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 .
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) 1-3 & 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomiyama et al. (US PG. Pub. 2023/0072183) in view of Atluri (US PG. Pub. 2017/0313941).
Regarding claim 1 – Tomiyama teaches a fire-extinguishing material ([title] Tomiyama states, “fire-extinguishing sheet”), comprising: a fire-extinguishing agent layer (the “sheet” is considered the layer) containing a fire-extinguishing agent ([paragraph 0008] Tomiyama states, “the fire-extinguishing agent includes at least a potassium compound and a binding agent”) and a binder resin ([paragraph 0010] Tomiyama states, “the binding agent is preferably one, or two or more selected from the group consisting of a polyester resin”), wherein the fire-extinguishing agent contains at least one of an organic salt ([paragraph 0018 & 0029] Tomiyama states, “the fire-extinguishing agent includes, for example, 0.5% to 30% by mass of a binding agent (component A) and 10% to 70% by mass of a chlorate salt (component B), and further 30 to 900 parts by mass of a potassium salt (component C), relative to 100 parts by mass of the binding agent and the chlorate salt…monopotassium citrate”; monopotassium citrate is an organic salt) and an inorganic salt.
Tomiyama fails to explicitly teach wherein the fire-extinguishing agent layer has a porosity of 37% or less in a cross section of the fire-extinguishing agent layer.
Atluri teaches a fire-extinguishing material (figs. 1-3 [title] Atluri states, “flame retardant composition”) having a fire-extinguishing agent layer ([Abstract] Atluri states, “the flame retardant composition by using a porous substrate”) wherein the fire-extinguishing agent layer has a porosity of 37% or less ([paragraph 0029] Atluri states, “The porous substrate of the present disclosure is characterized by porosity in the range of 30% to 95%”) in a cross section of the fire-extinguishing agent layer (discussed in paragraphs 0019 and 0029).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the fire-extinguishing material having a layer comprising a binder and at least one of organic or inorganic salts as taught by Tomiyama with the layer having a porosity of 37% or less as taught by Atluri because Atluri states, “The insulation property of the porous substrate acts as a protection layer to the product…The combination of the properties of a porous substrate and a flame retardant filler within a single material is commercially attractive because of the possibility of combining the enormous functional variation of flame retardant chemistry with the advantages of a thermally stable and robust inorganic substrate. This is particularly applicable to flame retardant products” [paragraph 0048 & 0046].
Regarding claim 2 – Tomiyama in view of Atluri teach the fire-extinguishing material of claim 1, wherein the fire-extinguishing agent layer contains 70 to 97 mass% of the fire-extinguishing agent with respect to a total amount of the fire-extinguishing agent and the binder resin (Tomiyama [paragraph 0018] Tomiyama states, “the fire-extinguishing agent includes, for example, 0.5% to 30% by mass of a binding agent (component A) and 10% to 70% by mass of a chlorate salt (component B), and further 30 to 900 parts by mass of a potassium salt (component C), relative to 100 parts by mass of the binding agent and the chlorate salt”; the potassium salt having a range of 30-900 and the chlorate salt having a range of 10-70% would both appear to meet the claimed range).
Regarding claim 3 – Tomiyama in view of Atluri teach the fire-extinguishing material of claim 1, wherein the salt contains a potassium salt (Tomiyama [paragraph 0029] Tomiyama states, “Examples of component C, i.e., the potassium salt, preferably include potassium acetate, potassium propionate, monopotassium citrate”).
Regarding claim 5 – Tomiyama in view of Atluri teach the fire-extinguishing material of claim 1, wherein the binder resin contains a polyvinyl acetal-based resin (Tomiyama [paragraph 0019] Tomiyama states, “component A, i.e., the binding agent, preferably include a polyester resin…a polyvinyl acetal resin”).
Regarding claim 6 – Tomiyama in view of Atluri teach the fire-extinguishing material of claim 1, wherein the fire-extinguishing agent layer (Tomiyama [title] Tomiyama states, “fire-extinguishing sheet”) has a thickness of 80 to 600 um ([paragraph 0047 & 0049] Tomiyama states, “A PET film having the thickness of 100um…under the state that the agent was coated on the PET film to obtain the sheet having the average thickness of 220 μm”; therefore the fire-extinguishing agent layer will be (220um-100um) = 120um).
Regarding claim 7 – Tomiyama in view of Atluri teach the fire-extinguishing material of claim 1, further comprising a resin substrate (Tomiyama [paragraph 0047] Tomiyama states, “A PET film…on it was applied the fire-extinguishing agent slurry”) disposed with the fire-extinguishing agent layer (the PET film will be present with the fire-extinguishing agent layer).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomiyama et al. in view of Atluri as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yamashita et al. (US PG. Pub. 2009/0326126).
Regarding claim 4 – Tomiyama in view of Atluri teach the fire-extinguishing material of claim 1, but fail to explicitly teach wherein the salt has an average particle size of 1 to 100 um.
Yamashita teaches a fire-extinguishing material ([title] Yamashita states, “flame-retardant resin composition”) having a salt wherein the salt has an average particle size of 1 to 100 um ([paragraph 0048] Yamashita states, “the salt of succinic acid and/or the salt of malic acid or the metal sulfide, as the flame retardancy-imparting component, preferably has a particle diameter of about 0.001 .mu.m to about 1000 .mu.m”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the fire-extinguishing material having a layer comprising a binder and at least one of organic or inorganic salts as taught by Tomiyama in view of Atluri with the salt having an average particle size of 1 to 100 um as taught by Yamashita because Yamashita states, “These flame retardancy-imparting components show higher flame retardant effect when these are mixed, in a form of finer particles, with the resin component. Therefore, if desired flame retardancy should be obtained, the additive amount may be smaller as the particles are finer” [paragraph 0048].
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomiyama et al. in view of Atluri as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu et al. (US PG. Pub. 2007/0196644).
Regarding claim 8 – Tomiyama in view of Atluri teach a fire-extinguishing material package comprising the fire-extinguishing material of claim 1 but fails to teach a packaging bag in which the fire-extinguishing material is to be enclosed.
Wu explicitly teaches a packaging bag ([paragraph 0060] Wu states, “Accordingly, polymeric film products such as, for example, sleeves, protective packaging, bags, liners, house-wraps, overwrap films, and bubble cushion having enhanced characteristics are fabricated from the polymer composite film of the present invention”) in which the fire-extinguishing material ([paragraph 0061] Wu states, “the polymer composite film of the present invention having treated fillers impart improved flame retardant characteristics”) is to be enclosed.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the fire-extinguishing material as taught by Tomiyama in view of Atluri with a packaging bag in which the fire-extinguishing material is to be enclosed as taught by Wu because use in a packaging bag will reduce spreading of fire and further improve safety of the packaging bag.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yao et al. (US PG. Pub. 2003/0129379) discloses a porous insulating film and its laminates.
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/STEVEN T SAWYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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