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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s submission of a response was received on 10 December 2025. Presently, claims 13-19 are pending.
The previous objections to the specification, drawings, and/or claims are withdrawn as moot in light of corrections made by Applicant.
Response to Arguments
Regarding Yu, the applicant argues that “The heat element 3 is not applied to the sides of the reservoir.” It appears that this argument is based on the round embodiment of Yu, nonetheless, there is nothing in the claims to prevent interpreting the lower angled wall as a “side wall.” Applicant further argues “this cold reservoir 4 does not have a tapered structure.” This argument is not persuasive, as it tapers at two separate portions, see annotated Fig 3 in the 103 section below.
With regard to Usui, Applicant argues that a wave breaker would only be installed within the cold reservoir. On the contrary, Usui has sufficient teaching, and one of ordinary skill has sufficient ordinary creativity to place a wave breaker anywhere that it is desirable to reduce mixing.
In Remarks filed 10 December 2025, at p. 8, the Applicant states, “The "wave breaker" was subject to interpretation under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f).” Applicant’s attention is drawn to the Office Action mailed 04 September 2025, which states at ¶13 “No claim limitations are interpreted under 112(f). In particular, "wave breaker" lacks a nonce term and cannot be interpreted under 112(f).”
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 15, “said heat sensor” should be corrected to –said at least one heat sensor--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (CN 2476237) in view of Li (US 2003/0010768).
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Regarding claim 13, Yu (CN 2476237) discloses:
A deep fryer assembly comprising:
a reservoir having a plurality of side walls (“wall” in annotated Fig 3 above, ¶9 “square or multi-faceted”) and an internal volume defined by the plurality of side walls, …
a resistance heater (¶10 “electric heating”) engaged with at least one side wall of the plurality of side walls (¶7 “the heater is arranged in the middle between the upper and lower parts of the pot body,” see Fig 1, heater 3 is on the conical portion. Fig 1 appears to show a gas heater, which would have flames coming out of the holes and extending at least upward. An electrical heater would apply heat in the same place and thus be on the diagonal wall, the upper part of which is identified as one of the sidewalls. The embodiment of the rectangular fryer shown in the figures is shown with an external heater, but the specification does not limit the type of heater to a particular shape.),
said resistance heater adapted to supply heat to the at least one side wall in order to heat oil from the at least one side wall into the internal volume of said reservoir (¶13 “directly heats the pot body,” see heater 3 on outside wall in Fig 1);
a cold reservoir (portion of fryer immediately below heater 3, starting at “cold reservoir taper 1” in annotated Fig 3 above) formed at a bottom portion of said reservoir below the internal volume of said reservoir, said cold reservoir having a tapered structure (see annotated Fig 3 above, “cold reservoir taper 1” and “cold reservoir taper 2”) with a wide dimension adjacent said reservoir and a narrow dimension away from said reservoir; and
a wave breaker (2, ¶7 “baffle”) positioned between (the upper portion of) said reservoir and said cold reservoir, said wave breaker having a grid structure (¶20 “net 2”).
Yu does not disclose:
said reservoir being formed of a cast iron material;
Yu is silent on the material of the reservoir.
Li teaches a fryer (¶10) with a deep well pot made of cast iron (¶27) wherein heat is applied externally by a resistance heater (40, ¶41) on the outside wall of the pot.
COMBINATION
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fryer of Yu by making the pot from cast iron because Li teaches that cast iron is an appropriate material for making an externally heated fryer pot.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (CN 2476237) in view of Li (US 2003/0010768) as applied to claim 13, and further in view of Chatagnon (FR 2730397).
Regarding claim 18, Yu as modified by the cast iron material of Li does not explicitly teach:
said resistance heater has at least one insulation material on an external surface thereof.
Yu discloses an “outer shell…provided with a heat preservation layer” (¶12) and an “insulation layer” (¶15) but does not disclose how the insulation relates to an electric heater.
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Chatagnon teaches a fryer with "flat, shielded electrical resistors, applied against the external faces of the side and bottom walls of the tank” (¶15), wherein there is insulation material on an external surface of the resistance heaters (see annotated Fig 7 above, ¶15 “The whole being thermally insulated by extremely high-performance insulation.”).
COMBINATION
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fryer of Yu as modified by the cast iron material of Li by adding insulation on an outer surface of the heaters, and of the pot, to reduce energy consumption required for maintaining a temperature.
Claim 13 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silvestri (EP 1795097) in view of Li (US 2003/0010768), Usui (US 2008/0041238), and Schmid (CH 588246).
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Regarding claim 13, Silvestri discloses:
A deep fryer assembly comprising:
a reservoir having a plurality of side walls (side surfaces 2 of body 20, ¶22) and an internal volume (¶20 “for being filled) defined by the plurality of side walls, …
a resistance heater (7) engaged with at least one side wall of the plurality of side walls,
said resistance heater adapted to supply heat to the at least one side wall (¶29-¶30) in order to heat oil from the at least one side wall into the internal volume of said reservoir;
a cold reservoir (21, ¶23 in addition to “cold reservoir taper 1” as shown in annotated Fig 1 above) formed at a bottom portion of said reservoir below the internal volume of said reservoir, said cold reservoir having a tapered structure (see annotated Fig 1 above, “cold reservoir taper 1” and “cold reservoir taper 2,” ¶26, ¶28) with a wide dimension adjacent said reservoir and a narrow dimension away from said reservoir; and
Silvestri does not disclose:
said reservoir being formed of a cast iron material;
a wave breaker positioned between said reservoir and said cold reservoir, said wave breaker having a grid structure.
Li teaches a fryer (¶10) with a deep well pot made of cast iron (¶27) wherein heat is applied externally by a resistance heater (40, ¶41) on the outside wall of the pot.
COMBINATION
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fryer of Silvestri by making the pot from cast iron because Li teaches that cast iron is an appropriate material for making an externally heated fryer pot.
Silvestri discloses that the “first channel 4 is arranged for promoting the decantation of solid fragments of the product suspended in the oil” (¶26). Silvestri futher discloses that the portion 21 is “arranged for containing, in use, a marginal quantity of the aforesaid liquid for frying” (¶23).
Usui teaches that frying accumulates “oil dirt and deep-fried batter balls” that can “adhere to food” (¶5), which affects the flavor of the food undesirably. Usui also teaches that such impurities “settle over time” (¶5). Schmid that the convection action in a fryer provides mixing (see Schmid Figs 1 and 2), which affects the ability of impurities to settle. Schmid teaches that it is desirable for impurities to settle to the bottom to be eliminated from the convection circuit and for the bottom layer to have zero velocity (¶4, ¶5, ¶10, ¶15). Usui teaches (see Fig 3) that the oil in a fryer forms a layer of hot oil above the heater (52) and layer of cooler oil below the heater. Usui also teaches a mixing prevention grid 62 made of vertically arranged plate pieces for separating layers (¶83) in a fryer. In Usui, the grid is used to prevent mixing of water and oil layers; the grid prevents disturbance and mixing to keep the layers separated (¶33, ¶82-¶83). One of ordinary skill can recognize that the grid is capable of preventing mixing of layers of fluid in various contexts.
COMBINATION
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fryer of Silvestri by including a mixing prevention grid between the hot oil layer at and above the heater and the cold oil layer below the heater to allow impurities to settle over time, so that they do not stick to the food.
Claims 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silvestri (EP 1795097) in view of Li (US 2003/0010768), Usui (US 2008/0041238), and Schmid (CH 588246) as applied to claim 13, and further in view of Chatagnon (FR 2730397).
Regarding claim 14, 15, and 16, Silvestri as modified by the cast iron material of Li and the grid of Usui dies not teach:
[claim 14]: at least one heat sensor positioned on an internal surface of said reservoir.
[claim 15]: at least one microprocessor connected to said heat sensor, said at least one microprocessor adapted to pass a signal to the resistance heater, the signal being an on signal or an off signal.
[claim 16]: said at least one heat sensor transmits data to said at least one microprocessor.
Silvestri is silent on any temperature controls.
Chatagnon teaches:
at least one heat sensor (thermal probe 13, see Fig 2 and ¶18) positioned on an internal surface of said reservoir.
at least one microprocessor (implicit in the disclosure of “program” in ¶18-¶19) connected to said heat sensor, said at least one microprocessor adapted to pass a signal to the resistance heater, the signal being an on signal or an off signal (¶18 "When this temperature of C is detected by the thermal probe 13, the power supply to the immersion heaters 4 is controlled, in addition to that of the flat resistors 11").
said at least one heat sensor transmits data to said at least one microprocessor (¶18, “When this temperature of C is detected by the thermal probe 13, the power supply to the immersion heaters 4 is controlled, in addition to that of the flat resistors 11").
COMBINATION
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fryer of Silvestri as modified by the cast iron material of Li and the grid of Usui by including a submerged heat sensor communicating with a microprocessor to control the heaters, as taught by Chatagnon, to obtain the benefit of precise temperature control.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Silvestri (EP 1795097) in view of Li (US 2003/0010768), Usui (US 2008/0041238), Schmid (CH 588246), and Chatagnon (FR 2730397) as applied to claim 14, and further in view of Du (CN 1907100).
Regarding claim 17, the Silvestri combination does not teach:
said at least one heat sensor has an one-tenth of a degree Celsius of sensitivity.
Du teaches a method of frying noodles, including an automatic control frying system that has temperature control precision of +/- 0.1°C, which provides the desired frying quality (132).
COMBINATION
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the heating system of the Silvestri combination to have the heat sensor with a sensitivity of one tenth of a degree, as taught by Du, to allow precise control for high quality frying.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TOPAZ L ELLIOTT whose telephone number is (571)270-5851. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ibrahime Abraham can be reached on (571) 270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TOPAZ L. ELLIOTT/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761