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
Claims 15-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Applicant's election with traverse of Invention 1 in the reply filed on December 8, 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that there is no undue burden to examiner groups I and III together. This is not found persuasive because the apparatus as claimed can be used to practice another and materially different process; that is, one requiring only a single extruding step. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Paragraph 0031 states “A similar system is described in US Patent Application Serial No. 18/244,614, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, including for its teach of a movable mandrel for forming annular extrusion aperture.” However, upon review of application 18/244,614 it does not pertain to a movable mandrel for forming annular extrusion aperture; therefore, it is believed the application number cited is not correct.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites: “to establish different specified temperature ranges at an interface between the die tool face the feedstock” – it appears there is a word missing between “the die tool face” and “the feedstock” and the limitation should read as follows: “to establish different specified temperature ranges at an interface between the die tool face and the feedstock”
Claim 12 current depends from claim 1; however, given the subject matter it is understood that claim 12 should depend from claim 10 and will be examined as such.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites: “wherein at least one of the second specified operating parameters is different than at least one of the first specified operating parameters to establish different specified temperature ranges at an interface between the die tool face (and) the feedstock such that a first portion of a resulting extrudate along a first axial region extruded from the first portion of the feedstock comprises one or more different physical properties than a second portion of the resulting extrudate along a second axial region extruded from the second portion of the feedstock.” The claim contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art; specifically the “operating parameters” limitations are broader than what is listed or otherwise supported by the specification as originally filed. For instance, the claim as currently recited covers an operating parameter that is a heater placed in proximity to the die tool in order to establish the different temperature range of the workpiece and/or the die; however, the specification does not support for this particular operating parameter i.e. a heater. The specification only supports a finite list of factors including “spindle speed, spindle power, temperature, ram speed, ram force, extrude speed, or a cooling-quench rate [paragraphs 0026]. It is further not specified that these “operating parameters” are specific to the extruding apparatus; therefore, they could apply to the parameters of the feedstock; such as size (diameter) or material. It is additionally noted that there is not support in the specifications as original filed for these type of parameters either.
Therefore for purposes of examination, the operating parameters are considered to be limited to those explicitly set forth in the specification as originally filed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 1st paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
It is in the opinion of the examiner that the art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious “wherein at least one of the second specified operating parameters is different than at least one of the first specified operating parameters to establish different specified temperature ranges at an interface between the die tool face the feedstock such that a first portion of a resulting extrudate along a first axial region extruded from the first portion of the feedstock comprises one or more different physical properties than a second portion of the resulting extrudate along a second axial region extruded from the second portion of the feedstock” in combination with the rest of the claimed limitations set forth in the independent claim.
Searching by the Examiner yielded prior art as follows:
US 2021/0252632 discloses extruding an aluminum billet [paragraph 035] with a rotating die assembly (110) providing feedback with a controller [paragraph 0071], as seen in at least Figures 1-3.
US 2010/0143520 discloses extruding a material through a die/extrude insert (18) providing monitoring of the rotational speed with a controller (156), as described in at least paragraphs 118-120.
US 2018/0259309 discloses multiple extruding steps with progressive tooling, as described in the Abstract and Figure 1.
The combination of the above references provides no teaching nor would it have been obvious to combine the features as required by the claims and would require hindsight since there is no motivation to modify the prior art. It is noted that this indication of allowability is based on the interpretation of claim limitations as stated in the 112 rejection described above, should the claim not be amended to overcome the rejection, the allowability may be withdrawn.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERESA M EKIERT whose telephone number is (571)272-1901. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4:30PM EST.
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/TERESA M EKIERT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725
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