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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/26/2026 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 and 3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2, line 1, "the hydraulic valve according to claim 1" should read --the hydraulic circuit according to claim 1-- to remain consistent with the preamble of claim 1.
Claim 3, line 1, "the hydraulic valve according to claim 2" should read --the hydraulic circuit according to claim 2-- to remain consistent with the preamble of claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Hodgson (US 4095617) in view of Ford (US 2644428).
Hodgson (US 4095617) discloses:
Claim 7 (Previously presented). A hydraulic valve (see annotated Hodgson Fig. 1’ and Fig. 2) comprising:
a valve main body (10) having a first port (see Fig. 1, port “A” including 15 is a port connected to one side of a fluid motor to be operated, Col. 3 lines 53-58) and a second port (port connected to 22b, 22b is connected to 76>75>73, etc.) independent from each other; and
a spool (12) arranged in such a manner as to be movable along an axial center with respect to the valve main body, wherein the spool is provided with a main passage portion (19, 22) provided in an axial center portion (See Figures, 22 is in the center of the spool), a first passage portion (19a) provided between the main passage portion and an outer peripheral surface (outer peripheral surface of spool 12 is annotated) and communicable with the first port (19a communicates with port 15 when the spool is shifted to the left with respect to Fig. 1 and 2), and a second passage portion (22a) provided between the main passage portion and the outer peripheral surface and communicable with the second port (22a connects to 22b which is connected to a second port 17 when the spool 12 is shifted to the left with respect to Figs. 1 and 2; or the second port connected to passage 76>75>73, etc.),
an opening area of the first passage portion with respect to the first port is changed along with movement of the spool and flow rate control of oil from the first port to the second port through the main passage portion is performed (Col. 3 lines 53-68 and Col. 4 lines 1-22 discloses passage 19a controlling a flow amount to the first port 15 leading to a fluid motor depending on the position of the spool), and
the main passage portion of the spool has a first region (19) in which the first passage portion (19a) is provided, a second region (22) in which the second passage portion (22a) is provided, and a third region (tapered region between 19 and 22) that connects the first region and the second region, an inner diameter of the first region being formed larger than that of the second region (see larger diameter of 19 relative to 22 in Fig. 1 and 2), and the third region being formed in a tapered shape in which an inner diameter gradually decreases toward the second region (see taper between 19 and 22 in Fig. 1 and 2),
wherein a meter-out oil passage (implicit fluid line between the disclosed connected fluid motor and port 15 in Fig. 2) communicating with a fluid motor, and a tank oil passage communicating with an oil tank is connected to the second port (Col. 3 lines 49-53 discloses outlet 73 connected to the tank, second port connected to 22b is connected to outlet 73 via connections 22b > 76 > 75 > 73 as seen in Fig. 1 with the dashed lines).
While Hodgson discloses that its valve is connected to opposite sides of a fluid motor via ports 15 and 16 (Hodgson Col. 2 lines 31-34); Hodgson does not explicitly recite “a bottom chamber of a hydraulic cylinder is connected to the first port of the hydraulic valve” because Hodgson does not state what its “fluid motor” comprises.
However, Ford discloses a hydraulic device similar to Hodgson and the present application and therefore constitutes analogous art. Ford discloses that “fluid motor 85 is a conventional double acting hydraulic cylinder” (Ford Col. 5 lines 38-40) wherein the fluid motor is controlled with a spool valve (Ford 6).
Since it is known in the art that the term “fluid motor” is commonly associated with hydraulic cylinders, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have either recognized or modified the valve device of Hodgson to be used with a hydraulic cylinder as taught by Ford. Absent further limitations on what constitutes a “bottom chamber” of a hydraulic cylinder is, either chamber of a connected hydraulic cylinder can be interpreted to be a bottom chamber depending on the orientation of the hydraulic cylinder. Therefore the combination of Hodgson and Ford renders obvious wherein a meter-out oil passage communicating with a bottom chamber of a hydraulic cylinder is connected to the first port of the hydraulic valve.
Further, the limitations pertaining to the connections of the ports appear to be outside of the scope of the claimed “hydraulic valve” as claimed in the preamble of claim 7. Since the ports of the valve of Hodgson are capable of being connected to any chamber of a hydraulic cylinder and/or a tank, this limitation appears to be met/rendered obvious by the prior art.
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The combination of Hodgson and Ford further renders obvious:
Claim 8 (Previously presented). The hydraulic valve according to claim 7, wherein the inner diameter of the third region decreases at a constant rate from the first region toward the second region (the taper of third region between 19 and 22 as seen in Fig. 1 and 2 appears to decreased at a constant rate from the first region towards the second region, see annotated Hodgson Fig. 1’).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 is allowed.
Claims 2-3 are objected to as having a different preamble than their base claim (see claim objections above).
Claim 9 is 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.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art does not disclose nor render obvious a hydraulic circuit including a valve “wherein the first passage portion includes a plurality of through holes having a circular cross section and formed in the radial direction of the spool, and a plurality of the through holes have different cross-sectional areas formed in such a manner as to be arranged side by side in circumferential direction and axial center direction”, as claimed in claim 1, in combination with the rest of the limitations of claim 1.
Claims 2-3 are allowable because they depend from allowable claim 1.
The prior art does not disclose nor render obvious a hydraulic valve including wherein with respect to a length in an axial center direction of the main passage portion is in a range of tan 15° to tan 30°, as claimed in claim 8 in combination with the rest of the limitations of its base claim 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Other examples of prior art using the term “fluid motor” to refer to hydraulic cylinders are as follows:
Tennis (US 3718159), Col. 2 lines 59-64, “Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 10 generally designates a control valve for governing the operation of a plurality of fluid motors, such as hydraulic cylinders (not shown).”
Miller (US 4411189), Col. 8 lines 9-13 “(2) Referring now to FIG. 1, load responsive hydraulic system 20 includes fluid flow controlling device 22, source of pressurized fluid 24 which comprises pump 26 and sump 28a, by-pass valve 30, signal supply orifice 32, and fluid motor or hydraulic cylinder 34.”
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Dustin T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-0163. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel E. Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 April 29, 2026
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