Application of Sanford C. Lyons

364 F.2d 1005, 53 C.C.P.A. 1514
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedOctober 6, 1966
DocketPatent Appeal 7609
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 364 F.2d 1005 (Application of Sanford C. Lyons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Application of Sanford C. Lyons, 364 F.2d 1005, 53 C.C.P.A. 1514 (ccpa 1966).

Opinions

MARTIN, Judge.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Board of Appeals affirming a double patenting rejection of claims 29-33, the only remaining claims in Lyons’ application serial No. 764,395, filed September 30, 1958 for “Kaolin Product and Process for Making Same.”

From the context of thfe rejection and decision it is clear that the double patenting rejection is of the obviousness type, being based on the claims of appellant’s prior patent:

Claims 29-32 are drawn to a process and claim 33 is to the product of process claim 30. In addition to the double patenting rejection of the product claim 33, rejections on other references were made.1 Since we affirm the double patenting rejection, we do not reach the additional rejections. Also, we think it advisable to note that, since there is no terminal disclaimer of record in this case, we do not have before us the separate and distinct issue of whether or not the relationship between appellant’s prior patent claims and the instant claimed invention is such that a terminal disclaimer would permit issuance of the latter in a patent.

The invention here relates to the production of a kaolin2 product, for inter [1007]*1007alia as a paper coating pigment, of a higher order of whiteness and brightness than has previously been attainable from secondary kaolin deposits,3 such as are found in central Georgia. Whiteness refers to the uniformity of reflectance throughout the visible spectrum and is determined by a comparison of the per cent reflectance at 400 to that at 700 millimicrons wavelength. The whiteness of a kaolin is also expressed in terms of a point scale called the “Whiteness Index,” the lower value indicating whiter kaolin. A publication 4 submitted by applicant on request for reconsideration indicates the following comparative values for English and a representative Georgia (domestic) kaolin:

In contrast, brightness is the relative per cent reflectance at 457 millimicrons, in the short wavelength (violet) end of the spectrum. The instant application states:

* * * It is unfortunately true that the kaolins from Central Georgia are characterized by a deficiency of reflectance at the short wavelength (i. e., the violet) end of the spectrum. This fact causes them to appear “cream colored” by comparison with some other whiter pigments, such as precipitated calcium carbonate, blanc fixe, and certain high-grade imported kaolins, e. g., those from England. * * *

By appellant’s method a Georgia kaolin can be upgraded to a whiteness index of 11.1, which will be recognized to be midway in the range of English clays. This improvement was stated before the board on reconsideration to be “almost 70% of the difference between what were the best and poorest clays at the time the invention was made.”

Appellant set out in the specification two prior methods of improving whiteness and brightness: chemical bleaching treatments, and selection (classification) of the very small particles of clay:

* * * Various and extensive research efforts have resulted in process refinements so that some of the naturally discolored kaolins can be whitened and brightened by various processings, including chemical treatments. It has been repeatedly found, over the years, that while known chemical bleaching treatments can produce improvements in whiteness, up to a point, there is definite limitation to the extent to which this color improvement can be carried, regardless of intensity of treatment.
******
It has been already shown, as for example in U. S. Patent #2,524,816, that kaolins of improved brightness can usually be attained by the classification of the crude clays into finer and finer [1008]*1008particle size fractions up to a certain point, viz., less than 0.25|t. The brightest clays attainable have usually been obtained by selecting that fraction of particles between diameters 0.25p and 2.0m-. On the other hand, particles coarser than about 2|x-generally yield a product of inferior color. This relationship, while not invariably true, is generally so.

In contrast to those prior methods, appellant’s invention is disclosed as follows:

I have now discovered that if instead of selecting the fine particles from a classifying operation, I select the coarse particles — that is, those coarser than about 2n diameter — and subject them to a process of delamination by extrusion under controlled critical conditions of moisture content and pressure, I obtain a product from these delaminated coarse kaolin particles which is surprisingly brighter and whiter than I can obtain from the naturally fine particles themselves.
In addition, while the mere mechanical disintegration of the large kaolin particles produces, by itself, an exceptionally bright product, this product is susceptible to further chemical color improvement, and the combination yields a product of unique brightness and whiteness.

The “coarse” particles of larger than 2 microns diameter were previously known to be vermicular stacks of plates.5 The individual plates of the stacks are separated, in appellant’s own terms, or “delaminated,” by the plastic shearing pressure in the extrusion step to expose the unstained interior faces of the individual plates.6

Representative claims 30 and 33 on appeal read:

30. A method of improving the whiteness of washed kaolin comprising the steps of:
(1) forming a slurry of said kaolin,
(2) fractionating the kaolin to obtain a coarse particle fraction having at least about 80% kaolin stacks of greater than two microns equivalent spherical diameter,
(3) adjusting the moisture content of this coarse particle fraction to a percentage low enough to require at least about 350 psi pressure to extrude the mass through a %s" hole in a non-powdery form,
(4) subjecting the fraction to plastic shearing equivalent to that achieved by extruding the fraction at 350 psi pressure through a 94®" hole, and
(5) fractionating the resulting mass following plastic shearing to recover therefrom particles of less than two microns equivalent [1009]*1009spherical diameter characterized by a predominance of plate-like particles of increased whiteness as compared with the original clay.
33. As a new article of manufacture, a kaolin product resulting from the practice of the method of claim 30 and characterized by being whiter by at least two points in whiteness than a fraction of comparable fineness of natural clay, said whiteness being measured by the difference between percentage of reflectance at 400 millimicrons and at 700 millimicrons as compared with the original clay.

The remaining appealed claims are process claims generally similar to claim 30.

The Lyons patent relates to a method of treating kaolin to increase the percentage suitable for use in paper coating and other uses requiring particles of small size such as 2 microns or less in equivalent spherical diameter (e.s.d.).

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Application of Sanford C. Lyons
364 F.2d 1005 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1966)

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Bluebook (online)
364 F.2d 1005, 53 C.C.P.A. 1514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/application-of-sanford-c-lyons-ccpa-1966.