Application of Mayhew
Decision Date | 15 January 1976 |
Docket Number | Patent Appeal No. 74-608. |
Parties | Application of John T. MAYHEW. |
Court | U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) |
James J. Shanley, Washington, D. C., atty. of record, for appellant. Raymond N. Baker, Paul T. O'Neil, Shanley, O'Neil & Baker, Washington, D. C., of counsel.
Joseph F. Nakamura, Washington, D. C., for Commissioner of Patents. Fred E. McKelvey, R. V. Lupo, Washington, D. C., of counsel.
Before MARKEY, Chief Judge, and RICH, BALDWIN, LANE and MILLER, Associate Judges.
This appeal is from the decision of the Patent and Trademark Office Board of Appeals sustaining the examiner's rejection of claims 1-27, 29-48, 51, and 52 of application serial No. 46,825, filed June 16, 1970, for "Method of Producing Iron-Zinc Alloy Coated Steel Strip and Product Thereof." The final rejection indicated that claims 49 and 50 would be allowable if in independent form. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
The original decision herein was handed down March 13, 1975, reaching the same result we now reach. March 28, 1975, appellant filed a Petition for Rehearing which we granted. Further oral argument was held October 8, 1975.
Our former opinion, withheld from publication, is hereby withdrawn. The following is the opinion of the court.
The invention of all appealed claims but two is a method for the production of a corrosion-resistant, iron-zinc alloy coating on a steel strip. Referring to Fig. 2 of appellant's drawing, reproduced below in slightly modified form steel strip 16 is heated to approximately 1000°F. or greater, ordinarily considered higher than optimum, and passed, in the direction of the arrow, into a molten bath 56 of spelter of about 99% zinc containing up to .30% aluminum. The bath, "except for a defined minor portion specially located at its exit side, is maintained at approximately 900°F. to 950°F. or higher" by heat from strip 16 and other heat sources such as 63, as needed. Iron-zinc alloy is formed on the strip while it is submerged. After the strip passes around sink roll 50, the strip, now designated 52, travels into cooled spelter zone 54, containing coolers 56', 58, 60, and 62 which control the temperature of zone 54 to between 800°F. and 860°F., depending on the gauge of the strip. The cooled zone functions to terminate alloying. Strip 52 then passes between heated gas jets 66, 68 which remove the spelter, exposing the iron-zinc alloy surfaces.
Claim 1, the sole independent claim, reads:
All of the remaining method claims, and hence the two product-by-process claims, depend, directly or indirectly, from claim 1, adding various limitations thereto.
The examiner rejected the appealed claims, in various groups, on five different grounds. The board reversed one ground, leaving four which are as follows:
The Examiner's Answer states that the foregoing rejections are under 35 U.S.C. § 112 "for the reasons set forth in paragraph 11 of Paper No. 2." Continuing, it reads (all emphasis ours):
Although the examiner failed to specify what paragraph of § 112 he was relying on—the better practice being to so specify in order to comply fully with the spirit of § 132—it is clear that he was relying on § 112, paragraph one, which requires that claims be supported by an enabling disclosure. We have previously given extended consideration to similar ambiguous reliance on § 112 in In re Borkowski, 422 F.2d 904, 57 CCPA 946 (1970), and In re Moore, 439 F.2d 1232, 58 CCPA 1042 (1971). Reference to paragraph 11 of Paper No. 2, the examiner's final rejection, confirms that his rejection was, except for the product-by-process claims, based on insufficiency of the specification, for lack of enabling disclosure, to support the claims, which is a paragraph one rejection. Paragraph 11 further expounds on the rationale of the rejection. With emphasis added by us, it reads in pertinent part:
11. Claims 1-48, 51 and 52 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 as failing to properly define the invention. Claims 1, 24-46 and 52 are based on an insufficient disclosure since applicant has disclosed that—cooling a portion of the molten spelter at the exit side of the bath to a temperature of approximately 800°F. to approximately 860°F.and—delivering the steel strip from the bath upon passage through the zone of cooled spelter—are essential steps in his inventive process. Claims 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18-21, 23 and 51 are based on an insufficient disclosure since applicant has disclosed that the zone of cooled spelter is located at the strip exit side of the bath. * * * Claims 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 17, 22, 47 and 48 are based on an insufficient disclosure since applicant has failed to specify the temperature of the zone of cooled spelter to be approximately 800°F. to approximately 860°F. or the function of the cooled spelter. * * * Claims 51 and 52 are improper product-by-process claims. Product-by-process claims are only permitted upon a showing by applicant that the product can only be described by referring to the process of making it. Note M.P.E.P. 706.03(e). It is noted that the resulting product was claimed in the parent application S.N. 375,264 without referring to the method of making the product.
In affirming these rejections, the board added nothing to the examiner's reasoning which requires notice. It simply agreed with him point by point, except as to the one ground it reversed, which we have omitted from paragraph 11, above.
OPINIONAs the examiner noted in his Answer, the only mode of operation of appellant's process disclosed in his specification involves the employment of a cooling zone in the spelter bath at the point where the steel strip exits from the bath. Notwithstanding this fact, appellant asserts that his specification is enabling with regard to the formation of the desired alloy coating without the employment of a cooling zone, or without specially locating it.
To achieve the desired alloy coating,1 appellant discloses two criteria. First, the iron must be alloyed with zinc out of contact with an oxidizing atmosphere. In other words, the alloying operation must be performed wholly within the spelter bath before the strip enters the surrounding atmosphere. Second, the main body of the spelter bath is kept at a temperature higher than what is ordinarily considered optimum. Appellant has taught how to achieve both conditions by employing a cooling zone at the point where the strip leaves the bath. Without a cooling zone at the exit side, the unusually high bath temperature would cause alloying to continue when the strip leaves the bath (due to its high temperature) and result, for various reasons, in an inferior alloy coating. Appellant's specification states that the (Emphasis ours.)
Although appellant now strenuously argues that the cooling bath is optional, his specification not only fails to support this contention, but leads us, as it did the examiner and board, to believe that both it and its location are essential. We therefore conclude that claims which fail to recite the use of a cooling zone, specially located, are not supported by an enabling disclosure. Rejections (1) and (2), supra, will therefore be sustained.
The board further affirmed the examiner's rejection of certain claims, which we have designated (3), because they fail to recite the temperature of the zone of cooled spelter or the function thereof. We will not...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Amgen Inc. v. Hoechst Marion Roussel, Inc.
...on by the district court. Instead, it finds fault in the absence of discussion of other precedents, namely Eli Lilly, Gentry Gallery, In re Mayhew, and In re Vaeck, and makes broader arguments seemingly based upon policy The dissent would vacate and remand the written description issue beca......
-
Struthers Patent Corp. v. Nestle Co., Inc.
...with coffee would naturally be lead by economic considerations to a suitable moisture content consistent with preserving its properties (527 F.2d 1229). As the Court observed, anyone practicing this old process would be motivated to use the highest acceptable moisture content and would not ......
-
Alcon, Inc. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Usa, Inc.
...mentioned in the specification. Teva argues that this over-claiming also results in an enablement violation. See In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 1233 (C.C.P.A.1976). This argument is moot inasmuch as the court has already established that the scope of claim 1 is commensurate with the disclosur......
-
Application of Angstadt
...of its own inadequacy. The board properly relied upon it. See also Judge Baldwin's concurring opinion in In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 188 USPQ 356 (Cust. & Pat.App.1976). Thus, the burden shifted to appellants to show that their teaching of producing hydroperoxides is commensurate in scope ......