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 .
Specification
The amendment filed 09/18/2024 is objected to under 35 U.S.C. 132(a) because it introduces new matter into the disclosure. 35 U.S.C. 132(a) states that no amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention. The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure is as follows:
The incorporation by reference of the international patent application PCT/KR2023/016369 and of the foreign patent application Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022- 0146755 is ineffective as it was added on the date of entry into the national phase, which is after the filing date of the instant application. The filing date of this national stage application is the filing date of associated PCT, in this case 11/07/2022, see MPEP 1893.03(b). Therefore the specification amendment of 09/18/2024 to include the incorporation by reference is new matter, per MPEP 608.01(p).
Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required:
“close contact part” in claim 8. It is clear to the examiner that the term “close contact port” recited in the specification is intended to recite “close contact part” as claim 8 was amended, however, the specification needs to be amended as well to match the terminology in claim 8.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “the spacers each having a predetermined thickness that is configured to adjust a pitch of the spiral baffles” which renders the scope of the claim unclear. Spacers are unchanging stationary objects with a predetermined thickness. Therefore it is unclear how a spacer can actively change the pitch of the spiral baffles without changing their respective thicknesses. For compact prosecution, the examiner is interpreting the limitation as meaning the thickness of the spacers sets the pitch of the baffles.
Claims 2-9 are rejected based on their dependency to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-5 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1)(1) as being anticipated by Newhouse (US 2261403 A).
Regarding claim 1, Newhouse teaches of:
A variable pitch spiral baffle system (Figs. 1 and 3), comprising:
spiral baffles (14) that are coupled to an inner peripheral surface (12) of a housing (11) of a hollow cylindrical heating furnace (14 is coupled to 12) by fixing brackets (14 is attached to 12 via bracket 13), the spiral baffles being configured to mix and transfer a treatment object input (14 would mix and also transfer objects through the rotary kiln; Pg. 1, Col. 2, lines 18-21, “So long as the material passing through the kiln flows freely, ribs 14 aid in forwarding the material from the feed end to the discharge end of the kiln”); and
spacers (see annotated Fig. 3 below) that are detachably (see the bolt 16 which would make the baffle 14 detachable from 13 and therefore the spacer detachably positioned relative to 13) interposed between the fixing brackets and the coupling surfaces of the spiral baffles (the spacer are positioned between 13 and the coupling surfaces of 14), the spacers each having a predetermined thickness that is configured to adjust a pitch of the spiral baffles (the thickness of the spacers would directly set the pitch of the spiral baffles).
Regarding claim 2, Newhouse teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 1, and Newhouse further teaches of:
wherein the spiral baffles are spaced apart from one another at predetermined intervals along a longitudinal direction of the housing (Fig. 1, 14 are spaced longitudinally along the housing of 11)
Regarding claim 3, Newhouse teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 1, and Newhouse further teaches of:
Wherein the spacers have different thicknesses from one another (see annotated Fig. 3 below, the two spacers immediately adjacent to 14 have a larger thickness than the two spacers directly attached to 17)
Regarding claim 4, Newhouse teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 3, and Newhouse further teaches of:
wherein at least one of the spacers corresponding to the pitch of the spiral baffles is selectively coupled to one of the spiral baffles and configured to set the pitch (annotated Fig. 3, the spacers are selectively coupled to 14 and the contact between the spacers and 14 set the pitch of 14)
Regarding claim 5, Newhouse teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 1, and Newhouse further teaches of:
Wherein the spacers are coupled to circumferential end portions of the spiral baffles (Figs. 3-4, 18 passes through each of the spacers and is shown in Fig. 4 as coupling the spacers to the circumferential end of 14)
Regarding claim 9, Newhouse teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 1, and Newhouse further teaches of:
further comprising fasteners (16) that are fastened to the spiral baffles (16 is fastened to 14) and the spacers (16 is fastened to the spacers via 14) through the fastening holes of the fixing brackets (16 extends through fastening holes of 13 to attach to 14) to fix the positions of the spiral baffles relative to the inner peripheral surface of the housing (16 fixes 14 to 12).
Claim(s) 1-2 and 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kojima (JP 2019070483 A)(cited with full translation in the IDS filed on 10/03/2024).
Regarding claim 1, Kojima teaches of:
A variable pitch spiral baffle system (Figs. 1-4), comprising:
spiral baffles (6) that are coupled to an inner peripheral surface (6 are coupled to an inner peripheral surface of 2) of a housing (2) of a hollow cylindrical heating furnace (2 is a hollow cylindrical dryer which is the same as a furnace) by fixing brackets (6 attached to 2 via 5 (there are a plurality of 5)), the spiral baffles being configured to mix and transfer a treatment object input (6 is capable of mixing and feeding objects through 2, abstract, “the inner blade 6 rotates integrally with the rotation shaft 3 to feed the objects to be dried towards a downstream side”); and
spacers (7) that are detachably (7 are detachably fastened to 5 via bolts 72) interposed between the fixing brackets and the coupling surfaces of the spiral baffles (7 is between 5 and the coupling surface 61 of 6), the spacers each having a predetermined thickness that is configured to adjust a pitch of the spiral baffles (7 each have a set thickness which would set the pitch, for example if the portion of 7 attached to 61 was thicker the pitch would be larger).
Regarding claim 2, Kojima teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 1, and Newhouse further teaches of:
wherein the spiral baffles are spaced apart from one another at predetermined intervals along a longitudinal direction of the housing (Fig. 2, see two sets of spiral baffles 6, they are spaced from one another at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction D1)
Regarding claim 5, Kojima teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 1, and Kojima further teaches of:
Wherein the spacers are coupled to circumferential end portions of the spiral baffles (Fig. 4, spacers 7 are coupled to all portions of 6 and therefore are coupled to the circumferential end portions of 6)
Regarding claim 6, Kojima teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 1, and Kojima further teaches of:
Wherein each spacer comprises:
a first body (Fig. 4, see spacer 7 positioned on the top side of 5 that is fully in view) which is interposed between one of the fixing brackets and one of the spiral baffles (the first body 7 is positioned between 5 and 6) the first body having a first insertion hole extending therethrough (71) and communicating with the fastening hole of the one of the fixing brackets (71 communicates with 51 of 5); and
a second body which is disposed on an opposite side of the first body (see spacer 7 that is positioned on the opposite side of 5 and is partially obscured and has an outline shown with dotted lines, this second body 7 is on the opposite side of the first body 7) with the one of the spiral baffles being between the first body and the second body (6 is positioned between both bodies of 7, particularly at the portion 81), the second body having a second insertion hole extending therethrough (the second body of 7 is identical to the first body 7 and has a second insertion hole) and communicating with the first insertion hole of the first body (the second insertion hole of 7 communicates with the first insertion hole 7 via hole 51).
Regarding claim 7, Kojima teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 6, and Kojima further teaches of:
wherein opposing surfaces of the first body and the second body that are in surface contact with the one of the spiral baffles are inclined surfaces that are the same as an installation angle of the one of the spiral baffles (the portions of 7 in direct contact with surface 61 and are flush with the surface 61 and therefore are inclined the same as the installation angle of 6)
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) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kojima (JP 2019070483 A) in view of Zhou (CN 214848661 U) and “What is TPE?” hereinafter referred to as Conrad (copy of NPL provided in file wrapper).
Regarding claim 8, Kojima teaches of the variable pitch spiral baffle system of claim 7, however, Kojima fails to explicitly teach:
wherein the opposing surfaces of the first body and the second body that are in surface contact with the one of the spiral baffles interposed therebetween each have a close contact part having a predetermined thickness, the close contact parts each being formed of a soft synthetic resin material
Zhou teaches of:
a close contact part for holding an object in a furnace (Figs. 1-5, the mounting device 3 is coated in a surface protecting layer 501 which has a predetermined thickness)
The primary reference can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
coat the spacers 7 with a protecting layer of a predetermined thickness
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
it would prevent the spacer from corroding and the contact point between the baffles and spacers from being compromised, improving the service life of the apparatus
Conrad teaches of:
soft synthetic resin materials in high temperature applications (Under “SBC / TPE-S / TPS”, “SBCs are widely used because they blend well with many materials, including additives, resins and fillers. They are characterized by high elasticity, tensile strength and abrasion resistance. The products are colorless and are available in a wide range of hardness. They can be engineered to function over a broad temperature range and show varying degrees of tackiness, as well as shock absorption.”)
The combined teachings can be modified to meet this/these limitation(s) as follows:
make the protecting layer of the combined teachings out of a high temperature synthetic resin compound
A person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to make the above modification(s) because:
such materials are abundantly known in the art prior to the effective filing date of claimed invention, further such material provide a wide range of temperature applications and shock absorption, improving the usability of the combined teachings
Annotated Figures
PNG
media_image1.png
626
785
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Annotated Fig. 3 of Newhouse
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J GIORDANO whose telephone number is (571)272-8940. The examiner can normally be reached M-Fr 8 AM - 5 PM EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571) 272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MICHAEL JAMES GIORDANO/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/HELENA KOSANOVIC/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762
Prosecution Insights