Appeal 2007-0200
Application 10/445,466
Appellants' claimed invention is directed to "a lance designed to blow
oxygen gas or other gases through the upper opening of a steelmaking vessel
for the purpose of removing or retarding the formation of skull which
generally is built up on the inner wall of the nose or cone section of the
vessel" (Specification 1). Appellants' lance tip has nozzles that may be
selectively plugged to permit removal of both uniform and non-uniform
skull deposits while avoiding damage to the vessel's refractory. For removal
of generally uniformly deposited furnace skull, all of the lance tip nozzles
are unplugged whereby deskulling gas is uniformly discharged to remove
skull at a uniform rate throughout the circumference of the vessel. For
removal of uneven skull deposits, one or more of the tip nozzles may be
plugged to avoid damage to the vessel's refractory where little or no skull
may be present while other nozzles remain unplugged to melt relatively
thicker deposits of skull. (Specification 4.) Claim 1 is representative of the
claimed invention and reads as follows:
1. A deskulling lance tip comprising:
a first set of deskulling nozzles; and
at least one additional set of deskulling
nozzles disposed at a different orientation in said
tip relative to said first set of deskulling nozzles.
Appellants seek review of the Examiner's rejections of claims 1, 2, 4-
11, and 13-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by Watkins (US
5,865,876, issued February 2, 1999) and claims 3 and 12 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as unpatentable over Watkins.
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