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 amendments filed 1/6/2026 are acknowledged. Claims 1-3 are pending.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/6/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Arguments filed 1/6/2026 are acknowledged.
The applicant argues that Pretorius does not teach the newly added limitations directed to the aluminum foil. The new limitations are addressed below.
As to the argument on previously presented claims 5 and 6 now moved into claim 1, the applicant points out potential benefits or differences in the structure; however, neither are required by the claim language itself.
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 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (CN 216337668)(English machine translation) in view of Li (CN214612510)(English machine translation), Sammons (US 2017/0095749), and Cunningham (US 4,332,214).
With regards to claim 1, Chen teaches a six face heating high temperature sterilization biological shaking table (elevated heat over enough time is capable of sterilizing)(abstract and fig 1 and 2) comprising: a box body (box about laboratory cavity 12) provided on one side with an opening (at front covered by box door 14) provided with a door body (box door 14) and a transmission mechanism (power assembly 3; fig 3). The transmission mechanism comprises a motor (33), a belt pulley (31), and two rocking shafts (shafts between the flywheel 24 and the stage 23; teaches three) wherein the two rocking shafts are rotationally arranged in the box body (shown in fig 2 above the partition wall 11 and in the box body forming the cavity 12; would rotate about the axis of the shaft 22 below the flywheel 24), a supporting plate (stage 23) is rotationally arranged between the ends of the two rocking shafts (would have some rotational movement around a center point) (fig 2 and para [n0031]-[n0033]).
A first mounting groove (drawer or slot of upper part of equipment cavity 13) is formed at a side wall of the box body (bottom side at partition 11), the motor (33) is fixedly arranged inside the first mounting groove, a belt (32) is connected with an end of a power shaft of the motor (shaft coming out of the motor) in a winding mode (when working), the other end of the belt is connected to an outer wall of the belt pullet (wraps around the belt pulleys 31) in the winding mode (when working in fig 2 and 3), the end of the belt pulley is rotationally inserted into an inner side wall of the of first mounting groove through a pin shaft (shaft 22 goes through the side wall formed of the groove at partition 11 and into the box body cavity 12 and can rotate; fig 2 and 3; also the belt pulley is inside the cavity formed by the sidewalls of the groove; fig 2 and 3) and the end of the pin shaft of the belt pulley rotationally extends into box body (into cavity 12 through the partition wall 11) and is fixedly connected with the end of one of the rocking shafts (is connected together via the flywheel 24) (fig 2 and 3; see whole document).
Chen does not teach that the box body is internally provided with an inner container and that the side surface of the inner container is composed of five outer sides each having a heating wire.
Li teaches an inner container (2) for use with incubators (abstract; para [n0004], [n0014]; fig 1) that has five faces with an open front (fig 1). The top and bottom outer sides are provided with a heating tube (1) in a serpentine pattern to provide more even heat to the inside of the incubator and thus avoiding local overheating (para [n0009], [n0014]) and fig 1). The heating tube is described as “a dry burning heat tube” which is taken to be a resistance heating element (para [n0006]).
A person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have added an inner container insert as taught by Li with serpentine resistance heating wires on the outer sides in order to provide more even heat when desired. As to there being heating elements on all sides, a person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to provide heating elements on all five sides motivated by an expectation of providing more heat and heat from all sides (more even).
Chen teaches a second mounting groove (bottom compartment of 13)at an outer wall (near the outer wall) and is internally provided with a circulating fan (heating assembly 4 has a fan 41) an inner wall of the second mounting groove is provided with an air inlet in communication with interior of the box body (inlet in the sidewall or the hole the pipe goes through to enter the interior box body chamber 12) (fig 2; para [n0029]).
Chen teaches an evaporator (electric heating sleeve 42 of the heating assembly 4; as a heater it can function to evaporate things) embedded into the side wall of the box body (in equipment cavity 13 taken to be in the bottom wall of the cavity 12), the inner wall of the box body is provided with an air outlet (16) in communication with ends of the evaporator (fig 2; para [n0029], [n0030]).
The combination does not teach that the heating wires are wrapped in aluminum foil.
Sammons teaches wrapping an electrical heating element in aluminum foil to form a heating element to heat a container on which it is fully attached and conformed to the shape for efficient heat transfer (abstract; fig 3 and fig 2; para [0024]). Cunningham also teaches a heating element sandwiched between aluminum plate (86) and aluminum foil (88) fully attached on the outside of a container being heated. The aluminum provides a uniform distribution of heat from the heating wire (fig 3, fig 7; abstract; column 4, lines 11-30).
A person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have wrapped the heating wired in aluminum foil and have the foil fully attached to the inner container (container being heated by the heating wire) as taught by Sammons in order to provide uniform distribution of heat (both Cunningham and Sammons).
The combination results in wherein the heating wires of the inner container (2) are wrapped in aluminum foil, and the aluminum foil is fully attached to the inner container (2), in order to ensure its heat can be uniformly conveyed to the interior of the box body.
With regards to claim 2, the combination results in a thermal insulating layer (heat insulation cotton covering heating tube; Li [n0007]) arranged between an interior of the box body and the inner container (is on the outer surface of the inner container) and the thermal insulating layer is made of a high temperature resistant thermal insulating material (heat insulation cotton which covers the heating tube and the device can achieve temperature of 180-190C; Li [n0007]-[n0008]).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (CN 216337668)(English machine translation) in view of Li (CN214612510)(English machine translation), Sammons (US 2017/0095749), and Cunningham (US 4,332,214) as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Vladimirovna et al. (SU 1075159)(English machine translation) and Nguyen (US 2020/0267876)
With regards to claim 3, Chen does not teach that the door has glass and a door liner where there door body is filled with the high temperature resistant thermal insulating material. Vladimirovna traches a thermal chamber with a door (2). The door has a window (3) and is thermally insulated (chamber 1 is insulated including the door as seen in fig 1) with an inner and outer wall (inner wall being a “liner”) (first large paragraph; see whole document). A person having ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have provided a door with a window in order to allow visual observation inside the chamber. A person having ordinary skill int eh art would have found it obvious to have provided an inner liner (inner wall) with the insulation material inside the wall in order to provide insulation and hold it in place to prevent heat loss through the wall of the door.
The combination does not specify that the window is glass. Nguyen teaches a heating chamber autoclave (abstract) and teaches that the door can have a window made of glass to allow light to pass through (para [0002]; fig 1). A person having ordinary skill in the art would have selected glass as the material for the window because it can withstand heat (be used in a heating chamber) and allows light to pass through.
Conclusion
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/DONALD R SPAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1799