Application of Lemuel D. Wooddy, Jr., and William D. Moore

ALMOND, Judge.

This is an appeal from the decision of the Board of Appeals which held appellants’ claims unpatentable because of a defective disclosure in the patent application. 1 The board found the disclosure both insufficient under 35 U.S.C. § 112 and apparently inoperative.

The invention relates to a method for creating a large cavern within a subterranean salt formation. The cavern may subsequently be used for storing liquid products such as petroleum. Prior to appellants’ invention, cavities had been formed in the salt formations (called “domes”) by water elution techniques wherein water…