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.
Claims 1 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heller et al. [US3574031] in view of Van Ingen et al. [US2020/0276769].
Heller discloses a method comprising applying a magnetic flux to a weld interface between a first thermoplastic component and a second thermoplastic component (column 6, lines 16-53); heating the weld interface between the first thermoplastic component and the second thermoplastic component using the applied magnetic flux (induction heating; column 6, lines 16-53).
Heller does not disclose drawing off, by a heatsink, heat off a contoured surface of the first thermoplastic component.
Van Ingen discloses a method of comprising welding composite laminates together (paragraph 0006-8). Van Ingen discloses applying a heat sink next to the welded area to pull heat out of the laminate and helps to avoid delamination and void zones (paragraph 0010). Van Ingen discloses the heat sink is flexible and defects into a curve to follow the contour of a surface (paragraph 0020-21; Figure 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of Heller by including a heat sink conformed to a contoured surface as taught by Van Ingen in order to prevent delamination and voids in the weld area.
With respect to claims 17-18, Van Ingen discloses the first and second thermoplastic components can be a skin and rib (paragraph 0135, 0138).
With respect to claim 19, Heller discloses an induction heating coil and Van Ingen discloses the induction welding coil (15) can be located above a portion of the heat sink (5) (paragraph 0032).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 is allowed.
Claims 2-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL MCNALLY whose telephone number is (571)272-2685. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Orlando can be reached at 571-270-5038. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL MCNALLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1746
DPM
September 3, 2026
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