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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group II, claims 11-2- in the reply filed on 7/22/26 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated (Applicant described it as conventional. See para. 17). See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 11-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al. (US 2019/0009327 A1, hereinafter Qiao) in view of Chen et al. (CN 107695306 A, hereinafter Chen).
Re Claim 11. Qiao teaches an apparatus (Fig. 2-6, item 20) for casting metal parts, comprising:
a mold plate stack (Fig. 2) comprising mold plates (item 22) located between a cover mold (item 26) and a bottom mold (item 24), and a gating system including a casting header (item 28), down-sprue (item 32), at least one distribution runner (item 34), at least one up-sprue (item 36), and runners/gates (item 38) in fluid communication with mold cavities (item 40) configured to form the metal parts;
the mold cavities located in upper surfaces (Fig. 3-6) of the mold plates.
Qiao fails to specifically teach that the cover mold include at least one internal passage in fluid communication with the up-sprue and the down-sprue, the internal passage in the cover mold allowing trapped air to be expelled through an upper end of the down-sprue during a casting operation in which molten metal sequentially fills the down-sprue, the distribution runner, the up-sprue, the runners/gates, and the mold cavities in each mold plate, and after filling the up-sprue of each mold plate the liquid metal fills the internal passage and contacts the liquid metal in the upper end of the down- sprue of the cover mold.
The invention of Chen encompasses hub-shaped plate and casting method. Chen teaches at least one internal passage (Fig. 1, items 2 & 4) in fluid communication with the up-sprue (channel connecting items 2 and 7) and the down-sprue (item 8).
In view of Chen, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the invention of Qiao to employ at least one internal passage, since Chen teaches the advantage of using it, which is to improve product shrinkage and recues the labour of the grinding (P2). In Qiao in view of Chen, the at least one internal passage of Chen would be located within the cover mold of Qiao, since the cover mold is the top portion of the apparatus.
Regarding “the internal passage in the cover mold allowing…”: Since the apparatus of Qiao in view of Chen and the claimed apparatus are structurally indistinguishable, the apparatus of Qiao in view of Chen is capable of performing all the claimed functions.
While features of an apparatus may be recited either structurally or functionally, claims directed to an apparatus must be distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than function. A claim containing a “recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus” if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. See MPEP 2114.
Re Claim 12. The combination teaches wherein the cover mold is a 3D printed (product-by-process limitation) sand composition (para. 32).
[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process. See MPEP 2113.
Re Claim 13. The combination teaches wherein the mold plates have a plurality of up-sprues (Qiao, Fig. 2), the bottom mold has a plurality of distribution runners (Fig. 2) in fluid communication with the down-sprue and the up-sprues, and the cover mold has a plurality of internal passages (Chen, Fig. 1) in fluid communication with the up-sprues and the down-sprue.
Re Claim 14. The combination teaches wherein the internal passages (Chen, Fig. 1) include horizontal (item 4) and vertical sections (item 2), the horizontal sections extending radially outward from the down-sprue in the cover mold (Fig. 2), the vertical sections comprising vertically extending recesses (Qiao, Fig. 2, item 36 & Chen, Fig. 1, item 2) in a lower surface of the cover mold (Qiao, Fig. 2 with Chen, Fig. 1), each of the vertically extending recesses in fluid communication with one of the horizontal sections of the internal passages and one of the up-sprues.
Re Claim 15. The combination teaches wherein each of the mold plates is a circular sand mold plate having a central opening corresponding to the down-sprue extending vertically between upper and lower surfaces of the mold plate, at least two circumferentially spaced openings corresponding to up-sprues extending vertically between the upper and lower surfaces of the mold plate, at least two ring-shaped mold cavities extending into the upper surface of the mold plate, at least two circular recesses extending into the upper surface of the mold plate at locations such that each ring-shaped mold cavity surrounds one of the circular recesses, at least two runners arranged such that at least one of the runners extends from each of the circumferentially spaced openings and each of the runners/gates is in fluid communication with one of the ring- shaped mold cavities, the ring-shaped mold cavities configured to form valve seat inserts (Qiao, para. 6).
Re Claim 16. The combination teaches wherein each of the mold plates is a circular sand mold plate having a central opening corresponding to the down-sprue extending vertically between upper and lower surfaces of the mold plate, at least four circumferentially spaced openings corresponding to the up-sprues extending vertically between the upper and lower surfaces of the mold plate, at least eight ring-shaped mold cavities extending into the upper surface of the mold plate, at least eight circular recesses extending into the upper surface of the mold plate at locations such that each ring-shaped mold cavity surrounds one of the circular recesses, at least eight runners arranged such that at least two of the runners extend from each of the circumferentially spaced openings and each of the runners/gates is in fluid communication with one of the ring-shaped mold cavities, the ring-shaped mold cavities configured to form valve seat inserts (Qiao, para. 7).
Re Claim 17. The combination teaches wherein each of the mold plates is a circular sand mold plate having a central opening corresponding to the down-sprue extending vertically between upper and lower surfaces of the mold plate, at least six circumferentially spaced openings corresponding to the up-sprues extending vertically between the upper and lower surfaces of the mold plate, at least eighteen ring-shaped mold cavities extending into the upper surface of the mold plate, at least eighteen circular recesses extending into the upper surface of the mold plate at locations such that each ring-shaped mold cavity surrounds one of the circular recesses, at least eighteen runners arranged such that at least three of the runners extend from each of the circumferentially spaced openings and each of the runners/gates is in fluid communication with one of the ring-shaped mold cavities, the ring-shaped mold cavities configured to form valve seat inserts (Qiao, para. 8).
Re Claim 18. The combination teaches wherein the cover mold includes a central opening (Qiao, Fig. 2, item 30) extending vertically between upper and lower surfaces of the cover mold (Fig. 2), each of the internal passages (Chen, Fig. 1, item 3) including a horizontal section extending radially outward from the central opening and a vertical section extending vertically from the lower surface of the cover mold (Fig. 1).
Re Claim 19. The combination teaches wherein the horizontal section (Chen, Fig. 1, item 4) is formed by a passage having an inner end extending from the central opening and an outer end spaced inwardly of an outer periphery of the cover mold (Fig. 1), and the vertical section is formed by a recess (Qiao, Fig. 2, item 36 & Chen, Fig. 1, item 2) having a lower end extending through the lower surface of the cover mold and an upper end extending from the outer end of the passage (Qiao, Fig. 2 & Chen, Fig. 1).
The combination fails to specifically teach that the passage and the recess are cylindrical.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the invention of Qiao in view of Chen to have the cylindrical passage and the cylindrical recess, since one would use cylindrical shape to minimize turbulence of the molten metal flow.
Re Claim 20. The combination teaches wherein the mold cavities extend vertically into an upper surface of each mold plate (Qiao, para. 6).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
The rejections above rely on the references for all the teachings expressed in the text of the references and/or one of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably understood from the texts. Only specific portions of the texts have been pointed out to emphasize certain aspects of the prior art, however, each reference as a whole should be reviewed in responding to the rejection, since other sections of the same reference and/or various combinations of the cited references may be relied on in future rejections in view of amendments.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN E YOON whose telephone number is (571)270-5932. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 AM- 5 PM.
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, Keith Walker can be reached at 571-272-3458. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KEVIN E YOON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1735
7/24/2026
Prosecution Insights