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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The “Summary” on page 2 needs to be edited, as it refers to claims 1 & 15,
On page 14, line 22, change “calicne” to –calcine--,
On page 14, line 35, change “direclty” to –directly--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 25, 27, 30, 33 and 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ghestem (4,071,310). The recitation that “a plant for thermal treatment of solid materials to decrease the content of heavy metal elements and/or other impurities” has not been given patentable weight because it has been held that a preamble is denied the effect of a limitation where the claim is drawn to a structure and the portion of the claim following the preamble is a self-contained description of the structure not depending for completeness upon the introductory clause. Kropa v. Robie, 99 USPQ 478 (CCPA 1951). Ghestem discloses a plant (SEE Figures 1 & 2) including at least one drying system (40), at least one preheating system (36), a reactor (12) for heating the solid material to a reaction temperature, a heat recovery system (3rd and 4th stages of 1st preheater, ie: single cyclones 3 & 4), a cooling system (14), wherein the reactor (12) includes only one reactor, the reactor being arranged to have both an oxidizing atmosphere (at kiln end 15) and a reducing atmosphere (at outlet 17), wherein the plant includes a hot gas source (13) arranged to provide hot gas to the reactor, wherein the reactor is a rotary kiln (column 2, lines 34-49) and wherein the hot gas source is arranged to heat the solid material and provide reducing gas by counter-current gas flow (as evidenced in Figure 1 and also in column 3, line 67 – column 4, line 17). In re claim 27, the examiner is interpreting the burner (13) of Ghestem as being the hot gas generator. In re claim 30, Ghestem discloses that the reducing atmosphere is arranged near the discharge end (at outlet 17) of the reactor and that the oxidizing atmosphere is arranged near the feed end (ie: kiln end 15) of the reactor. In re claim 33, Ghestem implicitly discloses that the reactor is arranged to heat the solid material to a temperature within the range of 500-1000 degrees C (SEE column 2, lines 50-62). In re claim 35, Ghestem discloses that at least one preheating system includes at least one preheater, and wherein off-gas exiting the rotary kiln is arranged to be led to the at lest one preheater (as evidenced by conduits 33-34 in Figure 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 26, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34 and 36-48 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY A WILSON whose telephone number is (571)272-4882. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7:00am-4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steve McAllister can be reached at 571-272-6785. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY A WILSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 February 11, 2026