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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim (KR 20080023001).
Regarding claims 1 and 2, Kim discloses a sprinkler fuse that includes bismuth from 32.8-49.6 %, tin from 12.7-24.52 %, indium from 33.88-39 %, and silver from .3-3.8 % (page 4 of translation).
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (KR 20080023001) as applied above.
Regarding claim 3, Kim discloses indium from 33.88-39 % (page 4 of translation).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to vary the parameters such as amounts to achieve a desired result. It is well-settled that optimizing a result effective variable is well within the expected ability of a person of ordinary skill in the subject art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980), In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 105 USPQ 233 (CCPA 1955). In the case, Kim discloses that indium has a very low melting point and is the softest of the metals disclosed. Thus one of skill would be able to use these properties to have varying amounts of indium to change the melting point or to use the softer metal to facilitate processing.
Claims 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (KR 20080023001) as applied above and further in view of Ball (20120048577).
Ball discloses a similar sprinkler fuse and indicates that it is known to use aluminum as an additional material in the fuse (0045).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include aluminum in the fuse of Kim since Ball suggests that aluminum is a known low-melting point metal for use in sprinkler fuses. It is also obvious to use various amount of the metals disclosed by Ball since Ball indicates that the alloys have the properties of melting upon activation by a fire. One of skill in the art would be able to determine which alloys and amounts would meet the activation temperature such that the sprinkler will activate.
Conclusion
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/AILEEN B FELTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734