egenes teaches that in the
disclosed device, it is “possible to admix chemicals which bleach the pulp and/or improve the
actual dispersion of the impurity particles in the pulp” (page 2, ll. 31-32, and page 5, ll. 8-11).
The examiner finds, and we agree, that the claimed process of dispersing paper stock
made from recycled paper encompassed by claims 1, 6 and 13, as we have interpreted these
claims above, differs from the process of dispersing particulate material containing recycled
paper taught by Egenes in that the prior art process uses a disc disperser 1 instead of a mallet roll
as defined in claim 1, as a predisperser. The examiner determines that prima facie, the combined
teachings of Egenes and Riquet would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in this art to
substitute the mallet roll shown in Riquet Fig. 1 for the disc predisperser 1 of Egenes in the
reasonable expectation that Riquet’s mallet roll would perform the same functions of
predispersing the paper stock and mixing bleach therein as does Egenes’ disc predisperser
(answer, pages 3-4). The examiner further points out that Riquet additionally discloses the disc
disperser of Riquet Fig. 3 (id.).
We find that Riquet acknowledges that it was known in the art “to remove fibers from old
paper and paper pulps by treating them with hot water or vapor in a pulper for drying and
mixing, and to subsequently bleach the paper pulp (pages 1-2). Riquet teaches that the mixing
and bleaching functions can be combined by using, among others, a horizontal pulper shown in
Riquet Fig. 1 which is described as a cylindrical housing 1 with stationary hooks 4 and a rotating
shaft 2 that has “a series of blades or hooks 3,” wherein “the assembly of movable and fixed
hooks pulps and dries the old papers in order to transform them into a type of paste,” which is
released “to the next stage” of the process by outlet 6 (pages 3-4). We find that one of ordinary
skill in this art would have inferred that the “paste” is a viscous dispersion of paper stock solids
in a liquid. The apparatus provides for the supply of hot water or vapor and bleach through line
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