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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/10/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 1, “Apparatus” should read --An apparatus-- to improve the claim language.
Claim 3 recites "the pressure chamber (9)" and "the buffer chamber (9)". There appears to be a typographical error. The recitation of "the pressure chamber (9)" should read --the pressure chamber (12)-- to remedy the typographical error..
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 1-14 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 recites “a plurality of tools (2) each having at least one hydraulic chamber” and then recites “the hydraulic chamber” later in the claim. It is unclear which of the previously established plurality of hydraulic chambers is being referred to. This becomes an issue in multiple instances because of the plurality of tools having at least one hydraulic chamber which establishes a plurality of hydraulic chambers. All instances of “the hydraulic chamber” becomes ambiguous as to which of the plurality of hydraulic chambers is being referred to. Claims 1, 4, 8, recite “the hydraulic chamber”.
Claim 1 recites “each tool (2) comprises a hydraulic buffer unit (8) for preventing propagation of hydraulic pulsations between the tool (2) and the hydraulic manifold (4)”. It is unclear which of the previously recited “plurality of tools” is being referred to with “the tool (2)”. This should probably read --each tool (2)-- to establish that there is a hydraulic buffer between each tool and the hydraulic manifold.
Claim 1, 2, 6, 11 all recite “the hydraulic buffer unit”. It is unclear which of the plurality of hydraulic buffer units is being referred to because “each tool comprises a hydraulic buffer unit” establishes more than one hydraulic buffer unit. Claim 9 recites “the hydraulic buffer unit (8) of each tool” which properly refers back to the established plurality of buffer units. However, the other claims that merely recite “the buffer unit” is indefinite because it is unclear which of the plurality of hydraulic buffer units are being referred to.
Claim 4 recites "wherein the piston is displaced towards a rest position located between two end positions within the cylinder in response to the volume of the hydraulic chamber momentarily does not alter during the operation of the tool." There appears to be some grammatical issue here as it is unclear what is being referred to with "momentarily". Is claim 4 stating that the volume of the hydraulic chamber 6 does not change during operation of the tool? This does not appear to make sense. Or does this mean that the piston is displaced toward a rest position when the tool is not operated?
Claim 7 and 8 recite "the idle volume". There is a lack of antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims. Further, it is unclear what an "idle-volume" requires. The specification does not further discuss what this is. Since it is unclear what constitutes an "idle-volume", the metes and bounds of the claim are indefinite.
The claims are replete with issues pertaining to the plurality of structures established. Please revise the claims to address all structures that should be referred to either in the plural or singular to remove any ambiguity.
The dependent claims are indefinite because they depend from an indefinite base claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1-14 would be allowable if 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 to include 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 does not disclose nor render obvious an apparatus including a plurality of tools each having at least one hydraulic chamber wherein each tool comprises a hydraulic buffer unit for preventing propagation of hydraulic pulsations between the tool and the hydraulic manifold in response to the varying volume of the hydraulic chamber, wherein the hydraulic buffer unit has a buffer chamber having varying volume in response to varying volume of the hydraulic chamber as claimed in claim 1.
The prior art Hoglund (US 10119435) and Hoglund et al. (US 9988952) discloses all of claim 1 except for the hydraulic buffer unit as claimed. The prior art discloses using hydraulic buffer units between a piston chamber and a hydraulic manifold, but do not disclose an individual hydraulic buffer unit for each tool as claimed. The prior art appears to show a plurality of tools being connected to a single hydraulic buffer unit for pulsation dampening as seen in Lehrer et al. (US 3208397), Diehl et al. (US 6918361), etc.
The dependent claims are allowable because they depend from allowable claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gerlach et al. (US 5096394) discloses a hydraulic buffer unit (80) at the inlet and outlet of the pump
Diehl et al. (US 6918361) discloses an apparatus including a hydraulic buffer unit (29) for pulsation damping, and discloses gas exchange valve (51), piston (18), etc. has one buffer unit (29) connected to a plurality of gas exchange valve devices.
Lambeck (US 5102311) discloses a piston pump with an attenuator 68 that is a hydraulic buffer unit for preventing propagation of hydraulic pulsations between the tool and the hydraulic manifold in response to the varying volume of the hydraulic chamber, wherein the hydraulic buffer unit has a buffer chamber having varying volume in response to varying volume of the hydraulic chamber.
Forster (US 11946527) discloses a system with a hydraulic buffer unit (51)
Lehrer et al. (US 3208397) discloses an apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of tools (42) each having at least one hydraulic chamber (34) for hydraulic liquid,
- a hydraulic manifold (12) configured for storing pressurized hydraulic liquid and supplying hydraulic liquid to said plurality of tools,
wherein each tool comprises a communication conduit (36) extending between the hydraulic chamber (34) and said hydraulic manifold (12), the hydraulic chamber (34) having varying volume during the operation of the tool,
characterized in that each tool comprises a hydraulic buffer unit (76) for preventing propagation of hydraulic pulsations between the tool and the hydraulic manifold in response to the varying volume of the hydraulic chamber
Hoglund (US 10458292) discloses a gas exchange valve actuator for internal combustion engines
Ohsawa (US 8863706) discloses: an apparatus including
- a plurality of tools (11) each having at least one hydraulic chamber (17) for hydraulic liquid,
- a hydraulic manifold (30) configured for storing pressurized hydraulic liquid and supplying hydraulic liquid to said plurality of tools,
wherein each tool (11) comprises a communication conduit (25A, 25B) extending between the hydraulic chamber (17) and said hydraulic manifold (30), the hydraulic chamber having varying volume during the operation of the tool, a hydraulic buffer unit (38) for preventing propagation of hydraulic pulsations between the tool and the hydraulic manifold in response to the varying volume of the hydraulic chamber, wherein the hydraulic buffer unit has a buffer chamber having varying volume in response to varying volume of the hydraulic chamber.
Tai et al. (US 2005/0120986) discloses an apparatus (100) comprising:
- a plurality of tools (106, paragraph [0013] recites "at least one engine control valve 106") each having at least one hydraulic chamber (102d) for hydraulic liquid,
- a hydraulic manifold (fluid passages within 100, including 112) configured for storing pressurized hydraulic liquid and supplying hydraulic liquid to said plurality of tools,
wherein each tool (106) comprises a communication conduit (conduits including 102a, 102c, etc.) extending between the hydraulic chamber (102d) and said hydraulic manifold, the hydraulic chamber having varying volume during the operation of the tool (102e moves and adjusts the volume of chamber 102d),
a hydraulic buffer unit (112; paragraph [0023] discloses a plurality of the disclosed device of Fig. 1) for preventing propagation of hydraulic pulsations between the tool and the hydraulic manifold in response to the varying volume of the hydraulic chamber, wherein the hydraulic buffer unit has a buffer chamber (chamber in 112 opposite the spring chamber relative to the piston 112a) having varying volume in response to varying volume of the hydraulic chamber (paragraph [0017] discloses the piston 112a responding to pressure fluctuations; which would prevent a minor amount of hydraulic pulsation propagation).
Chu et al. (US 12263292) discloses a hydraulic buffer element used to dampen the pressure fluctuations in a system
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 February 6, 2026