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 .
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.
Specification
The specification and drawings have been reviewed and no clear informalities or objections have been noted.
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 1-3 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 the limitation "the second end" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites “a second end of the reactor cylinder” in line 12. It is not clear if this “a second end of the reactor cylinder” is the same as “the second end of the reactor cylinder” from line 10. Clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Baxter (US 2020/0316547).
Regarding claim 1, Baxter discloses a device for controlled production of a gas from first and second fluid reagents that, when mixed, produce the gas and a byproduct (this italicized phrase states an intended use for the claimed device and does not further define the structure of the device, see MPEP §2111.02), the device comprising:
a reactor cylinder (see annotated Fig. 1A below);
inlets configured to supply the reactor cylinder with the first and second fluid reagents (Baxter is configured to inject multiple reagents into the cylinder, see paragraph 19 which discloses multiple components 42, 44 injected into the cylinder);
a gas discharge circuit (14) connected to the reactor cylinder;
a piston (16) inside the reactor cylinder, actuated from a first end of the reactor cylinder (see annotated Fig. 1A which illustrates an actuating end of the piston at the first end of the cylinder) to move axially inside the reactor cylinder to compress any byproduct against the second end of the reactor cylinder and to expel any gas through the gas discharge circuit (see Fig. 1A where the piston 16 is capable of compressing any byproduct against a second end of the reactor), wherein the gas discharge circuit is connected to the reactor cylinder near a second end of the reactor cylinder (see Fig. 1A which discloses a gas exit 14 located at the second end of the cylinder); and
a closure device (18) at the second end of the reactor cylinder, having a closed position sealing the second end of the cylinder (the closed position is when solid material is packed into closure device, see paragraph 22 which discloses how the closure end/outlets 18 become closed), and an open position fully freeing the second end of the reactor cylinder so that any byproduct in the reactor cylinder can be shifted out by the piston (an open position can be when there is no solid material packed into the opening).
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Annotated Fig. 1A
Regarding claim 3, Baxter discloses the piston includes a peripheral seal ring offset from a piston end, such that, when the piston is in a position compressing the byproduct against the second end of the reactor cylinder, a piston wall portion between the peripheral seal ring and the piston end of the piston faces an access port of the gas discharge circuit (as illustrated in annotated Fig. 1C below).
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Annotated Fig. 1C
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) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baxter (US 2020/0316547) in view of Roessler (US 2013/0309347).
Regarding claim 4, Baxter discloses a method for controlling the production of a gas, the method comprising the following steps:
producing the gas and a byproduct by mixing first and second fluid reagents in a reactor cylinder (see paragraph 4 which discloses a process in which two components enter the cylinder and a gas/vapor is produced along with a solid/byproduct via freezing of the solid and vaporization of the gas);
gathering the produced gas through a gas discharge circuit connected to the reactor cylinder (product gas exits via outlet 22, see paragraphs 18-19 which teaches exhausting the produced gas/vapor through outlet 22);
compressing the byproduct against an end of the reactor cylinder by a movable piston, while expelling gas remaining in the reactor cylinder through the gas discharge circuit (see paragraph 20-22 which teaches piston 16 compresses the produced solid/byproduct 48 against an end of the cylinder), wherein the gas discharge circuit is connected radially to the reactor cylinder near the end of the cylinder (see Fig. 1 C which illustrates gases exiting via a radially configured outlet 22 that is near the end of the cylinder); and
ejecting the byproduct through the end of the reactor cylinder with the piston (see paragraph 22 which teaches that the produced solids 48 exit through outlets 18 as a result of pressure from the piston 16).
Baxter, however, does not explicitly disclose fully opening the end of the cylinder. Instead, Baxter teaches expelling the byproduct/solid by extruding it through openings 18 via pressure from the piston.
Roessler also discloses a process in which a solid is compressed via a piston (see abstract).
Roessler teaches forming a compacted solid material in a piston (in this case, it’s a briquet) and then expelling it from the piston cylinder. Roessler teaches that this is accomplished by first compacting the solid, similar to Baxter, and then, unlike Baxter, Roessler expels the compacted solid by opening the end/bottom (24) of the cylinder that was utilized for pressing the piston against to compact the solid. See paragraph 68 which teaches that the compacted solid/briquet is ejected after compaction by opening/swiveling the cylinder bottom 24 out of the way and pressing the solid out of the cylinder.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to utilize an opening/pressing configuration to expel a compacted solid/byproduct, as taught by Roessler, in the process of Baxter in order to eject the produced byproduct solid of Baxter. Such a modification is nothing more than a simple substitution of one known solid ejection method of a piston for another to yield entirely predictable results.
Regarding claim 5, Baxter further discloses gathering the produced gas through a check-valve (gas is exhausted through check valve 22) ; and after compressing the byproduct and before opening the end of the reactor cylinder, venting gas remaining in the reactor cylinder through a low-pressure gas circuit connected to the reactor cylinder near the end of the reactor cylinder (gas continues to exit through the discharge valve 22). It is noted that Applicant has not claimed separate destinations or compositions for the claimed “produced gas” and “gas remaining in the reactor cylinder”, but rather states that they both exit the cylinder, which Baxter teaches.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 6-8 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art, Baxter, teaches an apparatus and method which separates material into a gaseous state and a solid state by manipulating the pressure inside the cylinder. However, Baxter regarding the composition of the first and second reagents and one of ordinary skill would not be inclined to modify a separation device into a reactor and supplying the claimed compositions. Furthermore, Baxter does not teach, nor would it have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Baxter to arrive at a configuration where the discharge circuits include a circuit with a check valve and a separate circuit with an operated valve.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J MERKLING whose telephone number is (571)272-9813. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8am-6pm.
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/MATTHEW J MERKLING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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