Ex Parte Kayser

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Apr 24, 2003

09497797 (B.P.A.I. Apr. 24, 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for publication and is not binding precedent of the Board.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. 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.
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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,
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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
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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%.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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GREENBLUM & BERNSTEIN, P.L.C.
1950 ROLAND CLARKE PLACE
RESTON, VA 20191
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