Appeal No. 2005-1608 Page 2
Application No. 10/424,327
INTRODUCTION
The claims are directed to a contactor. According to the specification, contactors use a
thin walled membrane to separate, via diffusion, gaseous, solid or liquid components from a
solution or colloidal mixture (specification, p. 1). Claim 1 illustrates the subject matter on
appeal:
1. A contactor for degassing a liquid comprising:
a perforated core;
a pre-shrunk microporous membrane fabric wrapped around said core, said fabric
comprising a polymethyl pentene hollow fiber weft and polyolefin warp yarn wherein the weft
count is between 50 and 70 fibers per inch, the warp count is between 3 and 12 yarns per inch,
and the warp yarn is finer than an 80 denier 40 filament yarn;
a tube sheet securing the ends of said fiber;
a shell encasing said tube sheet and fabric;
at least one opening in said shell to permit fluid flow through said shell; and
an end cap affixed to the shell.
As evidence of unpatentability, the Examiner relies upon the following prior art
references:
Anazawa et al. (Anazawa) 4,664,681 May 12, 1987
Akasu et al. (Akasu) 4,911,846 Mar. 27, 1990
Claims 1-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Akasu
in view of Anazawa. As the claims are not separately argued, we consider them together. We
select claim 1 to represent the issues on appeal in accordance with 37 CFR
§ 41.37(c)(1)(vii)(2004).
We affirm the Examiner’s decision to reject the claims for the following reasons.
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