Appeal 2007-4185
Application 10/743,097
reasonable degree of precision and particularity, see In re Moore, 439 F.2d
1232, 1235, 169 USPQ 236, 238 (CCPA 1971), such that “those skilled in
the art would understand what is claimed when the claim is read in light of
the specification.” See The Beachcombers, Int’l. v. WildeWood Creative
Prods., 31 F.3d 1154, 1158, 31 USPQ2d 1653, 1656 (Fed. Cir. 1994)
(quoting Orthokinetics, Inc v. Safety Travel Chairs Inc., 806 F.2d 1565,
1576, 1 USPQ2d 1081, 1088 (Fed. Cir. 1986)); see also In re Warmerdam,
33 F.3d 1354, 1361, 31 USPQ2d 1754, 1759 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
Appellants disclose emulsion aggregation toners wherein the toner
particles comprise at least a styrene acrylate binder and at least one colorant,
which are defined in claim 1 in part by the subject limitation, “the toner
particles have a cohesion of about 55 to about 98% at a mean circularity of
about 0.94 to about 0.98.” There is no dispute the disclosure in the
Specification respecting this claim limitation is limited to the following:
[0034] Another significant property associated with the toners
of the present invention is the cohesivity of the particles prior to
inclusion of any external additives. The greater the cohesivity,
the less the toner particles are able to flow. It was surprisingly
found in the present invention that the cohesivity of the toner
particles, prior to inclusion of any external additives, should be
from about 55 to about 98% for all colors of the toner.
Cohesivity was measured by placing a known mass of toner, for
example two grams, on top of a set of three screens, for
example with screen meshes of 53 microns,
45 microns, and 38 microns in order from top to bottom, and
vibrating the screens and toner for a fixed time at a fixed
vibration amplitude, for example for 115 seconds at a
1 millimeter vibration amplitude. A device to perform this
measurement is a Hosokawa Powders Tester, available from
Micron Powders Systems. The toner cohesion value is related to
the amount of toner remaining on each of the screens at the end
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