DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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 –
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.
Claims 1-2, 4, 8, 11-13, and 16-27 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by Pauls et al. (US 4,241,853).
Regarding claim 1, Pauls teaches a liquid dispensing device (10), comprising: a dispensing head (“D”), including: an inlet valve (38), a piston (54) and a piston chamber (51), an actuator (55) for controlling the piston (col. 7, ln. 32-33; fig. 4), a buffer (34), an outlet valve (80) having a defined minimum opening pressure (col. 8, ln. 66 - col. 9, ln. 3 - the valve is “pressed”, a pressure is applied, to place it in the open position) in direct fluid communication with either: the buffer, or both the buffer and the piston chamber in parallel (col. 7, ln. 26-31; fig. 4, 11, 12); and a nozzle (72) with a defined throughput (inherent to any nozzle; at a given pressure the nozzle will have a given flow) in fluid communication with the outlet valve (col. 9, ln. 3-9; fig. 4); wherein the buffer is an elastic material buffer (col. 6, ln. 35-36) defining a buffer pressure which is set by the material and the thickness of the buffer (col. 11, ln. 44-46).
Regarding claims 2, 4, 8, 11-13, and 19-21, Pauls teaches the liquid dispensing device described regarding claim 1, and wherein:
a volume of the piston chamber, a volume and pressure response of the buffer, the throughput of the nozzle, and the minimum opening pressure of the outlet valve are arranged to allow for dispensing of the liquid between piston downstrokes (col. 1, ln. 53-56), regarding claim 2; and
following the dispensing of liquid from the piston chamber to the nozzle, a quantity of fluid is dispensed from the buffer to and out the nozzle (col. 1, ln. 53-56; fig. 4), regarding claim 12.
when a user releases the actuator, fluid remaining in the buffer moves back into the piston chamber (col. 9, ln. 48-59), and dispensing ceases (col. 1, ln. 61-63; col. 7, ln. 21-31), regarding claim 4.
the dispensing head can dispense a spray (fig. 11), regarding claim 8.
the volume of the buffer is equal to or greater than the volume of the piston chamber (fig. 4 – unlabeled, interpreted to be the space between the piston and element 53) by a factor of between 1.0 and 5 (col. 1, ln. 53-55; col. 7, ln. 26-31; fig. 4 – interpreted to be at least 1.0 since following the first pump the entire volume of the piston chamber flows into the buffer and the piston may be pumped more than one time in order to inflate and fill the bladder, 35; although the buffer will pressurize this volume, liquids can be assumed to be incompressible, leaving the volume unchanged), regarding claim 11.
in a liquid intake operation, a fluid is drawn from a container into the piston chamber (col. 7, ln. 21-26), and wherein in a dispensing operation a portion of the fluid is sent from the piston chamber towards the nozzle (col. 7, ln. 31 – “through chamber 48 and into passage 49”), and a remainder of the fluid is sent to the buffer (col. 7, ln. 26-31), regarding claim 13.
the elastic material buffer includes an elastic part (36/37/38) which is placed over a core (28), and which is configured to stretch when liquid is pumped between the elastic part and the core (col. 7, ln. 22-26; fig. 4 – flow between 30 in the core 28 and 38 will next enter the buffer causing it to stretch), regarding claim 19; and,
wherein the elastic part is arranged in a buffer housing (96) which is configured to limit the stretch of the elastic part (fig. 4), regarding claim 20.
the buffer is in uninterrupted fluid communication with the piston chamber so as to allow fluid flow both from the piston chamber to the buffer (col. 7, ln. 26-31) and from the buffer to the piston chamber (col. 9, ln. 48-59), regarding claim 21.
Regarding claim 16, Pauls teaches a liquid dispensing device (10), comprising: a dispensing head (“D”), including: an inlet valve (38), a piston (54) and a piston chamber (51), an actuator (55) for controlling the piston (col. 7, ln. 32-33; fig. 4), a buffer (34) comprising an elastic material (col. 6, ln. 35-36), the buffer defining a buffer pressure which is set by the material and its thickness (col. 11, ln. 44-46); and, an outlet valve (80) having a defined minimum opening pressure (col. 8, ln. 66 - col. 9, ln. 3 - the valve is “pressed”, a pressure is applied, to place it in the open position); and a nozzle (72) with a defined throughput (inherent to any nozzle; at a given pressure the nozzle will have a given flow) in fluid communication with the outlet valve (col. 9, ln. 3-9; fig. 4); wherein in operation, upon the occurrence of a piston downstroke, a portion of the liquid exiting the piston chamber is sent to the outlet valve (col. 7, ln. 31 – “through chamber 48 and into passage 49”), and a remaining portion is sent to the buffer (col. 7, ln. 26-31).
Regarding claim 17, Pauls teaches a liquid dispensing device (10), comprising: a dispensing head (“D”), including: an inlet valve (38), a piston (54) and a piston chamber (51), an actuator (55) for controlling the piston (col. 7, ln. 32-33; fig. 4), a buffer (34) comprising an elastic material (col. 6, ln. 35-36), the buffer defining a buffer pressure that is set by the elastic material and its thickness (col. 11, ln. 44-46); and, an outlet valve (80) having a defined minimum opening pressure (col. 8, ln. 66 - col. 9, ln. 3 - the valve is “pressed”, a pressure is applied, to place it in the open position); and a nozzle (72) with a defined throughput (inherent to any nozzle; at a given pressure the nozzle will have a given flow) in fluid communication with the outlet valve (col. 9, ln. 3-9; fig. 4); wherein an outlet of the piston chamber is connected in parallel to the outlet valve (via 48) and to the buffer (via 47 and 39), such that liquid exiting the piston chamber can be sent to either or both of the outlet valve and the buffer (col. 7, ln. 26-31).
Regarding claim 18, Pauls teaches the liquid dispensing device described regarding claim 17, and wherein following the dispensing of liquid from the piston chamber to the nozzle, a quantity of fluid is dispensed from the elastic material buffer into and out the nozzle (col. 1, ln. 53 56; fig. 4), regarding claim 12.
Regarding claims 22-24 and 25-27, Pauls teaches the liquid dispensing device described regarding claims 16 and 17, respectively, and wherein:
the elastic material buffer includes an elastic part (36/37/38) which is placed over a core (28), and which is configured to stretch when liquid is pumped between the elastic part and the core (col. 7, ln. 22-26; fig. 4 – flow between 30 in the core 28 and 38 will next enter the buffer causing it to stretch), regarding claims 22 and 25; and,
wherein the elastic part is arranged in a buffer housing (96) which is configured to limit the stretch of the elastic part (fig. 4), regarding claims 23 and 26.
the buffer is in uninterrupted fluid communication with the piston chamber so as to allow fluid flow both from the piston chamber to the buffer (col. 7, ln. 26-31) and from the buffer to the piston chamber (col. 9, ln. 48-59), regarding claims 24 and 27.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 7 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Pauls in view of Yanagida (US 2002/0008164).
Pauls discloses the liquid dispensing device described regarding claim 1. Pauls does not disclose wherein the outlet valve is one of the dome valve, a dome valve reinforced with a spring, and a plastic binary dome valve.
Yanagida teaches a liquid dispensing device (par. 1; fig. 1) comprising a dispensing head (24) further comprising an inlet valve (30), a piston (28) and a piston chamber (fig. 1 – unlabeled, interpreted to be the space in which the piston, 28, is arranged), an actuator (26/40) for controlling the piston (par. 29), a buffer (31), an outlet valve (35) having a defined minimum opening pressure (par. 31), wherein the outlet valve is a dome valve reinforced with a spring (par. 31; fig. 1 – interpreted to be a “dome valve” since it has a “dome” geometry that fits in the outlet of conduit, 37, with a spring that forces the dome into a seated position in the outlet until the fluid pressure forces the dome valve off the seat to allow flow), and a nozzle (23) with a defined throughput (interpreted to be inherent to all nozzles) in fluid communication with the outlet valve (par. 30; fig. 4).
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified the outlet valve of the device of Pauls to be a dome valve reinforced with a spring, as taught by Yanagida, since this type of valve was known to automatically operate either to open or close depending on the fluid pressure. Such a modification would eliminate the need for the user to actuate the outlet valve to being spraying, and would ensure that the device only sprays when the fluid pressure is within the acceptable range.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Capra et al. (US 4,174,052), Nishigama et al. (US 5,435,452), Blake et al. (US 4,191,313), and Hammett et al. (US 4,872,595) all disclose liquid dispensing devices having elements of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CODY J LIEUWEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4477. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8-5, Friday varies.
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/CODY J LIEUWEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752