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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Election/Restrictions
1. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-14, in the reply filed on 03/02/2026 is acknowledged.
2. Claims 15-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention(s), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/02/2026.
Status of Application
3. This application was filed on 05/02/2023.
Claims 1-20 were originally presented in this application for examination.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in this application for examination.
Specification
4. The examiner has not checked the specification to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors (grammatical, typographical, and idiomatic). Cooperation of the applicant(s) is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant(s) may become aware of in the specification, in the claims and in any further amendment(s) that applicant(s) may file.
Applicant(s) is also requested to complete the status of the copending applications referred to in the specification by their Attorney Docket Number or Application Serial Number, if any.
The status of the parent application(s) and/or any other application(s) cross-referenced to this application, if any, should be updated in a timely manner.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/31/2023, 10/10/2023, & 04/15/2026 have been made of record and entered. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements (IDS) have been considered by the examiner. An initialed copy of the IDS accompanies this office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b) (Second Paragraph)
6. 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 3, 4, & 12 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.
The instant claims recite “the inert gas is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, argon, methane, natural gas, hydrogen, steam, helium, ammonia, oxygen, and mixtures thereof”. It would appear that the “methane”, “natural gas”, “steam”, “ammonia”, and “oxygen” are not inert gases.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(1)
7. 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) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Day et al. (US 6,162,263), hereinafter “Day et al. ‘263”.
The claimed invention relates to a method for reducing decomposition of an aqueous sodium cyanide solution comprising the steps of:
passing an inert gas through the aqueous sodium cyanide solution to remove carbon dioxide from the solution, and/or
storing the aqueous sodium cyanide solution under an inert gas or under a vacuum (as recited in the instant claim 1).
Day et al. ‘263 discloses a process for preparing sodium cyanide (NaCN) wet cake by preparing a feed solution from caustic and HCN and placing the feed solution, containing approximately 31.3 wt.% sodium cyanide, into a vacuum distillation system, etc. The resulting NaCN crystals were separated from their mother liquor by vacuum filtration to remove water and impurities to obtain a wet cake containing about 83.2 wt.% sodium cyanide (see col. 5, Example 1).
Regarding claims 1-4, Day et al. ‘263 teaches to place the sodium cyanide- containing feed solution into a vacuum distillation system (see col. 5, Example 1), which appears meeting the claim limitation on “passing an inert gas through the aqueous sodium cyanide solution to remove carbon dioxide from the solution”.
Regarding claims 5 & 6, the reference teaches that the NaCN is contained in the aqueous sodium cyanide solution at 31.3 wt.%, which appears falling within the instantly claimed range of 15 to 45 wt.% and 25 to 35 wt.%, thus meeting the claimed limitation. See col. 5, Example 1.
Regarding claims 7 & 8, it is considered the claim limitation as further defined in these claims are inherently met by the reference and that the decomposition of the aqueous sodium cyanide solution would also be reduced by more than 90% as well in view of the same process step disclosed and claimed.
Regarding claims 9, 10, & 14, the claim limitation on “wherein all or substantially all of the carbon dioxide is removed from the solution” would inherently be met by the reference and all or substantially all of the carbon dioxide would also be removed from the solution as well in view of the same process step disclosed and claimed.
Regarding claims 11 & 12, Day et al. ‘263 teaches delivering of the metal cyanide (NaCN) product in a shipping container, which has been sealed prior to transporting the container (see col. 9, claims 14, 15, & 18), thus provides for a teaching of “storing the sodium cyanide paste, the sodium cyanide slurry, or the solid sodium cyanide under an inert gas or under a vacuum”. It is considered sealing of the metal cyanide (NaCN) in a shipping container would include “a vacuum” or under an inert atmosphere, which would meet the claimed limitation.
Regarding claim 13, Day et al. ‘263 teaches the wet cake obtained from the disclosed process contains about 83.2 wt.% sodium cyanide (see col. 5, Example 1), which appears falling within the instant claimed range of 25 to 100 wt.%.
The claimed method is disclosed by Day et al. ‘263, thus the instant claims are anticipated by the reference.
Citations
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. All references are cited for related art. See PTO-892 Form prepared.
US 2,255,107 (teaches a method for production of NaCN).
US 5,683,663 (teaches a method for treating NaCN).
US 10,843,931 (teaches a method for production of alkali metal cyanides (NaCN)).
US 11,053,131 (teaches a method production of sodium cyanide (NaCN)).
US 11,608,274 (teaches production of sodium cyanide (NaCN) solution).
Conclusion
9. Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1-14 are rejected. Claim 15-20 are withdrawn. No claims are allowed.
Contacts
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1357. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Cam N. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/CNN/
May 20, 2026
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