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 § 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.
Claim 14 is 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.
Claim 14 recites “…the interior passageway includes: a cylindrical portion…”. However, Claim 13 from which Claim 14 depends describes the interior passageway as “a non-cylindrical interior passageway”. It is not clear how the passageway is to be both cylindrical and non-cylindrical.
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) 10, 13-15, 19-21, 23, 25-27, and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over McCoy et al (US Patent No. 2,321,927) in view of Chase et al (US PGPub No. 2019/0085978) in view of Cornelsen (US Patent No. 3,749,529).
McCoy teaches:
limitations from claim 10, a pump comprising: a housing having a bore (cylinder 13); a plunger (3) configured to reciprocate within the bore; and a packing stack (1, 2, 6) engaged with the plunger (Page 1 C. 2 Lines 40-47); wherein the packing stack is configured to: permit fluid communication through the packing stack during the suction stroke of the plunger (Page 2 C. 1 Line 66 through C. 2 Line 11); and prevent fluid communication past the packing stack during the discharge stroke of the plunger (Page 2 C. 2 Lines 12-45);
McCoy teaches sealing rings (1, 2, 6), but does not disclose a shape of the rings such as concave and convex surfaces;
Chase teaches:
limitations from claim 10, a pump (100) including a casing (206) and a piston (202); a packing stack (204; FIG. 3) including male (304) and female (312) adaptor rings, and one or more V-rings (306-310) disposed between the male adapter ring and the female adapter ring (FIG. 3), each of the one or more V-rings having a concave surface facing the male adapter ring and a convex surface facing the female adapter ring (see chevron shapes illustrated in FIG. 3; paragraph 25-26);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of pumps at the time the invention was filed to substitute one known seal rings for another, such as the V-shaped rings of Chase for the rings of McCoy, as a matter of design choice in order to reach an expected result (in this case the sealing of a pump shaft bore; paragraphs 27-28 of Chase for example).
McCoy teaches a cylinder (13) and plunger (3) therein, wherein the pump reciprocates to move a well fluid (Page 1 C. 1 Lines 1-10), but does not teach inlet and outlet valves of the cylinder;
However, these are common components of a pump to allow intake and discharge of fluid from cylinders while allowing for buildup of pressure therein; see Cornelsen which teaches a pump (FIG. 1), cylinder (28), piston (36), and valves (24, 26) attached to the cylinder to allow intake and discharge of fluid (C. 2 Lines 32-59). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of pumps to include valves in the pump of McCoy in order to control the fluid within the cylinder (13) as taught by Cornelsen.
Regarding Claim 20:
McCoy teaches:
limitations from claim 20, a method comprising: retracting a plunger (3) of a pump (FIG. 1) that is slidably disposed within a bore (cylinder 13 and the bore formed by gland 23 and box 7; see FIG. 1) of the pump (Page 2 C. 1 Lines 67-68), the bore being separated by a packing stack (packing box 7) that is engaged with the plunger into a first chamber (~31) and a second chamber (~9, 14); where the retracting is performed such that fluid flows from the second chamber, past the packing stack, and into the first chamber (Page 2 C. 1 Line 66 through C. 2 Line 11); and extending the plunger within the bore to push fluid from the first chamber, and out of an outlet of the pump, during which the packing stack prevents fluid communication from the first chamber and into the second chamber (Page 2 C. 2 Lines 12-45);
McCoy teaches sealing rings (1, 2, 6), but does not disclose a shape of the rings such as concave and convex surfaces;
Chase teaches:
limitations from claim 20, a pump (100) including a casing (206) and a piston (202); a packing stack (204; FIG. 3) including male (304) and female (312) adaptor rings, and one or more V-rings (306-310) disposed between the male adapter ring and the female adapter ring (FIG. 3), each of the one or more V-rings having a concave surface facing the male adapter ring and a convex surface facing the female adapter ring (see chevron shapes illustrated in FIG. 3; paragraph 25-26);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of pumps at the time the invention was filed to substitute one known seal rings for another, such as the V-shaped rings of Chase for the rings of McCoy, as a matter of design choice in order to reach an expected result (in this case the sealing of a pump shaft bore; paragraphs 27-28 of Chase for example).
McCoy teaches a cylinder (13) and plunger (3) therein, wherein the pump reciprocates to move a well fluid (Page 1 C. 1 Lines 1-10), but does not teach inlet and outlet valves of the cylinder;
However, these are common components of a pump to allow intake and discharge of fluid from cylinders while allowing for buildup of pressure therein; see Cornelsen which teaches a pump (FIG. 1), cylinder (28), piston (36), and valves (24, 26) attached to the cylinder to allow intake and discharge of fluid (C. 2 Lines 32-59). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of pumps to include valves in the pump of McCoy in order to control the fluid within the cylinder (13) as taught by Cornelsen.
McCoy further teaches:
limitations from claims 13 and 25, wherein an adapter ring (6) has a non-cylindrical interior passageway (11-12) configured to facilitate fluid flow past the male adapter ring (Page 2 C. 1 Line 66 through C. 2 Line 11);
limitations from claims 14 and 26, wherein the interior passageway (11-12) includes: a cylindrical portion (10) extending through the adapter ring; and one or more flow-through portions (11-12) positioned along the circumference of the cylindrical portion, each: extending through the male adapter ring; and extending beyond the circumference of the cylindrical portion (see FIG. 3);
limitations from claim 21, wherein, during the retracting, fluid flows from an inlet of the pump, through an inlet check valve (17) of the pump, and into the first chamber (Page 2 C. 1 Line 66 through C. 2 Line 11);
limitations from claim 23, wherein, during the retracting, fluid flows from an inlet (~16, 17) of the pump and into the second chamber (~9, 14);
Chase further teaches:
limitations from claims 15 and 27, wherein the one or more V-rings comprises two or more V-rings (rings 306, 308, 310 of Chase);
limitations from claims 19 and 31, wherein: the female adapter ring (312) has a concave surface corresponding to and underlying the convex surface of a second one of the V-ring(s) (310) that is closest to the female adapter ring; and the concave surface of the female adapter ring has a transverse dimension that is at least 80% of a transverse dimension of the convex surface of the second V-ring (see FIG. 3 in which the concave and convex portions of elements 312 and 310 overlap almost entirely);
Claim(s) 16, 18, 28, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over McCoy et al (US Patent No. 2,321,927) in view of Chase et al (US PGPub No. 2019/0085978) as applied to claims 10, 15, 20, and 27 above, and in further view of GB 1,068,721 (herein Linwood).
Regarding claims 16, 18, 28, and 30:
McCoy and Chase do not teach particular resiliencies/elasticities of the rings;
Linwood teaches a packing seal (see FIG. 1-7) including a male adaptor ring (2), a female adaptor ring (11), and packing rings (13-14) in between (see FIG. 7); wherein the packing rings are formed such that their respective deformability (i.e. hardness/softness) is different from one another (see Page 1 Lines 13-19 and Page 3 Lines 18-20);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to form the packing rings of McCoy as modified by Chase to have varying soft and hard characteristics, as taught by Linwood, in order to create a seal having a function according to a particular usage (see Page 3 Lines 18-20);
16. (Original) The pump of claim 15, wherein the V-ring that is closest to the male adapter ring is more resilient than at least one other of the V-rings.
18. (Original) The pump of claim 16, wherein the V-ring that is closest to the male adapter ring has a yield strength that is at least 1.2 times the yield strength of the at least one other of the V-rings.
28. (Original) The method of claim 27, wherein the V-ring that is closest to the male adapter ring is more resilient than at least one other of the V-rings.
30. (Original) The method of claim 28, wherein the V-ring that is closest to the male adapter ring has a yield strength that is at least 1.2 times the yield strength of the at least one other of the V-rings.
Claim(s) 17 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over McCoy et al (US Patent No. 2,321,927) in view of Chase et al (US PGPub No. 2019/0085978) in view of GB 1,068,721 (herein Linwood) as applied to claims 10, 15-16, 20, and 27-28 above, and in further view of Rawicki (US Patent No. 4,178,133).
None of McCoy, Chase, or Linwood teach mixing of elastomeric and non-elastomeric Y-shaped rings in a packing;
Rawicki teaches:
limitations from claims 17 and 29, a pump (FIG. 1) including a plunger (48) about which a one-way packing seal (62, 64) is arranged (FIG. 4); having V-rings that are both elastomeric (78) and non-elastomeric (79);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of pumps at the time the invention was filed to provide seal rings of a particular material, such as elastomeric/non-elastomeric as taught by Rawicki, in order to provide a particular sealing effect (for example based on pressures of the operation; C. 6 Lines 20-59 of Rawicki for example);
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11, 12, 22, and 24 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claims 11 and 22: the claims require a first and second chamber, a male adapter ring closer to the first chamber, and a housing comprising a passage configured to permit fluid communication from the inlet and into the second chamber without flowing through an inlet check valve. The closest prior art to McCoy teaches an inlet path (14), and a check valve (17) between the path and the first chamber. None of Chase, Linwood, or Rawicki teaches such an arrangement.
Regarding claims 12 and 24: the claims require the male adaptor ring have a body with a ridge projecting from the body and overlying a central area of the concave surface of a first V-ring, and less than 40% of the surface area of the concave surface of the V-ring. The prior art to McCoy, Chase, Linwood, and Rawicki do not teach this element. Further, the applicant has provided criticality for this component in paragraph [0005] of the specification for example, which states “In this way, for example, that V-ring-and, optionally, one or more of any V-rings disposed between it and the female adapter ring-may be free to deflect away from the pump's plunger and/or housing during its suction stroke, thus permitting fluid to flow between the packing stack's components…”. The prior art teaches neither the structure of a ridge covering less than 40% of a concave surface, nor the effect of such an arrangement.
Conclusion
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/CHRISTOPHER S BOBISH/Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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