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 § 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.
Claims 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schneider et al. (6,179,022) in view of Ueno et al. (2014/0145372) and Sicilia (2009/0297648).
Regarding claims 1-2, Schneider et al. discloses a method for molding a transparent plastic weighing funnel, comprising the steps of:
providing mold blocks 56, 57 and core parts 66, 68; wherein each core parts 66, 68 are independently supported by a sliding blocks 49, 50;
closing the mold blocks 56, 57;
moving the core parts 66, 68 inside the mold blocks 56, 57 forming a cavity 63 having a shape of the weighing funnel with a flat portion 30;
injecting plastic material into cavity 63 through ports 47 – see Fig. 10;
molding the plastic material into a product;
opening the mold blocks 56, 57 and lowering the core parts 66, 68 to remove the molded product – Fig. 11.
However, Schneider et al. fails to disclose that the mold cavity includes an upper mold, lower mold and an upper core and a lower core positioning in each upper and lower molds.
Ueno et al. discloses an injection molding method, comprising the steps of 1) providing a molding die 1 comprising upper outer dies 11, upper core, or inner die 12, lower die 13, wherein the inner die 12 or core comprising a core shaft – or upper core 14 and a plurality of split dies 15a-h; 2) forming a cavity 19Aa-c in between the upper dies 11, lower die 13 and the inner die 12; 3) injecting molding material via path 11b located on the upper die 11; 4) molding the injected material into the final product 9; 5) removing the inner die 12 from the lower die 13 after injection and remove the formed product W from the inner die 12, [0034] – Fig. 3.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Schneider’s method with a step of providing an upper mold, a lower mold, and split inner cores corresponding to the upper mold and the lower mold as taught by Ueno so that when finish molding a product having a complex shape, each of the upper mold, lower mold and a plurality of split inner cores can be removed separately without altering the shape of the forming product.
Schneider et al. also fails to discloses a plurality of mold cavities and a robotic arm for removing each of the formed products.
Sicilia discloses an injection molding apparatus and method, comprising the steps of providing a plurality of mold cavities 22, a plurality of corresponding mold cores 24 for forming a plurality of molded parts 25, and providing a robot 29 having a robot arm 33 movable in and out of the space between the mold cavities 22 and the mold cores 24 for removing the molded parts 25 from the cavities 22.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Schneider with a plurality of mold cavities and a robot with a robot arm as taught by Sicilia so that a plurality of products can be molded as the same time, while the robot arm facilitate the removal of the molded products from the mold cavities.
Regarding claim 3, wherein the moving the lower mold section downward and retracting each lower core from the mold cavity happens simultaneously – Ueno – Fig. 3.
Regarding claim 4, wherein the robotic arm includes suction cups – Sicilia, [0075], [0091].
Regarding claim 6, Schneider further comprising a pulling device 10 for pulling the inner core 14 together with the lower mold 13 – Figs. 1 & 3.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schneider et al. (6,179,022) in view of Ueno et al. (2014/0145372) and Sicilia (2009/0297648) as applied to claims 1-4 and 6 above, and further in view of Waizenauer (2019/0217514).
The combination of Schneider, Ueno and Sicilia discloses a method of injection molding weighing funnels in a plurality of cavities as described above, but fails to disclose a needle valve hot runner system is used to inject plastic into the mold cavities.
Waizenauer discloses a method for injection molding a plurality of products in a plurality of mold cavities 1a, 1b, a plurality of injection nozzles 3a, 3b, valves 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b and shut-off needles 6a, 6b for regulating the flow of the material into the mold cavities 1a, 1b, [0131].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the method of Schneider, Ueno and Sicilia by providing a plurality of valve and shut-off needles as taught by Waizenauer in order to regulate the material flowing into the mold cavities.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Thu-Khanh T. Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)272-1136. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30-4:30.
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/Thu Khanh T. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1743