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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 18-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 18 recites the limitation "the step of correcting the planarity" the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-17 and 21 were allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: it is not known in the prior art to provide a correction apparatus for correcting a planarity of a metal strip advancing into a coating system for coating said metal strip with a layer of molten metal, said apparatus comprising: a last bridle roll of an annealing furnace adapted to modify a direction of a feeding path of the metal strip at the exit of said annealing furnace; only one sink roll, arranged downstream of the last bridle roll along said feeding path and inside a tank adapted to contain a bath of said molten metal, said sink roll being adapted to modify the direction of the feeding path of the metal strip inside the tank; a correction device for correcting the planarity of the metal strip, arranged between said last bridle roll and said only one sink roll; wherein said correction device comprises at least two motorized rolls arranged outside the tank, wherein a first fixed motorized roll of said at least two motorized rolls is distal from said last bridle roll in a fixed position with respect to the feeding path of the metal strip, said first fixed motorized roll being arranged on a first side of said feeding path; wherein said last bridle roll is also arranged on said first side; and wherein a second movable motorized roll of said at least two motorized rolls is arranged on a second side, opposite to the first side, of said feeding path, is proximal to said last bridle roll and movable along a trajectory which intersects a plane A, defined by rotation axes X, Y of the last bridle roll and the first fixed motorized roll, respectively, in an intermediate position between said rotation axes X, Y, so as to bend said metal strip in an opposite direction to a bending imparted by said last bridle roll and to perform a penetration on the metal strip which generates a localized plastic deformation opposite to that produced by the only one sink roll arranged on said first side of said feeding path as in claim 1.
The most pertinent prior art (previously cited as Takahashi et al., USPGPub 2005/0115052) teaches the it is known to adjust the bending of roll of sheet metal using an apparatus having a similar arrangement of rollers relative to one another and an annealing oven. However, the roll arrangement is not that claimed and would not be obvious to modify so as to provide the arrangement of the current claims which is provided to correct the planarity of the sheet metal.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW J BOWMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5342. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Sat 5:00AM-11:00AM.
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/ANDREW J BOWMAN/Examiner, Art Unit 1717
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