Detailed Office Action
The communication dated 3/21/2024 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-8 are 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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 2 the applicant amended the claim. Originally the claim stated “bag contents is selected from binder, dry mortar, refractory material and filler.” This means that only one of the 4 contents needs to be present. The applicant then amended the claim to state “bag contents is binder, dry mortar, refractory material and filler” which appears to require all four to be present. The term “bag contents” is plural while “is” is “singular”.
Appropriate correction 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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. 5,224,595 SUGIMOTO et al., hereinafter SUGIMOTO.
As for claims 1 and 4, SUGIMOTO discloses a paper bag [pg. 3 lines 24-31 and 40-42] comprising a powdered formulation [co. 3 lines 57-59]. The whole bag can be mixed with water where it disintegrates [col. 2 lines 64-68]. The bag can comprise surfactants [col. 4 lines 30-37] which are disintegration aids.
As for claims 2 and 3, SUGIMOTO discloses the bag can comprise cement, mortar or the concrete itself [col. 2 lines 58-65]. SUGIMOTO discloses a concrete with fine aggerates, large aggregates, and cement [col. 7 table 2]. A mortar is concrete plus fine aggregates. The fine and large aggregates read on filler and refractory material (sand is a refractory material). SUGIMOTO discloses other fillers and refractory materials [coloring agents are also fillers col. 5 lines 1-5 while ceramic materials including white sand and rock wool also read on refractory materials col. 5 lines 10-15]
As for claim 5, SUGIMOTO discloses the bag can comprise cement [col. 3 lines 59-61] which comprises a base. SUGIMOTO also discloses the bases of aluminum and sodium hydroxide [col. 4 lines 53-55] as quick setting agents added to the contents of the bag.
As for claims 6 and 8, SUGIMOTO discloses the contents of the bag comprise components including bases and surfactants [col. 4 lines 30-37]. SUGIMOTO discloses the bag itself comprises a second component which assists with the disintegration of the bag, CMC [col. 2 lines 64-68 and col. 3 lines 18-20]. CMC helps the paper disintegrate [Table 1] in alkaline conditions of cement being present [col. 2 lines 46-50]
As for claim 7, SUGIMOTO discloses that the bag contents can comprise a water reducing agent which is a drying agent [col. 4 lines 15-21] and discloses calcium chloride [col. 3 lines 60-65] which is a drying agent.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY J CALANDRA whose telephone number is (571)270-5124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:45 AM -4:15 PM.
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ANTHONY J. CALANDRA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1748
/Anthony Calandra/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748