Appeal No. 2006-0916
Application No. 10/345,711
effective variable in a known process is ordinarily within the
skill of the art.”); In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ
233, 235 (CCPA 1955)(“[W]here the general conditions of a claim
are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover
the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.”).
Claim 39
Claim 39, which depends directly from claim 20, recites
that “an equivalent ratio of NCO groups to OH groups in the
second mixture, before reaction, is not greater than 5:1.”
Markusch teaches that the amount of auxiliary substances
(e.g., polyols) is generally 0-50% by weight based on the sum of
binder and substrate. (Column 15, lines 57-60.) The reference
further teaches that the polyisocyanate (100 g) used in Example
56 has an NCO content of 26.4% by weight. (Column 20, lines 1-
20.) Because 50 g of a polypropylene oxide-trihydric alcohol
polymer with an average molecular weight of 450 is used as the
polyol component in Example 56, it reasonably appears that the
NCO:OH ratio would necessarily be within the appellants’ claimed
range. Even if this is not the case, one of ordinary skill in
the art would have found the requisite motivation, suggestion,
or teaching to arrive at an optimum or workable range of NCO:OH
ratio. In re Peterson, 315 F.3d at 1330, 65 USPQ2d at 1382.
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