DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
1. Applicant’s election of Species I, claims 1,2,10 and 14 are readable on the elected species in the reply filed on 15 September 2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.03(a)).
2. Claims 3-9,11-13 and 15-20 have been withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a non-elected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 9/15/2025.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancellation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be amended in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(b) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. Any amendment of inventorship must be accompanied by a request under 37 CFR 1.48(b) and by the fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/15/2024 was filed prior to the mailing date of the mailing of this action. The submission complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because, a corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Drawings
The drawings were received on 4/15/2024. These drawings are accepted.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Fujikin Inc (JPH0671979(U)), as supplied by applicant. Herein after referred to as Fujikin.
Regarding claim 1, Fujikin disclose a valve (fig.1,2,5) comprising :
a valve body (1) including an inlet (4), an outlet (5a) and a mounting surface (the bottom horizontal surface of 1 in fig. 1, shown also in Fig. 2 showing also port 1f);
a first valve actuator (21) connected to the valve body;
a plurality of mounting holes (1f as shown in figure 2) formed in the mounting surface; and
wherein the plurality of mounting holes are asymmetric relative to the mounting surface (the two holes 1f, are asymmetric in that their location is not opposite one another therefore the holes lack symmetry in their location).
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Regarding claim 10, Fujikin disclose a mounting bracket (in the translation provided by applicant, para.0013 discloses the mounting surface with a mounting screw hole 1f, therefore the device is mounted and that structure it is mounted to is considered as a mounting bracket) including a first set of mounting holes (the inherent mounting holes of the structure the body is mounted to) configured to align with the plurality of mounting holes on the mounting surface of the valve body.
Claim(s) 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Ohmi et al. (US 5983933).
Regarding claim 14, Ohmi et al. disclose a valve comprising: a valve body (14) including an inlet, an outlet and a mounting surface (the bottom surface of 14 mating with lower blocks 32,33);
a first valve actuator (7,15) connected to the valve body;
a plurality of mounting holes (the inherent holes of 14 matching to the lower holes in 32,33) formed in the mounting surface; and
a first hole (the hole of 14a closest to the start of the lead line for 14a) arranged in an asymmetric position on the mounting surface (this is considered to be asymmetric since the mating passage is being shown closer to the intersection of 14a,14 then the inlet opening).
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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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujikin ‘979 in view of Ohmi et al. ‘933.
Regarding claim 2, Fujikin disclose the valve body is arranged in a first mounting orientation (as shown above in figure 2), the plurality of mounting holes orient the valve body in a first position relative to mounting holes in a mounting bracket (in the translation provided by applicant, para.0013 discloses the mounting surface with a mounting screw hole 1f, therefore the device is mounted and that structure it is mounted to, is considered as a mounting bracket, where the valve body is arranged in a first orientation which is in a first position, the bracket including mounting holes), the valve body is capable of being arranged in a second mounting orientation that is rotated 180 degrees relative to the first position (the valve body can be rotated as such causing the mounting holes to be arranged in an opposite manner when rotated), although is silent to having that when the valve body is arranged in a second mounting orientation that is rotated 180 degrees relative to the first position, the plurality of mounting holes cause the valve body to have a second position, relative to the mounting holes in the mounting bracket, that is displaced by a predetermined distance greater than zero relative to the first position.
Ohmi et al. teach the use of bracket (108, see Fig. 4) having a plurality of valves (31,32,33), where the valves 31 and 33 are cable of being arranged in a second mounting orientation (valve 31 at location of valve 33 and valve 33 at location of 31 rotated 180 degrees) that is rotated 180 degrees relative to the first position, the plurality of mounting holes cause the valve body to have a second position, relative to the mounting holes in the mounting bracket, that is displaced by a predetermined distance greater than zero relative to the first position.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a bracket as taught by Ohmi et al. into the device of Fujikin to have the valve body being arranged in a second mounting orientation that is rotated 180 degrees relative to the first position, the plurality of mounting holes cause the valve body to have a second position, relative to the mounting holes in the mounting bracket, that is displaced by a predetermined distance greater than zero relative to the first position, in order to permit a plurality of valves to be arranged in an organized manner, and to permit ease of re-installation of the same type of valve in a different location during maintenance/service repair of the valves.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Craig Price, whose telephone number is (571)272-2712 or via facsimile (571)273-2712. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (8:00AM-4:30PM EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Craig Schneider, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-3607, Kenneth Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CRAIG J PRICE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753