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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 April 9, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed April 9, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Lawerence “does not disclose or suggest that a hollow is formed inside the tube expansion body, that a moving rod extends through the hollow, or that a bearing having rolling elements is disposed in the hollow between an inner circumferential surface of the tube expansion body and an outer circumferential surface of the moving rod”.
While the Examiner agrees that Lawerence fails to disclose the bearing having rolling elements and now relies on the newly cited prior art of Mills et al to teach this feature, the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the rest of Applicant’s arguments. Specifically, as seen in figure 2, the moving rod is being designated by elements 16 and 27 and portion 27 of the moving rod extends through the tube expansion body 22. Additionally, paragraph 3 on page 2 of the machine translation provided with the final office action states “the projectile 22 is rotatably supported around a suitable bearing formed as an elongated cylindrical bushing 26…they are arranged so as to surround the shaft portion of the tool 28” which can be seen to extend into portion 16 of the rod. Therefore Lawerence does meet the newly added limitations directed to the hollow and the moving rod extending through the hollow.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-4 and 6-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawrence (JP 039239; cited by Applicant) in view of Mills et al (US 2022/0008781) and Jung (US 2018/0257124).
In reference to claim 1, Lawrence discloses an apparatus for manufacturing a heat exchanger including a refrigerant tube, the apparatus comprising
a moving rod (16, 27) configured to be linearly movable along a first direction [see figure 1],
a tube expansion body (22) connected to the moving rod (16, 27) so as to be linearly movable along the first direction, the tube expansion body being configured to be inserted into a tube base material of the refrigerant tube such that the tube base material is expanded outward by means of pressing and rotations of the tube expansion body when the tube expansion body is moved by the moving rod to be inserted into the tube base material of the refrigerant tube, [see figure 3]
wherein the tube expansion body includes:
a taper portion (32) which narrows in a direction of insertion into the tube base material [see pg. 2 paragraph 4],
a cylinder portion (35) extending along the first direction [see pg. 2 paragraph 4],
a plurality of groove forming protrusions (41) formed on an outer surface of the cylinder portion (35) so as to extend along a direction inclined with respect to the first direction, the plurality of groove forming protrusions form a plurality of grooves (42) on the inner surface of the tube base material, when the tube expansion body is moved by the moving rod (16) to be inserted into the tube base material of the refrigerant tube while rotating about a longitudinal; axis of the moving rod [see figure 4],
a hollow [see figure 3] formed inside the taper portion (32) and the cylinder portion (35), the moving rod (16, 27) extending through the hollow [portion of rod 27 extends through the hollow as seen in figure 2],
at least one bearing (26) disposed in the hollow between an inner circumferential surface of the tube expansion body and an outer circumferential surface of the moving rod (16, 27) and configured such that the tube expansion body (22) is rotatable relative to the moving rod (16, 27) about the at least one bearing (26) [see paragraph 3 on page 2 of machine translation].
Lawrence discloses the invention substantially as claimed except for wherein the bearing includes at least one rolling element arranged along a circumferential direction of the hollow.
However, Mills et al teaches that it is well known to provide bearings where a rotating connection is desired and further teaches that bearings such as ball, sleeve, bushing, and roller bearings are known equivalents in the art [see paragraph 0030].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the sleeve bushing of Lawerence to be a roller bearing since they are well known equivalents for allowing a rotatable connection between a shaft and element mounted thereon.
Lawrence discloses the invention substantially as claimed except for wherein a plurality of groove forming protrusions are formed on both outer surfaces of the taper portion and the cylinder portion.
Jung discloses a tube expansion tool having a taper portion and a cylinder portion wherein groove forming protrusions are formed on the outer surfaces of both the taper portion and the cylinder portion for the purpose of gradually forming the grooves within the interior surface of the tube [see figure 7].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the outer surface of the taper portion of Lawrence to include the groove forming protrusions, as taught by Jung, in order to obtain the predictable results of gradually forming grooves within the interior of the tube while simultaneously expanding the tube.
In reference to claim 2, Lawrence further discloses the tube expansion body is configured to be rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the moving rod (16, 27) by the at least one bearing disposed between the tube expansion body (22) and the moving rod (16, 27).
In reference to claim 3, Lawrence further discloses the tube expansion body is configured to rotate in a first rotational direction when inserted into the tube base material,
each groove (41) forming protrusion of the plurality of groove forming protrusions includes a first end oriented toward a direction of insertion in to the tube base material and a second end opposite to the first end, and
each groove (41) forming protrusion of the plurality of groove forming protrusions is extended to slope with respect to the first direction from the first end to the second end along the first rotational direction of the tube expansion body, as seen in figure 3.
In reference to claim 4, Lawrence further discloses the moving rod (16) is elongated along the first direction, and has at least a portion disposed inside the tube expansion body through the hollow formed therein, and
the tube expansion body is configured to be rotatable around the portion (27) of the moving rod disposed inside the tube expansion body, as seen in figure 2.
In reference to claim 6, the combination of Lawrence and Mills et al further discloses the at least one rolling element includes a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the inner circumferential surface of the tube expansion body and the outer circumferential surface of the moving rod, and each rolling element of the plurality of rolling elements are arranged along a circumferential direction of the tube expansion body, as seen in figure 2.
In reference to claim 7, Lawrence further discloses the at least one bearing includes a plurality of bearings (57, 68), and the plurality of bearings are arranged along a longitudinal direction of the tube expansion body, as seen in figure 2.
In reference to claim 8, Lawrence further discloses the taper portion (32) which narrows in a direction of insertion into the tube base material, and the combination of Lawrence and Jung further disclose the plurality of grooves forming protrusions are arranged on an outer surface of the taper portion.
In reference to claim 9, Lawrence further discloses the cylinder portion (35) has a hollow cylinder shape,
the taper portion (32) extends from a first end of the cylinder portion oriented toward the direction of insertion into the tube base material, and
at least some of the plurality of groove forming protrusions are arranged on an outer surface of the cylinder portion [see figure 3].
In reference to claim 10, Lawrence further discloses the tube expansion body (22) includes
a first end oriented toward a direction of insertion into the tube base material,
a second end opposite to the first end,
a first hole forming at the first end and
a second hole forming at the second end, and the moving rod (16) extends through the first hole and the second hole, as seen in figure 2.
In reference to claim 11, Lawrence further discloses the moving rod (16, 27) includes a head portion (28) that is in contact with an outside of the firs end of the tube expansion body, and a width of the head portion is in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, as seen in figure 2.
In reference to claim 12, Lawrence further discloses the head portion (28) includes a first portion adjacent to the tube expansion body, and a second portion located on an end of the first portion oriented toward a direction of insertion into the tube base material, and the first portion is formed such that a width in the direction perpendicular to the first direction increases in a direction from the tube expansion body toward the second portion, as seen in figure 2.
In reference to claim 13, Lawrence further discloses the moving rod (16, 27) includes a pressing portion contacting an outside of the second end of the tube expansion body, the pressing portion is configured to press the second end in the first direction when the moving rod is moving in the first direction, and the pressing portion has a width in a direction perpendicular to the first direction that is wider than a width of the second hole in the direction perpendicular to the first direction.
In reference to claim 14, Lawrence further discloses the plurality of groove forming protrusions (41) are arranged at equal intervals along an outer circumferential direction of the tube expansion body.
In reference to claim 15, Lawrence further discloses the tube expansion body includes a rotating portion configured to be rotatable around the moving rod (16, 27), and a fixed ball (57) fixed to the moving rod, the fixed ball is located at an end of rotating portion oriented toward a direction of insertion into the tube base material, and the plurality of forming protrusions are provided on an outer surface of the rotating portion, as seen in figure 2.
Conclusion
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/Debra M Sullivan/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725
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