Description
SUBJECT MATTER AND ORGANIZATION OF THIS CLASS
This class provides for a hydrocarbon compound in a pure orrelatively pure state and for certain compositions containing hydrocarbons.Methods for making such compounds and compositions by synthesis,blending, etc., and certain methods for treating are also included herein.The scope of this class can be readily determined from a reviewof the "main line" subclasses of its schedule.These are arranged, in general, following the principles usuallyapplied in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for hierarchicallyordering statutory subject matter, that is, more complex subjectmatter or that which exists later in time is generally placed aheadof simpler or earlier subject matter. As applied to chemistry andchemical engineering this ordering is generally as follows:
A. Materials defined by structure.
B. Compositions or mixtures
C. Compounds or elements
D. Manufacturing processes, e.g., synthesis, etc.
E. Nonmanufacturing processes, e.g., purification, etc.
F. Manufacturing apparatus
G. Nonmanufacturing apparatus
This class is confined to categories B, C, D, and E of the abovelist.
At the heart of this class is the pure compound which consistsof carbon and hydrogen and no other element and which has a definiteempirical formula and an unambiguous structural formula.
The major portion of patents in this class is drawn to processesfor synthesizing such compound from other materials which are notthis exact compound, with the intent of recovering the hydrocarboncompound.
Also included in this class, with some exceptions, is a mixtureof hydrocarbon compounds, usually closely related in empirical andstructural formulae, which mixture results from a single synthesisstep, or a series of steps, which mixture is of utility as a mixture,e.g., a "detergent alkylate", a "polymergasoline", etc. The exceptions are discussed below.
This class also includes, again with some exceptions, a compositionwhich is a deliberate mixture of various hydrocarbons only, suchas a fuel or lubricant composition, or a mixture of a hydrocarbonwith a nonhydrocarbon material, which nonhydrocarbon material is designedto improve the general utility of the hydrocarbon. Thus, the nonhydrocarbonadditive may be a solvent, a preservative, etc.
This class also provides, again with certain exceptions, formethods of manufacturing compounds and compositions classifiableherein and for certain methods of purifying the same or otherwisetreating the same.