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.
Claims- 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pennington [US 6362428 B1].
Regarding Claim-1, Pennington [US 6362428 B1] – discloses that a cable gland system for an armored cable (annotated fig.-2, Item-200), the cable gland system comprising: a housing comprising a first portion (annotated fig.-2, Item-26) and a second portion (annotated fig.-2, Item-104); a first insulating layer (annotated fig.-2, Item-202) disposed in the first portion and a second insulating layer (annotated fig.-2) disposed in the second portion; and an elastomer gland (annotated fig.-2, Item-20) disposed in the housing between the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer, wherein: the first insulating layer, the elastomer gland and the second insulating layer are configured to receive a unified insulated conductor of the armored cable (annotated fig.-2, Item- 200), and the elastomer gland secures the unified insulated conductor via an interference fit (annotated fig.-2, Item-22) in an elastomer gland interior portion.
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Regarding Claim-2, Pennington [US 6362428 B1] – discloses that the elastomer gland is cylindrical in shape (annotated fig.-2, Item-20), and wherein the elastomer gland comprises: a cylindrical body comprising an aperture disposed along a cylindrical body width (annotated fig.-2, Item-20); a first hollow cylindrical receptacle disposed on a bottom surface of the cylindrical body over the aperture (annotated fig.-2, Item-20, 22, 24); and a second hollow cylindrical receptacle (annotated fig.-2, Item-14), disposed on a top surface of the cylindrical body over the aperture.
Regarding Claim-3, Pennington [US 6362428 B1] – discloses that an interior surface of the first hollow cylindrical receptacle, an interior surface of the second hollow cylindrical receptacle (annotated Fig-2), and aperture walls are configured to secure the unified insulated conductor via the interference fit (annotated Fig-2, by Item-22)- by applying an inward circumferential pressure on an exterior surface of the unified insulated conductor (annotated Fig-2, Item-200). Refer to the annotated picture above for details with this prior art of the reference invention.
Regarding Claim-4, Pennington [US 6362428 B1] – discloses that the first insulating layer encloses an exterior surface of the first hollow cylindrical receptacle (annotated Fig-2, 1st Red Circle) and wherein the second insulating layer encloses an exterior surface of the second hollow cylindrical receptacle (annotated Fig-2, 2nd Red Circle).
Claims- 1, 5-14, 16-17, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]:
Regarding Claim-1, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that a cable gland system for an armored cable (annotated fig.-1C, Item-200), the cable gland system comprising: a housing comprising a first portion (annotated fig.-1C, Item-173) and a second portion (annotated fig.-1C, Item-190); a first insulating layer (annotated fig.-2, Item-133) disposed in the first portion and a second insulating layer (annotated fig.-2, Item- 194) disposed in the second portion; and an elastomer gland (annotated fig.-1C, Item-110) disposed in the housing between the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer, wherein: the first insulating layer, the elastomer gland and the second insulating layer are configured to receive a unified insulated conductor of the armored cable (annotated fig.-2, Item- 180), and the elastomer gland (Fig-1C, Item-110) secures the unified insulated conductor via an interference fit (annotated fig.-1C, Item-144 & 194) in an elastomer gland interior portion.
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Regarding Claim-5, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that an actuator disposed on an exterior surface of the housing, wherein the actuator is configured to move between a first position and a second position (annotated Figure-1C, Item-133, and Paragraph [0015]).
Regarding Claim-6, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that the actuator is configured to squeeze the first insulating layer towards the bottom surface of the cylindrical body when the actuator is in the first position, and wherein the actuator is configured to not squeeze the first insulating layer towards the bottom surface of the cylindrical body when the actuator is in the second position (annotated Figure-1C, Item-133, Paragraph [0015] and Paragraph [0046]).
Regarding Claim-7, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that the first hollow cylindrical receptacle is configured to apply an additional inward circumferential pressure on an exterior surface of the unified insulated conductor when the actuator is in the first position (annotated Figure-1C, and [0015], [0029] & [0042]).
Regarding Claim-8, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that the actuator is configured to radially move on the exterior surface by a predefined angle to move between the first position and the second position (annotated Figure-1C, and [0015], [0029] & [0042]).
Regarding Claim-9, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] – discloses that the predefined angle is 90 degrees (to radially move on the exterior surface by a predefined angle of 90 degrees) (annotated Figure-1C, and Paragraph [0015]).
Regarding Claim-10, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] – discloses that the actuator is disposed on the exterior surface of the first portion (annotated Figure-1C, Item-133).
Regarding Claim-11, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] – discloses that a first elongated cavity disposed in the first insulating layer along a first insulating layer length and a second elongated cavity disposed in the second insulating layer along a second insulating layer length, wherein the first elongated cavity and the second elongated cavity are configured to enable trapped gases to escape the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer when the first insulating layer, the elastomer gland and the second insulating layer receive the unified insulated conductor (annotated Figure-1C, Item-180, 110, 114, 172, 190, 194, 133).
Regarding Claim-12, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] – discloses that an elastomeric guard (Fig. 1C, Item-110) configured to enclose an armor of the armored cable (Fig. 1C, Item-180), when the first insulating layer (Fig-1C, Item- 133) the elastomer gland (Item-110) and the second insulating layer receive the unified insulated conductor (Item-118).
Regarding Claim-13, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] – discloses that the elastomeric guard is disposed below the first portion (annotated Fig.-1C).
Regarding Claim-14, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that one or more grooves disposed along a circumference of the elastomer gland, wherein the one or more grooves are configured to receive one or more O-rings to secure the elastomer gland in the housing.
Regarding Claim-16, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] – discloses that the housing is cylindrical in shape [Paragraphs - [0021]., [2600], and [0035]).
Regarding Claim-17, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] – discloses that the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer are made of a thermoplastic polymer (Paragraph [0026], formed of a resilient material, such as a plastic, a polymer, or a rubber).
Regarding Claim-19, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that a cable gland system for an armored cable (annotated Fig-1C, Item-100), the cable gland system comprising: a housing comprising a first portion (annotated fig.-1C) and a second portion (annotated fig.-1C); a first insulating layer (annotated fig.-2, Item-172) disposed in the first portion and a second insulating layer (annotated fig.-2, Item- 194) disposed in the second portion; an elastomer gland (annotated fig.-1C, Item-110) disposed in the housing between the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer (Item-172, & 190), wherein: the first insulating layer, the elastomer gland and the second insulating layer are configured to receive (annotated Fig. 1C) a unified insulated conductor of the armored cable (Fig-1C, Item-180) , and the elastomer gland secures the unified insulated conductor via an interference fit in an elastomer gland interior portion; and an actuator (Fig-1C, Item-133) disposed on an exterior surface of the housing, wherein the actuator is configured to move between a first position and a second position, and wherein the actuator is configured to enable the elastomer gland to apply an additional inward circumferential pressure on an exterior surface of the unified insulated conductor when the actuator is in the first position (annotated Fig. 1C). Please refer to the annotated figure 1C below from the prior art of invention.
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Regarding Claim-20, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]– discloses that a cable gland system for an armored cable (annotated Fig-1C, Item-100), the cable gland system comprising: a housing comprising a first portion(annotated fig.-1C) and a second portion (annotated in Fig.- 1C); a first insulating layer (Fig.-1C, Item-172) disposed in the first portion and a second insulating layer (Fig.-1C, Item-190) disposed in the second portion; an elastomer gland (Fig.-1C, Item-110) disposed in the housing between the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer, wherein: the first insulating layer, the elastomer gland and the second insulating layer are configured to receive a unified insulated conductor of the armored cable (Fig.-1C, Item-180), and the elastomer gland secures the unified insulated conductor (Fig.-1C, Item-181) via an interference fit in an elastomer gland interior portion; and a first elongated cavity disposed in the first insulating layer along a first insulating layer length and a second elongated cavity disposed in the second insulating layer along a second insulating layer length (annotated Fig.- 1C), wherein the first elongated cavity and the second elongated cavity are configured to enable trapped gases to escape the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer when the first insulating layer, the elastomer gland and the second insulating layer receive the unified insulated conductor (annotated Fig.- 1C, Item-180). Please refer to the annotated figure 1C above from the prior art of invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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)-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]- in view of Reid et al. [US 20210234354 A1].
Regarding Claim-15, Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1] –doesn’t discloses that the elastomer gland is made of silicon. However, Reid et al. [US 20210234354 A1, CABLE GLAND] discloses that the elastomer gland is made of silicon (Paragraph- [0046, 0055, 0157], The clamp may be formed of thermoplastics or silicone rubber).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use silicon for non-compressive nature, and extra strength in the object as disclosed by Reid et al. (Paragraphs [0031, 0065, 0182].
Claim(s)-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Magno et al. [US 20140030903 A1]- in view of Dahl; Klaus J.[US 3953400 A].
Regarding Claim 18, Magno et al.- does not disclose that first insulating layer and the second insulating layer are made of polyketone. However, Dahl; Klaus J.[US 3953400 A]- discloses that the insulating layers are made of polyketone (Paragraph [0027]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use polyketone as insulating layers in wires and cables due to its properties for high-temperature resistance, melt processable, and of elongation sufficient- as disclosed by Dahl; Klaus J. in (Paragraph [0027], US 3953400 A).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OBAIDUL GANI whose telephone number is (571)272-8665. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 7:30 - 5:00.
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/OBAIDUL GANI/Examiner, Art Unit 2847
/STANLEY TSO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847