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 .
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because in the Abstract, on line 4 (twice) and line 7, “A” should apparently be replaced by --first-- to provide consistent reference to the “first balance passage”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: in paragraph [0005], “an” should be replaced by --a-- before “first balance passage”.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3, and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 104454243 B.
CN 104454243 B (Figs. 7-11; English Machine Translation, in particular the Abstract and pages 5 and 6) referring to Fig. 7, discloses a carburetor body (10), as recited by independent claim 1, with a float chamber (1001, 2, 3), the carburetor being provided with first (602) and second (603) balance passages, with the openings (305, 1015) of the first and second balance passages to the float chamber being staggered axially (vertically) and radially relative to the fuel and air mixing cavity (1011), the opening of the first balance passage in the float chamber (305) being higher than the opening (1015) of the second balance passage in the float chamber, and the first balance passage and the second balance passage both being communicated with a converging passage (the convergence of joints 701-704), the converging passage being open to the atmosphere through extension adaptor (703), as required by instant claim 4.
With regard to instant claim 3, the openings (305, 1015) of the first and second balance passages to the float chamber are located on opposite sides of the cavity (1011) at locations spaced from (“away” or “close to”, as stated by instant claim 3-both relative terms that could mean the same thing) the choke end flange, the openings, by being on opposite sides of the cavity are also located on both sides of an axis of the housing. The reference fails to teach that the first and second balance passages are provided within the carburetor body, if that is the intention of applicant’s recitation, “the carburetor body being provided with balance passages”, as recited on line 2 of independent claim 1. In any event, whether or not applicant intends to limit the scope of the claims to having the balance passages formed within the body of the carburetor, one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the application, would recognize that CN ‘243 clearly teaches a carburetor with functional first and second balance passages that allow for the carburetor to be inclined in any direction, including being inverted (see Figs. 8-11, and the discussion on pages 5 and 6 of the Machine Translation of the reference) without allowing leakage of fuel from the float chamber by the placement of the openings of the balance passages in the float chamber, and therefore, one having ordinary skill in the art would have envisaged constructing the carburetor body with either the external (hose form) balance passages as a retrofit installation of balance passages, or internal passages that would be machined into the carburetor body at the time of original manufacture.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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 first and second balance passages formed into the structure of the carburetor body, wherein the first and second grooves are formed on an end face of a choke end flange of the carburetor body, with a seal that covers the end face of the choke end flange, with the seal covering and sealing the openings of the first and second grooves, as required by dependent claim 2.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Dieterle can be reached at 571-270-7872. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.S.B/6-22-26
/CHARLES S BUSHEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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