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 .
Response to Amendment
In view of the amendment filed 05/01/2026:
Claims 1-12 are pending.
The double patenting rejection of claims 1, 2, and 11 is maintained.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
Claim(s) 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takagi et al. (US20210300005), and further in view of Sasaki (CN1840567A- Machine translation provided herein).
Regarding claim 1, Takagi teaches a method for producing a molded article of thermoplastic resin expanded beads ([0074] A method for producing the laminated article of the present invention will be described next…The molded layer A may be prepared by in-mold molding of the expanded beads A that are obtained by expanding thermoplastic resin particles), the method comprising:
filling a molding cavity of a mold having a cracking gap with thermoplastic resin expanded beads having a foamed layer ([0080] The expanded beads are produced by expanding polymer particles containing a blowing agent. More specifically, it is preferable to produce the expanded beads by so-called dispersing medium release foaming method);
completely closing the mold ([0092] a method in which a mold is opened to increase the space thereof before filling of the expanded beads, the mold being closed after completion of the filling to mechanically compress the expanded beads (cracking filling method)); and
supplying steam into the molding cavity to thereby fusion-bond the thermoplastic resin expanded beads to each other ([0091] The expanded beads molded layer may be obtained by a method including filling the expanded beads into a mold cavity, and feeding a heating medium, such as steam, into the mold cavity to heat, expand and mutually fusion bond the expanded beads, thereby obtaining the expanded beads layer having a shape conforming to the mold cavity),
wherein the thermoplastic resin expanded beads each have a columnar shape ([0064] The shape of the expanded beads is not specifically limited and may be spherical or polyhedral. Alternatively, the expanded beads may be in a columnar shape having a circular, rectangular, trapezoidal, triangular, pentagonal or greater polygonal, or indefinite cross-sectional shape) and have a defective portion which is a through hole penetrating an inside of the thermoplastic resin expanded bead in an axial direction thereof ([0064] The shape of the through hole of the expanded beads is not specifically limited. The outline of the through hole in a plane normal to the axial direction of the hole is generally circular, but may be any of an ellipse, rectangle, trapezoid, triangle, polygon with five or more angles, indefinite shape, and others),
in cut surface obtained by cutting the thermoplastic resin expanded bead at a center in an axial direction along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction (the cut surface is to be
interpreted as a cross-section of the thermoplastic resin expanded bead; [0122]),
a ratio Ca/A of an average cross-sectional area Ca per one defective portion to an average cross-sectional area A of the thermoplastic resin expanded bead is 0.04 or more and 0.25 or less ([0068], average cross-sectional diameter DA of the thermoplastic resin expanded bead is 1 to 10 mm and average cross-sectional diameter per one defective portion DCA is 0.2 to 5 mm and a ratio of diameters to a ratio of cross-sectional areas the diameter is calculated as shown below:
[(DCA/2)2π]/[(DA/2)2π] = (DCA/DA)2), and
a ratio Ct/A of a total cross-sectional area Ct of the defective portion to the average cross-sectional area A of the expanded bead is 0.04 or more and 0.25 or less (the total cross-sectional area Ct is interpreted as the summation of the cross-sectional areas of the defective portions and when there is only one defective portion that is present in the expanded bead then the total cross- sectional area Ct is equivalent to the average cross-sectional area Ca per one defective portion) is 0.04 to 0.25 as shown for the calculation of ratio Ca/A above) and
when the mold is completely closed, a compression rate of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads is 30% ([0103] Subsequently, the mold was opened until the dimension in the thickness direction of the mold cavity became 65 mm, and the expanded beads B shown in Table 1 were filled in the cavity. Thereafter, the mold was closed such that the dimension in the thickness direction became 50 mm; compression rate = change of mold distance in thickness direction= (65-50)/50 = 30%).
However, Takagi fails to explicitly teach a filling rate F of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads represented by Formula (1) is 130% or more and 220% or less:
F={a/(b xc)}x100 (1)
where a represents a mass (in kg) of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads filled in the mold, b represents a bulk density (in kg/in3) of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads, and c represents a capacity (in in3) of the molding cavity.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to molding thermoplastic resin expanded beads, Sasaki teaches the compression ratio (%) = F- 100% and therefore F= Compression ratio (%) + 100% (“The compression ratio in the present specification can be obtained by the following formula 1 (11). In the formula, a is the weight (g) of the expanded beads filled in the forming mold, b is the bulk density (g/L) of the expanded particles, and c is the forming in-mold volume (L). Compression ratio (%) = [(a / (b × c)) - 1] × 100 (11)”- see pg. 15 line 14-21).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have a filling rate F of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads of 130%, since Takagi teaches a compression ratio of 30% and Sasaki teaches the filling rate F is equal to the compression ratio (%) + 100%. Takagi teaches maintaining a low filling ratio at the time of filling the expanded beads in the molding mold ([0062] The interstices that exist between the expanded beads may be also formed by using bulky expanded beads, such as rod-shaped expanded beads having a large aspect ratio and columnar expanded beads having a cross shaped cross-section, so as to keep low the filling ratio at the time of filling the expanded beads in the molding mold), prompting one of ordinary skill to look to related art to determining the filling ratio from the compression ratio.
Regarding claim 2, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Takagi teaches wherein an average length LA of the molding cavity in an opening/closing direction of the mold is 50 mm ([0103] Thereafter, the mold was closed such that the dimension in the thickness direction became 50 mm).
Regarding claim 3, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Takagi teaches wherein a ratio of an apparent density of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads to the bulk density of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads is 1.6 (see example 2-4 and 2-5 under “Expanded Beads B” in [0098]) or 1.86 (see example 2-2 under “Expanded Beads B” in [0098]).
Regarding claim 4, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Takagi teaches wherein the thermoplastic resin expanded beads each have a through hole as the defective portion ([0063] The molded layer B having void spaces may be also obtained when the expanded beads constituting the TPE molded layer B each have a through hole).
Regarding claim 5, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Takagi teaches wherein the thermoplastic resin expanded beads each include:
a foamed layer including a foamed layer base resin which is a first thermoplastic resin ([0021]); and
a fusion-bondability improving layer covering the foamed layer and including a fusion-bondability improving layer base resin which is a second thermoplastic resin ([0008] [1] A laminated article comprising an expanded beads molded layer A comprised of a base polymer including a thermoplastic resin, and an expanded beads molded layer B laminated and bonded to said expanded beads molded layer A and comprised of a base polymer including a thermoplastic elastomer and [0040] When the thermoplastic resin of the molded layer A is a polyolefin-based resin, TPO is preferably used as TPE of the molded layer B. Even when the thermoplastic resin of the molded layer A is a polypropylene-based resin, the molded layer B of TPO may be thermally fusion-bonded to the molded layer A).
Regarding claim 6, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Takagi teaches wherein the foamed layer includes a thermoplastic resin which is a polyolefin-based resin ([0032] The base polymer constituting the molded layer B contains a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) as its major polymer component…As TPE, there may be mentioned, for example, an olefin-based thermoplastic elastomer (TPO), [0033]-[0035]).
Regarding claim 7, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
While Takagi teaches the foamed layer includes a thermoplastic resin which is an ethylene-propylene random copolymer, Takagi fails to teach the ethylene component is present in an amount of 0.5 mass% or more and 3.5 mass% or less.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to molding thermoplastic resin expanded beads, Sasaki teaches a foamed layer including a thermoplastic resin which is an ethylene-propylene random copolymer (“Further, the propylene random copolymer may be a 2-member copolymer such as a propylene-ethylene random copolymer, a propylene-butene random copolymer or a propylene-ethylene random copolymer, or may be a propylene-ethylene-butene”- see pg. 10 line 26-29) having an ethylene component amount of 0.5 mass% to 10 mass% (“The proportion of the comonomer component other than propylene in the copolymer is 0.05 to 15% by weight, particularly preferably 0.1 to 10% by weight”- see pg. 10 line 32-33). The foamed thermoplastic expanded beads of Sasaki allows for steam to more quickly infiltrate the foamed particles such that less steam is needed (see pg. 4 line 31-42), demonstrates waterproofing (see pg. 4 line 31-42), and allows for reduced cooling times (see pg. 4 line 44- pg. 5 line 3).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the ethylene component of Takagi modified with Sasaki be present in an amount of 0.5 mass% or more and 3.5 mass% or less, as taught by Sasaki, for the benefit of forming thermoplastic expanded beads that allow for steam to more quickly infiltrate the foamed particles such that less steam is needed, demonstrate waterproofing, and reduces cooling times.
Regarding claim 8, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Takagi teaches wherein the bulk density of the thermoplastic resin expanded beads is 35 kg/m3 or 49 kg/m3 (see Expanded Beads A and Example 2-1 under Expanded Beads B in [0098]).
Regarding claim 9, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the molded article has a voidage of 5% or more and 50% or less ([0059]).
Regarding claim 10, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1. However, Takagi fails to teach wherein the filling is performed using the thermoplastic resin expanded beads to which an internal pressure is not applied.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to molding thermoplastic resin expanded beads, Sasaki teaches wherein the filling is performed using the thermoplastic resin expanded beads to which an internal pressure is not applied (“a molded body having a void ratio of 0 to 11% by volume can be obtained without subjecting the expanded particles to a pressure treatment”- see pg. 17 line 8-9). Filling expanded particles into a mold without pressure treatment reduces undesired foaming and reduces the formation of voids (see pg. 2 line 35-41). Further, reducing the formation of voids in foamed particles produces molded articles with excellent water repellency (see pg. 4 line 38-42).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the filling of Takagi modified with Sasaki performed without an internal pressure, as taught by Sasaki, for the benefit of reducing undesired foaming and the formation of voids, where reducing the formation of voids produces molded articles with excellent water repellency.
Regarding claim 11, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Takagi teaches wherein when the mold is completely closed, a maximum value Pmax of a compression rate represented by Formula (3) is 30% ([0103] Subsequently, the mold was opened until the dimension in the thickness direction of the mold cavity became 65 mm, and the expanded beads B shown in Table 1 were filled in the cavity. Thereafter, the mold was closed such that the dimension in the thickness direction became 50 mm; compression rate = change of mold distance in thickness direction= (65-50)/50 = 30%).
Regarding claim 12, Takagi modified with Sasaki teaches the method of claim 1.
However, Takagi fails to teach wherein the filling is performed using the thermoplastic resin expanded beads to which an internal pressure of less than 0.1 MPa (G) is applied.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to molding thermoplastic resin expanded beads, Sasaki teaches wherein the filling is performed using the thermoplastic resin expanded beads to which an internal pressure is not applied (“a molded body having a void ratio of 0 to 11% by volume can be obtained without subjecting the expanded particles to a pressure treatment”- see pg. 17 line 8-9). Filling expanded particles into a mold without pressure treatment reduces undesired foaming and reduces the formation of voids (see pg. 2 line 35-41). Further, reducing the formation of voids in foamed particles produces molded articles with excellent water repellency (see pg. 4 line 38-42).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the filling of Takagi modified with Sasaki performed without an internal pressure, as taught by Sasaki, for the benefit of reducing undesired foaming and the formation of voids, where reducing the formation of voids produces molded articles with excellent water repellency.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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 ARIELLA MACHNESS whose telephone number is (408)918-7587. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30-2:30 PT.
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/ARIELLA MACHNESS/Examiner, Art Unit 1743
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