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 under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “water tanks” of Claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: “figs comb-toothed element” in line 2 should read “[[figs]] comb-toothed element”. 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, 7, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Planterose et al. (WO2023126601, hereinafter Planterose).
Regarding Claim 1, Planterose discloses a steam comb-toothed structure and a steam comb (Figures 1-11), comprising electrically heated heating sheets (40; figure 4; paragraph [0020] discloses it can be two sheets), further comprising a comb-toothed bottom plate (4; figure 4) and a cover plate (3; figure 4), wherein the cover plate is installed on the comb-toothed bottom plate (figure 1), an accommodating cavity is arranged between the cover plate and the comb-toothed bottom plate (figure 11 where 40 sits), the accommodating cavity is provided with the heating sheets (figure 11) and a heat conducting plate (51; figure 11), a lower surface of the heat conducting plate is tightly fitted with an upper end surface of the heating sheet (figure 11, the Examiner notes that as the device is handheld and the components are packed within “tightly fitted” is relative. Further, see illustrated figure 4; The Examiner further notes that what is considered upper and lower is dependent on the orientation of the brush), and water tanks (60; figures 1-11; paragraph [0022] discloses the tanks are removable therefore a user could switch tanks) are arranged on the heat conducting plate (50; figure 4 and figure 11 depict that the water tank connect to the pump 61 and the inlet 501 which sits on 50 on top of 51. The Examiner notes that “arranged” as defined by Dictionary.com as to place in proper, desired, or convenient order; adjust properly, therefore the relationship between 50 and 60 is arranged); the comb-toothed bottom plate (figure 6) is provided with steam ports (502; figure 4), and a through-hole structure (52; figure 4; paragraph [0031]) for steam passage is arranged at a position of the heat conducting plate (figure 4) corresponding to the steam port (paragraphs [0031]-[0032]); a space (50; figure 4; paragraph [0031] discloses it to be a chamber) for steam generation is arranged between the cover plate and the heat conducting plate (figure 4 and 11), and the steam generation space is communicated with the steam port (paragraph [0031]); the cover plate is provided with a water inlet (501 which sits within 3; figures 3-4), and the water inlet is communicated with the water tanks on the heat conducting plate (figures 1-11; paragraph [0019]); a side of the comb-toothed bottom plate away from the cover plate (figure 5) is provided with a plurality of fixed comb teeth (70 and 71), a side wall of at least one fixed comb tooth among the fixed comb teeth is provided with steam outlets (701; figure 5), and the steam outlets (figures 5-6) are communicated with the steam ports (figures 5-7; paragraph [0040]).
Regarding Claim 7, Planterose discloses a plurality of the steam ports are arranged, the plurality of steam ports are sequentially arranged along a length direction of the comb-toothed bottom plate (figure 11), and each steam port is arranged to be located at a middle position of the comb-toothed bottom plate (figure 11) in a width direction (figure 11).
Regarding Claim 10, Planterose discloses a steam comb, wherein the steam comb has the steam comb-toothed structure according to claim 1 (Figures 1-11).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 and 8-9 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Planterose does not disclose nor render obvious:
wherein the accommodating cavity is further provided with a first sealing silica gel piece (8) and a second sealing silica gel piece (9), wherein the first sealing silica gel piece (8) is in an annular shape, the first sealing silica gel piece (8) is tightly arranged between the cover plate (5) and the comb-toothed bottom plate (2), and the first sealing silica gel piece (8) wraps the heat conducting plate (4); and the second sealing silica gel piece (9) is tightly arranged between the heat conducting plate (4) and the comb-toothed bottom plate (2) and is located at the position of the steam port (3), and air holes 901 for steam passage are formed at a position of the second sealing silica gel piece (9) corresponding to the steam port (3); the first sealing silica gel piece (8) is provided with a water inlet connector, the water inlet connector penetrates through the water inlet of the cover plate (5), and the water inlet connector is connected to a water inlet nozzle (10); two heating sheets (1) are arranged, a length direction of these two heating sheets (1) is the same as the length direction of the comb-toothed bottom plate (2), the two heating sheets (1) are separately arranged on both sides of each steam port (3), a water tank is separately arranged at positions of the heat conducting plate (4) corresponding to the two heating sheets (1), the water inlet of the cover plate (5) is arranged at a middle position of the cover plate (5) in a width direction, water inlet passages are arranged at positions of the heat conducting plate (4) corresponding to the water inlet of the cover plate (5), and two water tanks on the heat conducting plate (4) are both communicated with the water inlet passages; a partition structure is arranged in the water tank, the partition structure separates the water tank into a plurality of water channels that are communicated with each other sequentially from beginning to end, and the length direction of each water channel is the same as the length direction of the water tank.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Sydney J Pulvidente whose telephone number is (571)272-8066. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday, 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eric Rosen can be reached at (571) 270-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SYDNEY J PULVIDENTE/ Examiner, Art Unit 3772
/ERIC J ROSEN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3772