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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The following guidelines illustrate the preferred layout for the specification of a utility application. These guidelines are suggested for the applicant’s use.
Arrangement of the Specification
As provided in 37 CFR 1.77(b), the specification of a utility application should include the following sections in order. Each of the lettered items should appear in upper case, without underlining or bold type, as a section heading. If no text follows the section heading, the phrase “Not Applicable” should follow the section heading:
(a) TITLE OF THE INVENTION.
(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS.
(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT.
(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT.
(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A READ-ONLY OPTICAL DISC, AS A TEXT FILE OR AN XML FILE VIA THE PATENT ELECTRONIC SYSTEM.
(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR.
(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.
(1) Field of the Invention.
(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION.
(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S).
(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION.
(k) CLAIM OR CLAIMS (commencing on a separate sheet).
(l) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE (commencing on a separate sheet).
(m) SEQUENCE LISTING. (See MPEP § 2422.03 and 37 CFR 1.821 - 1.825). A “Sequence Listing” is required on paper if the application discloses a nucleotide or amino acid sequence as defined in 37 CFR 1.821(a) and if the required “Sequence Listing” is not submitted as an electronic document either on read-only optical disc or as a text file via the patent electronic system.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 and 8-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Hanzawa et al (2007/0054229) or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Hanzawa et al in view of Sarres et al (2011/0115137). Hanzawa et al discloses a furnace and degreasing method that includes a furnace having an inner space (20) and an outer chamber (2) wherein the outer chamber at least partly surrounds the inner space, wherein a fuel (12b) is combusted with an oxidant at (12) to produce combustion gases, wherein the combustion gases are passed through the outer chamber (via 22) wherein the fuel is combusted with the oxidant in a combustion chamber which is external to the furnace (SEE Figures 1 & 4), in that the combustion gases are recirculated from the outer chamber to the combustion chamber (via outlet 21), alternatively, Sarres et al teaches similar furnaces (1) which include an inner chamber (3) and an outer chamber (2) wherein a product is arranged within the inner chamber which is fed with process gas while the space between the inner chamber and the outer chamber is fed with a heated gas to provide uniformity of heating and cooling of the product within the inner chamber. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the applicants claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter pertains to have arranged an inner cover as was commonly known in the art and taught by Sarres et al within the outer chamber of Hanzawa et al as a way of indirectly heating a product uniformly. In re claim 2, Hanzawa et al discloses that a process gas that is introduced into the inner chamber is preheated by the indirect heat exchange with the combustion gases from (combustion chamber 12a) entering via opening (22). In re claim 3, Hanzawa et al discloses wherein the oxidant (13) comprises at least 30% by volume oxygen, at least 50% by volume oxygen, or at least 80% by volume oxygen, preferably more than 90% by volume oxygen, preferably more than 98% by volume oxygen (SEE [0011]). In re claim 4, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify the heating assembly of Hanzawa et al by including a flameless combustion, since the applicant has not disclosed that having a flameless combustion solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the furnace of Hanzawa et al or alternatively, Hanzawa as modified by Sarres et al would perform equally well with any number of heating elements. In re claim 5, Hanzawa et al further discloses that the combustion gases are recirculated by means of a fan (3b). In re claim 6, Hanzawa et al further discloses that the combustion gases are cooled upstream of the fan (3b) via heat exchanger (4). In re claim 8, Hanzawa et al further discloses a controller (9) and multiple openings (7a) such that the pressure of the recirculated combustion gases can be controlled by withdrawing a part of the combustion gases from the recirculated combustion gas stream (SEE Figures 1 & 5). In re claim 9, Hanzawa et al implicitly discloses that the temperature of the recirculated combustion gases can be controlled by adding combustion gases in the combustion chamber (SEE [0068]). In re claim 10, Hanzawa et al implicitly discloses that the outer chamber (2) has two or more inlet openings (as evidenced by 7a, SEE Figure 1) and that the combustion gases are distributed to at least two of the inlet openings. In re claim 11, Hanzawa et al as modified by Sarres et al would meet the limitations of the applicants claimed invention since Sarres et al teaches that it is commonly known in the art for a furnace is a bell furnace (the retort furnace is a bell furnace) with a base (10.1), an inner hood and an outer hood (SEE Figure 2) and wherein the base and the inner hood define the inner chamber (6) and wherein the base and the outer hood define the outer chamber (6.1). In re claim 12, Hanzawa et al inherently discloses that the fuel and oxidant are continuously combusted (SEE [0082]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY A WILSON whose telephone number is (571)272-4882. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7:00am-4:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steve McAllister can be reached at 571-272-6785. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GREGORY A WILSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 February 7, 2026