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.
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) 1-6, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hayashi (JP 2012172873). Hayashi discloses a water heater (SEE Figures 1A, 1B) comprising: a combustion chamber (1) ; a burner (1a) configured to cause a combustion reaction in the combustion chamber (1); a plurality of combustion tubes (2a) communicating with the combustion chamber so that combustion gas generated by the combustion reaction flows through an interior thereof; a circulation housing (2) surrounding the plurality of combustion tubes (SEE Figure 1A) and the combustion chamber so that circulating water flows to a periphery of the plurality of combustion tubes and the combustion chamber; a pre-stage heat exchanger (2b, 2c) communicating the plurality of combustion tubes to generate pre-stage hot water by exchanging heat between direct water and the combustion gas having passed through the plurality of combustion tubes; and a main heat exchanger (7) connected to the pre-stage heat exchanger (2b, 2c) and the circulation housing (2) so that the pre-stage hot water (9) received from the pre- stage heat exchanger generates hot water by exchanging heat with the hot water received from the circulation housing. In re claim 2, Hayashi further discloses a division part (2d) configured to divide an interior of the circulation housing and an interior of the pre-stage heat exchanger (as per Figure 1A). In re claim 3, Hayashi further discloses that the division part (2d) is coupled to the pre-stage heat exchanger (2b, 2c) and the combustion tubes (2a) so that inherently the combustion gas received from the plurality of combustion tubes is delivered to the pre-stage heat exchanger. In re claim 4, Hayashi discloses that the division part has a shape, of which a cross-section is taken by a plane being perpendicular to a direction, in which the combustion gas flows, decreases and then increases as it goes along the direction, the combustion gas flows (the area decreases in 1b and increases at area 2c as per Figure 1A). In re claim 5, Hayashi discloses that the pre-stage heat exchanger (2b, 2c) includes: a plurality of pre-stage tubes configured such that the combustion gas discharged from the plurality of combustion tubes flows through an interior thereof; and a pre-stage housing surrounding the pre-stage tubes so that the direct water flows to a periphery of the pre-stage tubes (illustrated in Figure 1A wherein water flows within the structure 2c around the array of tubes 2a). In re claim 6, Hayashi illustrates in Figure 1A a number of the plurality of combustion tubes (totaling 9) and the plurality of pre-stage tubes (totaling 10) are different. In re claim 9, Hayashi discloses a circulation pipe (Lb) connecting the main heat exchanger and the circulation housing so that the circulating water circulates in the circulation housing and the main heat exchanger. In re claim 10, Hayashi discloses that the main heat exchanger is the form of a tube-and- tube heat exchanger.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 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.
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.
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/GREGORY A WILSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 July 23, 2026
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