DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-4 are pending.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yukitake (US 8142171) in view of Ishii (US 2015/0204325).
PNG
media_image1.png
701
663
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Annotations on Yukitake fig 1
Claim 1, Yukitake discloses an electric liquid pump (oil pump, c 4 ln 32) comprising:
an electric motor (3, c 4 ln 39) including a motor rotor (35, c 4 ln 49) that has a shaft (fig 1 and fig 2b, shaft is depicted as part of rotor 35, the shaft passes through oil seal 5 into hole 22b; a person of ordinary skill would recognize the elongated cylindrical shape as a shaft) and a magnet portion (magnet 36 on rotor core, c 5 ln 9) integrated with one axial end of the shaft (rotor core 35 is at the end of shaft away from pump rotor 22), and a stator (stator 34, c 5 ln 5 ) that is disposed radially outside or inside the magnet portion (fig 1 depicts the arrangement) and rotates the motor rotor (motor rotates, c 5 ln 15-20);
a liquid pump (pump 22 and 21, c 5 ln 16-45) including an inner rotor (inner rotor 22) that has an external tooth (tooth on inner rotor 22, c 5 ln 20) and is integrated with an other axial end of the shaft (fig 2b, end of rotor 37 insert into hole 22b of the pump rotor; it is at the other end of the shaft from the magnet 36), and an outer rotor (outer rotor 21) that has an internal tooth (tooth on outer rotor 21, c 5 ln 20) meshing with the external tooth and forms (c 5 ln 20), together with the inner rotor, a gap volume portion (tooth spaces, c 6 ln 65-67) into which a liquid (oil, id.) is suctioned from a suction passage (inlet port 13a, c 6 ln 65-67) and from which the liquid is discharged toward a discharge passage (discharge port 13b, c 7 ln 7);
a motor case (fig 1, housing 12 of motor 3, c 4 ln 40-46) having a box shape (fig 3 shows the outer casing of motor and pump, fig 1 shows the inner cavity of 3, the inner cavity for holding the motor and stator meets the plain meaning of box like) and including therein a first accommodation chamber that accommodates the stator (12 holds stator 32, c 4 ln 59) and one axial part of the motor rotor including the magnet portion (12 holds magnet 36 on rotor 35 as well as the stator 32), a second accommodation chamber (fig 1 space exterior of 11a but interior to 12 ) that communicates with the first accommodation chamber (both spaces within 12 communicate) and accommodates an other axial part of the motor rotor (the portion of 12 which accommodates 11a also accommodates the portion of rotor 35 which passes through oil seal 5), and
a partition wall (housing 12 has an exterior case wall; this aligns with applicant’s partition wall 45, applicant’s partition wall 45 is the wall of motor case 4) that has a hole-shaped communication portion (opening at the edge of 12 which accommodates pump housing 11) allowing the first accommodation chamber and the second accommodation chamber to communicate with each other (the portions of 12 surrounding 11a communicates with the portion of 12 holding motor 34, there don’t appear to be restrictions between these two spaces) and is provided between the first accommodation chamber and the second accommodation chamber (a portion of 11a is between 12 with the motor 34 and the portion of 12 accommodating the portion of 12 which olds 11a), in which the liquid circulates through the first accommodation chamber (oil reaches seal 5 which is inside of motor housing 12, c 4 ln 65 – c 5 ln 5; oil flow that reaches oil seal 5 can reasonably be said to circulate into the interior of 12 under a BRI), the second accommodation chamber (oil reaches seal 5 which is within the boundaries of the second space surrounding 11a, c 4 ln 47-57), and the hole-shaped communication portion (the hole between oil seal 5 and pump chamber 11 is a communication portion which is within the opening at the end of 12 which accommodates pump housing 11 ); and
a body (pump housing 11) including a centering body portion (11a) inserted into the hole-shaped communication portion to be centered (11a is centered by the outside housing 12 as a part of the joining of 11 and 12), a general body portion (the portion of 11 which surrounds bearing 5a) being continuous with the centering body portion and accommodated in the second accommodation chamber (fig 1 shows the portion of 11 holding bearing 5a within 12’s chamber and continuous with the other portions of 11), and
a bearing portion (bearing 5a, c 5 ln 12) formed to penetrate the centering body portion and the general body portion (5a is within the center portion of 11) and supporting an axial one portion of the shaft (5a supports an axial portion of the first shaft portion of rotor 35) at a position between the magnet portion and the inner rotor (fig 1 shows bearing 5a is between 35 and 22).
Yukitake is silent on: wherein the entire body is made of a thermosetting resin.
Ishii teaches an analogous internal gear pump (abstract) where the casing are made of thermosetting resins (par 0050).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to manufacture the housing (11) of Yukitake of thermosetting resin taught by Ishii in order to manufacture the housing with superior oil resistance and chemical resistance which allows the casing to be used in high temperature environments (Ishii, par 0030) which would reasonably increase the utility of Yukitake’s oil pump.
Claim 2, Yukitake in view of Ishii teaches the electric pump according to claim 1. Yukitake does not disclose the thermosetting resin includes a phenol resin.
Ishii further teaches the thermosetting resin includes a phenol resin (Ishii, par 0050).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enable the thermoset resins of Yukitake in view of Ishii as phenol resins as taught by Ishii in order to use injection molding to manufacture the casing, which aids the manufacture without machining and thereby reduces the costs of manufacture (Ishii par 0042).
Claim 4, Yukitake in view of Ishii teaches the electric liquid pump according to claim 1. Yukitake does not disclose the body is formed by injection molding or compression molding.
Ishii teaches manufacturing the body from injection molding to reduce the need for machining and increase the cost benefit of the housing (Ishii, par 0042).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enable the thermoset resins of Yukitake in view of Ishii as injection molding resins as taught by Ishii in order to use injection molding to manufacture the casing, which aids the manufacture without machining and thereby reduces the costs of manufacture (Ishii par 0042).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yukitake in view of Ishii in view of Iwata (US 2003/0185475).
Claim 3, Yukitake in view of Ishii teaches the electric liquid pump according to claim 2. Yukitake does not disclose the thermosetting resin contains a reinforcing fiber and/or an inorganic filler in an amount of 30% by mass or more than 90% by mass or less when a total amount of the thermosetting resin is 100% by mass. Ishii further teaches the thermosetting resin contains a reinforcing fiber (par 0051) and/or an inorganic filler (par 0051) in an amount 1-30% by volume (par 0054). Ishii is silent on the filler or fiber measured by mass percentage rather than volume.
Iwata teaches, a pump (fig 4) where the thermosetting resin contains a reinforcing fiber (par 0023) in an amount of 30% by mass or more than 90% by mass or less (par 0023).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include reinforcing fiber in the resin compound of Yukitake in view of Ishii in the mass ratios taught by Iwata, in order to reach desired wear resistance and friction characteristics (Iwata, par 0023).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Motohashi (US 2013/0052058) teaches a pump with the same arrangement of motor casing and pump casing insert into one open end of the motor casing (fig 1).
Reul (US 10,337,513) teaches a toothed pump with the same motor casing and pump casing insert into one open end of the motor casing (fig 2).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEOFFREY S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5354. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 0900-1800.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Essama Omgba can be reached at (469) 295-9278. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GEOFFREY S LEE/ Examiner, Art Unit 3746 /DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746