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 without traverse of Group I, Claims 1, 2, 5, 7-10, 14, 15, 22-24, 29 and 30 in the reply filed on July 20, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 36, 37, 39, 41, 43 and 66 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 20, 2026. If the claims are not canceled in response to this office action, “(Withdrawn)” status identifiers must be used instead of “(Original)”.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lehmann et al. (US 5,389,264).
Lehmann et al. ‘264 teach a hydraulic energy dissipator comprising a reactor vessel (18), a gas inlet (10), a gas outlet (28), a liquid including solids in the vessel, a liquid top surface (22), and a gas/liquid separator (26) above the liquid surface for removing droplets from the gas (see figure 1, col. 2, line 63 to col. 3, line 60). Regarding the intended use in lines 7-8 of claim 1, it is submitted that the prior device is inherently capable of removing droplets originating from any source, and that droplets will be created as bubbles rise through the liquid containing solids.
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) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lehmann et al. ‘264 in view of Kojima (US 2008/0169576 A1).
Lehmann et al. ‘264 disclose all of the limitations of the claim except that the liquid separator includes a widened upper chamber. Kojima ‘576 discloses a gas-liquid contact system with a gas/liquid separator above a liquid level that includes a widened vessel portion (21a) (see figure 7, paragraphs 40, 128). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the vessel of Lehmann et al. ‘264 by using a widened upper portion in order to provide a delayed outlet gas flow rate so that gravity has a longer time to act on droplets, causing them to drop and improve the separating efficiency.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lehmann et al. ‘264 in view of CN 102380262 A.
Lehmann et al. ‘264 disclose all of the limitations of the claim except that the separator includes a cyclonic separator in an upper portion of the vessel between the liquid surface and the gas outlet. CN ‘262 discloses a gas/liquid separator comprising cyclonic separators (1) in an upper part of a vessel (11) between a gas outlet (9) and an upper surface of liquid (5) (see figure 1, abstract, paragraph 32 of the machine-generated English translation). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the separator of Lehmann et al. ‘264 by using the cyclonic separators of CN ‘262 in order to provide prolonged continuous operation of the device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5, 8-10, 15, 22-24, 29 and 30 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The additional references listed on the attached PTO-892 form disclose gas/liquid separator arrangements.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANK LAWRENCE whose telephone number is (571)272-1161. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-7pm.
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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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/FRANK M LAWRENCE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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