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 without traverse of Group I, claims 1-11, in the reply filed on 20 April 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12-17 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 20 April 2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description:
Reference numeral – 214 – does not appear within Figure 9 as suggested by the disclosure in paragraph [0029], lines 7.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). 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.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Paragraph [0013], line 8: A – comma – should be inserted prior to the term “such”; and after the term “waste.”
Paragraph [0014], line 5: A – comma – should be inserted prior to the term “such.”
Paragraph [0022], line 11: A – comma – should be inserted prior to the term “such.”
Paragraph [0026], line 8: A – comma – should be inserted prior to the term “such.”
Paragraph [0031], line 4: Reference numeral – 28 – should replace reference numeral “230.”
Paragraph [0032], line 8: A – comma – should be inserted prior to the term “such.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 9 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Re claim 9, claim line 1: One instance of the term “secondary valve” should be deleted.
Re claim 11, claim line 2: The term – includes – has been misspelled.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-11 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.
Re claim 1, claim line 8: The claim recites an evacuation and sampling assembly; but, the claim lacks any recitation regarding the connectivity of the evacuation and sampling assembly to any structure of the containment assembly. Thus, it is unclear how the evacuation and sampling assembly is connected within the containment assembly or where the evacuation and sampling assembly is located within the containment assembly.
NOTE: Claims 2-11 are rejected based on their dependence from independent claim 1.
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, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 9,151,428 (Brewer et al.) in view of WO 2021/119634 (Hovde).
With respect to the limitations of claim 1, Brewer et al. disclose a containment assembly (20), comprising:
a container/reservoir (24);
a lid/reservoir cover (22) connected to the container (24) through a hinge (26) (col. 3, lines 30-32) and configured to be positioned in an open configuration (Figure 3) and a closed configuration (Figures 1-2);
at least one testing device (flow meter assembly (200) measures the flow between a storage tank and a tank truck – col. 7, lines 1-11 and Figures 12-13) and may be placed within the reservoir); and
an evacuation and sampling assembly including a primary valve and a secondary valve (container (20) is provided with a cleanout assembly (120) comprising a primary/main valve (170) and a secondary valve (122) provided for evacuating contents from the reservoir (24) (col. 5, lines 23-29, col. 6, lines 29-32, and Figure 13); and a sampling assembly (180) comprising the same primary/main valve (170) and a secondary valve (184) to permit sampling of crude oil being transferred from a storage tank to a tank truck (col. 6, lines 32-41 and 51-53 and Figure 13)). Brewer et al. fail to disclose a tool storage device connected to the lid and positioned to support the at least one testing device.
Hovde discloses a containment system, comprising: a container (12); a lid (14) pivotally connected to the container (12) through a hinge (30, 32, 46, 60) and configured to be positioned in an open configuration (Figure 2) and a closed configuration; and a tool storage device (16) connected to the lid (14) (paragraph [0039], lines 4-6) and positioned to support tools used with the containment system. Modifying Brewer et al. with a tool storage device would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention as a means of containing the tools and testing devices used within the container.
With respect to the limitation of claim 4, the combination (Hovde) discloses that the tool storage device includes a floor portion and a wall extending from the floor portion (tool storage device (16) contains a tool support component (62) comprising a bottom wall (102) and a perimeter wall (104) – paragraph [0046], lines 1-3 and Figures 1 and 3).
With respect to the limitation of claim 8, the combination (Brewer et al.) further discloses that the secondary valve includes a distal segment rotatable with respect to the primary valve (the secondary valve (122, 184) located within the closeout assembly (120) and the sampling assembly (180) each comprise a distal segment (handle) that is rotatable with respect to the main valve (170) – Figure 13).
Claims 5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 9,151,428 (Brewer et al.) in view of WO 2021/119634 (Hovde) as applied to claims 1 and 4 above, and further in view of CN 110793812 (Wang et al.).
With respect to the limitation of claims 5 and 10, the combination discloses all of the limitations of the base claims, but fails to disclose that the at least one testing device is configured to be coupled to the wall of the container; or that the at least one testing device is a thermometer.
Wang et al. disclose a multifunctional water sample collecting device comprising a container (1) with a thermometer fixed on an inner wall of the container (Figure 1). Modifying the combination to couple the at least one testing device to the wall of the container would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention as a means easily measuring the contents of the container without having to remove the testing device, which could be lost.
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 9,151,428 (Brewer et al.) in view of WO 2021/119634 (Hovde) as applied to claims 1 and 4 above, and further in view of US 11,353,386 (Alsayegh et al.).
With respect to the limitation of claim 6, the combination discloses all of the limitations of the base claim, but fails to disclose that the evacuation and sampling assembly includes an elbow rotatable with respect to the container.
Alsayegh et al. disclose an apparatus for dispensing material within a sample receiving cup (12) utilizing a recirculation pipe (40) attached to an elbow (48) through a rotating fitting (52) and another elbow (50) forming a pipe outlet (col. 4, lines 28-33 and Figure 2). After dispensing the material within the receiving cup (12), rotation of the elbow joint (48) away from the cup (12) allows sample o be extracted (col. 5, lines 18-20). Modifying the evacuation and sampling assembly of the combination to include a rotatable elbow would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention as a means for improving the ability of the device to evacuate the container by allowing the suction means to be more closely moved to the liquid within the bottom of the container.
With respect to the limitation of claim 7, the combination (Brewer et al.) discloses that an elbow connects to both the suction line (124) of the cleanout assembly (120) and the container through a pipe (102) and main valve (170) (Figures 7-8 and 13); and to a sample tap (186) of the sampling assembly (180) through the same pipe (102) and main valve (170) (Figure 13).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 9,151,428 (Brewer et al.) in view of WO 2021/119634 (Hovde) as applied to claims 1 and 4 above, and further in view of JP WO2018110345.
With respect to the limitation of claim 11, the combination discloses all of the limitations of the base claim, but fails to disclose that the evacuation and sampling assembly includes a pressure gauge.
Japanese reference JP WO2018110345 discloses a water quality analyzer comprising a storage container (11) containing a bubble discharge line (L5). The bubble discharge line (L5) is further provided with a pressure gauge (Figure 1). Modifying the combination to utilize a pressure gauge would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention as a means of ensuring that the evacuation assembly is achieving the required predetermined pressure to evacuated the chamber.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Prior art was not relied upon to reject claims 2-3 and 9 because the prior art of record fails to teach and/or make obvious the following:
Claim 2: Configuring the at least the at least one testing device to suspend from the tool storage device within the container in combination with all of the limitations of the base claim.
Claim 3: Providing a hook configured to couple the at least one testing device to the tool storage device in combination with all of the limitations of the base claim.
Claim 9: Providing that the secondary valve secondary valve is a resilient tube configured to transition from a first, retracted position to a second, extended position in combination with all of the limitations of the base claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The prior art disclose various devices for collecting liquids and dispensing them.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL SEAN LARKIN whose telephone number is 571-272-2198. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Laura Sweeney can be reached at 571-272-2160. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL S LARKIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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