DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 11-13 and 15-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 10/28/2025.
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required: Applicant should amend the specification to include the limitation from claim 8 that “the solid portion has a length in a direction of flow therethrough that is 0.5 - 4, 1 - 2.5 or 1.1 - 1.5 times a diameter of the air inlet of the first stage air treatment member”.
Claim Objections
Claim 6 objected to because of the following informalities: the recitation of “the solid portion that is spaced from the end wall” should read --a solid portion that is spaced from an end wall of the first stage air treatment member-- as neither a solid portion or an end wall have antecedent basis within the claim tree of claim 6. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 9-10, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoo (US5205014).
Regarding claim 1, Yoo discloses A wet/dry surface cleaning apparatus comprising:
(a) an air flow path (the air flow path shown in Fig. 3) from a dirty air inlet (Fig. 3 the left side opening of element 16) to a clean air outlet (Fig. 3 element 15) with a motor and fan assembly (Fig. 3 elements 116 and 117) positioned in the air flow path (Fig. 3);
(b) a first stage air treatment member (Fig. 4 elements A, A1, A2, A3, A4, and B; 2:63-66) comprising an air inlet (Fig. 3 the right side opening of element 16) and an air outlet (Fig. 3 elements 110, 110b, 110c, and 110d);
(c) a second stage air treatment member (Fig. 4 element C, 3:55-4:4) downstream from the first stage air treatment member (Fig. 4);
(d) a partially treated air flow path extending between the first stage air treatment member and the second stage air treatment member (Figs. 3-4, 3:55-4:4, where the portion of airflow flowing upward through the interior of element 110 to element 111e which still contains "ascending liquid" corresponds to a partially treated airflow path); and,
(e) a valve (Fig. 3 element 110a) associated with the partially treated air flow path (Figs. 3-4, where the valve is located in the partially treated air flow path) and operable to close the partially treated air flow path based on a water level in the first stage air treatment member (Fig. 4, 4:16-21 and 5:54-58).
Regarding claim 2, Yoo discloses the limitations of claim 1, as described above, and further discloses the motor and fan assembly is positioned downstream of the first stage air treatment member (Figs. 3-4).
Regarding claim 9, Yoo discloses the limitations of claim 1, as described above, and further discloses the valve comprises a mechanical valve (Fig. 3 element 110a, 4:16-21, where "a float" corresponds to a mechanical valve).
Regarding claim 10, Yoo discloses the limitations of claim 9, as described above, and further discloses the mechanical valve comprises a float valve (Fig. 3 element 110a, 4:16-21, where "a float" corresponds to a float valve).
Regarding claim 14, Yoo discloses the limitations of claim 1, as described above, and further discloses the first stage air treatment member and the second stage air treatment member comprise at least one cyclone (Figs. 3-4, where at least the area of the first stage air treatment member which extends from the air inlet through to element A corresponds to at least one cyclone and at least the area defined between elements 111a and 111c of the second stage air treatment member corresponds to at least one cyclone).
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.
Claims 3-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoo (US5205014) in view of Conrad (US20200230622).
Regarding claim 3, Yoo discloses the limitations of claim 1, as described above, and further discloses the first stage air treatment member comprises a first cyclonic stage (Fig. 4 element A, 3:27-31) and the air outlet of the first stage air treatment member comprises a vortex finder (Fig. 3 element 110).
Yoo fails to disclose that the vortex finder comprises a screen and the screen has an interior volume which is part of the partially treated air flow path.
Conrad is also concerned with a surface cleaning apparatus and teaches the vortex finder (Fig. 2 element 208, 0276) comprises a screen (Fig. 2 element 212, 0276) and the screen has an interior volume (the interior volume defined by the screen (212) which extends to element 204) which is part of the partially treated air flow path (0276 and 0277, where the screen filtering "large dirt particles and debris" while still having a pre-motor filter downstream of the screen means that the air flow path in the interior volume of the screen is part of a partially treated air flow path). It 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 to modify the wet/dry surface cleaning apparatus of Yoo to have the vortex finder comprise a screen where the screen has an interior volume which is part of the partially treated air flow path, as taught by Conrad, because Conrad teaches that the screen is used to "remove large dirt particles and debris" from the air flow (0276), which examiner finds would increase the filtration capability of the wet/dry surface cleaning apparatus of Yoo by adding an addition filtration element which can filter out large particles in the case that the first stage air treatment member fails to filter out any large particles.
Regarding claim 4, Yoo, as modified, discloses the limitations of claim 3, as described above, and further discloses the vortex finder comprises a solid portion (Yoo, see annotated Fig. 3 below) located at an end wall of the first stage air treatment member (Yoo, see annotated Fig. 3' below) and the valve closes the solid portion (Yoo, Fig. 4, 3:3-8).
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Regarding claim 5, Yoo, as modified, discloses the limitations of claim 4, as described above, and further discloses the solid portion has an outlet port (Yoo, Fig. 3 element 110b) at a downstream end thereof (Yoo, Fig. 3) and the valve closes the outlet port (Yoo, Fig. 4, 3:3-8).
Regarding claim 6, Yoo, as modified, discloses the limitations of claim 3, as described above, and further discloses the screen is located at an inner end of the solid portion that is spaced from the end wall (Yoo, see annotated Fig. 3 and annotated Fig. 3’ above).
Regarding claim 7, Yoo, as modified, discloses the limitations of claim 3, as described above, and further discloses the valve is positioned in the interior volume (Yoo, Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8, Yoo, as modified, discloses the limitations of claim 3, as described above, and further discloses the vortex finder comprises a solid portion (Yoo, see annotated Fig. 3 above) located at an end wall of the first stage air treatment member (Yoo, see annotated Fig. 3' above), the screen is located at an inner end of the solid portion that is spaced from the end wall (Yoo, see annotated Fig. 3 above).
Yoo as modified fails to disclose that the solid portion has a length in a direction of flow therethrough that is 0.5 - 4, 1 - 2.5 or 1.1 - 1.5 times a diameter of the air inlet of the first stage air treatment member. However, pursuant MPEP 2144.04-IV-A, it 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 to modify the invention with regards to dimension or desired size (in this case, the length of the solid portion, the diameter of the air inlet, or both the length of the solid portion and the diameter of the air inlet) in adapting the wet/dry surface cleaning apparatus for a particular application, since such modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component, and a change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art. Examiner notes that Applicant does not discuss this limitation in the provided specification and therefore there is no criticality provided by the specification for this limitation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CALEB A HOLIZNA whose telephone number is (571)272-5659. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00-4:30.
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/C.A.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/MONICA S CARTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723