Appeal No. 2005-0657
Application No. 10/136,984
time and calcination or burning temperatures are sufficient for
adequate mixing and fusing/reacting of the feed components to
produce the cement clinker.
Additionally, as previously discussed, the prior art
discloses locating the slag feed entry to the kiln at many
locations, specifically the feed end, the heat end, the upstream
end of the cooler, and downstream of the burning zone. The only
location for the slag feed entry to the kiln not specifically
taught by the prior art references is “a mid kiln location” as
construed above, still allowing adequate residence time for
mixing and calcination/burning of the feed components.
Accordingly, there is an economic motivation for one of ordinary
skill in this art to locate the slag feed entry point at any
point other than the feed end, heat end, upstream end of the
cooling zone, or downstream of the burning zone. This economic
motivation would be to avoid license fees from licensing the
processes of the prior art patents discussed above.
As also previously discussed, one of ordinary skill in this
art would have had a reasonable expectation of success in
carrying out the claimed process since the prior art teaches that
the residence time, mixing or commingling, and
calcination/burning temperatures in the kiln must be adjusted to
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