Ex Parte Skoog et al - Page 4

                Appeal 2007-0950                                                                                 
                Application 11/099,264                                                                           

                among other things, an injector “to inject a fluidized material of solid                         
                particles suspended in a fluid into the plasma jet” of a plasma spray gun,                       
                wherein the “fluid stream can be a carrier gas of the plasma forming gas,”                       
                and the particles are injected into the plasma jet right before or after exit                    
                from the gun (id. 5).  The Examiner concludes it would have been obvious to                      
                one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Strutt to inject the liquid/particle                  
                suspension into the plasma of the plasma spray device as suggested by                            
                Peterson because Peterson teaches introducing the suspension into the                            
                plasma jet of the plasma spray gun (id. 6; see also 13-14 and 16-17).                            
                       With respect to the second ground of rejection, the Examiner finds the                    
                combination of Strutt and Peterson does not teach, among other things,                           
                “separately injecting particulate thermal barrier coating constituents not in                    
                liquid through a separate injector to the plasma jet,” and the size of the                       
                constituent particles (Answer 6).  The Examiner finds Gambino teaches,                           
                among other things, a first spray stream of “composite particulate materials                     
                not suspended in liquid,” which particles can have a particle size of 20 to                      
                200 microns, and a second stream of smaller particles suspended in liquid                        
                separately injected from a separate injector system (id. 7, citing Gambino,                      
                e.g., ¶¶ 0028, 0030, and 0043-0045, and Fig. 5; see also Answer 22-23 and                        
                25-26).  The Examiner finds Gambino to be analogous art because the                              
                problem of plasma thermal spraying using particles suspended in liquid is                        
                reasonably pertinent to the particular problem faced by Appellants and                           
                further addressed by Strutt (Answer 21-22).  The Examiner concludes it                           
                would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the                        
                combined teachings of Strutt and Peterson to provide separate injection of                       


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