Detailed Office Action
Applicant’s amendments and arguments dated 10/1/2025 have been entered and fully considered. Claim 1-7 are amended. Claims 9 and 11-12 are cancelled. Claims 8, 10, and 13-14 are withdrawn from examination. Claims 1-8, 10, and 13-14 remain pending.
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 .
Response to Amendments and Arguments
Applicant’s amendments have overcome specification/claims objections and the 35 USC 112(b) claim rejections previously set forth in the non-final office action of 7/3/2025. The objections and rejections are withdrawn.
Applicant’s argument regarding the secondary reference of KAGAWA not disclosing the original and amended limitations of claim 1 are not persuasive as detailed below.
Applicant states that the Examiner considers the inner shell of Kagawa to be the outer monolithic layer of claim 1, and being of a thermoplastic material. However, Kagawa, paragraph [0012] is silent on forming any other layer inside the inner shell. In paragraph [0012], Kagawa only discloses the outer shell as another layer of the pressure vessel, but this outer shell is formed on the outside of the inner shell and is furthermore not made of a thermoplastic material.
The Examiner did not consider the inner shell to be the outer monolithic layer of claim 1 (note that page 8, line 7/8 of the non-final office action noting “inner” was a typo and should have read “outer” as discussed below).
First, the primary art of KONDO discloses this monolithic layer outer layer as detailed in non-final office action of 7/3/2025. However, KONDO is silent on the type of its material. Second, KAGAWA, indeed discloses the outer monolithic layer being made of thermoplastic material {[0012] the 3rd paragraph in page 11 clearly teaches “the outer wall surface is formed of polyethylene”, note that PE is thermoplastic}.
Furthermore, KAGAWA clearly teaches that the inner shell is formed after the outer wall is formed and thus it is located inner relative to the outer shell {[0012]}. The Examiner maintains the 35 USC 103 rejection.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KONDO (JP-07310895-A and its English translation), in view of KAGAWA (JP-10332085-A and its English translation), hereinafter KAGAWA. Note that the italicized text below are the instant claims.
Regarding claim 1, KONDO discloses A method for the production, by means of rotational molding, of a boss-liner structure for a type IV pressure vessel from a material containing a curable raw material {[0001] note pressure vessel, [0003] note liner made of plastic thus type IV and plastic is curable, [FIG. 2] 4 is the boss, [0009] note rotational molding}, comprising the steps of:
providing a mold, for forming a liner comprising having a hollow body defined by an elongated cylindrical liner wall having opposed inner and outer surfaces extending between a first end and a second end of the liner, wherein the cylindrical liner wall comprises a cylindrical main portion, a rounded head portion and a neck-shaped end section cylindrical neck {[0009] note rotational molding requires providing a mold, [FIG. 2] note inside cylinder is hollow, 1/2 are opposing inner and outer wall surfaces, the two 4 are first and second end, 3 denotes the rounded head portion and 4 denotes the neck},
wherein the cylindrical liner wall has a passage opening near the first end of the liner, wherein the passage opening is determined by an edge of the liner {[FIG. 6] note the four vertical stems of liner 3/1 define the passage opening};
providing a boss having a boss bore extending axially through the boss, wherein the boss bore is determined by a cylindrical wall having an inner surface, and a flange projecting radially outward having inner and outer flange surfaces located opposite to each other {[FIG. 6] note 4/5 is the boss, the threaded portion 7 is the boss bore that is cylindrical with an inner surface 7, note 6 are flanges with inner (lower) surface and outer (upper surface) and the two 6 are radially projected opposite to each other},
wherein the boss is arranged so that the boss bore at least partially extends into an interior of the mold, and so that the outer flange surface faces the inner surface of the mold {[FIG. 6] note when made in the mold, the boss 4/5 was partially in the mold, thus received the molded liner 3/1/14 on part of it, note since the outer surface of flange 6 received the molded liner 1/3, it was facing the inner surface of the mold that created the strip 3/1/14};
providing a sealing element in the boss bore through the boss {[FIG. 6] note the two shorter inner vertical stems of 1/3 didn’t extend into bore 7, indicating that there was a seal that terminated them at that location};
filling a mold cavity in the mold with a first material {[FIG. 6] liner 1/3 is the first material};
heating the material to a first predetermined temperature; rotating the mold so that an outer monolithic layer of the liner is formed from the first material {[0009] note molten resin and flowing, thus heated and forms a monolithic layer},
wherein the liner is formed at the inner and outer surfaces of the flange and wherein the flange is integrated into the outer monolithic layer of the neck-shaped end section of the cylindrical wall {[FIG. 6] note the material of 3/1 surrounds the inner/outer surfaces of flange 6 and also inside the holes 9, thus completely integrated with the flange and the neck-shaped end section of the cylindrical wall};
and cooling the formed liner to a second predetermined temperature {note that after molding is done and in order to take out the object the mold is cooled to a second or room temperature so that the object can be obtained}.
KONDO, however, is silent on the first material being thermoplastic and forming at least another layer from a different thermoplastic material to obtain a layered liner.
In the same field of endeavor that is related to pressure vessel, KAGAWA, discloses thermoplastic, forming at least one further layer of the liner inside the outer monolithic layer, wherein the at least one further layer forms at least one inner monolithic layer along the cylindrical main portion, the rounded head portion and the neck-shaped end section of the cylindrical wall, such that the liner is a layered liner consisting of a plurality of monolithic layers of at least two different thermoplastic materials {[0012] the 3rd paragraph in page 11 clearly teaches “the outer wall surface is formed of polyethylene”, note that PE is thermoplastic), note creating multilayer wall by an inner layer of polyamide that is different from the first layer, also note that these layers are shaped to encompass the whole liner; thus, they comprise of the main portion, the rounded head portion, and the neck-shaped portion}.
At the effective filing date of the instant invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the teachings of KAGAWA in the method of KONDO and have selected the first material as a thermoplastic and have added another layer to the first material and thus have created a multilayer liner.
As disclosed by KAGAWA, these thermoplastic materials have very good gas barrier property and making them multilayer further improves the barrier properties {[0012]}. Therefore, an artisan would have been motivated to have incorporated these teachings in the method of KONDO to further improve the pressure vessel of KONDO in terms of its gas storage capability.
Regarding claims 2 and 3, KONDO discloses wherein the sealing element extends only partially into the boss bore so that the liner formed while rotating the mold extends into the passage through the boss (claim 2), wherein the sealing element is provided with a substantially semi-circular end part facing the interior of the mold and arranged in such a way that the axial position of an inner side of a neck of the boss corresponds to the axial position of a point of the semi-circular end part (claim 3) {[FIG. 6] note the two shorter inner vertical stems of 1/3 didn’t extend into bore 7, indicating that there was a seal that terminated them at that location or extending partially and thus created the passage and didn’t block opening 7, also note that all the shapes are semi-circular}.
Regarding claim 4, KONDO discloses wherein the mold is defined by an elongated cylindrical mold wall having an inner surface that extends between a first end and a second end of the mold, wherein the mold wall comprises a cylindrical main portion, a rounded head portion and an opening near the first end of the mold, wherein the boss is arranged so that the boss bore extends through the opening in the mold and is in fluid communication with the interior of the mold, and so that the outer flange surface faces the inner surface of the mold {[FIG. 2] note the shape of liner 1 that since it is made by a mold as detailed in claim 1, the mold has to have the claimed features}.
Regarding claim 5, KONDO discloses wherein the mold wall comprises a second opening near the second end of the mold {[FIG. 2] note the two 4 so one of the 4 is the second opening that the mold has to have this second opening to make this structure}.
Regarding claims 6 and 7, KONDO discloses wherein the mold is provided with a second opening in a second front end and the method further comprises: providing a second boss having a second boss bore extending axially through the second boss, wherein the second boss bore is determined by a second cylindrical wall having a second inner surface, and a second flange projecting radially outward having second inner and outer flange surfaces located opposite to each other, wherein the second boss is arranged so that the second boss bore extends into an interior of the mold, and so that the second outer flange surface faces the inner surface of the mold; and providing a second sealing element in the second boss bore through the second boss (claim 6), wherein the boss and the second boss are facing away from each other {[FIG. 2] note the two 4 are facing away from each other and making one of them was described under claim 1 and thus making the second one is the same}.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI whose telephone number is (571)272-1373. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-(alt Fri) 7:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abbas Rashid can be reached at 571-270-7457. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748