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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I, claims 1-11, in the reply filed on 14 April 2026, is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim 12 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 14 April 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites up to 18.0 wt.-% of nickel or further nickel with respect to the total weight of the composite. However, the distinction between nickel or further is not clear because it is not clear what “further nickel” is in addition to (since nickel is not previously recited in the claim).
Claims 2-11 are rejected as being dependent on a rejected claim.
Although withdrawn from consideration and therefore not fully examined on its merits, claim 12 would be rejected as being indefinite because the term “preferably” (i.e. preferably 960 to 1150 °C in step v) renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. Furthermore, a broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (within the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 12 recites the broader range of 960 to 1200 °C and also recites 960 to 1150 °C, which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim is considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claim.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claim 6 recites wherein the total amount of nickel is up to 2.0 wt% of the total weight of the composite or from 4.0 to 20.0 wt% of the total weight of the composite. However, claim 1 recites up to18.0 wt% nickel or further nickel, and therefore claim 6 fails to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends because the range for total weight of nickel is greater than the range recited in base claim 1.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) and claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) as outlined above, but claims 1-11 would be allowable if the above rejections are overcome.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The following disclosures are considered the closest prior art:
Johansson et al. (US 2017/0117102) teaches an electrical contact tip for switching applications, in particular for low voltage applications, having a first and second layer that are each Ag-composites (i.e. a composite) (paragraph 0001). The Ag-composites include a metallic Ag-matrix with one or more elements, compounds, or alloys distributed in the Ag-matrix and the Ag-matrix is Ag or an Ag-based alloy (paragraph 0024). The one or more elements, compounds or alloys of the Ag-composite of the first layer and the second layer are selected from Ni, WC, ZrC, etc. (paragraph 0026) (i.e. a composite including zirconium carbide). The resistivity of the first layer is in the range of 1.7x10-8 to 2.6x10-8 Ω∙m and the resistivity of the second layer is in the range of 1.9x10-8 to 2.8x10-8 Ω∙m (paragraph 0053). Johansson teaches that the content of Ag in the Ag-composite of the first layer is preferably in the range between 70 and 96 wt% (i.e. carbides would be up to 4 to 30 wt%) and the content of Ag in the second layer is preferably in the range between 40 and 92% (i.e. carbides would be up to 8 to 60 wt%) (paragraph 0046). However, Johansson does not teach the proportion of specific carbides among the different carbides in the Ag-composite or the proportion of nickel.
Kikuchi et al. (US 2007/0007249) teaches an electrical contact for use typically in vacuum switchgears etc. (paragraph 0001) wherein the electrical contact has a matrix phase mainly of one of copper and silver, and a chromium phase (i.e. chromium as a metal component) surrounded by a carbide and dispersed in the matrix phase (paragraph 0013). The carbide preferably has a sublimation point or decomposition point of 1800°C or higher, and is one, two, or more selected from WC (i.e. tungsten containing carbide), ZrC, HfC (i.e. including hafnium carbide and/or zirconium carbide), TaC (i.e. tantalum carbide), Cr3C2 (i.e. chromium carbide), etc. (paragraph 0035). The content of the carbide(s) is preferably 1 to 30 percent by weight (paragraph 0034) and the chromium content is 0.02 to 20 percent by weight (paragraph 0016). These ranges overlap the instantly claimed ranges, and the courts have held that a prima facie case of obviousness exists where claimed ranges overlap, lie inside of, or are close to ranges in the prior art. See MPEP § 2144.05. It is noted that as of the writing of this Office Action, no demonstration of a criticality to the claimed ranges has been presented. However, Kikuchi does not teach the amount of the ZrC and/or HfC as a proportion of the total carbide content and does not teach nickel in the composite.
Hall et al. (US 4,417,922) teaches sintered hard metals of mixed carbides of metals selected from Groups IV to VI of the Periodic Table of Elements that are useful for use as tool tips etc. (Col. 1, l. 5-13). Hall teaches that cubic phase in the hard metal usually contains TiC, TaC, and/or NbC has been partially replaced by HfC, VC, and mixed crystals, with the need to replace TaC due to the increasing scarcity and expensiveness of Ta (Col. 1, l. 30-54), and teaches that mixed crystals of ZrC and HfC resemble TaC in hard metal technology with increased resistance to crater formation (Col. 2, l. 20-39). The mixed crystal material of ZrC and HfC is present in an amount in the range from 1% to 30 wt% (Col. 2, l. 46-51) (i.e. for a composition that is primarily WC as indicated by the specific composition in Col. 4, l. 22-28). Furthermore, ZrC-HfC mixed crystals can be used as grain growth inhibitors instead of TaC or TaC-VC (Col. 5, l. 22-29).
Campbell et al. (US 2015/0206677) teaches a vacuum circuit breaker as a type of vacuum switchgear and related components such as vacuum interrupters and arc-resistant shields (paragraph 0002). The arc-resistant shields for use in vacuum interrupters as a key internal component of vacuum switchgear is prepared from an alloy composition (paragraph 0020), wherein the alloy composition includes a first component and a second component (paragraph 0029). The first component may be copper or alternatively may be nickel, silver, etc. and alloys and mixtures thereof (paragraph 0029). The second component may include carbide, etc., wherein the carbide may include tungsten carbide (i.e. tungsten containing carbides), hafnium carbide, zirconium carbide, tantalum carbide, chromium carbide, etc. (paragraph 0029). The alloy composition may be subjected to one or more of known powder metallurgy, extrusion, forging, and casting processes in order to form an arc-resistant shield (paragraph 0032). Based on these processes, the first and second components forming the alloy composition are considered to be a composite (i.e. a composite including hafnium carbide and/or zirconium carbide). Campbell teaches proportions of components for an arc-resistant shield that include copper-chromium alloy (paragraph 0020) and ferrochrome (paragraph 0031), but not of silver with nickel and carbides.
None of these references, alone or combined, provide all of the instantly claimed limitations.
Conclusion
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/KIM S. HORGER/Examiner, Art Unit 1784
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