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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1: It is unclear what “eccentrically” means with respect to the arrangement of the pipe.
Claim 2: It is unclear what is meant by “connected consecutively” and what structure that implies.
Claim 4: It is unclear what is meant by “connected consecutively” and what structure that implies.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being Livesay by USP 4111005.
Claim 1: Livesay teaches an accumulator comprising: a body (31,36); a pipe (Fig. 1, 44) arranged on an inner side of the body eccentrically with respect to the body; a retaining member (76) arranged between the pipe (44) and the body (31/36); and a bag (Fig. 1, 71), configured to accommodate a desiccant (72), wherein the bag is retained by being in contact with the body (See where 71 contacts 36) and the retaining member (Fig. 1, 76) at a position where a distance between an inner circumference surface of the body and an outer circumference surface of the pipe is greatest.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 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 closest prior art is to Livesay et al. as explained above and to JP58-49017.
JP58-49017 teaches a body (17), a pipe (15), a retaining member (25), a bag (26) wherein the bag is retained between the body and an outer surface of the pipe (15)).
Neither Livesay et al. or JP58-49017 teach the particularly of the beam and retaining member of Claims 2 and 4. Claims 3, 5, 6, and 7 depend from Claim 2 and Claim 4.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLISON FITZSIMMONS whose telephone number is (571)270-1767. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am - 2:00 pm.
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ALLISON FITZSIMMONS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1773
/ALLISON G FITZSIMMONS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773