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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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 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.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“two-pump of claim 9” in line 1 should be --two-stage pump of claim 9--;
“the other medium opening of the two medium openings of the side channel stage” in lines 1-2 should be --a medium opening of the two medium openings of the side channel stage other than the one medium opening of the two medium openings of the side channel stage--;
“the other medium opening of the two medium openings of the liquid ring stage” in lines 2-3 should be --a medium opening of the two medium openings of the liquid ring stage other than the one medium opening of the two medium openings of the liquid ring stage--.
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“a medium inlet or medium outlet” in line 3 should be --a medium inlet or a medium outlet--;
“the other of the two medium accesses” in line 4 should be --a medium access of the two medium accesses other than the one of the two medium accesses--;
“a medium outlet or medium inlet” in line 4 should be --the medium outlet or the medium inlet--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 9-10, 12, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schweinfurter (DE3303460A1).
Re claim 9:
Schweinfurter discloses a two-stage pump (Figs. 1-6 (see Para 77)) for pumping at least one medium (Paras 77 and 98), the two-stage pump comprising:
a liquid ring stage (see Figs. 1-4 at element 33, Para 77 - “…a liquid ring pre-stage…” and Para 89 - “…rotating vane cells 33 of the impeller pre-stage form a liquid ring…”);
a side channel stage (see Figs. 1-6 at elements 16/16’ and 23/23’, Para 77 - “…a double flow side channel pump…two side channel parts 16 and 16’…”, and Para 80 - “…pressure stage side channels 23 and 23’…”); and
two medium accesses (12, inlet opening - Para 77; 13, outlet opening - Para 77),
wherein the liquid ring stage (at 33) has a medium chamber (17, 17’, side channels - Para 79) and two medium openings (18, 18’, pre-stage inlet openings - Para 80; 19, 19’ pre-stage outlet openings - Para 80),
wherein the two medium openings (18, 18’, 19, 19’) of the liquid ring stage (at 33) open onto the medium chamber (17, 17’) of the liquid ring stage (at 33)(see Figs. 1-2 and 5, and Paras 98-99),
wherein the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) has a medium chamber (23, 23’, pressure stage side channels - Para 80) and two medium openings (24, 24’, pressure stage inlet openings - Para 80; 25, 25’, pressure stage outlet openings - Para 80),
wherein the two medium openings (24, 24’, 25, 25’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) open onto the medium chamber (23, 23’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’)(see Figs. 1-2 and 5 and Paras 98-101), and
wherein one medium opening (24) of the two medium openings (24, 24’, 25, 25’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23) and one medium opening (19) of the two medium openings (18, 18’, 19, 19’) of the liquid ring stage (at 33) merge to form a common overflow opening (19, 22, 24 (see Figs. 1-2 and 5 and Para 99)).
Re claim 10:
Schweinfurter discloses the two-pump (Figs. 1-6 (see Para 77)) of claim 9 (as described above), wherein the other medium opening (25) of the two medium openings (24, 24’, 25, 25’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23) and the other medium opening (18) of the two medium openings (18, 18’, 19, 19’) of the liquid ring stage (at 33) are connected to one respective medium access (13) of the two medium accesses (12, 13)(see Figs. 1-2 and 5 and Paras 93-101).
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Re claim 12:
Schweinfurter discloses the two-stage pump (Figs. 1-6 (see Para 77)) of claim 9 (as described above), wherein the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) further has a cover component (16), a bottom component (16’), and an impeller (at 32 and 38 (see Figs. 1 and 4)), wherein the cover component (16) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) and the bottom component (16’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) enclose the medium chamber (23, 23’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’)(see Fig. 1), wherein the bottom component (16’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) has a conveying channel (24’, 23’, 25’ (see Fig. 5)) having an interrupter (26’, interrupter - Para 80)(see Fig. 5), wherein the conveying channel (24’, 23’, 25’) is open to the medium chamber (23, 23’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’)(see Figs. 1 and 5), wherein the impeller (at 32 and 38) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) has blades (see Figs. 3-4 at 38/38’ and Para 101 - “…blade cells 38…”) extending from an axis of rotation (Modified Fig. 3/4 above - A (person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize element A as a type of axis of rotation))(see Modified Fig. 3/4 above), wherein the blades (see Figs. 3-4 at 38/38’ and Para 101 - “…blade cells 38…”) of the impeller (at 32 and 38) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) are arranged in the medium chamber (23, 23’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’)(see Figs. 1 and 3-4), wherein the medium chamber (23, 23’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) has a circular cylindrical shape about a longitudinal axis (see Fig. 1 and 5), and wherein the impeller (at 32 and 38) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) is arranged in the medium chamber (23, 23’) of the side channel stage (at 16/16’ and 23/23’) so as to be rotatable about the longitudinal axis (see Figs. 1, 5, and Para 89).
Re claim 16:
Schweinfurter discloses the two-stage pump (Figs. 1-6 (see Para 77)) of claim 9 (as described above), wherein the two-stage pump is configured to pump two different media (see Fig. 1 and Para 89 - “…the liquid content in the casing…”, and Paras 94-97 - “…draws air through the pre stage inlet opening…the liquid is forced back…”).
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.
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 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schweinfurter (DE3303460A1) in view of Terada (U.S. 2020/0277953).
Re claim 17:
Schweinfurter discloses the two-stage pump (Figs. 1-6 (see Para 77)) of claim 9 (as described above), further comprising:
a motor (Para 85)
wherein one (12) of the two medium accesses (12, 13) is used as a medium inlet (Para 77 - “…an inlet opening 12…”) or medium outlet and the other (13) of the two medium accesses (12, 13) is used as a medium outlet (Para 77 - “…an outlet opening 13…”) or medium inlet.
Schweinfurter fails to disclose a motor having two directions of rotation.
Terada teaches a motor (40, electric motor - Para 40) having two directions of rotation (Para 40 - “…normal/reverse rotation of the electric motor 40…”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modeled the motor of Schweinfurter after that of Terada, thereby making the motor of Schweinfurter have two directions of rotation in the way taught by Terada, for the advantage allowing intake side and discharge sides be exchanged to thereby make the pump bidirectional (Terada; Para 40).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11 and 13-15 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 11 and 13-15 would be allowed primarily because the prior art of record cannot anticipate Applicant’s claimed invention by a single reference nor render Applicant’s claimed invention obvious by the combination of more than one reference.
Additionally, the prior art of record does not teach “wherein the impeller of the liquid ring stage is arranged relative to the medium chamber of the liquid ring stage such that the axis of rotation of the impeller is offset with respect to the longitudinal axis of the medium chamber” as within the context of the claimed invention as disclosed and within the context of the other limitations present in claims 11 and 13-15.
Therefore, the prior art of record cannot anticipate Applicant’s claimed invention by a single reference nor render Applicant’s claimed invention obvious by one or more references.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Loren C Edwards whose telephone number is (571)272-7133. The examiner can normally be reached M-R 6AM-430PM.
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/LOREN C EDWARDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746 9/26/25