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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-2, 6, and 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over applicant’s cited CN 2318487Y, hereinafter CN’487, in view of applicant’s cited CN 103791148A, hereinafter CN’148.
Regarding claim 1, CN’487 (FIG 1) discloses “A stop valve, comprising: a valve seat (7) provided with a fluid channel (interior) and a mounting hole (top opening where 4 inserts), wherein the fluid channel communicates with the mounting hole (see FIG 1), and an extending direction of the mounting hole and an extending direction of the fluid channel are disposed at a preset angle (hole axis is 90 degrees relative to horizontal fluid channel);
a valve core (4) mounted in the mounting hole (see FIG 1), wherein a connecting hole (top opening of 3) is formed in the valve core (see FIG 1), and a first internal thread (thread of 3 that interacts with 1) is disposed in the connecting hole (see FIG 1); and
a plugging member (1), which comprises … a first external thread (outer threads of 1) matched with the first internal thread … and connected with the connecting hole through threads (see FIG 1)…”
CN’487 is silent regarding “a plugging member (1), which comprises a rod body part (31) and a covering part (32), a first external thread matched with the first internal thread is disposed on the rod body part (31), the rod body part (31) is connected with the connecting hole (21) through threads, the covering part (32) is disposed at an end portion of the rod body part (31), and the covering portion (32) protrudes out of an end portion of the mounting hole (12) and is able to enable the covering part (32) to abut against the end portion of the mounting hole (12).”
However, CN’148 (FIG 1) teaches a stop valve assembly analogous to CN’487, comprising a “valve seat” 1, “valve core” 10/11, and “plugging member” 11, the valve core having male threads to engage with female threads of the valve seat and having female threads to engage with male threads of the plugging member, the plugging member having a lower “rod body part” defining the males threads that insert into the valve core and an upper “covering portion” disposed at an end portion of the rod body part, and the covering portion protrudes out of an end portion of the “mounting hole” (top opening of 1) and contacts an end face of the mounting hole.
It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date, to modify the stop valve of CN’487 to have the seat/core/plug configuration of CN’148, such that the combination teaches “a plugging member (1), which comprises a rod body part (31) and a covering part (32), a first external thread matched with the first internal thread is disposed on the rod body part (31), the rod body part (31) is connected with the connecting hole (21) through threads, the covering part (32) is disposed at an end portion of the rod body part (31), and the covering portion (32) protrudes out of an end portion of the mounting hole (12) and is able to enable the covering part (32) to abut against the end portion of the mounting hole (12)”, to provide an assembly that achieves the same expected result of CN’148 (plugged valve assembly/access opening having a security) having a lower shape profile (by virtue of the core and seat being vertically flush, as opposed to the core extending out of the seat in CN’487).
Regarding claim 2, CN’148 (FIG 1) as applied to claim 1 further teaches “wherein the end portion of the mounting hole (top of 1) is provided with a first sealing plane (end face of top of 1), the covering part (11) is a cover plate (11 seen to be plate-like), the cover plate is provided with a second sealing plane (bottom outer surface of 11 that engages top of 10/1), and the first sealing plane and the second sealing plane are oppositely disposed (see FIG 1).”
Regarding claim 6, CN’148 (FIG 1) as applied to claim 1 further teaches “wherein the covering part (top flange of 11) is a round cover plate (seen to be round from FIG 1) or a polygonal cover plate.”
Regarding claim 9, CN’487 (FIG 1) discloses “wherein an included angle between the extending direction of the fluid channel and the extending direction of the mounting hole is smaller than or equal to 90 (angle seen to be 90 degrees).”
Regarding claim 10, CN’148 (FIG 1) as applied to claim 1 further teaches “wherein a second external thread is disposed on the valve core (male threads of 10), a second internal thread matched with the second external thread is disposed in the mounting hole (female threads of 1), and the valve core is connected with the valve seat by threads (see FIG 1).”
Regarding claim 11, CN’487 (FIG 1) discloses “wherein the stop valve comprises a connecting pipe ,the connecting pipe is connected with the valve seat (while not illustrated outright, it is clearly evidenced by the female threads in the left and right openings of 7 that connecting pipes are screwed into the left and right of 7 when it is installed in a system).”
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN’487/CN’148, in view of applicant’s cited JP 2001153103A, hereinafter JP’103.
Regarding claim 3, CN’487/CN’148 as combined in claim 1 are silent regarding “further comprising: a sealing member disposed between the end portion of the mounting hole and the covering part.”
However, JP’103 (FIGs 5-6) teaches a stop valve assembly analogous to CN’487/’148, comprising a “plugging member” 39/39c having a “sealing member” 40 disposed between an end portion of a “mounting hole (top opening of 31a)” and the covering part 39c.
It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date, to modify the assembly of CN’487/’148 with “a sealing member disposed between the end portion of the mounting hole and the covering part”, as taught by JP’103, to provide a fluid-tight seal at the connection.
Regarding claim 4, JP’103 (FIG 1) as applied to claim 1 further teaches “wherein the sealing member (40) is an annular sealing ring which sleeves the rod body part (39b).”
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN’487/CN’148, in view of Parker (US 3830464).
CN’487/CN’148 as combined in claim 1 are silent regarding “wherein the plugging member is made of a plastic material.”
However, Parker teaches it is known in the art of rotary valves analogous to CN’487/’148 to design the components from plastic material.
It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date, to design the valve of CN’487/’148 from plastic as taught by Parker, such that the combination teaches “wherein the plugging member is made of a plastic material”, as utilizing a known, accessible material to design a device achieving the same expected result (rotary valve) would be within routine skill in the art.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN’487/CN’148, in view of Minnella (US 20110036421).
CN’487/CN’148 as combined in claim 1 are silent regarding “wherein the first internal thread and the first external thread are both of a counterclockwise thread structure.”
However, Minnella (FIGs 1-4) teaches a threaded connection analogous to the threaded connection of CN’487/CN’148 having a reverse-threaded (read on “counterclockwise thread”) configuration (paragraph 25).
It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date, to design the valve of CN’487/’148 with a reverse-threaded configuration as taught by Minnella, such that the combination teaches “wherein the first internal thread and the first external thread are both of a counterclockwise thread structure”, to provide a thread that can be disengaged (between the plug and core) without disengaging the second thread pair (between the core and seat), as is known in the art of reverse-threading.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 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:
Regarding claim 8, closest art of record CN’487/CN’148 is silent regarding “wherein the connecting hole (21) comprises a first hole section (211) and a second hole section (212) which are connected with each other, the first internal thread is located at the first hole section (211), the second hole section (212) is located on a side, away from the covering part (32), of the first hole section (211), and a cross section of the second hole section (212) is of a polygonal hole structure” in the context of intervening claim 1.
No prior art remedies the deficiencies of CN’487/CN’148, and the modification in theory is nonobvious as it would require undue hindsight reasoning.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Devices similar to the application are disclosed by Weise (US 3228655), Vater (US 3175573), and Simonelli (US 4687181).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK C WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)431-0767. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:00 PM.
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/PATRICK C WILLIAMS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753