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 § 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) 1, 4, 5 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colwell (US 3209659) in view of Han (CN 2665549).
Regarding claim 1, Colwell discloses a gas sealing structure Fig. 1 for an internal combustion engine, the internal combustion engine comprising: a cylinder block 2 that includes a space part 6 formed in a columnar shape; a cylinder liner 5 that is formed in a cylindrical shape and that is disposed in the space part; a piston 7 that is movably supported in an axial direction by the cylinder liner; a cylinder head 18 that is fastened to top of the cylinder block; and a gasket 25 that is disposed between the cylinder block and the cylinder head and between the cylinder liner and the cylinder head, and that includes a fire ring 26, wherein a contact area between the cylinder liner and the fire ring and a contact area between the cylinder head and the fire ring are the same.
However, Colwell fails to explicitly disclose a first groove along a peripheral direction of the fire ring is provided on a contact surface of the cylinder liner and a second groove provided on a contact surface of the cylinder head. Han, a gas sealing structure Fig. 1, discloses the use of a first groove 5 Fig. 2 provided on a contact surface of the cylinder liner 3 and a second groove 5 provided on a contact surface of the cylinder head 1. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the cylinder head and liner of Colwell with first and second grooves as taught by Han in order to reduce pressure thus providing reliable sealing.
Colwell also fails to explicitly disclose the configuration of the fire ring. Nevertheless, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the configuration of the fire ring to an array of shape necessary to accommodate a space in which it is positioned and since it has been held that the configuration of the claimed element was a matter of choice which a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found obvious absent persuasive evidence that the particular configuration of the claimed element was significant. In re Dailey, 357 F.2d 669, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1966)
Regarding claim 4, the combination discloses wherein the second groove 5 Fig. 2 includes a plurality of second groves, the first groove 5 includes one or more first groves, and a number of second grooves is greater than a number of first grooves.
Regarding claim 5, the combination discloses wherein the second grooves 5 Fig. 2 include an inner second groove provided radially inside the first groove 5, and an outer second groove provided radially outside the first groove, and a radial length between the first groove and the inner second groove, and a radial length between the first groove and the outer second groove are same.
Regarding claim 6, the combination discloses wherein the gasket 25 is formed of a soft material capable of forming a first convex part and a second convex part capable of penetrating into the first groove 5 and the second groove 5, by plastically deforming under surface pressure.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/15/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the Cowell reference fails to teach or suggest the configuration of the claimed fire ring. This is not persuasive since as stated above it would have been an obvious design choice or engineering expedient for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify a shape of the fire ring in order to scale and/or otherwise optimize the disclosed structure to achieve its intended use in a particular environment of intended use benefitting from same wherein configuring fire rings to intended use is well known in the art and would not otherwise affect function of the invention. Also see US Pat. 4474147 and US Pat. 5636850 for reference of an array of possibilities for configuring shapes of fire rings.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE G BYRD whose telephone number is (571)270-1824. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
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/EUGENE G BYRD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675