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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the oil returning to the oil tank after exiting the vent of claim 17 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention. The disclosure is not clear in the nature of the invention and the amount of direction provided. Claim 17 requires the oil allowed to exit via the vent opening to return back to the tank. The drawings do not show a recirculation path where oil would travel out of the vent 50 and back into chamber 36 via inlet 48, as described in paragraph [0046]. Further, it is not clear how oil could travel back into vent 50 once it has escaped and scattered outside of the tank 30. There are no mechanisms to collect and redirect the escaped oil back into the tank via vent 50.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1) as being anticipated by Wiebrecht (US 2018/0195422 A1). Wiebrecht discloses a method of operating a lubrication system (fig. 2) of an aircraft engine (the system shown in fig. 2 may be used in an aircraft engine), the method comprising:
Re claim 16, during a first flight condition (condition where gravity is pulling oil downward to the bottom of the tank) of an aircraft where a downward force acting on oil in an oil tank (114) of the aircraft engine is greater than an upward force acting on the oil, using an oil pump (110) to deliver oil from the oil tank to a lubrication load (102); following the first flight condition and during a second flight condition (condition in low gravity or quick drop in elevation) of the aircraft where the upward force acting on the oil in the oil tank of the aircraft engine is greater than the downward force acting on the oil: allowing the oil in the oil tank to exit the oil tank via a vent opening (176) of the oil tank; starving the oil pump of the oil and ceasing to use the oil pump to deliver the oil from the oil tank to the lubrication load (oil would be positioned at the top of 114 therefore away from outlet 160 and the pump is no longer sucking in oil); and preventing a lubrication recovery quantity (a quantity of oil trapped in the space of 174) of oil in the oil tank from exiting the oil tank via the vent opening of the oil tank; and following the second flight condition and during a third flight condition of the aircraft where the downward force acting on the oil in the oil tank of the aircraft engine is greater than the upward force acting on the oil: using the lubrication recovery quantity of oil in the oil tank to prime the oil pump (oil trapped in 174 will fall back down into 160); and resuming to use the oil pump to deliver the oil from the oil tank to the lubrication load (the pump will resume pumping oil again).
Re claim 17, comprising, during the third flight condition, returning the oil allowed to exit the oil tank via the vent opening of the oil tank back to the oil tank (oil suspend at 176 would fall back down due to gravity and flow towards the outlet 160; Wiebrecht discloses the claimed structure thus the oil flow would return as claimed).
Re claim 18, wherein preventing the lubrication recovery quantity of oil in the oil tank from exiting the oil tank via the vent opening of the oil tank includes retaining the lubrication recovery quantity of oil in one or more auxiliary chambers (chamber defined by the space of 174) of the oil tank.
Re claim 19, wherein preventing the lubrication recovery quantity of oil in the oil tank from exiting the oil tank via the vent opening of the oil tank includes retaining the lubrication recovery quantity of oil in a region (chamber defined by the space of 174) of the oil tank higher than the vent opening (176) of the oil tank relative to an upright orientation of the oil tank (fig. 2).
Re claim 20, comprising using only the lubrication recovery quantity of oil in the oil tank to initiate priming of the oil pump (only oil in 174 remains because it is unable to escape through the vent 176, this oil would drop back down to outlet 160 to prime the pump).
Conclusion
The cited prior art(s) made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINH D TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-3014. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 pm.
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/Minh Truong/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654