Appeal No. 2006-0219
Application No. 09/855,002
least some foreign matter from entering the pipe. Furthermore,
claim 23 does not recite any such function of preventing fouling
of the pipe.
As for appellants’ argument that “[t]he Ohlswager plates 16
of Figure 1 do not contain any openings” (page 6 of brief, last
paragraph), we find that the reference disclosure of perforated
tray 16 in figures 3 and 4 fairly supports the conclusion that
plate 16 may be perforated or non-perforated.
We now consider the Section 103 rejection of claims 1-14,
16, 17, 19, 21 and 30 over Plachy in view of Dear. It is
appellants’ principal contention that component “11 in Figure
4 of Plachy shows a weir and not a taper in pipes 13 and 14"
(page 7 of brief, last full sentence). Appellants provide a
definition of “weir” as “an obstruction placed in a channel to
cause the liquid to rise upstream from it and flow over or
through it,” and appellants maintain that a weir is not a taper,
(page 8 of brief, first paragraph). However, the weir of Plachy
meets appellants’ definition of taper by providing a gradual
diminution in diameter of the opening in the transverse plane of
the opening. Moreover, we are confident that one of ordinary
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