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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I claims 1-13 in the reply filed on 03/16/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 14-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected claims, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/16/2026.
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) 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okamura et al. (US 2014/0346003) in view of Farahati et al. (US 2020/0284303).
Regarding claims 1, 7-13 Okamura discloses a wet friction material, a plurality of segment pieces is disposed at both sides of inter-segment grooves. The segment pieces are composed of first segment pieces and second segment pieces. The first segment piece has at least two inner peripheral recesses formed on an inner periphery thereof and at least two outer peripheral recesses formed on an outer periphery thereof (abstract). Okamura discloses a leading end or edge of the inner peripheral end portion according to the present embodiment has an arc shape or a linear shape (para 0066, Fig 2a). The counter plates 2 are contacted and pressed to the plurality of the segment pieces 40 of the wet friction material 1 and are frictionally engaged therewith. The counter plate 2 is generally formed from a single metal sheet into a ring shape (annular shape) as in the case of the core plate 10. The counter plate 2 includes a body part 20 having a flat surface that slidably contacts with a wet friction element (such as the segment piece or the like) of the wet friction material 1. The body part 20 has engagement teeth 21 provided therealong in an integral manner (para 0046). The wet friction materials 1 and the counter plates 2 are assembled in an alternate manner to one another, while being immersed in lubricating oil such as ATF, to form a wet friction engagement device 30. A wet frictional engagement device 30 according to a working example shown in FIG. 1 is structured as a wet multi-disc clutch (para 0047).
However, Okamura fails to disclose first segment piece (first shape wet friction material segment) having a first composition including a binder, fibers and filler particles and second segment (second shape wet friction material segment) having a second composition including a binder, fibers and filler particles, the first composition being different from second one.
Whereas, Farahati discloses friction plate for a clutch includes a face and a first friction material disposed on the face. The first friction material has a first composition including a first filler material at a first weight concentration of a total weight of the first friction material. A second friction material is disposed on the face and has a second composition that is different than the first composition and including a second filler material at a second weight concentration of a total weight of the second friction material (abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include first friction material has a first composition including a first filler material and second friction material has a second composition including a second filler material as taught by Farahati in the first segment piece and second segment piece respectively motivated by the desire to have ease of assembly, strength, durability and processability.
Regarding claim 2, Farahati discloses the first friction material 40 may have between 35 to 45 percent fibers by total weight of the first friction material. The fiber may be organic or inorganic, and examples include, but are not limited to, cellulose fibers, cotton fibers, aramid fibers, and carbon fibers. Example binders include, but are not limited to, modified phenolic resin, polymeric paper processing aids, silane, coupling agents, and combinations thereof (para 0015) and the friction plates 24 may include at least one wiper (second friction material) 50 on one or both faces 52 of the plates. The wipers 50 are a friction material that include filler, fiber, and binder, but, unlike the first friction material 40, the wipers 50 includes more filler than fiber (para 0024).
Regarding claims 3-4, Farahati discloses the fiber may be organic or inorganic, and examples include, but are not limited to, cellulose fibers, cotton fibers, aramid fibers, and carbon fibers. Example binders include, but are not limited to, modified phenolic resin, polymeric paper processing aids, silane, coupling agents, and combinations thereof (para 0015). An example first friction material 40 has a first composition including a first filler material at a first weight concentration of less than 32 percent by weight of a total weight of the first friction material (para 0015). The second weight concentration is greater than 32 percent by weight of the total weight of the second friction material and wherein the first weight concentration is less than 30 percent by weight of the total weight of the first friction material (claims 2-3).
Regarding claims 5-6, Farahati discloses the fiber may be organic or inorganic, and examples include, but are not limited to, cellulose fibers, cotton fibers, aramid fibers, and carbon fibers. Example binders include, but are not limited to, modified phenolic resin, polymeric paper processing aids, silane, coupling agents, and combinations thereof. The filler is configured to carry the friction modifier. The filler may carry the friction modifier via surface interactions with the friction modifier, for example, by having a particle shape conducive to carrying the friction modifier, by having a particle size conductive to carrying the friction modifier, by pores sized to carry the friction modifier, or any combination thereof. The filler may include silica particles that contain diatomaceous earth (DE) particles (para 0015-0017).
With respect to weight percentage of aramid, cellulose fibers, filler and binder, It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to choose the instantly claimed ranges through process optimization motivated by the desire to have improved strength, durability and processability, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980) (MPEP 2144.05).
Conclusion
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/RONAK C PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788
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