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, 4-9, 11) in the reply filed on 11/24/2025 is acknowledged. Claims 2-3, 10, 12-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-9 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arvand et al. (DE102013202829) of which attached corresponding English translation is cited in view of Deng et al. (CN112662833) of which attached corresponding English translation is cited, Li et al. (CN114058829) of which attached corresponding English translation is cited and Fujimatsu et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0201174).
Regarding Claim 1, Arvand teaches a method for producing sliding bearing components with a high degree of toughness, comprising:
providing at least one sliding bearing component made of a steel material, wherein the steel material comprises 0.70 - 1.1 % by weight of carbon ([0111]: These typically have carbon (C) contents between 0.93 wt. % and 1.05 wt. %.) and a mixture of alloying elements of more than 1.75 % by weight and less than 3.4 % by weight, wherein the mixture of alloying elements comprises manganese, chromium and silicon ([0111]: 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6; according to the chemical composition data, 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 contains between 3 wt. % and 3.75 wt. % of combined weight of manganese, chromium and silicon.) (Since both carbon wt. % and a mixture of alloying elements wt. % of Arvand overlap with the claimed wt. % ranges, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to find an optimal range of chemical composition through a routine optimization that would result to a desired mechanical property of the steel material.
According to MPEP § 2144.05(I), in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. According to MPEP 2144.05 (II), generally, differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical.),
austenitizing the at least one sliding bearing component in a temperature range such that austenite and carbides are present side by side in the microstructure of the steel material (According to paragraph [0012] of the current application, austenitizing the rolling bearing steel alloy such as 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 (see [0039]) at a temperature ranging from 835°C to 870°C results austenite and carbide side-by-side in the microstructure of the steel alloy material. Therefore, when the same bearing steel alloy 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 ([0111]) of Arvand undergoes the austenitizing process at a temperature ranging from 850°C to 870°C according to Arvand [0104], the bearing steel alloy of Arvand would also form austenite and carbide in its microstructure.),
quenching the at least one sliding bearing component to a temperature which is 10 to 20 K below a martensite start temperature of the steel material, by transferring the sliding bearing component to a warm bath at a temperature in the range of 170 to 220°C ([0105]: 10°C to about 200°C) (In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art," a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP § 2144.05(I)), whereby martensite is formed ([0105]: The quenching process results in the formation of martensite, at least partially…) and untransformed retained austenite is maintained, and wherein carbon migrates from the formed martensite into the untransformed retained austenite (Again, the bearing component of Arvand would have untransformed retained austenite as a result of performing the same austenitizing and quenching steps as the current application.),
cooling the at least one sliding bearing component to room temperature after quenching ([0108]: post-cooling to a temperature between approximately 5°C and 10°C),
tempering the at least one sliding bearing component after cooling, wherein the sliding bearing component is heated to a temperature in the range of 220 to 245°C ([0109]: tempering at 170°C to 390°C for a predetermined period of time) (In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. See MPEP § 2144.05(I)), wherein a martensitic matrix with a retained austenite content in the range of 15 % and 25 % by volume is obtained as the material structure (Again, the bearing component of Arvand would have a martensitic matrix with a retained austenite content in the range of 15 % and 25 % by volume as a result of performing the same process on the same material as the current application.), and
subsequently cooling the sliding bearing component to room temperature (It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to cool the tampered bearing component to room temperature when the heat treatment processes have been performed.), forming the sliding bearing component with a high degree of toughness.
Arvand does not explicitly teach providing at least one rolling bearing component made of a steel material, wherein the steel material has a degree of purity such that in a microscopic examination of special steels for non-metallic inclusions in accordance with DIN 50602 (1998 edition) on average less than 100 non-metallic inclusions occur per 1000 mm2 of the polished surface, holding the bearing component in a warm bath for 14 to 25 min during quenching and heating the bearing component at a tempering temperature for a period of 1 to 4 hours.
Although Arvand teaches a method of making a slide bearing, it teaches that its bainitic hardening process can be also used to achieve a targeted and/or reproducible hardness of a corresponding rolling bearing ring in paragraph [0016]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the method Arvand to manufacture other types of bearing including a rolling bearing component as it would benefit from the same high degree of toughness of the steel material achieved by the method of Arvand.
Deng teaches that because a rolling bearing is subjected to a strong point load or surface load, it requires high purity (low number of non-metallic inclusions). (Background, 1st paragraph) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a steel material having a small amount of non-metallic inclusions including 100 per 1000 mm2 of the polished surface according to DIN 50602 in order to improve mechanical properties of the rolling bearing component, such as enhanced strength, hardness, ductility and corrosion resistance.
Li teaches performing isothermal quenching of a bearing outer ring in 180 °C oil for 25 min (page 2, Step S4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to holding the rolling bearing component of Arvand in a warm bath for a certain amount of time including 25 min during quenching as taught by Li in order to form desired martensite as suggested in Li page 2, Step S4.
Fujimatsu teaches tempering the bearing component for a period of 90 minutes ([0051]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to temper the rolling bearing component of Avand for a certain amount of time including 90 minutes as taught by Fujimatsu in order to obtain a desired hardness as suggested by Fujimatsu [0051].
Regarding Claim 4, Arvand/Deng/Li/Fujimatsu teach the method according claim 1, wherein the steel material of the at least one rolling bearing component comprises 0.7 - 1.05 % by weight of carbon (Arvand [0111]: These typically have carbon (C) contents between 0.93 wt. % and 1.05 wt. %) and the mixture of alloying elements of more than 2.95 % by weight (Arvand [0111], 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6; According to the chemical composition data, 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 contains between 3 wt. % and 3.75 wt. % of combined weight of manganese, chromium and silicon.). (Since carbon wt. % of Arvand overlap with the claimed ranges, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. According to MPEP § 2144.05(I), in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. According to MPEP 2144.05 (II), generally, differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical.)
Regarding Claim 5, Arvand/Deng/Li/Fujimatsu teach the method according to claim 4, wherein the steel material comprises the mixture of alloying elements of more than 3.05 % by weight (Arvand [0111]: 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6; according to the chemical composition date, 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 contains between 3 wt. % and 3.75 wt. % of combined weight of manganese, chromium and silicon.). (Since the wt. % of the mixture of alloying elements of Arvand overlaps with the claimed range, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. According to MPEP § 2144.05(I), in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. According to MPEP 2144.05 (II), generally, differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical.)
Regarding Claim 6, Arvand/Deng/Li/Fujimatsu teach the method according to claim 1, wherein the steel material of the at least one rolling bearing component comprises the following constituents:
0.7 - 1.05 % by weight of carbon,
0.50 - 0.90 % by weight or 0.40 - 0.75 % by weight of silicon,
0.90 - 1.30 % by weight or 0.80 - 1.70 % by weight of manganese,
1.3 - 1.75 % by weight or 0.90 - 2.05 % by weight of chromium, and
residual iron and unavoidable impurities (Arvand [0111]: 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6; according to the chemical composition data, 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 contains 0.93-1.05% of C, 0.4-0.6% of Si, 0.8-1.1 of Mn, 1.8-2.05 Cr). (Since wt. % of each of the alloys elements in 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 either overlaps or is merely close with the claimed range, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. According to MPEP § 2144.05(I), in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. Similarly, a prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges or amounts do not overlap with the prior art but are merely close. According to MPEP 2144.05 (II), generally, differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical.)
Regarding Claim 7, Arvand/Deng/Li/Fujimatsu teach the method according to claim 1,
wherein the steel material of the at least one rolling bearing component contains a rolling bearing steel alloy,
wherein the rolling bearing steel alloy is selected from DIN EN ISO 683-17 (2015 edition) (Arvand [0111]: DIN EN ISO 683-17).
Regarding Claim 8, Arvand/Deng/Li/Fujimatsu teach the method according to claim 7,
wherein the rolling bearing steel alloy is the alloy with the designation 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6. (Arvand [0111]: 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6)
Regarding Claim 9, Arvand/Deng/Li/Fujimatsu teach a use of the method for producing rolling bearing components with a high degree of toughness according to claim 1:
for the production of rolling elements or rolling bearing rings. (Arvand [0016]: rolling bearing ring)
Regarding Claim 11, Arvand/Deng/Li/Fujimatsu teach the method according to claim 6, wherein the steel material of the at least one rolling bearing component contains between 0.50 % by weight and 0.6 % by weight of molybdenum. (Arvand [0111]: 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6; according to the chemical composition data, 100CrMnMoSi8-4-6 contains between 0.5 wt. % and 0.6 wt. % of molybdenum)
Conclusion
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/JUN S YOO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3726 12/9/2025