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 .
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 are 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 a resin-impregnatable covering, and an electrical insulation layer formed by an electrically-insulating thermosetting resin impregnating the cover. It is unclear if the layer is the impregnated resin within the covering or if the layer is a distinct layer that is separate from the covering. In addition, what constitutes a stretchable resin impregnated covering is not clear. How elastic would a material need to be to be considered stretchable. All materials stretch to some extent. The specification describes that the covering 40 is formed by a knitted material which is very stretchable in comparison with a woven material. In addition, a trademarked material called Felibendy is listed an example of one such material. A trademarked material may be changed over time and is therefore not a concrete standard. Furthermore, this material is only an example. However, there is no standard set forth in the specification to describe what may or may not constitute an elastic enough member that it would be stretchable. What modulus of elasticity is low enough that a material would be considered stretchable?
In addition, it is unclear what constitutes bobbinless. Isn’t the covering a bobbin? A bobbin under a general definition in this field is a spool or cylinder of insulating material around which the wire is wound. There is no special definition in the specification. As such, it is unclear if a flexble bobbin such as the stretchable covering of the present invention would be interpreted as bobbinless. Could a coil alone be interpreted as a bobbinless coil despite a spool surrounding that coil?
Claim 9 is indefinite for the same reasons as 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, 3, 6, 7, and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Imai et al. (JP 2019-157962A; hereinafter “Imai”).
Claim 1
Imai discloses an electromagnetic coil comprising:
a magnetic coil case (11) having an annular accommodating groove (inside of 11);
a bobbinless coil (13) accommodated directly in the accommodating groove;
a stretchable and resin-impregnatable covering (15) that covers the whole of the bobbinless coil (13); and
an electrical insulation layer (15) which is formed by an electrically-insulating thermosetting resin impregnating the covering, and covers a surface of the bobbinless coil.
Claim 3
Imai discloses wherein the covering is formed by a stretchable nonwoven fabric.
Claim 6
Imai discloses wherein the bobbinless coil is secured in the accommodating groove by the thermosetting resin.
Claim 7
Imai discloses wherein the coil case has a recess (14) which is indented from a side wall defining the accommodating groove, and at least some of the thermosetting resin fills the recess (see FIGS. 1, 4, or 5).
Claim 8
Imai discloses an electromagnetic clutch comprising (see especially FIG. 1):
an electromagnetic coil as claimed in claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1);
a driving-side first rotator (2) formed by a magnetic material;
a driven-side second rotator (111) rotatable relative to the first rotator; and
an armature plate (see annotated FIG. 1 below as the movable plate portion of the armature assembly 3; or alternatively entirety of 3) which is formed by a magnetic material, is linked to the second rotator, and is disposed facing a side end face (upper side face of 2) of the first rotator with a gap therebetween,
wherein the electromagnetic coil forms a magnetic circuit routed through the first rotator and the armature plate as a result of current passing through the bobbinless coil (as would be well understood by those skilled in the art), and is accommodated in the interior of the first rotator (2) so as to be capable of generating an attraction force for electromagnetically attracting the armature plate to the first rotator.
It is noted that the armature for electromagnetic clutches must be a magnetic material, i.e., always is magnetic material, in order to provide the magnetic attraction that moves the armature. The magnetic circuit passes through the rotor and armature and deflects the armature to close the gap. See paragraph [0002] of Imai describing the gap existing when the flux is not passing therethrough.
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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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Imai in view of Purvines (US 2008/0283352).
Claim 2
Imai does not disclose wherein the covering is formed by a knitted material. However, Purvine discloses that a non-electrically conductive reinforcement material used for an electromagnetic actuator may include woven (knitted) or nonwoven (non-knitted) materials (see e.g., paragraph [0028]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Imai so that the covering were a woven/knitted material since this is one known alternative for non-conductive, i.e., insulating, material to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 4 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Imai in view of Fujisawa et al. (US 2022/0320989; hereinafter “Fujisawa”).
Claim 4
Imai does not disclose wherein the covering is formed by a tape which can be wound on the bobbinless coil.
However, Fujisawa discloses wherein an insulating covering (36; or 36 and 37) is formed by a tape (36) which can be wound on the bobbinless coil (see FIG. 5B). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Imai so that the covering included a tape wound about the coil in order to provide an easy manufacturing method which allows for the coils to be held together by the tape while manually assembling the coil assembly.
Claim 9
Imai discloses a method for producing an electromagnetic coil comprising:
a magnetic coil case (11) having an annular accommodating groove (inside of 11);
a bobbinless coil (13) accommodated directly in the accommodating groove;
a stretchable and resin-impregnatable covering (15) that covers the whole of the bobbinless coil (13); and
an electrical insulation layer (15) which is formed by an electrically-insulating thermosetting resin impregnating the covering, and covers a surface of the bobbinless coil,
the method comprising: preparing the bobbinless coil (13); and accommodating the coil in the groove (inside of 11); and
injecting an electrically-insulating liquid thermosetting resin (11e) into the accommodating groove (inside of 11); and
forming the electrical insulation layer (entire layer between coil 13 and case 11) by heating and curing the liquid thermosetting resin (see Abstract).
Imai does not disclose the method for producing the coil comprising the recited steps. However, Fujisawa discloses wherein a method for producing an electromagnetic coil comprises: preparing the bobbinless coil (17):
covering the whole of the bobbinless coil (17) with the covering (36);
accommodating the bobbinless coil (17) covered by the covering (36) in the accommodating groove (31);
injecting an electrically-insulating liquid thermosetting resin (37) into the accommodating groove (31) to thereby impregnate the covering (36) with the liquid thermosetting resin (37) (see paragraph [0032]); and
forming the electrical insulation layer (36; or 36 and 37) by curing the liquid thermosetting resin (37) impregnating the covering (36) (see paragraph [0032]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Imai to include a liquid resin that is cured around the covering in order to fix the coil and covering within the groove as taught by Fujisawa.
Imai does not disclose that the resin is heated. However, Imai discloses a resin that is injected between a coil and its case and is heat hardened (see e.g., Abstract). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Imai so that in incorporating the resin with the covering, the resin is heat hardened in order to improve the strength of the connection between the coil and case.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
With reference to claim 5, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious an electromagnetic coil comprising the combination of features as recited including “wherein the tape is wound on the bobbinless coil in at least two layers.” The prior art clutches that include the stretchable, resin insulating covering over the coil does not include tape wound in at least two layers as a part of the covering.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. JP H1182552A discloses that a resin surrounding the coil 5 is a deformable insulating material. US 1,880,821 discloses fabric strips surrounding a coil.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STACEY A FLUHART whose telephone number is (571)270-1851. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9AM-7PM.
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/STACEY A FLUHART/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655