Ex Parte De Shon

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

May 29, 2003

09604216 (B.P.A.I. May. 29, 2003)

The opinion in support of the decision being entered today was not written
for publication and is not binding precedent of the Board.
Paper No. 11
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
____________
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
____________
Ex parte DENIS ALAN De SHON
____________
Appeal No. 2002-0589
Application No. 09/604,216
____________
ON BRIEF
____________
Before COHEN, NASE, and BAHR, Administrative Patent Judges.
COHEN, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is an appeal from the final rejection of claim 1. This
claim is the sole claim in the application.

Appellant’s invention pertains to a buoyancy engine. A
basic understanding of the invention can be derived from a
reading of claim 1, a copy of which appears in “APPENDIX A” of
the brief (Paper No.7).
Appeal No. 2002-0589
Application No. 09/604,216
2
As evidence of anticipation, the examiner has applied the
document specified below:
De Shon 4,865,723 Sep. 12, 1989
The following rejection is before us for review.
Claim 1 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being
anticipated by De Shon.
The full text of the examiner’s rejection and response to
the argument presented by appellant appears in the final
rejection and the answer (Paper Nos. 5 and 8), while the complete
statement of appellant’s argument can be found in the brief
(Paper No. 7).

OPINION
In reaching our conclusion on the anticipation issue raised
in this appeal, this panel of the board has carefully considered
appellant’s specification and claim 1, the applied De Shon
patent, and the respective viewpoints of appellant and the
examiner. As a consequence of our review, we make the
determination which follows.
Appeal No. 2002-0589
Application No. 09/604,216
3
We cannot sustain the anticipation rejection.
Appellant’s claim 1 sets forth a buoyancy engine having one
or more rings, with a feature being that compressed gases input
into a vessel through a compressed gas injector are routed
through collectors to direct the gas into gas-holding spaces of
the rings. As seen in appellant’s Fig. 1, a compressed air
injector 7 inputs gas 9 to collectors 6, from which collectors
gas is directed into gas-holding spaces 2 of the ring 1.
Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) is established only
when a single prior art reference discloses, either expressly or
under principles of inherency, each and every element of a
claimed invention. See In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477, 44
USPQ2d 1429, 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Paulsen, 30 F.3d 1475,
1478-79, 31 USPQ2d 1671, 1673 (Fed. Cir. 1994); In re Spada, 911
F.2d 705, 708, 15 USPQ2d 1655, 1657 (Fed. Cir. 1990); and RCA
Corp. v. Applied Digital Data Sys., Inc., 730 F.2d 1440, 1444,
221 USPQ 385, 388 (Fed. Cir. 1984). However, the law of
anticipation does not require that the reference teach
specifically what an appellant has disclosed and is claiming but
only that the claims on appeal "read on" something disclosed in
the reference, i.e., all limitations of the claim are found in
Appeal No. 2002-0589
Application No. 09/604,216
4
the reference. See Kalman v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 713 F.2d 760,
772, 218 USPQ 781, 789 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S.
1026 (1984).
The examiner makes findings relative to the applied De Shon
reference to support the position that claim 1 is anticipated
thereby. Appellant, arguing the appeal pro se in the brief,
challenges the conclusion of anticipation.
As set forth in the rejection, the examiner references
collectors 8, 10 as corresponding to the collectors required by
appellant’s claim 1 through which gas is routed to direct gas
into gas-holding spaces, after being inputted thereto by a
compressed gas injector. Simply stated, this panel of the board
readily perceives that the teaching of De Shon does not support
the examiner’s view that elements 8, 10 are collectors as now
claimed. In the De Shon reference, element 8 is a system control
computer for metering air from an externally powered blower or
compressor 7, and element 10 is an injection sensor adjacent to
air injectors 9 for triggering air injection as each air holding
space is in injection position. Clearly, there are no collectors
as claimed, routed downstream of the air injectors 9 of the De
Shon patent, to direct gas into gas-holding spaces of a ring.
Appeal No. 2002-0589
Application No. 09/604,216
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Thus, claim 1 does not read on the De Shon patent, and is not
anticipated thereby.
In summary, this panel of the board has not sustained the
anticipation rejection on appeal.
The decision of the examiner is reversed.
REVERSED
IRWIN CHARLES COHEN )
Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
) BOARD OF PATENT
JEFFREY V. NASE )
Administrative Patent Judge ) APPEALS AND
)
) INTERFERENCES
)
JENNIFER D. BAHR )
Administrative Patent Judge )
ICC:pgg
Appeal No. 2002-0589
Application No. 09/604,216
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Denis Alan De Shon
7242 Seven Oaks Avenue
Baton Rouge, LA 70806