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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-10 and 18-25 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 09/28/2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 17 utilizes the term “actuable” which is grammatically incorrect and not a recognized British equivalent. The term “actuatable” should be used instead.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dalziel (US 20190285054 A1)(cited in the IDS filed on 05/10/2024) in view of Rushing (US 2539862 A).
Regarding claim 16, Dalziel teaches of:
A heating system (Fig. 1), comprising a source of rotational motion (1), at least one pump (10), a primary heat storage system (30), and one or more loops of piping connected to the primary heat storage system (see piping connected to 30, fluid flows in a loop as denoted by arrows), wherein the source of rotational motion is configured to drive the at least one pump (1 drives 10 via 2+3), wherein the at least one pump is configured to pump liquid to repeatedly circulate around the one or more loops of piping (10 pumps liquid to circulate through the plurality of loops of piping shown), resulting in frictional heating of the pumped liquid (frictional heating occurs in 14) and transfer of heat to the primary heat storage system (heat is transferred to 30 via 16)
Dalziel fails to explicitly teach:
wherein the at least one pump is a plurality of pumps, wherein the source of rotatable motion is configured to drive the plurality of pumps via a drivetrain, and wherein the drivetrain is configured to drive a variable number of the plurality of pumps to modulate a speed of rotation of the source of rotatable motion
Rushing teaches of:
wherein the at least one pump is a plurality of pumps (pumps 32 and 33 are connected to source of rotational motion 17), wherein the source of rotatable motion is configured to drive the plurality of pumps via a drivetrain (17 drives pumps 32 and 22 via drivetrain made from elements 25-31 and 34-37), and wherein the drivetrain is configured to drive a variable number of the plurality of pumps to modulate a speed of rotation of the source of rotatable motion (the drive train selectively engages pumps 32 and 33 via clutches 31 and 31 to modulate the speed of 17; Col. 4, lines 40-61, “In order to individually and successfully drive a plurality of pumps or compressors which is sufficient to effectively load the wind wheel at all normal wind velocities so as to make said wind wheel rotate within its designed speed range, means are provided to selectively throw into and out of operation the proper size pump or compressor, said proper size being dependent upon the strength of wind. This action is performed by governor operated switches which operate magnetic clutches when a predetermined speed of the wind wheel or impeller is reached, the governor operating at high speed connecting the larger pump or compressor and disconnecting the smaller pump or compressor. There are suitable adjustments on each governor to make it effective at a definite speed and by means of additional adjustment in the governor linkage an overlapping action or differential range is provided between the several governors to afford smooth operation over all normal wind changes.”)
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
add at least one additional pump to the system of Dalziel and connect the additional pump to the source of rotational motion in the same way shown in Fig. 1 of Rushing so that the source of rotational motion can utilize multiple clutches to selectively engage the plurality of pumps to regulate the speed of the source of rotational motion
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
it would ensure that the source of rotational motion does not rotate outside its operational range, preventing damage or failure of the system
Regarding claim 17, the combined teachings teach of the heating system of claim 16, and the combined teachings further teach:
wherein the drivetrain comprises a plurality of clutches which are actuable to vary the number of the plurality of pumps that are driven by the source of rotational motion (see combination made in the rejection of claim 1 above, in Fig. 1 of Rushing two clutches 30 and 31 are shown to be actuatable to vary the number of pump drive by the source of rotational motion)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J GIORDANO whose telephone number is (571)272-8940. The examiner can normally be reached M-Fr 8 AM - 5 PM EST.
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/MICHAEL JAMES GIORDANO/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/VIVEK K SHIRSAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
