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 .
Response to Amendment
This office action is responsive to the amendment filed on 01/30/2026. As directed by the amendment: claims 1, 6, 8-12 and 14 have been amended and claims 3-4 and 7 have been cancelled. Thus, claims 1-2, 5-6, and 8-15 are presently pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/30/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Arguments refer to amendments that are not incorporated into claim 14.
The amendments to the claims affected the prior scope, necessitating further search and consideration. The instant office action has been made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by LaValley (US 4540457).
LaValley discloses:
14. (Original) A device (100) inserted behind the seat (20) of a butterfly valve (10), the device comprising: a shaft (106) having a first end (110), a second end (108), and an internal lumen (passage extending through 106, seen in fig. 6) between the first and second end; wherein the shaft is inserted into an opening (seen in fig. 1) in a valve body (12), the opening extending from the exterior of the valve body to an outer diameter of a valve seat (20)(as seen in fig. 1, 6); wherein a second end of the device terminates in an opening (seen in fig. 6) proximal to the seat such that material injected into the first end of the shaft travels along the internal lumen of the shaft to the seat, thereby applying pressure to the seat to press it toward a valve disc (col. 5, ll. 66-68).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2,5-6 and 8-13 are allowed.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARINA TIETJEN, whose telephone number is 571-270-5422. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (10:30AM-7:00PM CST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Tom Barrett can be reached at 571-272-4746, Ken Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881, and Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARINA A TIETJEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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