In re Spohn

77 F.2d 768, 22 C.C.P.A. 1304, 1935 CCPA LEXIS 195
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedJune 3, 1935
DocketNo. 3507
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 77 F.2d 768 (In re Spohn) 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
In re Spohn, 77 F.2d 768, 22 C.C.P.A. 1304, 1935 CCPA LEXIS 195 (ccpa 1935).

Opinion

LenRoot, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a decision of the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office, affirming a decision of the examiner, rejecting all of the claims of appellant’s application, Nos. 11 to 20, inclusive, in view of the cited prior art. All of the claims are product claims.

Claims 11, 15, and 19 are illustrative and read as follows:

11. A ready-to-eat toasted cereal food containing vitamins in active condition and dried yeast.
15. A ready-to-eat toasted cereal food containing wheat, bran, and from 1 to 4% of'yeast, by weight, said yeast having, approximately 10,300 Chick & Ro'seoe units of vitamins per pound of dry yeast.
[1305]*130519. A toasted ready-to-eat cereal food containing vitamins of the B1, B2 and D groups in active condition and dried yeast.

The references cited are:

Thompson (Br.), 10,927, June 15, 1900.
Lauhoff, 901,455, October 20, 1908.
Travis et al. (Br.), 195,348, Complete not acc„ Application date, June 23, 1922.
Hooper, 1,557,053, October 13, 1925.
Kellogg, 1,569,861, January 19, 1926.
Steenbock, 1,680,818, August 14, 1928.
MacLean (Br.), 295,757, August 23, 1928.
Dass, 1, 708,914, April 9, 1929.
Placak, 1,764,085, June 17, 1930. •
Steenbock, 1,871,135, August 9, 1932.
“ Vital Factors of Foods ”• — Ellis & MacLeod, D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1922, pp. 77, 81 and 148.

As will be observed from tbe above-quoted claims, tbe application relates to a toasted cereal food containing vitamins in active condition and dried yeast; or, as construed by tbe Patent Office tribunals, and according to appellant’s specification, the alleged invention is a toasted cereal food carrying dried yeast containing vitamins in active condition.

The claims cover both ordinary and irradiated yeast. By tbe use of ordinary yeast, vitamins B1 and B2 are added to tbe toasted cereal, and, if tbe yeast is irradiated, vitamin D is also added.

It appears that in tbe ready-to-eat cereal food the vitamins naturally in the food are destroyed in tbe toasting process, appellant’s specification stating that such vitamins cannot withstand a temperature materially in excess of 120° F.

It is admitted in appellant’s specification that ready-to-eat toasted cereals were well known in the prior art. The problem solved by appellant was the imparting of active vitamins to toasted cereals. This was done by adding dried yeast, ordinary or irradiated, employing therefor a process with which we are not concerned in this appeal.

The references show, and appellant admits, that the functions of the vitamins which appellant added to the toasted cereal food, as a part of the intake of the human system, were well-known to the prior art.

The patent to Hooper teaches the use of yeast as a constituent of foods, particularly a food which is intended for infants.

The Dass patent combines yeast with peanut butter.

The British patent to Travis et al. discloses a food composed of skimmed milk, fat, malt extract, yeast and water.

The patent to Kellogg discloses a food in the form of flakes which may have added thereto a substance having medicinal qualities.

[1306]*1306The Steenbock patent, No. 1,680,818, states:

This invention relates particularly to a method of preparing antirachitic products of edible character, such as foods and medicines, and to the products obtained by such method of treatment.
The present invention is particularly concerned with the so-called antirachitic vitamin, but it is to be observed that it is possible to prepare food stuffs for man, and feeds for animals, possessing the properties, or principle, of two or more of the so-called vitamins. The same is true with respect to medicines.

He discloses the addition of antirachitic vitamins through the application to the foods of ultra violet or X-rays. He specifically refers to breakfast foods to which such vitamins may be added.

The Steenbock patent, No. 1,871,135, called a “continuation-in-part” of the application on which said patent No. 1,680,818 ivas issued, states:

The present invention or discovery pertains to a method of antirachitically activating cereals and cereal products, such as meals, starches, flours, breakfast foods, etc., and to the products obtained by such method of treatment.

This patent, like Patent No. 1,680,818, also deals with the addition of vitamins through the. application of light rays, and further states as follows:

For man, the use of activated cereals and cereal products has a direct value. Thus, the process is applicable to manufactured breakfast foods, starch, yeast, flour, meals, brans, etc.; and the general use of these substances in activated condition will tend strongly to improve health and prevent rachitis.
The process is applicable to grains, cereals, seeds, etc., generally, and to food products prepared therefrom. Grains, roughage, or mixtures thereof, may be irradiated and have imparted to them the antirachitic factor. Baked cereal products, dog biscuit, etc. may be similarly activated. Sterilization is not accomplished in effecting antirachitic activation.

The British patent to Lauhoif shows a process of spraying cereal flakes with a coating solution, followed by the drying of the flakes. The cereal is afterwards baked.

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Related

Application of Demarche
219 F.2d 952 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1955)
Martin v. Snyder
214 F.2d 177 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1954)

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Bluebook (online)
77 F.2d 768, 22 C.C.P.A. 1304, 1935 CCPA LEXIS 195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-spohn-ccpa-1935.