DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Group II, claims 11-14 were elected without traverse in the February 24, 2026 response. Claims 1-10 are withdrawn.
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.
Claims 11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heidemeyer (DE102004002401A1, published August 11, 2005) in view of CN218342576U (published January 20, 2023).
As to claim 11, Heidemeyer teaches (Fig. 4) an underwater pelletizer that has a water tank (13) in which pellet cooling water is stored. Heidemeyer provides a water chamber (6) that receives the pellet cooling water (through 11) from the water tank. Heidemeyer teaches an outward path (11) that connects the water tank (13) and the water chamber (6) and a return path (15, 17) that goes through the upper side of the water chamber and connects the water chamber (6) and the water tank (13). Heidemeyer provides a water supply portion (pump 14) that supplies the pellet cooling water from the water tank (13) to the water chamber (6) through the outward path (11). Heidemeyer provides a die plate (7) having a plurality of die holes (see Fig. 4) facing an interior of the water chamber (6); and a cutter (knife 8) arranged in the water chamber (Fig. 4). Heidemeyer’s apparatus is configured to cut and granulate molten resin discharged through the die holes in die plate (7).
Heidemeyer is silent to the water supply portion stops supply of the pellet cooling water when a water surface of the pellet cooling water reaches a target water level set to a position lower than an upper end of the return path before starting production of the resin pellets.
CN218342576U teaches an underwater pelletizer tank (110) equivalent to the claimed water chamber with a ball float valve (600) used for opening water supply pipe in case the water level in the underwater granule cutting water tank (110) is lower than a preset water level. CN218342576U shows that the ball float valve (600) is positioned at the top of the water chamber (110), therefore, it would close the valve when the target water level below the upper end of the return path is achieved.
It would have been prima facie obvious to incorporate the ball float valve (600) from CN218342576U into Heidemeyer because Heidemeyer teaches/suggests a valve (Fig. 4, item 30) on a fill pipe (11) and CN218342576U provides a mechanism for controlling operation of a valve on a similar fill pipe. One would have been motivated to incorporate the CN218342576U ball float valve (600) as a mechanism for controlling the similar valve in Heidemeyer.
As to claim 14, Heidemeyer inherently provides a discharge flow passage for discharging water from the water chamber (6) to an exterior (upward toward 15)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12 and 13 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: Claim 12 is allowable because the prior art does not show a first supplementary flow passage having an inner diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the outward path, along with the claimed return flow passage and flow path switching mechanism. Although bypass features are sometimes depicted by the prior art (Heidemeyer, Fig. 4, item 33), the requirement of a first supplementary flow passage having an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the outward path is not taught by or obvious over the prior art. Claim 13 is rejected by dependence.
Other references depicting the state of the prior art at the time of filing include the following:
Hopkins (US 20170050337)
Eloo (US 20140202019)
Hotani (US 20130016580)
Nagaoka (US 20120012686)
Takamoto (US 20130062804)
Grimminger (EP 0432427)
Wang (CN 203964989)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J DANIELS whose telephone number is (313)446-4826. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00 pm.
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/MATTHEW J DANIELS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1742
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