DETAILED ACTION
This is a first action on the merits of application 18592799.
Claims 1-20 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) 1-5, 11, 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LYNEMA US 11048469, and further in view of JP 2020512692 (‘692).
Claim 1, Lynema discloses a ballast system for a boat [fig. 1] comprising: a ballast tank [142/144/146] including a plurality of walls defining a tank cavity for storing water therein; a ballast bladder [col.4 lines 30-49] including one or more panels defining a bladder cavity for storing water therein [inherent], at least one of the panels being a flexible panel [implied by the ballast bag wording]; He does not disclose a fluid coupling including a receiver and a plug engageable with the receiver to fluidly connect the tank cavity with the bladder cavity, one of the receiver or the plug being a tank coupling component directly attached to one of the plurality of walls of the ballast tank and the other one of the receiver or the plug being a bladder coupling component directly attached to one of the panels of the ballast bladder. JP ‘692 discloses in Fig. 1 - 5 a fluid coupling 10 to be used as a ballast bag fitting (para. [0021]), the coupling including a receiver 14 and a plug 12 engageable with the receiver, one of the receiver or the plug being a tank coupling component directly attached to one of the plurality of walls of a ballast tank and the other one of the receiver or the plug being a bladder coupling component directly attached to one of the panels of a ballast bladder. 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 modified Lynema with JP ‘692 in order to facilitate pumping the ballast water around the vessel.
Claim 2-3, Lynema and JP ‘692 disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, they do not disclose the tank coupling component is positioned on an upper portion of the ballast tank; or the bladder coupling component is directly attached to the one of the panels at a lower portion of the ballast bladder. It has been held that a change of location is of ordinary skill in the art, the coupling placement is not novel, JP ‘692 discloses the ballast bags/bladders are above the tanks so it’s implied the coupling would be positioned at the top of the tanks. 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 modified Lynema with JP ‘692 to move the ballast water throughout the vessel.
Claims 4-5, Lynema and JP ‘692 disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, they do not explicitly disclose the plurality of walls includes an upper wall, and the tank coupling component is directly attached to the upper wall or the ballast bladder includes a plurality of panels, and the one of the panels to which the bladder coupling component is directly attached is a lower panel. They do disclose all the components but not in the exact specified locations, however it has been held that a change in location or a rearrangement of parts is of ordinary skill. 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 modified Lynema with JP ‘692 to provide fluid connectivity to the ballast system to distribute the water around.
Claim 11, Lynema discloses the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, he does not disclose one of the receivers or the plug includes a slot and the other one of the receivers or the plug includes a locking projection engageable with the slot. JP ‘692 discloses a locking projection engageable with a slot to secure two parts of a fluid coupling, note elements 44 and 16 of Fig. 4. 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 modified Lynema with JP ‘692 to provide fluid connectivity to the ballast system to distribute the water around.
Claim 17, Lynema discloses the ballast tank being located in the aft third of the hull. See fig. 10 ballast tanks [142/144] at the stern.
Claim 18, Lynema discloses a compartment located above the ballast tank, with the ballast bladder being located in the compartment. See col. 4 lines 43-50.
Claim 19, Lynema discloses a ballast fill mechanism [push button 728] fluidly connecting the ballast tank to an exterior of the hull to draw water from the exterior of the hull and into the ballast tank and the ballast bladder through the fluid coupling when the ballast bladder is engaged with the ballast tank. This is inherent the water to fill the ballast must come from an exterior water supply and moved via the pump [148], see col. 17 lines 47-60. 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 the connection configuration to fill the ballast tanks.
Claim 20, Lynema discloses the ballast fill mechanism [728] includes a pump [148] to draw water from a body of water in which the boat into the ballast tank [142/144/146].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10, 12-16 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
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