Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-3 and 5 in the reply filed on 06/02/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 6-12 stand withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/02/2026.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Roussille et al. (WO2022112683) in view of Cole. (US Pat. 5,209,643).
Regarding claim 1, Roussille et al. teaches a fibrous preform of a core portion of a fibrous reinforcement for a part made of composite material (abstract; figures 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 3; page 8, line 6 - page 10, line 5; page 12, line 14 - page 14, line 7; page 10, line 25 -page 12, line 12; page 17, line 2 - line 5), the preform having a slender elongate shape in a longitudinal direction (figures 1, 2; page 10, line 17 - line 24; the leading edge (BA) extends over the entire length of the blade; the BA axis thus indicates the longitudinal direction) and being produced by three-dimensional weaving of first yarns (12a, b) extending in the longitudinal direction with second yarns (22, 26) transverse to the first yarns (figures 2, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F; page 8, lines 6-8, 27-31; page 11, lines 24-28), the preform comprising two longitudinal ends (20, 200) intended for pivotable connection (articulation) to other parts (figure 1; page 10, line 17 - line 24; page 8, lines 9-19; the platform is generally connected to a shaft to be used for said "pivotable connection"; moreover, the ends of the preform can also be used for connecting other elements) and a central area (10) which is the median area located between the longitudinal ends (figures 1, 2; page 8, lines 20-26), each longitudinal end having a thickness (e2, e3) greater than a thickness (el) of the median area (figures 2, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F; the higher yarn density in the peripheral area will also lead to a greater thickness; this is particularly visible in figures 2C and 2F; page 9, lines 19-29),the central area ( 10) having a first volume ratio of first yarns relative to the second yarns that is greater than one (figures 2C, 2D; page 11, line 24 - page 12, line 12), and each longitudinal end (20, 200) having a second volume ratio of first yarns relative to the second yarns that is less than the first ratio and closer to one than this first ratio (figures 2C, 2D; page 11, line 24 - page 12, line 12).
Roussille et al. are silent regarding the claimed upper and lower sides of the preform. However, Cole teaches positioning edges having a transverse dimension measured transversely to the longitudinal direction that evolves and passes through a maximum of the median area and such would be on the lower and upper sides of the preform in order to provide improved performance design. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the upper and lower sides design as taught by Cole in Roussille et al. in order to provide improved performance design and arrive at the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 5, the preform is made of carbon yarns [0063].
Art Not Used but Relevant
US 20150165571 teaches a turbomachine part.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAWN MCKINNON whose telephone number is (571)272-6116. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday generally 8:00am-5:00pm EST.
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/Shawn Mckinnon/Examiner, Art Unit 1789
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