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 .
Applicant amended Claims 1 and 24-28. New matter rejections appear below.
Applicant is invited to contact the Examiner to discuss issues of clarity and hopefully advance prosecution.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I, including Claims 1-5 in the reply filed on 12/01/2025 is acknowledged. Because Applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
Receipt is acknowledged of a request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) and a submission, filed on 09/14/2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the language regarding an "equidistant" passage location in Claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “grasping element” in Claim 1.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-5 and 24-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites in Lines 5-6 “a plate of porous ceramic material defining a passage located equidistant from each respective opposed edge of each respective pair and configured to receive the tool.”
There is insufficient information in the disclosure to support “a passage located equidistant from each respective opposed edge” of “the filter having a rectangular shape including two pair of opposed edges.” The instant Specification contains no language regarding a location of a filter passage. Furthermore, a location of the passage is not clearly and unambiguously depicted in the drawings. The drawings are not to scale and a location of the passage cannot be assumed from what is not detailed in the instant Specification. Therefore, the recitation above constitutes the addition of new matter.
Claims 2-5 and 24-28 are rejected for their dependency on a rejected claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 and 24-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites in Lines 5-6 “a plate of porous ceramic material defining a passage located equidistant from each respective opposed edge of each respective pair and configured to receive the tool.”
In addition to the issue of new matter, the limitation regarding “a passage located equidistant from each respective opposed edge of each respective pair and configured to receive the tool” renders the claim indefinite for clarity. The language states the equidistant passage need only be configured to receive the tool and can therefore take on a number of arrangements in a three-dimensional aspect not reflected in Applicant’s Drawings. The alternatives include, but are not limited to, the two examples below:
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Claim 26 recites in Lines 1-3. “said head end is permanently attached to said shank and said aperture and said handle are removable from the shank.” The lack of grammatical separation between “said shank” and “said aperture” renders unclear whether the claim is indicating “said head end is permanently attached to said shank” only, or whether the claim is including attachment to “said aperture and said handle. Appropriate correction is required to present the claimed language with grammatical clarity as to which claimed elements are permeant or removable.
Claims 2-5, 24-25, and 27-28 are rejected for their dependency on a rejected claim.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/13/2026 were fully considered and were persuasive as to prior art rejections made 01/13/2026. An indication the claims are presently free of prior art appears below.
Claims Free of Prior Art
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Fig. 2, Yukihisa et al. ‘098
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Ross US 5932098 A Figs. 1-3.
The closest prior art to the amended claims is Yukihisa et al. JPH 05195098 A which teaches in combination a filter and a tool for installing and removing a filter from a molten metal filtration box, said tool comprising a shank, a head end secured to a first end of the shank, and a grasping element releasably secured to a second end of the shank, said filter comprising a plate of porous ceramic material defining a passage configured to receive the tool. A French press patent, US 5932098 A is cited herein to make of record that longstanding liquid filtration devices featuring a centered base plate, porous filter, shank or rod, and cylindrical shank sleeve and hub are well-known. However, even if the passageway of the shank of Yukihisa et al. ‘098 included an expandable gasket material, Yukihisa et al. ‘098 in light of additional prior art does not provide sufficient motivation for one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the art of a French press to arrive at the claimed invention. The prior art therefore does not teach or fairly suggest the claimed invention and the claims are presently free of prior art.
However, as set forth in the 35 U.S.C. 112 rejections above, the instant claims are not in condition for allowance. Ceramic filters are known in the art of molten metal filtration. The use of a lifting mechanism is known, as are the use of a shank, and the use of a porous filter.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US D475568 S1 teaches a cylindrical polypropylene lining on a French press shank.
FR 2348729 A1 teaches a Frech Press style sludge removal tank filter for electrochemical tanks.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MORIAH S. SMOOT whose telephone number is (571)272-2634. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am - 5pm EDT.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith Hendricks can be reached at (571) 272-1401. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Keith D. Hendricks/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1733
/M.S.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1733
