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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference characters "76" in Fig. 9 and "94" in Fig. 10 have both been used to designate the grip elements. 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. 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.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character not mentioned in the description: “94”, as shown in Figure 10. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) 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. 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.
INFORMATION ON HOW TO EFFECT DRAWING CHANGES
Replacement Drawing Sheets
Drawing changes must be made by presenting replacement sheets which incorporate the desired changes and which comply with 37 CFR 1.84. An explanation of the changes made must be presented either in the drawing amendments section, or remarks, section of the amendment paper. 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). A replacement sheet must 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 the amended drawing(s) must not be labeled as “amended.” If the changes to the drawing figure(s) are not accepted by the examiner, applicant will be notified of any required corrective action in the next Office action. No further drawing submission will be required, unless applicant is notified.
Identifying indicia, if provided, should include the title of the invention, inventor’s name, and application number, or docket number (if any) if an application number has not been assigned to the application. If this information is provided, it must be placed on the front of each sheet and within the top margin.
Annotated Drawing Sheets
A marked-up copy of any amended drawing figure, including annotations indicating the changes made, may be submitted or required by the examiner. The annotated drawing sheet(s) must be clearly labeled as “Annotated Sheet” and must be presented in the amendment or remarks section that explains the change(s) to the drawings.
Timing of Corrections
Applicant is required to submit acceptable corrected drawings within the time period set in the Office action. See 37 CFR 1.85(a). Failure to take corrective action within the set period will result in ABANDONMENT of the application.
If corrected drawings are required in a Notice of Allowability (PTOL-37), the new drawings MUST be filed within the THREE MONTH shortened statutory period set for reply in the “Notice of Allowability.” Extensions of time may NOT be obtained under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.136 for filing the corrected drawings after the mailing of a Notice of Allowability.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Paragraph [0014] refers to the dependent claims, rather than providing descriptive language to define the invention. The paragraph should either be deleted, or amended to replace the reference to the claims with descriptive language to properly disclose the invention.
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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eberle (US PGPub 2014/0157738).
Eberle ‘738 (Figs. 1 and 2) discloses a coalescing filter insert (12) arranged within a pressure vessel (11) for filtering liquid oil droplets from an air stream, the filter element including an annular disk-shaped flange (14) that is supported by an upper support region of the pressure vessel cylindrical housing sidewall along at least the radially outer rim of the flange. The reference discloses a seal element (31) arranged at the support surface (the portion of the inwardly extending rim of the housing sidewall nearest the bead 16) of the flange to seal the pressure vessel in relation to ambient pressure, the seal element including an extension portion that is arranged radially outwardly of the edge of the seal (31) nearest the bead (16). The seal extension is arranged to extend outwardly of the inner part of the seal so as to project through the pressure vessel to the outside surface thereof so as to be visible from the outside of the pressure vessel in the position of use of the coalescing filter insert. The reference does not disclose, nor do claims 1 and 6 require that the seal extension extends radially outwardly beyond a majority of the outer circumference of the seal structure. The reference also does not teach two seal extensions arranged symmetrically at the seal element. The reference does teach that the seal element extends entirely from the inner region, where the cover of the pressure vessel overlies the inner edge of the cylindrical sidewall of the vessel, to an outer surface of the cover and sidewall of the pressure vessel. Wherein the pressure seal is established at the inner region, where the cover of the pressure vessel overlies the inner edge of the cylindrical sidewall of the vessel (interior to the fasteners between the upper sidewall flange and the cover of the vessel as indicated by the vertical dot dash line in the Figures), making the seal material exterior to the fastening means for the cover to the housing sidewall essentially redundant, it would have been obvious for an artisan at the time of the filing of the application, to construct the seal with a smaller radial extent of the seal material, except for one or two areas that extend to the vessel exterior wall surface to insure proper placement of the seal during use of the vessel, since such would reduce the amount of material needed to provide a reliable seal, making the seal less expensive to produce.
Claims 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DE 20011003 U1.
DE 20011003 U1 (Figs. 1-5, 7, and 10; English Machine Translation) discloses a pressure vessel for accommodating a coalescing filter insert, the pressure vessel including a cylinder shaped body (3) having an upper housing opening to allow for insertion of the coalescing filter, with an annular disk shaped cover (4) having a clean air outlet (7) therein (see Figs. 1 and 10). The reference further discloses a seal element (13) disposed within a juncture between the cover and the cylinder shaped body for sealing an annular flange of the filter insert. The upper surface of the flange supporting region of the pressure vessel sidewall (3) further includes a seal element cutout (23) extending from a pressure vessel inner side all the way to a radially outwardly arranged pressure vessel outer side.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 7-11, and 17-19 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.
The prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest the apparatus as recited by instant claim 2, wherein the seal extension includes a radially outer end surface at a radially outer rim thereof that is configured to have applied thereon a marking or code. Claims 3-5 would be allowable based upon their dependency upon an allowable claim 2.
The prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest the apparatus as recited by instant claim 7, wherein the seal extension extends radially outwardly away from the seal body, the seal body having an annular shape and surrounds the radially outer rim of the annular disk-shaped flange. Claims 8 and 9 would be allowable based upon their dependency upon an allowable claim 7.
The prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest the apparatus as recited by instant claim 10, wherein the grip element extends radially inwardly from the seal body and connects two space apart regions of the seal body, the seal body having an annular shape and surrounds the radially outer rim of the annular disk-shaped flange. Claim 11 would be allowable based upon their dependency upon an allowable claim 10.
The prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest the apparatus as recited by instant claim 17, wherein the seal element extension is seal-tightly arranged between the annular disk-shaped cover of the pressure vessel and the cylinder-shaped body of the pressure vessel in the at least one seal element cutout and projects through the pressure vessel in a position of use of the at least one seal element in the pressure vessel. Claims 18 and 19 would be allowable based upon their dependency upon an allowable claim 17.
Claims 12 and 13 are allowed.
Independent claim 12, and its dependent claim 13 would be allowable for the same reasons as set forth with respect to claim 10 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES S BUSHEY whose telephone number is (571)272-1153. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 6:30-5:00.
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/C.S.B/6-19-26
/CHARLES S BUSHEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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