DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-5 are pending as submitted on 08/13/24.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: this claim does not recite which temperature scale pertains to ‘160 degrees’. Appropriate correction is required.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: all mentions of temperature herein do not recite which temperature scale pertains to the stated number of ‘degrees’. Further, the repeated phrase “wire coated on an insulator” appears to be a mistranslation. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. With regard to claim 1, this claim recites the limitation "the heat generation portion" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim language. Further, the phrase “wire coated on an insulator” appears to be a typo or mistranslation, as wires are not ‘coated onto’ their insulator films – most of the application describes solid wire, ‘covered with an insulator film,’ which appears to be the correct phrasing. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1 & 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shiohama, JP 05-318596.
Shiohama teaches a known method for connecting an electrofusion joint, comprising inserting a thermoplastic pipe (P) end into a shaped joint (1) having an inner stopper (3) and heating wire (4/5) embedded throughout this insulating (i.e. not electrically conductive) thermoplastic material, wherein the pipe is inserted by a clamp (7) and pressed toward the stopper as the sleeve is heated to connect them (throughout, e.g. abstract, [0007, 0015, FIGS. 1-2]).
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 of this title, 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 2 & 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiohama, JP 05-318596 in view of Sauron et al., CA 2136753.
The teachings of Shiohama have been detailed above, and while it is somewhat unclear whether the step of advancing the pipe against the stopper is preferred to be conducted prior to/simultaneous with/after energizing the heating wire, each of these would at least have been prima facie obvious to try, as they represent the limited possibilities for carrying out this hot-press weld. Likewise, the required parameters for heat supplied/time/press force/cooling required to weld a given type of thermoplastic material of a given mass would have been well within the realm of routine experimentation for one of ordinary skill in this art; see MPEP 2144.05(II)A. The claimed parameters are also suggested for example by Sauron, which teaches another thermoplastic pipe joining method which comprises retrieving information about the materials used and then retrieving/calculating the appropriate processing parameters – e.g. heating to greater than 160 deg. C and for a predetermined time [Pg. 4] or pressing with a force of at least 0.15 MPa per mm2 and for a predetermined time [Pgs. 10, 18, 20], wherein it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings & suggestions of Sauron with those of Shiohama, in order to predictably melt and fuse these materials together well using the appropriate parameters for the materials/masses selected.
Conclusion
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/JOHN BLADES/
Examiner
Art Unit 1746
/PHILIP C TUCKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1745