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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/3/2025 has been entered.
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.
Claims 101, 103-112, 118-124, 136-137 and 139 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vojnov [RU3079033, newly cited, machine translation provided] in view of Kobayashi [JP05-187588, of record, previously cited].
Vojnov discloses a pipeline (1 and 2) comprising at least one section of lined pipe comprising a liner (3) within a metal host pipe (1 and 2), the liner being welded to a fitting (sleeve 4) (pages 4-5 of machine translation). Vojnov discloses fitting the fitting (sleeve) to connect the portions of pipeliner (3) with an inductor (5) and satellites (7). Vojnov discloses a fitting and induction heating, but it’s unclear if the fitting is an electrofusion fitting with heating elements configured to heat by induction heating.
Kobayashi discloses an electrofusion fitting (1) comprising at least one heating element (induction heating member 12) disposed on or in an outer surface of the electrofusion fitting (1), the or each heating element being electrically isolated from an inner surface of the fitting and configured to heat an associated portion of the electrofusion fitting in response to electromagnetic induction (paragraph 0012, 0015, 0017; Figure 1). Kobayashi discloses an electrofusion fitting wherein the heating element is provided without electrical leads.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the pipeline of Vojnov by including a heating element arranged as described by Kobayashi on the sleeve in order to expedite and improve the efficiency of the induction heating and to improve the bond between the sleeve and the pipelining while minimizing thermal stress and potential leakage.
With respect to claim 103, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element comprises one or more coils (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 104, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element comprises one or more bands or loops (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 105, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element comprises one or more meshes or grids (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 106, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element is continuous (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 107, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element is discontinuous (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 108, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element comprises a plurality of particles embedded on or in the outer surface of the electrofusion fitting (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 109, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element comprises a metal (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 110, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element comprise a ferromagnetic material (Figure 1; paragraph 0017).
With respect to claim 111, Kobayashi discloses the at least one heating element is configured to produce one or more circumferential or annular welds between the electrofusion fitting and the pipe lining (Figure 1; paragraph 0012, 0017).
With respect to claim 112, Kobayashi discloses at least one heating element disposed at a first end of the electrofusion fitting and at least one heating element disposed at a second end of the electrofusion fitting (Figure 1).
With respect to claim 118, Kobayashi discloses a tubular sleeve (Figure 1; paragraph 0012).
With respect to claim 119, Kobayashi discloses a sleeve of thermoplastic material (Figure 1; paragraph 0012-13).
With respect to claim 120, Kobayashi discloses the fitting is configured for insertion into the end of a lined pipe section (Figure 1).
With respect to claim 121, Kobayashi discloses the fitting is configured to be received in a recess in the end of the pipe lining (Figure 1).
With respect to claim 122, Kobayashi discloses the fitting is configured to be received in a recess formed in an inner surface of the pipe lining (Figure 1).
With respect to claim 123, Kobayashi discloses the fitting is configured to abut the end of the pipe lining (Figure 1).
With respect to claim 124, Kobayashi discloses a fitting that is capable of being formed by an injection molding process. It is noted the claim is directed toward the technique used for manufacturing the fitting, it is not directed toward the structure of the fitting itself. Kobayashi discloses all of the structure of the fitting required by the claim.
With respect to claim 136, as discussed above, Vojnov in view of Kobayashi discloses a pipeline comprising at least one section of lined pipe comprising a liner wherein a metal host pipe, the liner being welded to a sleeve. Kobayashi discloses the sleeve (1) comprises one or more heating elements (induction heating member 12) disposed on or in an outer surface of the sleeve(1), the or each heating element being electrically isolated from an inner surface of the sleeve and configured to heat an associated portion of the sleeve in response to electromagnetic induction, wherein the or each heating element is provided without electrical leads (paragraph 0012, 0015, 0017; Figure 1).
With respect to claim 137, Kobayashi discloses at least one heating element at both ends of the sleeve (Figure 1).
With respect to claim 139, Vojnov discloses the sleeve (4) is welded to a fitting (10) (Figure 4).
Claims 113-116 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vojnov, Kobayashi, and further in view of Pionetti et al. [US2013/0114945, of record, previously cited, “Pionetti’].
Vojnov as modified discloses an electrofusion fitting. Applicant is referred to paragraph 4 for a detailed discussion of Vojnov as modified. Kobayashi discloses a fitting (1) with the same internal diameter of the opening though the fitting. Claim 113 requires an induction coil locator, in light of the written description and the drawings an induction coil locator would include the structure of a reduced internal diameter of the fitting (Figures 1-4 all show a reduced internal diameter at a central portion of the fitting). Vojnov and Kobayashi fails to disclose a reduced internal diameter which would be considered an induction coil locator.
Pionetti discloses an electrofusion fitting. Pionetti discloses the fitting includes the structure of a central portion (3d) that has an internal diameter that is smaller than the internal diameter of the other portions of the fitting (Figures 1A-1D).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the fitting of Vojnov to include portion of the fitting that has a reduced internal diameter as taught by Pionetti in order to improve the ability of the fitting to be located in a position to be welded and allow for the inclusion of additional materials around the outside of the fitting between the fitting and the materials to be joined to the fitting. The combination of the teachings of Barnes, Kobayashi and Pionetti would result in the fitting of Barnes having a portion with a reduced internal diameter which would be capable of performing the function of locating an induction coil.
With respect to claim 114, Pionetti discloses a portion with reduced internal diameter which creates a shoulder (for example between portions 3d and 3c: Figure 1A).
With respect to claim 115, Pionetti discloses a portion with reduced internal diameter which creates a recess (for example portion 3c is recessed from portion 3d: Figure 1A).
With respect to claim 116, Pionetti discloses a portion with reduced internal diameter is configured to locate an apparatus comprising the at least one induction coil at a predetermined position (Figure 1).
Claim 117 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vojnov, Kobayashi in view of Latvis [US2004/0083957, of record, previously cited].
Vojnov as modified discloses an electrofusion fitting. Applicant is referred to paragraph 4 for a detailed discussion of Vojnov as modified. Kobayashi discloses a fitting heatable by induction heating but fails to disclose a temperature sensor. Latvis discloses an induction heating system for heating a portion of pipe line including a temperature detector (54) which monitors the temperature of the induction heated pipeline and is coupled to a temperature controller (paragraph 0018). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the fitting of Vojnov to include a temperature sensor/detector as taught by Latvis in order to provide control over the induction heating and to improve the quality of the final weld produced.
Claim 138 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vojnov, Kobayashi in view of Reich [US4090899, of record, previously cited].
Vojnov as modified discloses an electrofusion fitting. Applicant is referred to paragraph 4 for a detailed discussion of Vojnov as modified. Kobayashi discloses an embodiment in Figure 1 where the heating element is located on or in the resin layer (11), and disclose an embodiment in Figure 2 where the resin layer (11) extends over the entire length of the sleeve. It’s unclear from Kobayashi if the heating element (12) is also located over the entire length of the sleeve on or in the resin layer (11) of Figure 2. In any event, Reich discloses a fitting wherein a sleeve (14) includes heating layers (16 and 18) wherein the heating element (13) extends substantially the entire length of the sleeve (Figure 1; column ,6 lines 15-34). Reich also discloses an embodiment where metal particles are used at the heating elements and are located substantially the entire length of the sleeve (64) (Figure 6; column 8, lines 26-42). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the sleeve of Vojnov by including the heating element over the entire length of the sleeve as taught by Reich in order to ensure heating and welding over the entire length of the sleeve thereby improving the quality of the final product.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Barnes and Dickenson have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on these references reference in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Newly cited Vojnov discloses a fitting (sleeve 4) and joining the fitting to the pipeliner with induction heating. Kobayashi modifies the newly cited Vojnov to include heating elements heatable by induction heating and provided without electrical leads.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL MCNALLY whose telephone number is (571)272-2685. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/DANIEL MCNALLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746
DPM
November 29, 2025