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 .
Status of Claims
This is the first action on the merits for application 18/840,002 filed on 08/20/2024. Claims 1-8 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/20/2024, 03/30/2026 have been considered by the examiner.
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) 1, 3-5, 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thayer (US 6601886 cited from IDS) in view of Yoshizaki (US 5843558)
Claim 1: Thayer discloses a shock-absorbing material (fig.1) comprising:
a tubular body (10); and
a plate-like member (12) bonded to an end surface of the tubular body (10), wherein the tubular body (10) includes a laminate of fiber-reinforced resin layers (10 includes 16; wherein 16 includes three layers of woven fabric that are embedded in a resin matrix, see col.4 lines 57-61), the fiber-reinforced resin layers (16) containing a plurality of unidirectionally aligned reinforcing fibers and a resin impregnated into the plurality of reinforcing fibers (see claim 6),
and the plate-like member (12) is bonded to the tubular body (10) via an adhesive layer (24).
Thayer does not disclose the tubular body includes a buckling-reducing layer and an easily breakable layer.
Yoshizaki teaches shock absorbing structure (see title, Fig.1a) having a body includes a buckling-reducing layer (the term “buckling reducing layer” does not have any specification definition of the phrase in the specification. Therefore, the phrase should be given its ordinary meaning, which is layer that functions to reduce buckling of body. In this case, KFRP layers as the KFRP layers to control or restrain rapid growth of cracks; see col.4 lines 61-62) and an easily breakable layer (the term “buckling reducing layer” does not have any specification definition of the phrase in the specification. Therefore, the phrase should be given its ordinary meaning, which is layer that functions to break easily. In this case, it is CFRP layer as the CFRP layer which is generally weak in resistance to the impact load, see col.4 lines 65-67 )
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the layer of tube from Thayer to incorporate the laminated KFRP and CFRP layers construction as taught by Yoshizaki in order to improve impact resistance, suppresses unstable crack propagation and buckling, lowers peak impact load in order to improve crash performance of tubular body in Thayer.
Claim 3: Thayer as modified by Yoshizaki discloses the shock-absorbing material according to claim 1, wherein in the buckling-reducing layer (KFRP) an angle formed by an alignment direction of the reinforcing fibers with respect to a length direction of the tubular body is 60 degrees or more and 80 degrees or less (“the direction of the aramid fibers (a) is skewed at angles of +30.degree. to +60.degree. relative to the direction of the load”, see col.4 lines 57-59).
Claim 4: Thayer as modified by Yoshizaki does not disclose wherein in the easily breakable layer an angle formed by an alignment direction of the reinforcing fibers with respect to a length direction of the tubular body is 5 degrees or more and less than 30 degrees. As note: Yoshizaki teaches “the aramid fibers (a) exhibit a high impact-energy absorbing efficiency when they are arranged obliquely or skewed at angles ranging from +30.degree. to +60.degree. relative to the direction of the impact load” (see col.5 lines 1-7).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the fiber orientation, including selecting orientation slightly below the disclosed lower limit of 30 degrees such as within the claimed range of 5 degree to less than 30 degrees, through routine experimentation to obtain a desire range in order to achieve a higher axial stiffness of tube, earlier crack initiation. Furthermore, it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Claim 5: Thayer as modified by Yoshizaki discloses the shock-absorbing material according to claim 1, wherein the laminate has a structure composed of the buckling-reducing layer (KFRP as taught by Yoshizaki), the easily breakable layer (CFRP as taught by Yoshizaki), and the buckling-reducing layer (KFRP as taught by Yoshizaki) stacked in this order from an inside to an outside of the tubular body (10-Thayer).
Claim 7: Thayer as modified by Yoshizaki discloses the shock-absorbing material according to claim 1, wherein the fiber-reinforced resin layer (16) contains the plurality of reinforcing fibers and a thermoplastic resin impregnated into the plurality of reinforcing fibers (Thayer: “resins include epoxy, nylon, polyester, vinylester, polypropylene, and acrylic”; see col.5 lines 1-5).
Claim 9: Thayer discloses a method for manufacturing a shock-absorbing material (Fig.1), the method comprising:
preparing a tubular body (10) including a laminate of fiber-reinforced resin layers (10 includes 16; wherein 16 includes three layers of woven fabric that are embedded in a resin matrix, see col.4 lines 57-61), the fiber-reinforced resin layers (16) containing a plurality of unidirectionally aligned reinforcing fibers and a resin impregnated into the plurality of reinforcing fibers (see claim 6), and bonding a plate-like member (12) to an end surface of the tubular body (10) using an adhesive agent (24).
Thayer does not disclose the tubular body including a buckling-reducing layer and an easily breakable layer.
Yoshizaki teaches shock absorbing structure (see title, Fig.1a) having a body includes a buckling-reducing layer (the term “buckling reducing layer” does not have any specification definition of the phrase in the specification. Therefore, the phrase should be given its ordinary meaning, which is layer that functions to reduce buckling of body. In this case, KFRP layers as the KFRP layers to control or restrain rapid growth of cracks; see col.4 lines 61-62) and an easily breakable layer (the term “buckling reducing layer” does not have any specification definition of the phrase in the specification. Therefore, the phrase should be given its ordinary meaning, which is layer that functions to break easily. In this case, it is CFRP layer as the CFRP layer which is generally weak in resistance to the impact load, see col.4 lines 65-67 )
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the layer of tube from Thayer to incorporate the laminated KFRP and CFRP layers construction as taught by Yoshizaki in order to improve impact resistance, suppresses unstable crack propagation and buckling, lowers peak impact load in order to improve crash performance of tubular body in Thayer.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thayer (US 6601886 cited from IDS) in view of Yoshizaki (US 5843558) and further in view of Maurer (US 20050200062)
Claim 2: Thayer as modified by Yoshizaki does not disclose wherein the adhesive layer comprises an acrylic adhesive agent or a cured product thereof.
Maurer teaches adhesives may be used to help secure the energy absorbers (¶[0023]; wherein the adhesive layer comprises an acrylic adhesive agent (¶[0025]) or a cured product thereof (¶[0023]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the adhesive layer comprises an acrylic adhesive agent or a cured product thereof as taught by Maurer to bond the plate like member to tubular body in the modified structure of Thayer in order to provide durable bond between the two components while maintaining the energy absorbing function.
Claim(s) 6, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thayer (US 6601886 cited from IDS) in view of Yoshizaki (US 5843558) and further in view of GERGELY (US 20190264769 A1)
Claim 6: Thayer as modified by Yoshizaki does not discloses wherein the plate-like member contains a thermoplastic resin.
GERGELY teaches a plate like member (28; Fig.1) contains a first polymer and reinforcing fibers (¶[0006]); wherein the first polymer is a first thermoplastic polymer (see ¶[0017]. Note thermoplastic polymer constitutes thermoplastic resin when used as a matrix or molding material of structural component. Thereof, the carrier plate 28 contains thermoplastic resin under BRI.).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the plate like member of the modified structure of Thayer with the thermoplastic polymer composite carrier plate as taught by GERGELY in order to provide lightweight, fiber reinforced support structure suitable for energy absorbing assemblies.
Claim 8: Thayer as modified by Yoshizaki does not disclose a plurality of the tubular bodies, wherein the plurality of tubular bodies are bonded to the plate-like member.
GERGELY teaches a plurality of tubular bodies (30; Fig.1), wherein the plurality of tubular bodies (30) are bonded (see ¶[0021]-[0025]) to the plate-like member (28).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a plurality of tubular bodies bond to same plate like member as taught by GERGELY in order to distribute impact loads over larger area of plate, improve structural stability and provide more uniform energy absorption across the width of the impact member.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
TOMIOKA (US 20170282824 A1) discloses energy absorbing member.
Kindervate (US 4946721 A) discloses composite for absorption of energy.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lillian T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-5404. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ernesto Suarez can be reached at (571)270-5565. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LILLIAN T NGUYEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3655a
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