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 § 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US-20210336256-A1 (S) in view of JP-H05135776-A (W) and US-20050106457-A1 (R).
Regarding claim 1, S teaches a positive electrode material comprising electrolytic manganese dioxide and sodium [0010-11]. S teaches an electrical potential of the EMD is 280 mV to 350 mV with respect to an electrical potential of a mercury oxide reference electrode [0011], [0020]. S teaches the sodium content is between 10 ppm and 5000 ppm [0011]. S further teaches the sodium content is preferably between 10 ppm and 3000 ppm [0022]. This sodium range encompasses the claimed sodium range of 800 ppm by mass or more and 3000 ppm by mass or less.
S teaches the positive electrode mixture may be mixed with graphite and an electrolyte to form a cathode mixture, which is then combined with a separator, negative electrode, and electrolyte in a casing to form a dry cell [0032]. This arrangement teaches an alkaline dry battery comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, wherein the positive electrode contains electrolyte.
S does not teach the positive electrode mixture comprises zinc. S does not explicitly teach the negative electrode contains electrolyte.
W teaches an electrolyte for a manganese dioxide/zinc battery [0035] which has a ZnO additive in a concentration of 3 to 7% by weight [0031]. W teaches the benefit of the electrolyte is it suppresses deterioration of heavy load characteristics due to storage [0031].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the instant invention to elect the electrolyte of W in the battery of S in order to achieve the benefit of suppressing the deterioration of heavy load characteristics due to storage. It would have been obvious to do because S does not teach a specific electrolyte for the battery and W teaches an electrolyte for a battery with an EMD cathode with known benefits. Doing so would amount to no more than electing a known option for an electrolyte in an EMD alkaline dry cell in a case where none was specified.
S nor W teach the amount of electrolyte in the cathode and anode.
R teaches a typical mixture for a EMD dry cell cathode contains 5 to 10 wt% electrolyte [0035]. R further teaches the electrolyte comprises ZnO. R teaches a mixture for an anode comprises 29.4 wt% electrolyte [0051].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the instant invention to utilize the mixing ratios of R for the battery of S and W because doing so was a typical mixture in the art of EMD-based alkaline dry cells. Doing so would be obvious because it would amount to no more than electing a known set of mixing ratios in an invention where none were specified.
This implementation of the mixing ratios of R with the dry cell of S and W would then have a range of Zn concentrations in the cathode of between 0.15wt% and 0.7wt%, which correspond to 1500 ppm to 7000 ppm. This encompasses the claimed range of 2400 ppm to 4600 ppm by mass.
Claim 1 therefore is unpatentable over S, W, and R.
Regarding claim 2, the range taught by S encompasses the narrowed claimed range for sodium content of the instant claim 2. This range is 2300 ppm to 2900 ppm, and the range taught by S is 10 ppm. to 3000 ppm.
Regarding claim 3, R teaches the electrolyte contained in a typical positive electrode for an EMD dry cell is between 5 and 10%. 10% falls in the claimed range of the instant claim 3 so the instant claim 3 is unpatentable over S, W and R.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US-20070238024-A1 teaches similar motivation for adjusting sodium content to US-20210336256-A1.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOUISE JAMES IANNUCCI whose telephone number is (571)272-6917. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M..
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/LOUISE JAMES IANNUCCI/Examiner, Art Unit 1721
/KOURTNEY R S CARLSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1721 8/20/26
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