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
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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by JP06-256600 (English machine translation provided herein).
JP06-256600 discloses a sulfur-vulcanized rubber composition for a vehicle coolant transport hose, containing an ethylene-propylene copolymer rubber (A) as a main component and a vulcanization accelerator (B), wherein the vulcanization accelerator (B) contains at least one selected from a group consisting of (B-1) to (B-3) below, a total amount of (B-1) to (B-3) is 3.25 parts by mass or less per 100 parts by mass of the ethylene-propylene copolymer rubber (A), and a total amount of (B-1) to (B-3) is 75% by mass or more of the vulcanization accelerator (B) as a whole, wherein: (B-1) is a dithiocarbamate vulcanization accelerator having a molecular weight of 380 or more, (B-2) is a thiuram vulcanization accelerator having a molecular weight of 380 or more, and (B-3) a sulfenamide vulcanization accelerator (claim 4, paragraphs [0002], [0004-0011], [0015]).
JP06-256600 also discloses The rubber composition for the vehicle coolant transport hose according to claim 1, wherein (B-1) is a dithiocarbamate vulcanization accelerator having a molecular weight of 400 or more (since the molecular weight of di-2-ethylhexyldithiocarbamate antimony is 1078.5 g/mol), wherein (B-2) is a thiuram vulcanization accelerator having a molecular weight of 400 or more (since tetrakis-2-ethylhexyl ester thiuram disulfide has a molecular weight of 633.18 g/mol), wherein the vulcanization accelerator (B) contains at least a vulcanization accelerator selected from a group consisting of (B-1) and (B-2), and a total amount of (B-1) and (B-2) is 75% by mass or more of the vulcanization accelerator (B) as a whole and a vehicle coolant transport hose, comprising at least one constituent layer in which an innermost
layer comprises a vulcanizate of the rubber composition for the vehicle coolant transport hose (since the composition can be used for at least the outer layer, thus clearly disclosing that any of the other layers may comprise composition as well) (claim 4, paragraphs [0002], [0004-0011], [0015]).
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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP06-256600 (English machine translation provided herein).
JP06-256600 does not specifically disclose a vehicle coolant transport hose, comprising at least one constituent layer in which an innermost layer comprises a vulcanizate of the rubber composition for the vehicle coolant transport hose.
However, JP06-256600 discloses that the composition can be used for at least the outer layer, thus clearly disclosing that any of the other layers may comprise composition as well (claim 4, paragraphs [0002], [0004-0011], [0015]). It would have been obvious to use the composition in the innermost layer in order to provide improved crack resistance in the innermost layer (paragraph [0002]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL C MIGGINS whose telephone number is (571)272-1494. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 1-9 pm EST.
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/MICHAEL C MIGGINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782
MCM
July 21, 2026
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