Application of Chilowsky
| Decision Date | 20 January 1956 |
| Docket Number | Patent Appeal No. 6122. |
| Citation | 108 USPQ 321,229 F.2d 457 |
| Parties | Application of Constantin CHILOWSKY. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
W. Saxton Seward, New York City (Asher Blum, New York City, and Robert I. Dennison, Washington, D. C., of counsel), for appellant.
Clarence W. Moore, Washington, D. C. (S. W. Cochran, Washington, D. C., of counsel), for the Commissioner of Patents.
Before O'CONNELL, Acting Chief Judge, and JOHNSON, WORLEY, COLE, and JACKSON, retired, Judges (original argument before GARRETT, Chief Judge, and O'CONNELL, JOHNSON, WORLEY, and COLE, Associate Judges).
This appeal is from the decision of the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office, affirming the final rejection by the Primary Examiner of all the claims of appellant's application, No. 568,986, filed December 20, 1944, for a patent on a method and apparatus for extraction and utilization of the thermal energy resulting from atomic decomposition of uranium and its compounds. It is the first case to come before us involving the utilization of nuclear fission for the production of useful energy. Argument thereon was first heard March 8, 1955, but in view of the complex nature of the subject matter and the importance of the issues involved, we requested reargument and the filing of additional briefs by the respective parties. Thereafter, on November 7, 1955, reargument was had.
No generic claim has been allowed. Claims 9, 31, and 34 were rejected as not reading on the elected species, while the remaining claims were rejected as based on insufficient and indefinite disclosure as well as being drawn to a method and apparatus inoperable to attain the stated results. Under those circumstances, all the claims must stand or fall together. They have not been treated individually below and need not be so treated here. Claim 1, which is typical of the appealed claims, is as follows:
1. The method of extraction and transportation of the thermic energy resulting from atomic decomposition of uranium or the like which includes, providing a metallic liquid having a low absorption for slow neutrons, distributing in said liquid in the form of a finely-divided suspension a quantity of fissionable material and a light element in suitable proportions and sufficient in mass and concentration to ensure atomic decomposition in branched chains of the fissionable material suspension, whereby a body having liquid mobility is formed, causing atomic decomposition to take place with the generation of heat in said body, transporting at least a part of said heated body to a heat exchanger in which said body is cooled and atomic decomposition does not take place, and returning said body to a condition suitable for repeated atomic decomposition.
The references relied on are:
Cham.Eng.News, page 777, March 17, 1947, Vol. 1. Goodman, "The Science and Engineering of Nuclear Power," pages 275, 303-308, Addison-Wesley Press (1947). Smyth Report, Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, pages 21-25, August 1945.
The application relates to the production of power by the atomic decomposition of uranium and its compounds. Basically, the process disclosed involves the use of a so-called "special liquid" which comprises a suspension of fine particles of uranium or its compounds, with light elements insuring the formation of slow neutrons, in a molten metal or alloy having little capacity for absorbing neutrons. Various combinations and proportions of those ingredients are suggested, with two specific examples given, including specified percentages of uranium or uranium carbide, and molybdenum di-carbide in a supporting liquid which may be lead, radio-lead, bismuth or an alloy of lead and bismuth. The size of the suspended particles may vary from approximately .01 mm. to .001 mm., or even less.
A quantity of the special liquid, which may contain approximately fifteen tons of uranium, is placed in a decomposition chamber of suitable size, having steel walls of a thickness in the neighborhood of 50 cm. In this chamber atomic decomposition is said to take place, resulting in a temperature which may range up to 1700°-2000° C. Control of the maximum temperature is to be effected by the use of proper quantities of cadmium, which has the property of absorbing slow neutrons, thus retarding the atomic decomposition. Cadmium may be included in a "small and precisely measured quantity" in a metallic cooling fluid which is contained in a coil or it may be present in the special liquid itself surrounding the decomposition chamber. It is stated in the application that the amount of cadmium must be such that, when the temperature reaches the desired upper limit, enough neutrons will be absorbed to stop the atomic decomposition. No specific amount of cadmium is given.
It is stated in the application that when atomic decomposition of the special liquid takes place it is accompanied by a boiling and foaming which causes the liquid to be vaporized and projected upwardly and out of the decomposition chamber, where it enters the tubes of a heat exchange device, such tubes being surrounded by a fluid medium such as water which circulates around them and is converted into superheated steam which is removed and employed for a useful purpose such as the driving of an engine. The expansion and vaporization of the special liquid as it leaves the decomposition chamber reduces the concentration of the uranium which it contains below the critical point, thus stopping the atomic decomposition, whereupon the vaporized liquid condenses and returns to the decomposition chamber, where it is again vaporized, due to increased concentration, and the process above described is repeated indefinitely.
The application discloses various methods and devices for extracting heat from the special liquid and applying it to useful purposes, after the desired atomic decomposition has begun. Those methods and devices are not specifically discussed in the rejection and it does not appear that any serious question is raised as to their operativeness, if the controlled atomic decomposition described can be effected in the decomposition chamber. Accordingly, no further discussion of the heat extracting and applying means is considered necessary.
The rejections on the grounds of indefiniteness and inoperativeness have been treated together by the Patent Office tribunals and raise, in effect, a single issue, namely, whether the disclosure of the applicant's application is sufficient to enable a person skilled in the art to which it relates to construct a device which can operate in the manner described. 35 U.S.C. § 112.
It is well settled that the disclosure of an application embraces not only what is expressly set forth in words or drawings, but what would be understood by persons skilled in the art. As was...
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Brana, In re
...utility unless one with ordinary skill in the art would accept the allegations as obviously valid and correct); In re Chilowsky, 229 F.2d 457, 462, 108 USPQ 321, 325 (CCPA 1956) ("[W]here the mode of operation alleged can be readily understood and conforms to the known laws of physics and c......
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