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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: typo: “powered” should be “powder” (cl. 8). Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vanden Broucke et al (EP 3845053), in view of Marchiando et al (KR 2007/0066991).
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Vanden Broucke teaches the claimed invention, except:
“Accordingly, the hard regions 48, 50 are arranged to exhibit a greater hardness than the trailing edge 44 of the teeth of the second comminuting roll 26.
The flat-top edges 36, 46 of the teeth are also provided with a hard region 52 having a greater hardness than each of the leading edge 32 of the teeth of the first comminuting roll 24 and the trailing edge 44 of the teeth of the second comminuting roll 26. The hard region 52 defines a continuation of hard regions 48, 50 of the leading 42 and trailing 34 edges of the teeth of the first and second comminuting rolls 24, 26, respectively, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7a.”
“Advantageously, it is the selective deposition of the hard regions 48, 50 which, when combined with the underlying air-hardened alloy of the comminuting rolls 24, 26, enables the sharpening effect of the un-treated edges (i.e. the teeth edges which are not provided with a laser-clad hard region) of the teeth 22, as shown in Fig. 7b.
The laser hardening treatment may be selectively applied to the teeth 22 in order to increase the wear resistance of the non-cladded edge of the teeth 22.”
“Laser cladding of the hard region 48 improves the wear resistance of the coated teeth due to high tungsten carbide composition of the wear resistant material. The resulting wear resistant layer has a composition of tungsten carbide.”
1. A crop processing roll for use in a forage harvester to process crop material comminuted by the operation of the forage harvester before being discharged from the forage harvester (“crop processor for cracking kernels in a forage harvester … first and a second comminuting roll,” Abstract), comprising:
an elongated cylindrical body (fig 5) adapted for rotation about an axis of rotation and having formed therein a plurality of grooves into the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical body (teeth, fig 28); and
a hardening material applied to said outer circumferential surface through a high velocity air fuel (HVAF) process (the process is not taught).
Marchiando teaches that it has been known to use any number of processes to improve wear resistance / hardening, HVAF (high velocity air/oxy fuel) injection, for target that is used in “size reduction devices … mills” or to one skilled in the art would include crop processing / comminuting rolls:
“The coating composition is suitable for applications requiring both improved wear resistance and friction modification, for example for use in sliding or rolling or fretting or coating of impact members or parts. Examples include coating applications requiring improved thermal shock resistance, improved non-wetting of the metal and improved corrosion resistance, such as coating of nozzles; Wear resistant coatings on engine parts; Rolling, spinning, shearing, bending, drawing, swaging, fogging, coining, extrusion, injection casting, to form metals, plastics, elastomers, ceramics and composites into molded objects Wear resistant coatings for forming tools for use in operations including compression casting, transfer casting, drawing, and laminates; Coatings for internal combustion or gas turbine engine parts; Coating of firearm components such as breeches, barrels, chokes, flash inhibitors, gas ports, or wear surfaces of any firearm components that are locked, ejected, slided, rotated or bearing; Coatings for elements used in size reduction devices such as mills, granulators, cyclones, screens, and the like. In one embodiment, the coating is applied on turbines, valves and gate seats, pump seals, ducts, fan blades, seal guides, wire drawing capstans and mandrel.”
“In one embodiment, the coating composition is heated in a plasma or combustion flame, or in a high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) or high velocity oxy air (HVAF) combustion flame, and the composition is fired onto the surface to form a coating.”
“In one embodiment, the metal powder is an alloy containing at least one of Ni, Cr, Ti, and Si, which binds well with the steel substrate. In a second embodiment, the metal powder comprises 10-25 weight percent molybdenum, 55-70 weight percent nickel alloy, and 5-25 weight percent chromium metal, chromium carbide, molybdenum carbide, tungsten carbide, or mixtures thereof. In a third embodiment, the metal powder comprises an alloyed metal comprising at least one of Ag, Cu, Mn, Cr, and Si and having a melting point of about 750 to 1000 ° C.”
“Depending on the final nature of the coating composition and the intended end-use application, the composite powder may further comprise optional ingredients. In one embodiment, the composite further comprises one or more electrically conductive components selected from the group consisting of borides of Zr, Al, Cr or mixtures thereof, and carbides of tungsten, Si, Ti, Cr or mixtures thereof. In another third embodiment, the composite powder may further comprise metallic nitride, metallic carbide or metallic oxide.”
“In one embodiment, the coating composition is heated in a plasma or combustion flame, or in a high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) or high velocity oxy air (HVAF) combustion flame, and the composition is fired onto the surface to form a coating.”
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the comminuting rolls having hardened grooves / teeth of Vanden Broucke with the teachings of Marchiando, with a reasonable expectation of success since picking and choosing the type of process used to selectively harden / provide wear resistance to grooves / teeth would to extend the service life of the comminuting rolls, would be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select known processes on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice, and the selection of a known hardening process & material for a particular purpose is within the level of ordinary skill in the art. Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 65 USPQ 297 (1945).
3. The crop processing roll of claim 1 wherein said grooves include a plurality of parallel longitudinal grooves aligned parallel to the axis of the crop processing roll (taught in the combination, see Vanden Broucke, fig 4).
2. The crop processing roll of claim 1 wherein said grooves include a plurality of spirally oriented grooves formed on said outer circumferential surface (the grooves pattern is not critical, see claim 3, obvious to pick and choose from any well known pattern, such as spiral/helical/chevron etc.).
4. The crop processing roll of claim 1 wherein said grooves include a plurality of parallel grooves extending around the circumferential surface of the crop processing roll and spaced along the axial length thereof (see in re cl. 2, 3).
5. The crop processing roll of claim 1 wherein said hardening material is a cemented carbide and metal, applied to the surface of the crop processing roll by an injection gun applying a melted powder of said hardening material thereto (taught in the combination, see Marchiando).
“Advantageously, it is the selective deposition of the hard regions 48, 50…” (Vanden Broucke)
6. The crop processing roll of claim 5 wherein said hardened material is applied at a variable rate to said circumferential surface of said crop processing roll, such that certain desired areas of said crop processing roll have different thicknesses of said hardened material (taught in the combination, see Vanden Broucke).
“The flat-top edges 36, 46 of the teeth are also provided with a hard region 52 having a greater hardness than each of the leading edge 32 of the teeth of the first comminuting roll 24 and the trailing edge 44 of the teeth of the second comminuting roll 26. The hard region 52 defines a continuation of hard regions 48, 50 of the leading 42 and trailing 34 edges of the teeth of the first and second comminuting rolls 24, 26, respectively, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7a.” (Vanden Broucke)
7. The crop processing roll of claim 6 wherein said hardened material has a greater thickness near at least one end of said crop processing roll and a lesser thickness in a central portion of said crop processing roll (taught in the combination, see Vanden Broucke).
The following method steps are already addressed in view of the apparatus, unless otherwise noted:
“In one embodiment, the coating composition is heated in a plasma or combustion flame, or in a high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) or high velocity oxy air (HVAF) combustion flame, and the composition is fired onto the surface to form a coating.”
“In another embodiment, they can be used in thermal spray powders according to the lines disclosed in US Patent Application 2004/0194662, wherein TiB .sub.2 is a ceramic material such as ZrB .sub.2 , boron carbide, SiC, TiC, WC and diamond dust Used in addition or in place of.”
“In one embodiment, the metal powder is an alloy containing at least one of Ni, Cr, Ti, and Si, which binds well with the steel substrate.” (Marchiando)
8. A method of applying a hardening material to a target manufactured from steel, comprising the steps of:
providing a high velocity air fuel (HVAF) system for applying a melted powered [powder] hardened material to said steel through an injection gun (taught in the combination, see Marchiando, quote, where the thermal spray of powders with HVAF combustion flame / injection gun method is obviously is at a involves high / melting temperature);
applying said hardened material to said steel target to provide different thicknesses of said hardened material to selected areas of said steel target (cl. 1, 5, 7).
9. The method of claim 8 wherein said applying step includes the step of: depositing said hardened material to said steel target at a variable rate of application (i.e. to achieve said selective thickness discussed above, cl. 6, 7).
10. The method of claim 9 wherein said depositing step includes the step of: changing a flow rate of said powdered hardened material into said injection gun to correspond to the desired thickness of hardened material for an area of said target where said injection gun is positioned (obvious capability in view of the varied thickness taught).
“The rotational and lateral speeds of the roll and the nozzle are controlled, respectively, so as to produce a continuous wear resistant layer along the length of each tooth.”
“Advantageously, it is the selective deposition of the hard regions 48, 50 which, when combined with the underlying air-hardened alloy of the comminuting rolls 24, 26, enables the sharpening effect of the un-treated edges (i.e. the teeth edges which are not provided with a laser-clad hard region) of the teeth 22, as shown in Fig. 7b.” (Vanden Broucke)
11. The method of claim 10 wherein said flow rate is controlled by a microprocessor in said changing step (taught in the combination, Vandden Broucke teaches selective & controlled nozzle application, obvious computer application).
12. The method of claim 11 wherein said steel target is a crop processing roll, said hardened material being applied to said crop processing roll in an application having greater thickness dimension in an area corresponding to at least one end portion of said crop processing roll (cl. 7; as taught above, thicker at the edges relative to the middle/central portion).
13. The method of claim 12 wherein said hardened material is applied to said crop processing roll in an application having a lower thickness dimension in an area corresponding to a central portion of said crop processing roll (as already discussed above, the edges, not the central portion is thicker).
The following are already addressed above, unless otherwise noted:
14. A crop processing roll for use in a forage harvester to process crop material comminuted by the operation of the forage harvester before being discharged from the forage harvester, comprising:
an elongated cylindrical body adapted for rotation about an axis of rotation and having formed therein a plurality of grooves into the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical body; and
said outer circumferential surface being hardened in a manner to establish a variable rate of hardening of said outer circumferential surface at the ends of said elongated cylindrical body compared a central portion of said elongated cylindrical body (cl. 1, 7, 12, 13).
15. The crop processing roll of claim 14 wherein said outer circumferential surface of the crop processing roll is hardened by applying hardening material to said outer cylindrical surface through a high velocity air fuel (HVAF) process to deposit said hardening with different thicknesses of said hardening material along certain desired areas of said crop processing roll (cl. 1, 7).
16. The crop processing roll of claim 15 wherein said hardening material has a greater thickness near at least one end of said crop processing roll and a lesser thickness in a central portion of said crop processing roll (cl. 12, 13).
17. The crop processing roll of claim 15 wherein said hardening material is a cemented carbide and metal, applied to the surface of the crop processing roll by an injection gun applying a melted powder of said hardening material thereto (cl. 5, 8).
18. The crop processing roll of claim 17 wherein said variable rate of hardening is accomplished by changing a flow rate of said powdered hardening material into said injection gun as said injection gun passes over predefined areas of the surface of said crop processing roll (cl. 9, 10).
“For example, the comminuting rolls are subjected to an induction hardening treatment which involves inducing an alternating magnetic field in the surface of the comminuting rolls to cause localised heating of the roll's peripheral surface to a temperature which is above the transformation range of the constituent alloy. The localised heating leads to hardening of the peripheral surface which results in an equal hardening effect on both the leading and trailing edges of the teeth.” (Vandden Broucke)
19. The crop processing roll of claim 14 wherein said cylindrical body is formed from multiple cylindrical segments, each cylindrical segment having a plurality of grooves in an outer cylindrical surface thereof, the outer surface of each said cylindrical segment being hardened in a preselected manner (taught in the combination, see teachings in Vandden Broucke, cylindrical peripheries in fig 4).
20. The crop processing roll of claim 19 wherein each respective cylindrical segment is hardened at the outer cylindrical surface thereof by one of heat treating, electroplating, or applying a hardening material thereto (taught in the combination, see Vandden Broucke teaches heat treating prior to hardening).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form 892.
Altraide et al (WO 2016/003522) teaches using HVAF gun (10) to apply coating to areas where needed on a steel surface (Abstract).
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/ARPAD FABIAN-KOVACS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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