Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wrighton (US
11,095,191), and in view of Aldridge (US 2007/0295557), Brown (US 20130039782), Ouwenga (US 2015/0337716), Takahata (US 2024/0322624), and Brogelli (US 2022/0163047).
As to claim 1, Wrighton discloses an oil slinger apparatus (116; Fig. 1B) comprising: a disc having
a center annulus disposed on a motor (Fig. 1B), inner diameter, outer diameter, and feed hole.
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Wrighton fails to disclose that the disc of the oil slinger is a metal disc.
Aldridge, however, discloses that an oil slinger (141) comprises a metal disc (Para 0052; Fig. 1G).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,
to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Aldridge to Wrighton in order to
provide exceptional strength, durability, and high melting points.
Wrighton fails to disclose a wherein the center annulus comprises a space between an inner diameter and an outer diameter with at least one feed hole in the space, and a keyway disposed on the metal disc configured to fit a key for aligning the oil slinger (116) to the motor (100).
Brown, however, discloses a center annulus and an annulus comprises a space between an inner diameter and an outer diameter with at least one feed hole in the space (Fig. 4).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,
to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Brown to Wrighton in order to allow for better oil flow.
Ouwenga, however, discloses a keyway (54; Fig. 4, Fig. 6, and Fig. 8A) disposed on a disc
configured to fit a key for aligning an oil slinger to a motor (Para 0035).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,
to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Ouwenga to Wrighton in order to
secure the oil slinger to the motor.
Wrighton fails to disclose that the oil slinger
apparatus (116) comprising an outer annulus, an impeller on the outer annulus with a vane around each
of the at least one feed hole.
Takahata, however, discloses that an oil disperser/slinger apparatus (170) comprises an outer
annulus, an impeller imprint on the outer annulus with a blade around each of the at least one feed hole
(Fig. 6).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,
to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Takahata to Wrighton in order to slinge the oil more effectively.
Wrighton fails to disclose that the impeller with a vane is imprinted.
Brogelli, however, discloses an impeller with vanes and blades is imprinted (Para 0054).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,
to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Brogelli to Wrighton in order to reduce the weight, size, and implementing cost of the oil slinger.
As to claim 2, the combination of Wrighton, Aldridge, Brown, Ouwenga, Takahata, and Brogelli discloses an annular groove (258; Fig. 12; Para 0117 of Takahata) in the outer annulus of the metal disc.
As to claim 3, the combination of Wrighton, Aldridge, Ouwenga, Takahata, and Brogelli discloses
that the metal disc is 3D printed (Para 0054 of Brogelli).
As to claim 4, the combination of Wrighton, Aldridge, Brown, Ouwenga, Takahata, and Brogelli discloses that the motor is an Electrical Submersible Pump motor (Col 1, lines 21-26; Col 5, lines 16-25 of
Wrighton).
As to claim 5, the combination of Wrighton, Aldridge, Brown, Ouwenga, Takahata, and Brogelli discloses that the vane around each of the at least one feed hole is equally spaced (Fig. 6 of Takahata; Para 0054 of Brogelli, which discloses the impeller further comprises vanes).
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As to claim 6, the combination of Wrighton, Aldridge, Brown, Ouwenga, Takahata, and Brogelli discloses that the center annulus aligns with a shaft on the motor. (Col 5, lines 58-60 of Wrighton, which discloses “In some implementations, the opening 108 can be formed and the fluid slinger 116 can be attached nearer the end of the shaft 106 in which axial opening 120 is formed.”; Para 0035 of Ouwenga).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ETHAN NGUYEN VO/
Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/CHRISTOPHER M KOEHLER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834