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 .
Claims 1-3 and 5 are pending.
Applicants have amended claim 1.
Applicants have canceled claim 4.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/8/2026, based upon the latest amendment, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicants have incorporated the features of now canceled claim 4 into independent claim 1, and further added new features concerning parting line would not be created by the heating mechanism due to the stepped portion.
The arguments are based upon the changes along with the teachings of the prior art references. In this regard, the stepped features in relation to the mold and further of the parting line is noted and reconsidered. Here, the feature is noted in the injection molding arts as seen by the KANG reference, cited below, with the arrangement can be seen as providing for the heating element and accommodates such that no parting line is created by the heating mechanism on the inner surface of the cavity mold.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP’991 (JP05-228991A from IDS, see also NPL machine translation) in view of KANG (US 2008/0054529 A1).
Re: 1, the JP’991 reference teaches of a temperature adjustment mold (see Fig. 1) for adjusting a temperature of an injection-molded bottomed preform (preform 10) made of resin (see [0010]), the temperature adjustment mold comprising:
an air introduction member (air introduction rod 30) that is inserted into the preform and cools the preform by introducing compressed air from an air supply port into an interior of the preform;
a cavity mold (see elements in the temperature control pot 20, see Fig. 1) that accommodates the preform inside and performs heat exchange in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the preform into which the compressed air has been introduced (see Fig. 1 see air introduction rod 30); and
a heating mechanism (see temperature control blocks 22a-22e, includes electric resistance heating type heater) configured to heat a first portion of the cavity mold (see 22a, Fig. 1) facing the air supply port more than a second portion of the cavity mold located on a downstream side of a flow path of the compressed air than the first portion (see Fig. 1, see also [0011-0013], see also 22b-22e of Fig. 1).
wherein the cavity mold has a stepped portion in which an outer peripheral portion of the first portion is smaller in diameter than an outer peripheral portion of the second portion, and the heating mechanism is disposed to surround the stepped portion.
The JP’991 reference fails to specifically teach of the stepped portion, and wherein the heating mechanism surrounding the stepped portion, such that no parting line is created by the heating mechanism on the inner peripheral surface of the first portion of the cavity mold.
See in KANG concerning an injection mold and wherein, there being stepped portions on the mold channel and further teaching of recesses that can also be seen as additional stepped portions (see grooves 37) that accommodates the heaters (see electric heaters 33, 63), see Fig. 1-6. In this regard, the accommodation of the mold that includes a stepped portion and for a recess for the heating elements that are along the exterior away form the molding surface are known in the injection molding arts. In this, case, the stepped portion can be accommodated at the desired location upon the cavity mold.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the cavity mold of the JP reference with a stepped portion to accommodate heating elements in a stepped portion as taught by KANG as a known configuration of the mold structure for temperature control of the mold, see KSR rationale, MPEP2143, as these are combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Re: 2 (upon 1), wherein JP’991 reference also teaches of the air introduction member introduces the compressed air from a side of a neck portion (see neck portion 12 region 1, Fig. 1) of the preform, and the heating mechanism heats a portion facing an upper end of a body portion of the preform (10) connected to the neck portion (see Fig. 1 and 2 of the temperature control mechanisms).
Re: 3 (upon 1), wherein JP’991 reference also teaches of the air introduction member (30) introduces the compressed air from a side of a bottom portion of the preform (10), and the heating mechanism (22a-22e) heats a portion facing the bottom portion of the preform. (see Figs. 1 and 2 of the reference, particularly of the heating mechanism, and see Fig. 1 of the air introduction member of compressed air)
Re: 5, the JP’991 reference teaches of a manufacturing apparatus for a resin container, the manufacturing apparatus comprising:
an injection-molding unit configured to injection mold a preform made of resin (see teaching in JP’991 of formed preform from injection molded resin, [0010]);
a temperature adjustment unit ((see teaching of temperature adjustment 22a-22e) that has the temperature adjustment mold according to claim 1 and configured to adjust a temperature of the preform (10) that has been manufactured by the injection-molding unit; and
a blow-molding unit (see teaching of blow molding, [0002, 0022]) configured to blow-mold the preform (10) that has been adjusted in temperature to manufacture a resin container (see teaching of forming the final container, [0017]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached PTO-892 form, of note:
CHOMEL (US 2018/0162037 A1) reference teaches of a mold portion 18 and in which the there are stepped portions se seen in Figures 5 and 6, wherein, the stepped portion allows for shims 34, and further the outer portion allowing for a temperature controlling mechanism being a shell-carrier 24 having the channel 28, see [0056].
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMMANUEL S LUK whose telephone number is (571)272-1134. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 to 5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xiao S Zhao can be reached at 571-270-5343. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EMMANUEL S LUK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1744
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