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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 20, 25-26, 28-29 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by United States Patent No. 3610290 to Anderson et al. (Anderson).
With regard to claim 20, Anderson discloses a tube for transporting fluids in seawater (Anderson, title, abstract) comprising:
a tubular body (16, fig. 5, column 4, lines 51-54) formed of an alloy selected from duplex stainless steel, superduplex stainless steel, a ferritic steel (claim 2, low carbon steel) a martensitic steel or a nickel superalloy; and
a layer configured to protect the tube from hydrogen induced stress cracking arranged on an outer surface of the tubular body, wherein the layer is formed of an alloy having a copper content of 50 - 95 weight % and a nickel content of 5 - 50 weight % (claims 2 and 9, cupronickel alloy in which the claimed ranges overlap the compositional makeup of a cupronickel alloy);
wherein the tube comprises a metallurgical bond (column 3, lines 18-22), formed in the solid state, at an interface between the tubular body and the layer, wherein the metallurgical bond is formed by a hot isostatic pressing process for a predetermined time at a predetermined pressure and a predetermined temperature (This limitation is considered a product by process claim that does not further limit the claimed structure of the apparatus absent some evidence of a distinctive characteristic imparted to the claimed structure as a result of the claimed process. See MPEP section 2113. The tube of Anderson interfaces the low ferritic steel with the cupronickel alloy using the same mechanical process to create a metallurgical bond as set forth at column 3, lines 18-22.).
With regard to claim 25, Anderson discloses the tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 20 as set forth above, and further disclose wherein: the alloy of the tubular body contains nickel; and the nickel content of the alloy is at least 3 weight % (claim 2, cupronickel compositional makeup overlaps the claimed amounts).
With regard to claim 26, Anderson discloses the tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 20 as set forth above, and further discloses wherein the layer has a thickness of 0.5 - 25 millimeters (column 4, line 1).
With regard to claim 28, Anderson discloses the tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 20 as set forth above, and further discloses wherein the layer is obtained from a wrought sheet or wrought metal hollow cylinder (shown in the figures).
With regard to claim 29, Anderson discloses the tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 20 as set forth above, and further discloses wherein the layer is arranged so that it covers the outer lateral surface of the tubular body (shown in the figures).
With regard to claim 31, Anderson discloses the tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 20 as set forth above, and further discloses wherein the layer is configured to prevent microbial and/or other biological growth on the tube (the layer comprises copper which is configured to prevent microbial and/or other biological growth on the tube).
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.
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.
Claims 34-38 and (the following claims are rejected for the same reasons claim 34 is rejected below) 21-24, 27 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent No. 3610290 to Anderson et al. (Anderson) in view of Manufacturing copper-stainless steel composite tube by pressure bonding by Govindaraju et al. (Govindaraju) – provided by applicant in the IDS filed 27 September 2023.
With regard to claim 34, Anderson discloses a method for manufacturing a tube for transporting fluids in seawater comprising the steps of: providing a tubular body comprising an alloy selected from superduplex stainless steel, duplex stainless steel, a martensitic steel, a ferritic steel or a nickel superalloy; providing a sheet or hollow cylinder formed of an alloy having a copper content of 50 - 95 weight% and a nickel content of 5 - 50 weight%;arranging said sheet or hollow cylinder such that it covers an outer surface of the tubular body to form a tube assembly (as set forth in the rejection of claim 20 above);
perimetrically sealing the tube assembly, forming a cavity between the tubular body and the sheet or hollow cylinder; removing gas from said cavity; subjecting a tube assembly to a hot isostatic pressing process for a predetermined time in the range of 1-10 hours, at a predetermined pressure in the range of 20-200 MPa, and a predetermined temperature in the range of 500-1400 °C, thereby closing the cavity so that the tubular body and the sheet or hollow cylinder bond metallurgically to each other to form the tube (not disclosed).
Anderson discloses a preferred method of roll bonding the tubular body and hollow cylinder but also that any conventional method of metallurgical bonding between the layers could be used (column 3, lines 59-68).
Govindaraju discloses a method of metallurgical bonding between layers of a pipe that includes placing an inner cylinder of copper within an outer tube of ferritic steel, applying a high pressure gas system to the inner cylinder, placing the arrangement in a furnace and subjecting the cylinder and tube to heat and pressure to the yielding point of the inner cylinder such that the cylinder expands into the steel layer sufficiently to metallurgically bond the inner cylinder to the outer tube.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the process of Govindaraju to create the pipe of Anderson, in order to allow bonding of tubes longer than a few meters in which other bonding techniques are ineffective as indicated in the introduction section of Govindaraju. The resulting layered pipe has a longer service life than pipes created without using the process.
With regard to claim 35, Anderson in view of Govindaraju discloses the method for manufacturing a tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 34 as set forth above, and further comprising subjecting the tube for transporting fluids in seawater to a heat treatment chosen from solution annealing, quenching and tempering (Govindaraju, page 2, last line of first paragraph “Cooling was carried out by furnace cooling which was approximately 4° C per minute”).
With regard to claim 36, Anderson in view of Govindaraju discloses the method for manufacturing a tube for transporting fluids in seawater environment according to claim 34 as set forth above, and further discloses wherein the provided sheet or hollow cylinder serves as a hot pressing canister (when inflated with high pressure gas and subjected to elevated temperatures in the oven as taught by Govindaraju, the inner hollow cylinder presses against the liner to provide the conditions for metallurgical bonding).
With regard to claim 37, Anderson in view of Govindaraju discloses the method for manufacturing a tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 34 as set forth above, but fails to further disclose comprising removing material by machining from the tube for transporting fluids in seawater using lathing or milling.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to finish the surface of the tube after assembly using lathing or milling (well known surface preparation methods), in order to provide an aesthetically pleasing finished product.
With regard to claim 38, Anderson in view of Govindaraju discloses the method for manufacturing a tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to any one of claims 34 as set forth above, and Anderson further discloses wherein the provided sheet or hollow cylinder has a wall thickness of 0.5 - 25 millimeters (column 4, line 1).
With regard to claims 21-24, 27 and 30, Anderson discloses the tube for transporting fluids in seawater according to claim 20 as set forth above, but fails to further discloses wherein: the alloy of the tubular body contains nickel; the tubular body comprises a tubular body nickel depletion zone; and the nickel content in the tubular body nickel depletion zone is lower than the nickel content in the tubular body outside of the tubular body nickel depletion zone (21), wherein: the alloy of the tubular body contains nickel; the layer comprises a layer nickel depletion zone; and the nickel content in the layer nickel depletion zone is lower than the nickel content in the layer outside of the layer depletion zone (22), wherein: the alloy of the tubular body contains nickel; the tube comprises a nickel enrichment zone at the interface; and the nickel content of the nickel enrichment zone is higher than the nickel content in at least one of the tubular body outside of the enrichment zone and the layer outside of the enrichment zone, (23), wherein said nickel enrichment zone at the interface extends on both sides of the interface in a direction along a longitudinal center axis of the tube (24), wherein the alloy of the layer has a face center cubic (FCC) crystal structure (27), and wherein: said tube comprises traces at the interface between the tubular body and the layer; and said traces are formed by crystallographic mismatch(30).
The claimed characteristics relate to the process of creating the metallurgical bond between the inner tube and copper alloy protective layer. Applicant’s specification acknowledges the nickel depletion and enrichments zones and the traces at the interface between the tubular body and the protective layer are the result of the hot pressing process. As Govindaraju discloses the same method of metallurgical bonding, the resulting structure of Anderson in view of Govindaraju as set forth in the rejection of claim 34 above includes the same structure.
Claims 32-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent No. 3610290 to Anderson et al. (Anderson) in view of United States Patent No. 8708216 Berge et al. (Berge).
With regard to claims 32-33, Anderson discloses a subsea arrangement for transporting fluids in seawater comprising: a tube as defined in claim 20 as set forth above; but fails to disclose a cathodic protection means connected to the tube and arranged to subject the tube to a voltage for protecting an outer surface of the tube from corrosion, and wherein the cathodic protection means is arranged to subject the tube to a voltage in the range of less than 0 mV to - 1500 mV SCE.
Berge discloses a pipe sleeve that can be installed remotely on an undersea pipeline (Berge, title, abstract), that includes cathodic protection connections (claim 12). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include cathodic protection of the pipeline of Anderson as taught by Berge, in order to protect the pipeline from corrosion when installed in a subsea arrangement. It would have been further obvious to provide voltage in the range 0 mV to - 1500 mV SCE in order to provide sufficient current to the system to ensure the pipeline to be protected functions as a cathode.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID R DEAL whose telephone number is (469)295-9216. The examiner can normally be reached M-F generally 8-4 pm CST.
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/DAVID R DEAL/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3753