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 § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hatta Takeshi JP 2011245740 A (hereinafter Takeshi)
Regarding claim 1, Takeshi anticipates a method for manufacturing A method for manufacturing a high pressure tank having a reinforcing layer on an outer surface of a liner provided with dome portions at both end portions of a round tubular shaped body portion, the method comprising: a winding process of winding a fiber bundle containing a curable resin and having a predetermined tension on the outer surface of the liner (¶0002); and a reinforcing layer forming process of forming the reinforcing layer by curing the curable resin contained in the fiber bundle wound around the outer surface (¶0002. ¶0020-¶0026), wherein the winding process is performed so that the tensions of the fiber bundles at the both end portions are lower than a tension of the fiber bundle at a general portion of the body portion defined between the both end portions (¶0038 -note the inner portion is considered as a general portion).
Regarding claim 2, Takeshi anticipates the winding process is performed by a hoop winding of the fiber bundle around the body portion of the liner (Fig. 1-4).
Regarding claim 3, Takeshi anticipates the reinforcing layer is composed of a plurality of unit layers laminated on the outer surface of the liner (26), and the unit layer is formed by arranging band-shaped fiber bundles (22) in parallel in an axial direction of the liner (26) (Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 4, Takeshi anticipates the unit layers are independent of each other, and the tensions of the fiber bundles at both end portions of the body portion are reduced to be lower than the tension of the fiber bundle at the general portion of the body portion(¶0037-¶0038 -note the inner portion is considered as a general portion).
Regarding claim 5, Takeshi anticipates the tensions of the fiber bundles of the plurality of unit layers laminated on the general portion of the body portion in the radial direction are reduced toward an outer circumferential side (¶0038).
Conclusion
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/VISHAL I PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746
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