DETAILED ACTION
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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission (i.e., IDS and corresponding NPL and foreign references) filed on 05/06/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 4 and 9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
change claim 1, section A, line 13 accordingly: “a respective injector boss of the one or more injector bosses”
change claim 1, section C, line 4 accordingly: “[[the]] a center axis”
change claim 1, section D, line 4 accordingly: “[[a]] the nominally predetermined angle”
change claim 4, section B, line 2 accordingly: “pressurized fuel”
change claim 4, section C, line 2 accordingly: “[[a]] the nominally predetermined angle”
change claim 9 line 1 accordingly: “a measurement port of the one or more measurement ports”
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 section C line 2 recites the phrase “each fuel redirection insert”. The meaning of this instant phrase is unclear because there has only been one “a fuel redirection insert” recited previously (at the previous line). The term “each” is interpreted as “every one of two or more persons or things” (The Free Dictionary online; www.thefreedictionary.com).
Claim 4, section B, line 2 recites “pressured fuel”. It is unclear if the claim 4 pressured fuel refers to (1) the claim 1, section A, line 5 pressurized fuel, or (2) is a pressured fuel that is different from the claim 1 pressurized fuel. There is no discussion in applicant specification of a pressured fuel and thus the claim is interpreted regarding scenario (1) for purposes of compact prosecution.
Claim 4, section C line 1 recites “pressurized fuel”. It is unclear if the claim 4 pressurized fuel refer to (1) the claim 1, section A, line 5 pressurized fuel, or (2) is a different or second pressurized fuel. The claim is interpreted regarding scenario (1) for purposes of compact prosecution.
Claim 5 line 2 recites “pressurized fuel”. It is unclear if the claim 5 pressurized refers to (1) the claim 4 pressurized fuel, or (2) is a different pressurized fuel. The claim is interpreted regarding scenario (1) for purposes of compact prosecution.
Claim 6 line 2 recites “pressurized fuel”. It is unclear if the claim 5 pressurized refers to (1) the claim 4 pressurized fuel, or (2) is a different pressurized fuel. The claim is interpreted regarding scenario (1) for purposes of compact prosecution.
Claim 7 line 2 recites “pressurized fuel”. It is unclear if the claim 5 pressurized refers to (1) the claim 4 pressurized fuel, or (2) is a different pressurized fuel. The claim is interpreted regarding scenario (1) for purposes of compact prosecution.
Claim 10 line 1 recites “measurement instruments”. It is unclear if the claim 10 instruments (1) refer to the claim 9 instruments for measuring, or (2) are different instruments. The claim is interpreted regarding scenario (1) for purposes of compact prosecution.
Claims dependent thereon are rejected for the same reasons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if (1) rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action, and (2) amended to include the appropriate corrections regarding the claim objections in the Claim Objection section above.
Dependent claims 4-7 and 10 would be allowable if (1) rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and (2) claim 4 amended to include the appropriate claim objection corrections. Dependent claim 9 would be allowable if amended to include the appropriate claim objection corrections.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In the non-final office action mailed 05/05/2025 Pub. No.: US 2020/0003158 A1 (Maqbool) was the base reference
The closest prior art Pub. No.: US 2020/0003158 A1 (Maqbool) does not teach in combination with the claim limitations:
A. the fuel assembly is a fuel rail assembly and comprising:
i. the hollow fuel passage rings the inlet pipe,
ii. connection tabs mounted on the hollow fuel passage for facilitating connecting the fuel rail assembly to the combustion chamber,
iii. one or more injector bosses disposed around, and in fluid communication with, the hollow fuel passage, with each injector boss having a first end, second end, and a center axis parallel to a center axis of the inlet pipe, and with the second end directed toward the combustion chamber, and
iv. the at least two fuel ports each connected to the first end of a respective injector boss, with the at least two fuel ports being in the fluid communication with the hollow fuel passage through the respective injector boss of the one or more injector bosses;
B. the fuel injector connected to the second end of each injector boss and in fluid communication with the hollow fuel passage through the injector boss; and
C. the fuel direction insert is a fuel redirection insert.
In the non-final office action Pub. No.: US 2007/0033940 A1 (Duverneuil) was used to teach the “connection tabs mounted on the hollow fuel passage for facilitating connecting the fuel rail assembly to the combustion chamber” and US 2010/0050645 A1 (Haggerty) and US Patent 3,774,851 (Simmons) were used to teach the remaining missing recitations of Maqbool as explained on pages 7-13 of the non-final office action. Upon reconsideration it does not appear one of ordinary skill would be motivated to make the instant combination on pages 7-13. For example fuel rails of the type claimed were not known to be commonly used on similar pulse jet combustors. More specifically US Patent 4,314,444 (Putnam) points out that similar pulse combustor 16 (see fig. 2) uses drilled passages 30,30’ instead of the claimed bosses, fuel ports and redirection inserts. Pub. No. US 20070245712 A1 (Shimo) teaches the general concept of redirection of fuel in fig. 2 regarding a pulse detonation combustor but does not teach the instant claimed bosses, fuel ports and redirection inserts corresponding with a ringed hollow fuel passage. Furthermore Haggerty fig. 1 that was used in the non-final office action does not clearly show the configuration of the fuel structures at location 14 such fuel structures extending from ringed hollow fuel passage 18. Simmons was used to ameliorate this lack of clarity. However Simmons may encourage the pulsejet worker to configure the fuel redirection insert to inject fuel parallel to the center axis of the combustor (see figs. 1-2). This would result in the fuel making a U-turn when Haggerty and Simmons are used together to arrive at claim 1 adding weight and unnecessary complexity to the pulse combustor of Maqbool in view of Haggerty, Simmons and Duverneuil and in thus reduce aircraft fuel efficiency. In this respect such a combination would represent impermissible hindsight. Dependent claims 2-12 would be allowable as least by virtue of their respective dependency upon an allowable base claim.
The updated search did not result in prior art closer than that discussed above. The IDS filed by applicant on 05/06/2026 resulted in examiner reviewing US 20250207782. This is close prior art but is not prior art under 35 USC 102 or 103 regarding the effective filing date. US 20260043350 was considered for double patenting however the claims thereof did not include enough detail regarding the claimed fuel rail assembly such as the specifics of the claimed bosses in conjunction with a hollow fuel passage that rings the inlet pipe to arrive at a reasonable rejection in conjunction with other prior art.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARC J AMAR whose telephone number is (571)272-9948. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00.
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/MARC AMAR/Examiner, Art Unit 3741 /DEVON C KRAMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3741
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