Appeal 2007-0501
Application 10/747,956
deposits on the material to be brazed, electrostatically spraying the flux onto
the material to be brazed before heating in the furnace, and a combination of
these methods (Shimajiri, e.g., col. 1, l. 63, to col. 2, l. 4, col. 2, l. 43-55, and
col. 4, ll. 26-44). The flux in either method “can be any kind, and have any
composition, provided it is effective for brazing” and can be “[a] fluoride-
base flux,” such as potassium fluoroaluminate (id., col. 2, ll. 32-42).
In the flux suspending method, the flux is pulverized to 2.0 to 80.0 µm in
diameter to float in the furnace gas, with pulverized flux illustrated at a grain
size of 15 µm on average (id., col. 2, l. 55, to col. 3, l. 59, col. 4, ll. 55-57,
and Example 1). In the electrostatic flux deposition method employing a
spray gun, the flux is pulverized to a particle size range of 6.0 to 75.0 µm,
preferably with on average 50% by volume having a range of 6.0 to 50.0,
with an illustrated grain size of 15 µm on average in Example 2 and a range
of grain sizes from 5 to 100 µm in Specimens 20 through 27 in Example 3 at
600-620°C (id., col. 3, l. 60, to col. 4, l. 15, and Examples 2-5).
We find Appellants acknowledge in the “Background of the
Invention” that “[a]kali metal fluorozincates such as . . . potassium
fluorozincate, may be used as fluxing agents for brazing” components of
aluminum and aluminum alloys, and “may also be used together with alkali
fluoroaluminates, for example potassium fluoroaluminate,” which
“compounds also act as fluxing agents for brazing aluminum”
(Specification, ¶ 0003).4
4 See In re Nomiya, 509 F.2d 566, 570-71, 571 n.5, 184 USPQ 607, 611,
611 n.4 (CCPA 1975) (Appellants’ representations in their application
should be accepted at face value as admissions that Figs. 1 and 2 may be
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