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 § 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(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koslow, as above, further in view of Evans.
Koslow (US 20020187302) teaches a method for absorbing a liquid comprising the step of: contacting an absorbent article with a liquid, wherein said absorbent article comprises a first substrate and a laminate, wherein said laminate comprises a mixture of binder particles and absorbent macroporous particles, thereby absorbing said liquid within said absorbent macroporous particles (claim 15).
wherein said absorbent macroporous particles are selected from the group consisting of: aerogel, xerogels, cryogels, and a combination thereof (claim 20).
Regarding claim 2, the particles can be formed using a blowing agent (See [0028]).
The aerogel and binder can be applied to one or multiple substrates as a laminate (see [0013-0014]). Regarding claims 2-6, the substrate may be a textile as claimed [0020].
Regarding claim 4 and 17, the aerogel is heated to cure as claimed (See [0031-0036]).
Regarding claims 7 and 18, the art teaches a laminate including a second substrate that can be non-woven and is considered a “protective layer” (see above cited areas); the article is “capable” of needling, and is pressed or bonded as claimed to form the laminate (See above cited areas and [0022]).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, the aerogel particles can be silica as claimed ([0032]).
Regarding claim 9, the particles or article can be hydrophobic (See claims).
The Binder is a small particle (Pulverulent) as claimed (See claims).
Koslow may not teach the percentages of aerogel or all the elements of some dependent claims.
Regarding claim(s) 16, at least, Evans (20130196137 A1) teaches a composite aerogel Thermal insulation (see title and abstract). The aerogel can be a pulverulent aerogel formed from 10-95% aerogel particle and a binder (See [0011] and claims). Comprising at least 2 layers ([0016]).
Regarding claim 3 and 16, Evans teaches joining aerogel layers with separate binder layers that is not mixed with the aerogel and (heat treating) curing to bond layers of a laminate (See claims and Examples).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill I the art at the time of filing to provide an overlapping percentages of aerogel or to provide just aerogel layers not mixed to form a laminate with thermal insulative effects and properties.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL H MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-1534. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 9-6.
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/DANIEL H MILLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783