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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/26/2026 has been entered.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crabtree (US 2013/0048099) in view of Ha (KR 20180020186, English translation appended). Regarding Claim 1:In Figures 1-6, Crabtree discloses an adding system (1, 2, see system in Figures 1-2) for fire-extinguishing units (used in firefight industry as mentioned in the abstract) for producing a mixture of extinguishing agent (water, see paragraph [0023]) and extinguishing agent additive (additive of choice, see paragraph [0023]) by adding an extinguishing agent additive to an extinguishing agent (see paragraph [0023], comprising a motor (1) able to be driven by a flow of extinguishing agent (as mentioned paragraph [0023]), with an input (fluid coupling 3) for supplying the extinguishing agent to the motor (as mentioned paragraph [0023]), an output (4) for discharging the extinguishing agent from the motor (as mentioned paragraph [0023]), and an output shaft (9) able to be driven by the motor (see paragraph [0025]), an adding pump (2) for conveying the extinguishing agent additive (see paragraph [0023]) which has an input shaft (interior portions of rotor 13) coupled to the output shaft of the motor (as seen in Figure 5, 13 is coupled to 9), an inlet (5) for providing the extinguishing agent additive, and an outlet (outlet connected conduit assembly 6, see Figure 3) for discharging the extinguishing agent additive (see paragraph [0023]), an adding line (portions of conduit assembly 6 downstream of check valve 8) having a first motor-side end (end of conduit assembly 6 connected to 4, see Figure 3, henceforth referred to as E1) and a second outlet-side end (end of conduit assembly 6 connected to check valve 8, see Figure 2, henceforth referred to as E2), wherein the motor-side end (E1) is fluidly connected to the output of the motor (connected to 4 as seen in Figure 2), an extinguishing agent additive line (line comprising check valve 8 and selector valve 7) having a first pump-side end (end connected to pump 2, henceforth referred to as P1) and a second adding line-side end (end connected to 7 and 8, henceforth referred to as P2), wherein the pump-side end (P1) is fluidly connected to the outlet of the adding pump (as seen in Figure 3, P1 is connected to the pump outlet) and the adding line-side end (P2) is fluidly connected to the adding line at an admixture point (admixture point formed by selector valve 7). Crabtree discloses that the adding pump (2) is a vane pump and so fails to disclose that the adding pump may be a piston pump with a plurality of pistons. Crabtree also fails to disclose that inlet of the adding pump is arranged such that the extinguishing additive agent can flow into the adding pump substantially parallel to the direction of movement of at least one of the pistons of the adding pump. However, in Figure 3, Ha discloses a similar fire extinguishing system comprising an adding pump (482) which is a piston pump driven by a motor (480) comprising a plurality of pistons to deliver a continuous supply of extinguishing agent (see page 26, paragraphs 3-4 of the translation). The adding pump (482) further comprises an inlet (486) that is arranged parallel to the direction of movement of the pistons (while not clearly shown in Figure 3, one of ordinary skill would realize that the direction of motion of the pistons in 482 would be perpendicular to the motor shaft from motor 480 and so also parallel to the inlet 486 since this arrangement with a motor driving a crankshaft coupled to the pistons is extremely well known in the art). Hence, based on Ha’s teachings, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have replaced Crabtree’s adding pump with a piston pump comprising a plurality of pistons by modifying Crabtree’s motor output shaft (9) to be coupled to a crankshaft in the piston pump (as described in Ha’s translation, page 26, paragraph 4), since doing so would be obvious to try and would yield predictable results such as providing a piston pump that would deliver a continuous supply of extinguishing agent additive and an inlet ensuring a smooth delivery of extinguishing agent additive to the piston pump. Crabtree as modified by Ha does not appear to disclose that the extinguishing agent additive flows into a housing of the adding pump parallel to the direction of the movement of at least one piston of the plurality of pistons of the adding pump. In contrast, Ha’s extinguishing agent additive appears to flow into the adding pump from the inlet (486) to a direction that would presumably be perpendicular to the motion of the pistons (as seen in Ha’s Figure 3, the inlet 486 enters the housing depicted as 482 at a point perpendicular to the housing). However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange the inlet of the adding pump to enter into the housing in a direction parallel to the direction of movement of the pistons, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
As discussed above, the grounds of rejection have been modified to specifically address the rearrangement of the inlet to enter the housing of the adding pump in a direction parallel to the direction of movement of the pistons. This rearrangement of parts is obvious as discussed above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7571. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 12 pm -8 pm ET.
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/DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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