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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/24/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Amendment to claims of 10/24/2024 is acknowledged.
Specification objections in the Office action of 05/06/2025 are withdrawn.
Claim objections in the Office action of 05/06/2025 are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Balsells (U.S. Pub. App. 2018-0119857).
For claim 20, Balsells discloses, in Figures 1-5, a seal assembly comprising:
a seal element (120) having an inside flange (178), an outside flange (132), and a center channel section located between the inside flange and the outside flange (Figure 1);
a deck (122, 188) extending from an outer flange extension (Radially outer most portion of deck 188, as shown below.) and an inner flange extension (As shown below.) and projecting into a space between the outside flange (178) and the inside flange (132) and together defining a spring cavity (Space where spring 124 is disposed defines the spring cavity.) with the inside flange, the outside flange (132) and deck (188) being mechanically engaged to one another (As shown below. Radial and axial movement of the deck is limited by the mechanical engagement. Figure 1); and
a canted coil spring (124, para. [0093]) located in the spring cavity and biasing against the deck and the inside flange (Figure 1. Para. [0069, 0101]); and
an excluder at an end of the center channel section with a flat or blunt tip (As shown below.)
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For claim 22, Balsells discloses the seal assembly of claim 21, further comprising a cylinder (102) having a bore (104), and wherein the outer flange extension is pressed against an interior of the bore (Outer flange extension is pressed against an interior of the bore via 132. Figure 1.)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 allowed.
Claim 21 is 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
Prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and provides examples of similar inventions. There are no suggestions in the prior art of record for combining any of the references to arrive at as claimed. A few of the prior art cited but not applied includes Duong et al. (U.S. Pub. App. 2020-00208743) with seal element 102, inside flange 104, outside flange 106, and spring 120; Dilmaghanian et al. (U.S. Pub. App. 2018-0112778) with seal element 112, deck 114, and spring 116; and Balsells (U.S. Pub. App. 2016-0223086) with seal 104, deck 106, and spring 140.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN CUMAR whose telephone number is (571)270-3112. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST.
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/NATHAN CUMAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675