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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-2 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Omori (US 20210010531 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Omori discloses (in fig. 1 and annotated fig. 15) a gas bearing device (fig. 15) comprising:
a bump foil (10, 11) that is disposed on a stationary holding member (12) facing a rotating member (1) and that has a corrugated shape including a plurality of continuous peak portions (10b, 11C);
and a top foil (9) that is disposed on the bump foil (10, 11),
wherein the bump foil (10, 11) includes a first bump foil (10) on a rotating member side (12) and a second bump foil (11) on a stationary holding member side (12), which are disposed to face each other,
the first bump foil (10) and the second bump foil (11) engage with each other such that inclined surfaces (ICS1, ICS2) of peak portions (10b, 11C) of the first bump foil (10) and the second bump foil (11) overlap with each other,
and gaps (TG, BG) are formed respectively between tops (TP1, TP2) and between bottoms (BP1, BP2) of the peak portions (10b, 11C) of the first bump foil (10) and the second bump foil (11) overlapping with each other,
and the gap (between the tops (TP1, TP2) is formed in an entire circumferential section of the gas bearing device (fig. 15) where a back surface (BTF) of the top foil (9) and a front surface (FBF) of the first bump foil (10) are in contact. The terms (for example, peak, tops, bottom, etc.) are applied in the same way as the Applicant is using them.
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Regarding claim 2, Omori discloses the gas bearing device (3) according to wherein the first bump foil (10) includes a first bump one-side inclined surface (FB1) formed on one side of a first peak portion (10b),
which is one of a plurality of continuous first bump peak portions (10b) constituting the corrugated shape,
and a first bump other-side inclined surface (FB2) formed on the other side of the first peak portion (10b),
the second bump foil (11) includes a second bump one-side inclined surface (SB1) formed on one side of a second peak portion (11C),
which is one of a plurality of continuous second bump peak portions (11C) constituting the corrugated shape,
and a second bump other-side inclined surface (SB2) formed on the other side of the second peak portion,
a back surface of the first bump one-side inclined surface (FB1) and a front surface of the second bump one-side inclined surface (SB1) are configured to be in contact with each other,
and a back surface of the first bump other-side inclined surface (FB2) and a front surface of the second bump other-side inclined surface (SB2) are configured to be in contact with each other.
Regarding claim 8, Omori discloses (in fig. 1) the gas bearing device (fig. 15) according to Claim 1, wherein the stationary holding member (12) is a stationary holding member (12) of a journal bearing (3) that is disposed to face the rotating member (1) in a radial direction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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: the prior art of record does not disclose nor render obvious the combination set forth in claims 3, 4, and 5.
In particular, for claim 3, the prior art of record does not disclose nor render the gas bearing wherein the first bump foil includes a first bump one-side inclined surface formed on one side of a third peak portion, which is one of a plurality of continuous first bump peak portions constituting the corrugated shape, and a first bump other-side inclined surface formed on the other side of the third peak portion, the second bump foil includes, in a continuous peak portion that is a part of a plurality of continuous second bump peak portions constituting the corrugated shape, a second bump one-side inclined surface formed on one side of a fourth peak portion, which is a second bump peak portion located on a most one side in the continuous peak portion, and a second bump other-side inclined surface formed on the other side of a fifth peak portion, which is a second bump peak portion located on a most other side in the continuous peak portion, a back surface of the first bump one-side inclined surface and a front surface of the second bump one-side inclined surface are configured to be in contact with other, and a back surface of the first bump other-side inclined surface and a front surface of the second bump other-side inclined surface are configured to be in contact with other in combination with the other claim limitations.
In particular, for claim 4, the prior art of record does not disclose nor render the gas bearing comprising in respective overlapping inclined surfaces of the first bump peak portion and the second bump peak portion, a hard coating film is formed on any one or both of a back surface of the inclined surface of the first bump peak portion and a front surface of the inclined surface of the second bump peak portion in combination with the other claim limitations.
In particular, for claim 5, the prior art of record does not disclose nor render the gas bearing comprising in respective overlapping inclined surfaces of the first bump peak portion and the second bump peak portion, a molybdenum disulfide shot-treated layer is formed on any one or both of a back surface of the inclined surface of the first bump peak portion and a front surface of the inclined surface of the second bump peak portion in combination with the other claim limitations.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/02/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argued that their new amendment clarifies that a gap is formed between the tops of the first bump and the second bump in the "entire circumferential section where the top foil and the first bump foil are in contact" (i.e., the section where the load from the top foil is applied). As a result, the gap (TG) in fig. 15 of Omori does not read on the new limitation because there is no “gap” as in the present invention directly below the section receiving the load from the top foil (the flat surface portion 10b). However, the use of “section” renders the limitation meaningless as it allows the figure to be section up in any manner necessary and there is nothing concrete about the size, location, and relative position being explicitly stated in the new claim limitation.
Applicant also argued that the claim invention is clearly different in physical configurations for supporting a load from the teachings of Omori but nothing about these features are disclosed in the claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chrubim (US 3809443 A), from the IDS, discloses that a bump foil may be provided with a coating, or layer, of a low friction material, such as for example polytetrafluoroethylene or molybdenum disulfide. However, this coating or layer is neither a hard coating where Applicant provided examples for in para. [0047] or a molybdenum disulfide shot-treated layer. A molybdenum disulfide shot-treated layer is more than just a molybdenum disulfide coating as the particles are embed into the surface, which would change the structure of the surface.
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.
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/AIMEE TRAN NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3617
/JOHN OLSZEWSKI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3617