DETAILED ACTION
This is a first action on the merits of application 18547469.
Claims 1-13 are pending.
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) 1-6, 8, 10-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi EP 0903287 , and further in view of Wu CN 111003102.
Claim 1, Takahashi discloses A pressure stabilizing cavum structure, applicable to an air layer drag reduction ship and disposed at a bottom of a hull of a ship, comprising: a plurality of polyethylene (PE) pipes (101a), wherein the plurality of pipes (101a) extend along a width direction of the hull, are arranged in parallel and spaced apart along a length direction of the hull, and are inserted through a longitudinal keel (102) of the ship; and each pipe (101a) of the plurality of pipes (101a) is provided with a first opening extending along the width direction of the hull, and both sides of the each pipe (101a) in a width direction of the first opening are connected to a hull bottom plate (91) of the ship to form a pressure stabilizing cavum and a second through hole, and the pressure stabilizing cavum communicates with an outside of the ship through the through hole (93}. See pipes (65a, 65c) extending along a width direction of the hull, arranged in parallel and spaced apart along a length direction of the hull in Figs. 14A & 14B, of which pipes (76) (see §0151: "[---] air jetting devices 76 [...]") and (101a) simply represent other embodiments. He does not disclose the material of the pipes are made of polyethylene but this is of ordinary skill in the art, he also does not disclose there is a backing plate made of corrosion-resistant material, is located between the each pipe and the hull bottom plate and is sealingly connected to the each pipe and the hull bottom plate, the backing plate is provided with a first through hole, the hull bottom plate is provided with a second through hole communicating with the first through hole. However, Wu discloses these limitations in figs 1-4 [0031]. Thus, it 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 to have combined the disclosures to have means to prevent corrosion of the system while exposed to sea water.
Claim 2, Takahashi and Wu disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, and Takahashi disclose a jet head (25) inserted through the first through hole and the second through hole and sealingly connected to an inner wall of the first through hole and an inner wall of the second through hole, wherein a jet hole (21) is disposed inside the jet head (25), the pressure stabilizing cavum communicates with the outside of the ship through the jet hole (21), the jet head is made of steel material. See fig. 5,
Claims 3-4 and 11, Takahashi and Wu disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, Wu discloses an outer sleeve [guide sleeve can be used in figs. 2-3 and made of steel] extending along the width direction of the hull and provided with a second opening, wherein the second opening extends along the width direction of the hull, both sides of the outer sleeve in a width direction of the second opening are connected to the hull bottom plate, the each pipe and the backing plate are inserted through an inside of the outer sleeve , and an outer wall of the outer sleeve is welded to the longitudinal keel. Thus, it 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 to have combined the disclosures to have preventive means for water intrusion.
Claim 5 and 12, Takahashi and Wu disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, Wu discloses the backing plate is made of steel material. See Legend
Claim 6, Takahashi and Wu disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, they do not disclose wherein in a case where a tonnage of the ship is less than 100,000 tons, the backing plate is made of PE [polyethylene] material. It has been held that finding an optimal weight is of ordinary skill in the art thus the amount of weight deciding whether the pipes are made of PE is not given significant patentable weight. It 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 to use said optimal tonnage for the design choice material of the pipes.
Claim 8, Takahashi and Wu disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, they do not disclose wherein in a case where a tonnage of the ship is greater than 100,000 tons, the backing plate is made of steel material. It has been held that finding a optimal weight is of ordinary skill in the art thus the amount of weight deciding whether the pipes are made of steel [though the plates are made of steel] is not given significant patentable weight. It 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 to use said optimal tonnage for the design choice material of the plate.
Claim 10 and 13, Takahashi and Wu disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, they do not explicitly disclose wherein both ends of each pipe in the width direction of the first opening are connected to the backing plate through fasteners. However, Takahashi discloses use of fasteners with the backing plate to secure it around jetting devices in conventional means [0016]. Thus, it 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 to use the said securing means with the pipes and plate because it so inexpensive to do so and can be easily attached and detached.
Allowable Subject Matter
15. Claims 7 and 9 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.
Conclusion
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/JOVON E HAYES/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/MARC Q JIMENEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615