DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
An amendment after Non-Final Rejection was filed by applicant on 12/01/2025.
No claims are amended.
Claims 1-20 are remaining in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/08/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the Non-Final Rejection on 09/15/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
7. As best understood by the examiner, claims 1-5 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by D1: EP 3677791 A1 (EC [JP]), cited by applicant.
Regarding claim 1, D1 discloses: a shaft seal arrangement (described as a seal system; however, the claimed recitation “for sealing a propeller shaft of a marine vessel” is merely considered an intended use clause, for which such a system is considered capable of), wherein such seal arrangement comprises: a shaft seal arrangement for sealing a shaft [1] (described as a rotational shaft; however, the claimed recitation “propeller shaft” is merely considered an intended use clause, for which the rotational shaft is considered capable of, especially since such system rotates an impeller [3] which is considered a fluid propeller), and a lubrication arrangement comprising a lubricant circulation line [30] for conducting lubricant to said shaft seal arrangement and for conducting lubricant from said shaft seal arrangement, a lubricant circulator [45] configured to create a flow of lubricant in the lubricant circulation line and in said shaft seal arrangement, and wherein the lubricant circulation line defines a first part downstream of the lubricant circulator and upstream of the shaft seal arrangement and a second part downstream of the shaft seal arrangement and upstream of the lubricant circulator, and the first part of the lubricant circulation line includes a connection line [31, 49] connected in fluid connection with the lubricant circulation line [30] downstream of the lubricant circulator [45] and upstream of the shaft seal arrangement, and that is connected in fluid connection with the second part of the lubricant circulation line so as to selectively conduct a part of the flow of lubricant past the shaft seal arrangement, at least one hydraulically operated pressure relief means [23, 27, 28, 51-53, 62] configured to control the flow of lubricant in the connection line, wherein said at least one hydraulically operated pressure relief means is configured to be operated by means of the lubricant circulating in the first part of the lubricant circulation line, said at least one hydraulically pressure relief means is configured to sense characteristics of the flow of the lubricant circulating in the first part of lubricant circulation line, and said at least one hydraulically pressure relief means is configured to be hydraulically operated by means of the lubricant circulating in the first part of the lubricant circulation line in response to the sensed characteristics of the flow of the lubricant circulating in the first part of lubricant circulation line. Regarding claims 2-5 and 8-10, all features including valves, tank, plurality of seal rings and lubricant seal chambers, are shown and described in the figures and corresponding written description (see Abstract, Specification and Figs. 1-6; including paras. [0093] - [0095] & Fig.3).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed with the amendment have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for the following reasons: In response to applicant’s arguments that prior art D1 does not disclose all features as specified in claim 1, medium pressurizing pump [45] constitutes the lubricant circulator for the claimed subject matter in the prior art, not pump mechanism [19]. The fact that pump mechanism [19] is also disclosed in addition to the medium pressurizing pump [45] for circulating lubricant does not negate that the medium pressurizing pump can be the lubricant circulator for meeting the claims. In view of above, since the feature representing the lubricant circulator as specified in the claims is feature [45] and not [19], the rejection (based on the prior art in its entirety and not just one figure) is deemed valid and therefore sustained.
Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claims 11-20 are allowed.
10. Claims 6 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
11. 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.
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL V VENNE whose telephone number is (571) 272-7947. The examiner can normally be reached between M-F, 7am-3:30pm Flex. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samuel J. Morano can be reached on (571) 272-6684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
13. If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Daniel V Venne/
Senior Examiner, Art Unit 3615
12/10/2025
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