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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the reinforcing elements (as per claims 10), the reinforcing elements comprising U-shaped configuration (as per claim 11), the upper distributor having a first hydraulic diameter 2.5 times the second hydraulic diameter of the heat exchanger tubes (as per claims 12-15), the flow elements (as per claims 16-18) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim(s) 8-10 and 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shea (10,487,463). Shea discloses a fluidized bed (1), including a heat exchanger (Figure 1) having a fluidized bed wall (10), at least one heat exchanger element (Figure 1) with a horizontal inlet (4), a horizontal outlet (19), multiple vertical heat exchanger tubes (16), a lower horizontal collector (18), and an upper horizontal distributor (9), wherein each of the vertical heat exchanger tubes (16) extends from a respective upper end to a respective lower end with the respective lower ends of the vertical heat exchanger tubes connected to the lower collector (18) and the respective upper ends of the heat exchanger tubes (16) connected to the upper distributor (9), the lower collector is connected to the outlet (Figure 1), the upper distributor is connected to the inlet (Figure 1), further comprising a vertical riser pipe (5) arranged between the inlet and the upper distributor and connecting the inlet and upper distributor to one another, wherein the riser pipe (5) is configured such that the inlet is positioned closer to the outlet than to the upper distributor (shown in Figure 1), the inlet and the outlet are guided through the fluidized bed wall (10), and the riser pipe (5), the upper distributor (9), the lower collector (18) and the vertical heat exchanger tubes (16) are arranged within the fluidized bed wall (10) (SEE Figure 1). In re claim 9, Shea further discloses that the lower collector and the upper distributor are capable of being horizontal tubes (collection chambers 8 & 18 are typically known in the art as being cylindrical shaped tubes or headers through which vertical tubes are connected). In re claim 10, Shea further discloses reinforcing elements (tube sheets 15, 17) implemented in a connecting region of the upper distributor and the vertical heat exchanger tubes. In re claims 16-18, Shea further discloses flow elements (6) for influencing the flow through the heat exchanger tubes arranged between the upper distributor and the vertical heat exchanger tubes. In re claim 18, Shea discloses that the flow elements comprise one or more of throttles (7) and orifices (interpreted as the space to accommodate the flow elements). The recitation of “a fluidized bed” has not been given patentable weight because it has been held that a preamble is denied the effect of a limitation where the claim is drawn to a structure and the portion of the claim following the preamble is a self-contained description of the structure not depending for completeness upon the introductory clause. Kropa v. Robie, 99 USPQ 478 (CCPA 1951)
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.
Claim(s) 19-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shea (10,487,463). Shea discloses the applicants primary inventive concept as stated above, however the focus is to a singular heat exchanger element (as shown in Figure 1); however it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the applicants claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter pertains to have arrange two or more heat exchanger elements parallel to one another and arrived at the applicants claimed invention since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 22 is 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY A WILSON whose telephone number is (571)272-4882. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7:00am-4:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at 571-272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY A WILSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 June 9, 2026
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