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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show “the plunger bore 4” as described in the specification.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Alexander et al. (US 8,253,063).
Regarding claim 1, Alexander discloses the method of making solenoids actuator comprising:
two solenoid actuator tubes (10, see the drawing below) aligned and spaced apart along an axis;
a non-magnetic ring (28) having two opposite end sections (24) and being disposed between said two solenoid actuator tubes,
said non-magnetic ring (see the drawing below) and said solenoid actuator tubes (10, see the drawing below) cooperatively defining a plunger bore (see col. 4, lines 54-58) that extends along the axis; and
two brazing rings (see the drawing below), each of said two brazing rings being disposed between one of said opposite ends of said non-magnetic ring (28) and an adjacent one of said two solenoid actuator tubes (see the drawing below),
said two solenoid actuator tubes (10, see the drawing below) and said non-magnetic ring (28) are able to soften (see the abstract), when the material melts, the non-magnetic ring (28) would soften.
said two brazing rings are able to melt and join said two solenoid actuator tube (10, see the drawing below) blanks with said non-magnetic ring (see the abstract).
wherein when said solenoid actuator tubes (10, see the drawing below) are heated and pressurized along the axis (see col. 3, lines 24-51),
Regarding claim 1, Alexander teaches the claimed subject as disclosed above, however, fails to explicitly disclose the melting point of said two brazing rings being lower than melting points of said solenoid actuator tubes and said non-magnetic rings;
Since the structures of the prior art are similar with the invention, they inherently produce the same function.
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Solenoid actuator)][AltContent: textbox (Brazing rings)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow]
PNG
media_image1.png
236
321
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 2, Alexander teaches the claimed subject as disclosed above, however, fails to explicitly disclose the said two brazing rings are ring-shaped brazing sheet preforms that are made of a material containing silver.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to make the brazing rings are ring-shaped brazing sheet preforms that are made of a material containing silver for the purpose of simplifying the joining process, and ensuring consistent, high-quality, and repeatable joints, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Regarding claim 3, Alexander discloses:
the non-magnetic ring is made of stainless steel (see col. 3, lines 38-43).
Regarding claim 4, Alexander discloses:
each of said solenoid actuator tubes is made of iron (see col. 3, lines 5 and 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art does not teach or suggest the solenoid assembly comprising:
Claim 12: one of said solenoid actuator tubes is a solid cylinder, and the other one of said solenoid actuator tubes is a hollow cylinder that includes a hole extending along the axis for insertion of a portion of said solid cylinder, said hole having a large hole section that is proximate to said solid cylinder, a small hole section that is distal from said solid cylinder and that has a diameter smaller than that of said large hole section, and a shoulder section at a junction of said large hole section and said small hole section, said solid cylinder partially extending into said large hole section and abutting against said shoulder section.
Claim 13: said non-magnetic ring has radially opposite inner and outer ring surfaces, each of said end sections of said non-magnetic ring has a conically converging end surface that interconnects between said inner and outer ring surfaces, and converges inwardly from said outer ring surface to said inner ring surface.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Lisa Homza whose telephone number is (571) 272-3592.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Shawki Ismail can be reached on (571) 272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Lisa Nhung Homza/
Patent Examiner - Art Unit 2837
March 14, 2026
/SHAWKI S ISMAIL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837