Ex Parte KayserDownload PDFBoard of Patent Appeals and InterferencesApr 24, 200309497797 (B.P.A.I. Apr. 24, 2003) Copy Citation The opinion in support of the decision being entered today was not written for publication and is not binding precedent of the Board.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. 21 UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS AND INTERFERENCES ____________ Ex parte Franz Kayser ____________ Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 ____________ HEARD: April 1, 2003 ____________ Before COHEN, STAAB, and NASE, Administrative Patent Judges. NASE, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL This is a decision on appeal from the examiner's final rejection of claims 1 to 42, which are all of the claims pending in this application. We REVERSE. Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 2 BACKGROUND The appellant's invention relates to a calender, a system, and a method for reducing the humidity in a calender for webs of moisture-containing material, such as paper, with a housing having two side pieces and a roll stack, in which a space is limited at least by the roll stack and the web is situated between the side pieces (specification, p. 1). A copy of the claims under appeal is set forth in the appendix to the appellant's brief. The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are: Van Haag et al. (Van Haag) 5,651,863 July 29, 1997 Palmatier 5,694,848 Dec. 9, 1997 Claims 1 to 42 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Van Haag in view of Palmatier. Rather than reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the examiner and the appellant regarding the above-noted rejection, we make reference to the final rejection (Paper No. 9, mailed September 6, 2001) and the answer (Paper No. 14, mailed June 7, 2002) for the examiner's complete reasoning in support of the rejection, Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 3 and to the brief (Paper No. 13, filed February 6, 2002) and reply brief (Paper No. 6, filed August 7, 2002) for the appellant's arguments thereagainst. OPINION In reaching our decision in this appeal, we have given careful consideration to the appellant's specification and claims, to the applied prior art references, and to the respective positions articulated by the appellant and the examiner. As a consequence of our review, we make the determinations which follow. The claimed subject matter Claims 1, 13, 26, 36 and 37, the independent claims on appeal, read as follows: 1. A calender for webs of moisture-containing material, comprising: a housing having at least two side pieces and a roll stack located at least partially between the side pieces, wherein a space is formed by the roll stack and the web between the side pieces; and a fan positioned to blow dry air into the space. 13. A system for regulating the humidity in a calender, the calender being used to treat a moisture-containing material web and including a housing having at least two side walls and a roll stack, the calender defining a space bounded at least by the roll stack, the web, and the at least two side walls, the system comprising: a device for reducing the humidity of the space, wherein the humidity level in the space is reduced to a level which is below a saturation point. 26. A method of regulating the humidity in a calender, the calender being used to treat a moisture-containing material web and including a housing having at least two side walls and a roll stack, the calender defining a space bounded at Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 4 least by the roll stack, the web, and the at least two side walls, the method comprising: reducing the humidity of the space, wherein the humidity level in the space is reduced to a level which is below a saturation point. 36. A system for regulating the humidity in a calender, the calender being used to treat a moisture containing material web and including a housing having at least two side walls and a roll stack, the calender defining a space bounded at least by the roll stack, the web, and the at least two side walls, the system comprising: a device for reducing the humidity of the space; at least one moisture sensor disposed within the space; at least one temperature sensor disposed within the space; a control device for receiving inputs from the at least one moisture sensor and the at least one temperature sensor; wherein the control device controls the device for reducing the humidity so as to regulate the humidity level in the space to a point which is below a saturation point. 37. A method of regulating the humidity in a calender, the calender being used to treat a moisture-containing material web and including a housing having at least two side walls and a roll stack, the calender defining a space bounded at least by the roll stack, the web, and the at least two side walls, the method comprising: measuring the humidity within the space with at least one moisture sensor; measuring the temperature within the space with at least one temperature sensor; comparing the humidity of the space to a desired value in a range using a computer which receives inputs from the at least one moisture sensor and the at least one temperature sensor; and regulating the humidity of the space to the desired value, wherein the humidity level in the space is reduced to a level which of between approximately 75% and 95%. Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 5 The teachings of the applied prior art Van Haag Van Haag's invention relates to an apparatus for treating sheet material with an arrangement of rollers which has at least one roller gap through which the material is passed with at least one heated roller. Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic view of an apparatus 1 for processing a sheet 3 of material wound onto a roller 2. The apparatus has a treatment station 5 including a calender 4. The calender 4 has two stacks 6, 7 of rollers, each with three rollers. The central roller 8, 9 of each stack 6, 7 is constructed as a heated roller. Each stack 6, 7 of rollers thus forms two heated roller gaps. A pipe, the details of which are not shown, supplies a liquid heating agent to each heated roller 8, 9. The heating agent is discharged into a return pipe 10. The sheet material 3 is passed through the calender 4 so that each side of the sheet comes into contact with a heated roller 8, 9. An unwinding station 11, in which the supplied rolled sheet material is unwound in the direction of an arrow 12 from the roll 2, precedes treatment station 5. A roll magazine 15, with several storage spaces 16, 17, 18 precedes the unwinding station 11. The last storage space 18 in the roll magazine 15, that is, the storage space adjacent to the unwinding station 11, is surrounded by a housing 21. The housing 21 Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 6 encloses a chamber 22 that has a charging opening 24, which can be closed by a roll-up door 23, and an unloading opening 26, which can also be closed off by a roll-up door 25. The atmosphere in the chamber 22 can be adjusted with respect to temperature and humidity to specified values. A heater 27 is provided for adjusting the temperature. The heater 27 uses the heating agent returned by the return pipe 10 from the heated rollers 8, 9 and is formed as a bypass pipeline that extends through the chamber 22. A valve 29 is provided for adjusting the amount of heating agent from return pipe 10 passing through the chamber 22. By means of control equipment, the valve 29 can be controlled in a manner not shown as a function of the temperature existing in the chamber 22. The heating equipment 27 also has a fan 30 which forcibly blows air over the bypass pipeline to provide a uniform distribution of the heated air in the chamber 22 to essentially uniformly expose all sides of a roll to the heated air. Moreover, an air humidifier 31 is provided through which the air coming from the fan 30 passes. The relative humidity in the chamber 22 can be adjusted by means of the air humidifier 31. The treatment station 5 is also provided with a housing 32, which is shown diagrammatically. This housing 32 has an inlet opening 33 and an outlet 34 for the sheet material 3. Diagrammatically-shown guide rollers are disposed so that the sheet Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 7 material 3, before passing through the first roller gap in roller stacks 6, 7, is passed over a specified distance within the interior of the housing 32, so that it is exposed to the housing's existing atmosphere. The sheet material is thus already heated before it enters the roller gap of roller stack 6. The housing 32 is heat insulated and is provided with a steam generator 40, shown diagrammatically, which blows steam into the interior of the housing 32 through three feed nozzles 41, 42, 43. The housing 32 thus also serves as a steam humidifier. The sheet material 3 passing through the housing 32 is thus exposed not only to the pressure and temperature in the roller gaps of the roller stacks 6, 7, but also to the correspondingly higher temperature and humidity of the atmosphere within the housing 32. The moisture content of the sheet material can be measured by measuring equipment 44, which is connected with and controls the steam generator 40. This results in a closed control loop for controlling the moisture content of the sheet material. The interior of the housing 32 is connected through a pipeline 45 with the interior of the chamber 22 in which conveying apparatus 46 may optionally be provided. Transport of atmosphere from the treatment station 5 into the chamber 22 is provided through pipeline 45. In this manner, the energy emitted by the heated rollers 8, 9 can also be utilized for heating the chamber 22. If the steam generator 40 appropriately Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 8 humidifies the atmosphere in the housing 32, this humidity can also be transferred into chamber 22. Van Haag teaches (column 6, lines 33-55) that the apparatus 1 works in the following manner: A roll 2 of sheet material is deposited, for example, with the help of a crane or a lifting vehicle, on the first storage space 16 of the roll magazine 15. Whenever a roll 2 has been unwound in the unwinding station 11, this taking a time ranging from 1 to 2 hours, a roll 2 in the roll magazine 15 moves one storage space further to the right and finally reaches chamber 22. The roll is acted upon here by means of an elevated temperature and/or elevated humidity, so that the temperature distribution, which may have become nonuniform during storage in the roll magazine 15, becomes uniform once again. Thus, during the unwinding in the unwinding station 11, a roll of material conditioned to a relatively uniform temperature over its length and width, is unwound and supplied to the treatment station. In the treatment station 5, the sheet material 3 is exposed not only to high pressure and an elevated temperature in the roller gap of the stack of rollers 6, 7, 13 but also to elevated humidity which has been produced by the steam generator 40. The humidity is controlled by the measuring instrument 44, for example, to a value corresponding to the ambient humidity in a printing shop, in which the sheet of paper is to be processed. Palmatier Palmatier's invention relates to a printing unit for using water based inks in high speed rotary printing presses. Figure 1 shows a printing unit 1 in accordance with one embodiment of Palmatier's invention. The printing unit 1 includes side walls 2 supporting upper and lower inking units 55.1, 55.2, blanket cylinders 4, 6 and print cylinders 3, 5. The printing unit 1 is designed to maintain acceptable printing conditions Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 9 for printing with water based inks through the use of one or more cooling units. A print cylinder cooling unit 7 is assigned to the upper and lower print cylinders 3, 5. The print cylinder cooling unit 7 includes a print cylinder inlet pipe 7.1 and a print cylinder outlet pipe 7.2 for each of the print cylinders 3, 5. A lower print cylinder sensor 19.2 is arranged near the lower print cylinder 5, and an upper print cylinder sensor 19.1 is arranged near the upper print cylinder 3. A pair of relative humidity sensors 60.1, 60.2 are mounted within the printing unit 1 to measure the relative humidity of the atmosphere in the upper print unit section 1.1 and lower printing unit section 1.2, and a pair of temperature sensors 60.3, 60.4 are mounted within the printing unit 1 to measure the temperature of the atmosphere in the upper print unit section 1.1 and lower printing unit section 1.2. A control unit 18 has respective inputs connected to the print cylinder sensors 19.1, 19.2, the relative humidity and temperature sensors 60.1, 60.2, 60.3, 60.4 and an output connected to the cooling unit 7. The control unit 18 periodically monitors the temperature of the print cylinders 3, 5 via the sensors 19.1, 19.2, and of the atmosphere with the relative humidity sensors 60.1, 60.2 and temperature sensors 60.3, 60.4, and then controls the print cylinder cooling unit 7 as a function of the monitored temperature values. A blanket cylinder cooling unit 8 is assigned to the upper and lower blanket cylinders 4, 6. Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 10 Figure 3 shows a further embodiment of the printing unit of Figure 1. The pipes 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 15.3, 15.4 and sensors 19-21 have been omitted for ease of illustration. In accordance with this embodiment, blowing sections 23.1, 23.2 are mounted within the printing unit 1, and connected to a blowing unit 23 via an air inlet pipe 24.1 and an air exhaust pipe 24.2. The blowing unit 23 includes an air cooling mechanism and an air heating mechanism, and is coupled to and controlled by the control unit 18 to maintain the temperature of the water based ink carrying surfaces of the blanket cylinders 4, 6 at the set point. The blowing devices 23.1 and 23.2 each include outputs 80 to blow air onto the surfaces of the blanket cylinder 4, 6 carrying the water based ink films. The blowing devices 23.1 and 23.2 also include suction inputs 81 for sucking the atmosphere surrounding the water based ink carrying surfaces out through the air exhaust pipe 24.2. In this manner, the water based ink carrying surfaces of the blanket are cooled or heated from the outside via the blowing unit 23, and from the inside via the cooling units 8. Referring to Figure 3A, the control unit 18 monitors the surface temperature of the upper blanket cylinder (Tb1 and of the lower blanket cylinder (Tb2) via the sensors 20.1, 20.2. If an average of these sensor readings is above the set point, then the control unit 18 lowers the temperature of the air output from the air inlet 24.1 by an amount X, waits a time period T, and then monitors the outputs of the sensors 20.1, Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 11 20.2 again. These steps are repeated until the average of the sensor readings is equal to the set point. Similarly, if the average of these sensor readings is below the set point, then the control unit 18 raises the temperature of the air output from the air inlet 24.1 by an amount X, waits a time period T, monitors the outputs of the sensors 20.1, 20.2 again, and repeats these steps until the average of the sensor readings is equal to the set point. The heating and/or cooling of the air by the blowing device 23 can be accomplished inside or outside the blowing devices 23.1, 23.2. Moreover, in accordance with a further embodiment, the blowing devices 23.1, 23.2 could be arranged within the printing unit 1 to blow air on both the print cylinders 3, 5 and the blanket cylinders 4, 6. In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the blowing unit 23 includes a humidifier 255 which is controlled by the control unit 18 and supplied by water supply lines 250.1, 250.2. The humidifier 255 may be arranged within the blowing unit 23, within the blowing devices 23.1, 23.2, in between the blowing unit 23 and blowing devices 23.1, 23.2, or in any other suitable location. If the control unit 18 determines that the monitored relative humidity is below a humidity set point, it will activate the humidifier until the monitored humidity is equal to the humidity set point. By maintaining the humidity of the atmosphere surrounding the ink carrying surfaces at the humidity setpoint (e.g., between 75% and 95% relative humidity), evaporation of water Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 12 1 After the scope and content of the prior art are determined, the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue are to be ascertained. Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 17-18, 148 USPQ 459, 467 (1966). 2 The examiner did not ascertain the actual differences between Van Haag and each of the independent claims at issue. 3 The examiner did not determine that the actual differences between Van Haag and each of the independent claims at issue would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person of ordinary skill in the art. from the water-based ink can be minimized while still preventing condensation of water into the ink. Moreover, by controlling the humidity within the atmosphere surrounding the print and/or blanket cylinders, the temperature set point can be set at a static value (e.g., 93-95 degrees Fahrenheit). The rejection In the rejection before us in this appeal (final rejection, pp. 2-3), the examiner (1) ascertained1 that Van Haag does not have a computer which uses temperature and moisture sensors to control a fan for regulating humidity in the space (i.e., the space formed between the sides of housing 32, roll stacks 6 and 7 and the web of sheet material 3) by adding or removing air2; and (2) concluded that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the apparatus and method of Van Haag to use the temperature and humidity control system of Palmatier to adjust temperature and humidity within the calender housing (i.e., Van Haag's housing 32).3 The examiner then Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 13 noted that this modification of Van Haag would have been motivated by a desire to precisely control the calender housing atmosphere for improved processing of the web material, and to prevent condensation within the housing. The appellant's argument The appellant argues (brief, pp. 6-13; reply brief, pp. 2-6) that the applied prior art does not suggest the claimed subject matter. In particular, the appellant points out that Van Haag teaches increasing the humidity in the calender housing and thus fails to provide any teaching or suggestion for blowing dry air into the calender housing or for reducing the humidity in the calender housing as set forth in the independent claims on appeal. In addition, the appellant asserts that Palmatier fails to provide any teaching or suggestion for modifying Van Haag in a manner directly contrary to its explicit disclosure (i.e., to modify Van Haag to decrease humidity rather than increase humidity). Our position We agree with the appellant that the combined teachings of Van Haag and Palmatier would not have suggested to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to decrease humidity in the calender housing of Van Haag in view of Van Haag's explicit teaching of providing steam generator 40 to increase Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 14 humidity in the calender housing 32. In our view, the only possible suggestion for modifying Van Haag to decrease humidity as required by the claims on appeal stems from hindsight knowledge derived from the appellant's own disclosure. The use of such hindsight knowledge to support an obviousness rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 is, of course, impermissible. See, for example, W. L. Gore and Assocs., Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 1553, 220 USPQ 303, 312-13 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984). For the reasons set forth above, the decision of the examiner to reject claims 1 to 42 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 is reversed. Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 15 CONCLUSION To summarize, the decision of the examiner to reject claims 1 to 42 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 is reversed. REVERSED IRWIN CHARLES COHEN ) Administrative Patent Judge ) ) ) ) ) BOARD OF PATENT LAWRENCE J. STAAB ) APPEALS Administrative Patent Judge ) AND ) INTERFERENCES ) ) ) JEFFREY V. NASE ) Administrative Patent Judge ) Appeal No. 2003-0298 Application No. 09/497,797 Page 16 GREENBLUM & BERNSTEIN, P.L.C. 1950 ROLAND CLARKE PLACE RESTON, VA 20191 JVN/jg Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation