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 with traverse of claims 2-14 be rejoined and submitted a new claim 15 in the reply filed on 09/23/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that new claim 15, which is a linking claim, overlaps in scope with claim 1, which is directed to the elected invention, inasmuch as both claims 1 and 15 recite an expansion tank. Furthermore, claims 3-5 and 8-14 depend from new claim 15 and therefore overlap in scope with claim 1. Claim 15 also links with claim 2, making no two- way distinctiveness to any claim. Accordingly, it is respectfully submitted that a restriction requirement between claims 1 and 2-15 is not proper under MPEP
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806.05(j). Moreover, there would be no additional search burden for claim 2, due to those features appearing in linking claim 15. This is not found persuasive because the new claim 15 combines features of Invention I (claim 1, elected: expansion tank) and Invention II (Claims 2-14, non-elected : cooling system for an traction system). The examiner will consider it improperly overlaps both restricted Inventions. This would violate MPEP 821.04.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim 2-14 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Invention II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 09/23/2025.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancellation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is improper under MPEP 821.04, and it is nonresponsive to the restriction requirement as it includes subject matter from both Invention I (claim 1, elected: expansion tank) and Invention II (Claims 2-14, non-elected : cooling system for an traction system) and the applicant must amend the claim 15 to be limited to the elected invention or cancel it.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 11/23/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vollmer (DE102009001871) in view of Hwekin (US PG Pub 2010/0132817).
As to independent claim 1, Vollmer teaches an expasion tank for a cooling system comprising: at least one inlet for a coolant oil (see annotated figure 1); a first outlet for the coolant oil (see annotated figure 1); a second outlet for a gas (7.1); and a connecting channel (see annotated figure 1) between the at least one inlet (see annotated figure 1) and the first and second outlets (see annotated figure 1), wherein, by a horizontal offset, one of the inlets (see annotated figure 1) for the coolant oil and the second outlet (7.1) for a gas are always arranged above the first outlet (see annotated figure 1) for the coolant oil in an installation situation in any operating state asshown in figure 1
However Vollmer teaches the claimed limiation as discussed above except wherein a filter medium for removing particles and/or water from the coolant oil is provided between the at least one inlet and the first outlet.
Hwekin teaches a filter medium (11) for removing particles and/or water from the coolant is provided between the at least one inlet (62) and the first outlet (64) as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of removing a portion of the particulate contaminants from the coolant even when the coolant filter is blocked while ensuring simple construction and reduced cost.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Koyama et al. in view of Vollmer by using said a filter medium for removing particles and/or water from the coolant oil is provided between the at least one inlet and the first outlet, as taught by Hwekin, to remove a portion of the particulate contaminants from the coolant even when the coolant filter is blocked while ensuring simple construction and reduced cost.
Conclusion
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/JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 October 16, 2025