DETAILED ACTION
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 § 112
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 1-20 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. In claim 1, on line 12, “other treatments” is indefinite since it does not positively limit the metes and bound of the patent protection as desired. Correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 6, 10, 14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uy (WO 00/44967) in view of Bowman (US 4,598,011).
Uy discloses process for manufacturing and modifying a PTFE porous fiber with steps of presetting a blending device to a certain temperature, feeding the materials through a feeding port/adapter (71), blending, and controlling the melt temperature and the melt pressure to adjust the degree of PTFE fibrillation, page 15, lines 1 – 15. Further, extruding the blend melt through a die head/extrusion die, drawing/draw-rollers and stretching the blend melt into continuous filaments by a spinning apparatus (70) and adjusting the fiber size/linear density by adjusting the specifications of the extrusion die, the spinning speed and the temperature page 11, line 6 – page 14, line 35. Furthermore, the obtained PTFE porous fiber is air dried and annealed before collection, wherein the materials comprise a PTFE raw material/granular molding powder, page 15, lines 6- page 16, line 19. Also, the blend melt is conveyed through a screw extruder (103) However, Uy does not disclose removing a processing aid from the stretch fiber by feeding into a high temperature oven for removal by high-temperature ablation.
Bowman discloses high strength PTFE porous fiber stretched and formed through conventional process of being extruded thought a die having a processing aid/lubricant that is removed by drying, col. 1, lines 18-32. Further, the porous fiber is restrained from being stretched by placing it on a pinframe and immersed in salt bath, col. 8, lines 60-64.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the PTFE porous fiber of Uy can be provided with a processing aid being removed by drying on the PTFE porous fiber as taught by Bowman that can include but not limited to a high temperature oven for removal by high-temperature ablation, etc. in order to increase strength of the fiber or depending on end use thereof.
With regard to claim 4, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the blending screw extruder (103) of Uy when viewed with Bowman is a single-screw type and temperature of the blend melt is substantially higher than melting point to allow continuous flow though the screw extruder to prevent crystallization with increased viscosity and strength as required for a particular application or depending on end use thereof.
With regard to claim 6, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention the process of manufacturing PTFE porous fiber of Uy when viewed with Bowman having the extrusion die can be adjusted as required to adjust the size and macro-structure of the blend fiber as known in the textile art.
With regard to claims 10, 14 and 16, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the process of manufacturing PTFE porous fiber of Uy when viewed with Bowman will obtain a PTFE porous fiber.
Claims 2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uy in view of Bowman as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Barham et al . (US 4,360,488). Uy when viewed with Bowman does not show the processing aid being a polymer flowable at certain temperature.
Barham et al (hereinafter Barham) discloses a TFE polymer/polyethylene that is flowable at high elevated temperature being dissolved from an article, col. 3, line 46- col. 4, line 67.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the process of manufacturing PTFE porous fiber with the processing aid of Uy when viewed with Bowman can be provided with dissolving polymer as taught by Barham as an alternative but equivalent means of forming the PTFE fiber in a cost effective manner or as required for a particular application thereof.
With regard to claim 12, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the process of manufacturing PTFE porous fiber of Uy when viewed with Bowman and Barham will obtain a PTFE porous fiber.
Claims 3, 11, 13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uy when viewed with Bowman as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Humphrey et al. (US 8,728,372). Uy when viewed with Bowman the invention as set forth above except for the raw material/granular molding powder having a molecular weight of more than 1,000,000.
Humphrey et al, (hereinafter Humphrey) discloses PTFE material made of resin power
that has a molecular weight of more than 1,000,000 and less than 2 wt%, col. 5, lines 40-60
having one or more stretching agents (40) thereon, col. 8, lines 42-50.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the
claimed invention that the process of manufacturing PTFE porous fiber with the raw material
of Uy when viewed with Bowman can a molecular weight of more than 1,000,000 being coated
with stretching agents as taught by Humphrey in order to control the stretch of the fiber as
predetermined for a particular application or end use thereof.
Further, with regard to claim 11, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art
before the effective date of the claimed invention that the process of manufacturing PTFE porous
fiber with the raw material coated with lubricant of Uy when viewed with Bowman and
Humphrey can through routine experimentation have content of 5-50 wt%, etc. so that the fiber
has higher strength and durability.
With regard to claims 13 and 20, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the process of manufacturing PTFE porous fiber of Uy when viewed with Bowman and Humphrey will obtain a PTFE porous fiber.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7, 8, 9, 15 and 17-19 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 5, 7, 8, 9, 15 and 17-19 are allowable because the prior art does not teach or suggest the recitation therein including making a PTFE porous fiber in a cost effective manner through manufacturing and modifying process with a modifying filler being added and blended in step 1, where the modifying filler is directly added during melt blending to realize in-situ modification, and the modifying filler comprises one or more of a coloring agent, a flexibility modifying agent and the anti-bacterial agent comprises one or more of silver nanofibers, silver powder and zinc oxide; and the amount of the modifying filler is 1-50% of the total weight of the fiber; wherein the shape and size of the extrusion die is adjustable; wherein the stretching fiber-making device is a spinning roller equipped with a heating device, the drawing and spinning temperature is adjusted between 50-320*C according to the nature of the processing aid, the fiber diameter is adjusted by adjusting the spinning speed, the diameter of the stretched blend fiber is 0.5-5 mm, and the diameter of the PTFE porous fiber after removing the processing aid is 0.02-2 mm; wherein during the etching process, the processing aid is removed by washing and etching with a solvent according to the nature of the processing aid, where a polar or non-polar solvent is used for etching, the washing temperature with the solvent being 25-100°C, and the time is 1-12 hrs, which are determined according to the solubility of the processing aid in the solvent; the solvent is recycled by distillation, or the processing aid is removed by a high-temperature ablation process, where the ablation temperature is higher than the evaporation, sublimation and decomposition temperature of the processing aid, and the ablation time is 30-180 min, to reduce the residual amount of the processing aid in the fiber; wherein the solvent in the fiber from which the processing aid is removed is dried with a blower or a high-temperature oven; further, high-
temperature annealing is carried out for 5-120 min at a temperature that is higher than the
processing temperature and lower than the melting temperature of PTFE, and during the
annealing, a clamp is used to keep the fiber in basic shape, so as to avoid the shrinkage at high
temperature, or the fiber is twisted to improve the elasticity and toughness of the fiber and
improve its appearance and quality, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Each of the prior art references discloses convention method of making PTFE porous fibers.
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February 2, 2025 /TAJASH D PATEL/ Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 3732