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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Filippi (US 20170101966).
Regarding claim 1, Filippi discloses a gas fuel injector of an electromagnetic drive type, configured to directly inject gas fuel into a cylinder of an engine, the gas fuel injector comprising:
a cylindrical main body (1)having a fuel passage (35, 36);
an opening/closing valve (10, 11) disposed in the main body (Figure 1)and configured to open (Paragraph 53) and close (Paragraph 50) the fuel passage;
and a solenoid (6) disposed in the main body (Figure 1) and configured to open the opening/closing valve upon energization (Paragraph 53, wherein:
the opening/closing valve includes a valve body (10) fixed to a plunger (11) of the solenoid (Paragraph 44) and configured to reciprocate in an axial direction together with the plunger (Paragraph 52) and a valve seat (43) configured to come into contact with and be separated from the valve body to close and open the fuel passage (Paragraphs 49-50 and 53), the plunger (11) is fixed to a retainer (58) provided on a proximal end side of the main body (Figure 3), the proximal end side being an upstream side of the opening/closing valve (Figure 3), and
the retainer (58) is installed between a closing spring (54) configured to bias the plunger in a valve closing direction (The spring is capable of biasing the plunger upward) and an adjustment spring (50) configured to bias the plunger in a valve opening direction (The spring is capable of biasing the plunger downward).
Regarding claim 2, Filippi discloses the gas fuel injector according to claim 1, wherein a set load of the adjustment spring is set by a plug (51) attached from the proximal end side of the main body (Figure 3) (Paragraph 51, The adjusting means adjusts the amount of compression of the spring).
Regarding claim 3, Filippi discloses the gas fuel injector according to claim 2, wherein an assembling position of the plug is changeable in the axial direction, and the set load of the adjustment spring is adjustable by a position of the plug (Paragraph 15, The axial force is varied by the axial position of the adjusting means).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER R. DANDRIDGE whose telephone number is (571)270-1505. The examiner can normally be reached M-T 9am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arthur O. Hall can be reached at (571)270-1814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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CHRISTOPHER R. DANDRIDGE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3752
/CHRISTOPHER R DANDRIDGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752
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