Putting aside Rossi for moment, I guess this has to be Piantelli's secret. Or one of his secrets. I do not think you are allowed to add red herrings to patents. (That is, irrelevant information or false clues as to how to make the thing work.)
I have read this several times. It seems to me that it means: 1. Take a sample of some ordinary nickel. 2. Choose any two isotopes, and enhance the quantity of them in your sample by "a desired proportion." I do not understand how such vague instructions can be considered sufficient "teaching" to be worthy of a patent. Perhaps if you are an expert and you read through the patent several times you could see what constitutes "a desired proportion" but I regard that phraseology as a kind of mind game: "see if you can figure out what I mean here!" I think the patent examiner should have instructed them: "tell the reader what two isotopes you mean, and what the desired proportion should be." - Jed
