DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-4 were filed with the application on 10/28/2024.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/28/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 20160186697 (“Tsuzuki”) in view of WO 2011/029849 (“Suedmo Holding”).
With regard to claim 1, Tsuzuki discloses a flow control valve (Figs 1-9), comprising: a housing (58) defining a fluid passage (70), a valve seat (72; para [0052]) having a ring shape (see Fig 2) and being disposed in the housing (72 is within 58), a valve plug (80/84) movable relatively to the valve seat (72) between a valve open position (position in Fig 8) and a valve closed position (position in Fig 2) in an axial direction of the valve seat (72), a seal member (95, para [0054]) interposed between the valve seat (72) and the valve plug (80/84), wherein the seal member (95) has a ring shape (shown in Fig 5) and is configured to seal between the valve seat (72) and the valve plug (80/84) when the valve plug (80/84) is in the valve closed position (see fig 2) (para [0061]), wherein the seal member (95) further comprises an annular base portion (112) attached to one of the valve seat and the valve plug (attached to valve plug; para [0061]), and a seal lip (113) having a circular truncated cone shape and protruding obliquely inward in the axial direction from a surface of the base portion (para [0058]: “first seal lip 113 may have a shape of a conical protruding obliquely inwards in the axial direction from the lower surface of the first base portion 112”), wherein the seal lip (113) is configured to be separated from the other of the valve seat (valve seat 72) and the valve plug when the valve plug (80/84) is in the valve open position (see Fig 8 position), wherein the seal lip (113) is configured to elastically contact the other of the valve seat (valve seat 72) and the valve plug when the valve plug (80/84) is in the valve closed position (Fig 2 and Fig 3 positions) (para [0061]: “the first seal lip 113 of the first seal member 108 may elastically contact (i.e. closely contact) the first valve seat 72 (See FIG 3)”).
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Tsuzuki discloses all the claimed features with the exception of disclosing wherein the surface of the base portion has a circular recess extending continuously in a circumferential direction and having an inner surface continuous with an inner circumferential surface of the seal lip.
Suedmo Holdings teaches that it is known in the art to modify a seal member for a valve (see Abstract), similar to that of Tsuzuki, to have the surface of the base portion (38) have a circular recess (56) extending continuously in a circumferential direction (see Fig 2 showing continuously arranged) and having an inner surface (inner surface of 56) continuous with an inner circumferential surface of the seal lip (lip 44) (see Figs 2 and 3; and page 7, lines 20-27) for the purpose of allowing room for swelling to ensure no other areas of the seal except for the seal lip to come into contact (see page 7, lines 20-27).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to add a circular recess, such as taught by Suedmo Holdings, to the surface of the base portion of Tsuzuki for the purpose of allowing room for swelling to ensure no other areas of the seal except for the seal lip to come into contact as taught by Suedmo Holdings at page 7, lines 20-27.
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With regard to claim 2, the combination of Tsuzuki and Suedmo Holdings discloses that the seal lip (113 in Tsuzuki) is tapered in cross-section from a base end to a tip end of the seal lip (Fig 7 shows that lip 133 is thicker/wider at base end compared to tip end).
With regard to claim 3, the combination of Tsuzuki and Suedmo Holdings discloses that the inner surface of the recess (56) comprises a concave curved surface having an arcuate cross section (see page 7, line 23 and Fig 3), and wherein the concave curved surface is smoothly continuous with the inner circumferential surface of the seal lip (lip 44 of Suedmo Holdings, Fig 3 of Suedmo Holdings shows 56 smoothly continuous with lip 44).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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: the prior art fails to disclose or render obvious “the seal member comprises a convex curved surface having an arcuate cross-section, and wherein the convex curved surface smoothly connects the concave curved surface to the surface of the base portion” in combination with the other limitations set forth in the independent claim.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2016/0186697 (Tsuzuki) and WO2011029849 (Suedmo Holdings) are the closest prior art references of record. However, none of the reference teach or suggest a convex curved surface that smoothly connects the concave curved surface to the surface of the base portion. It would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Tsuzuki and/or Suedmo Holdings to arrive at the claimed language without improper hindsight reasoning.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. Pat. No. 8,037,897 discloses a seal with a recess.
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/JESSICA CAHILL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753