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 § 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 (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 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.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 6-9 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Haralson (US Pat No 9,433,955 B2).
Re claim 1, Haralson shows a method for preventing a spray gun from blocking (Figs. 1, 7 & 8), wherein a front-end chamber (39/19c) of the spray gun (100) is provided with an air channel (19c) for discharge of a leaked rapid solidification material, the air channel (19c) being configured to guide compressed air (col. 5, lines 12-13) entering the front-end chamber (39/19c) to be blown out to an outside of the spray gun (100) through an area of a portion (interior of 39 through 19a/19b to 19c) at which a side seal (18/20) is in contact with a mixing chamber (19a/19b), and when a trigger of the spray gun is pulled to spray the rapid solidification material (col. 5, line 67 through col. 6, lines 1-5), if the rapid solidification material leaks into the front-end chamber (39/19c) in the area of the portion (interior of 39 through 19a/19b to 19c) at which the side seal (18c) is in contact with the mixing chamber (19a/19b), the leaked rapid solidification material is to be blown out of the spray gun (100) from the air channel (19c), along with the passing compressed air, and thus the leaked rapid solidification material does not accumulate (col. 6, lines 8-13) in the front-end chamber (39/19c) to react and solidify to block the spray gun (100).
Re claim 3, Haralson shows a multi-component spray gun (Fig. 1, 100) for spraying a rapid solidification material, the spray gun comprising: a gun body (1); and a front-end chamber (Fig. 7, 39/19c) configured to use the method for preventing a spray gun (100) from blocking according to claim 1 (See above).
Re claim 4, Haralson shows a plurality of air channels (24) positioned in the gun body (1), the plurality of air channels (24) are connected with a grease fitting (col. 6, lines 14-16), an air piston (15), a trigger piston (5), and the front-end chamber (39/19c).
Re claim 6, Haralson shows an A side block and a B side block (Fig. 2, left and right 12) fixed on both sides of the front-end chamber by screws (12d) respectively, the A side block comprises an A shell (12a), a side seal box (18), a filter check valve (12h), and a intercept valve (26); the B side block includes a B shell (12a), a side seal box (20), a filter check valve (12h), and a intercept valve (26); and the side seal boxes (18/20), the filter check valves (12h), and the intercept valves (26) are provided with threads (col. 5, lines 23-24 and 36-37) and are fixed in the A shell (12a) and the B shell (12a) by screwing; the side seal boxes (18/20), the filter check valves (12h), and the intercept valves (26) each have a O-shaped ring (12g/18d/18e) to match with the A shell and the B shell for sealing, and a mounting position of the O-shaped ring is closer to a fluid than the threads, so that the fluid is not in contact with the threads of positions at which the side seal boxes, the filter check valves (12h), and the intercept valves (26) are fixed in the A shell and the B shell.
Re claims 7 & 14, Haralson shows the side seal box includes an outer shell (18a) and a side seal (18c), an inner hole (Fig. 4) of the outer shell (18a) is a through hole, and a diameter at any position of the inner hole of the outer shell is larger than a maximum diameter of the side seal (col. 7, lines 23-26).
Re claim 8, Haralson shows a multi-component spray gun (Figs. 1-8) for spraying a rapid-setting material, the multi-component spray gun comprising: a gun body (1) and a front-end chamber (Figs. 7 & 8), wherein:
the front-end chamber includes: an air inlet passage (37), an air channel (19c), a mixing chamber (19), side seals (18/20), a first fluid inlet passage (19a), and a second fluid inlet passage (19b);
the air inlet passage (37) is provided on the front-end chamber and communicates with the mixing chamber (19), allowing compressed air to enter the front-end chamber;
the air channel (19c) is provided on the front-end chamber and communicates with the mixing chamber (19), used for discharging air mixed with rapid-setting material;
a region (see Fig. 8) at which the mixing chamber (19) contacts the first fluid inlet passage (19a) and the second fluid inlet passage (19b) is a leakage point (Fig. 8, extended position of 19), which is located between the air inlet passage (37) and the air channel (19c), wherein the compressed air entering through the air inlet passage (37) flows through the leakage point (Fig. 8, extended position of 19) and is then discharged through the air channel (19c); and
the side seals (18/20) are respectively provided on the first fluid inlet passage (19a) and the second fluid inlet passage (19b) to prevent fluid leakage.
Re claim 9, Haralson shows a leakage discharge nozzle (end of 19c) and a leakage discharge valve (18c/19) are provided at an outlet of the air channel (19c) set in the front-end chamber; wherein an amount of the air discharged through the leakage discharge nozzle can be adjusted by rotating the leakage discharge valve.
Re claim 11, Haralson shows side blocks (Fig. 2, left and right 12) fixed on both sides of the front-end chamber, the side blocks include a housing (9/12a), a side seal box (18), a filter check valve (12h), and a intercept valve (26), wherein the side seal box (18), the filter check valve (12h), and the intercept valve (26) are fixed within the housing (9/12a).
Re claim 12, Haralson shows the side seal box (18), the filter check valve (12h), and the intercept valve (26) are fixed in the housing (9/12a) by threads (col. 5, lines 23-24 and 36-37) and each has an O-shaped ring (12g/18d/18e) for sealing with the housing.
Re claim 13, Haralson shows the mounting position of the O-shaped ring (12g/18d/18e) is closer to the fluid than the threads (col. 5, lines 23-24 and 36-37), ensuring that the fluid does not contact the threads fixed at the position of the side seal box (18), the filter check valve (12h), and the intercept valve (26) with the housing (9/12a).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5 and 10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art, such as Sperry (US Pat No 3,687,370), which demonstrates a plural component spray nozzle with an air passage and air exiting to the outside of the spray gun in a direction different from the material sprayed by the spray gun but does not teach doing so with a mixture of air and material to be sprayed and thus does not show or render obvious wherein a direction of the air blown out from the air channel to the outside of the spray gun and a direction in which the rapid solidification material is sprayed from the mixing chamber are different, whether the rapid solidification material leaks into the front-end chamber is determined by observing whether the air blown out from the air channel contains the rapid solidification material, when the air blown out from the air channel is clean air, it is indicated that no rapid solidification material leaks into the front-end chamber, and when the air blown out from the air channel contains the rapid solidification material, it is indicated that the rapid solidification material leaks into the front-end chamber in combination with the rest of the claimed limitations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Monchamp et al. (US Pat No 9,174,362 B2) shows a plural component nozzle utilizing purge air to clean the inside of the nozzle. Probst et al. (US Pat No 3,799,403) shows a plural component nozzle utilizing purge air to clean the inside of the nozzle.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN MICHAEL CERNOCH whose telephone number is (571)270-3540. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arthur Hall can be reached at (571)270-1814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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STEVEN MICHAEL CERNOCH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3752
/STEVEN M CERNOCH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752