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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-7 are original. Therefore, claims 1-7 are currently pending and have been considered below.
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 following must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s).
An end in the positive direction of the gas injection port in a direction along the positive direction (Claim 4)
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 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “a downstream side” in line 12 of claim 1, however it is not clear what the side is downstream of. This limitation will be interpreted as best understood by the patent examiner.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “a direction from the gas injection port to the liquid ejection port is a positive direction and a direction opposite to the positive direction is a negative direction … the cover portion being in contact with, on a positive direction side, an upper surface of the nozzle body facing the positive direction side… of end faces of the cover portion facing the gas injection port, an end face located closest to a negative direction side” (underline for emphasis) in lines 16-26 of claim 1, and while the terms “a positive direction” and “a negative direction” are clear it is not clear what constitutes “a positive direction side” and “a negative direction side” because there is no point of origin in which to measure what constitutes the respective sides, nor are their two distinct sides that can be used in comparison with each other to determine a positive direction side and a negative direction side. This limitation will be interpreted as best understood by the patent examiner.
Claims 2-7 depend on claim 1, therefore claims 2-7 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Esaki (US2014/0263743).
Regarding claim 1, Esaki discloses a spray nozzle (Fig. 1-13 & 16, all structural features utilizing the embodiment of item 200B in Fig. 16 for item 200)) comprising:
a nozzle body (Fig. 10 & 16, 113) connected to a pump (Fig. 1, 2000; Para. 0097; A compressor is a pump.), ; and
a cover member (Fig. 16, 200) attachable to and detachable from the nozzle body (Para. 0138), the cover member covering an outer surface of the nozzle body (Fig. 16, 113b & 113s)
wherein the outer surface of the nozzle body and an inner surface of the cover member define a suction passage (Fig. 16, 221) through which a liquid circulates,
the nozzle body defines a gas injection passage (Fig. 16, 115) through which a liquid pressurized and fed from the pump circulates (Para. 0131-0132, 0137), and a liquid ejection passage (Fig. 16, 222) connected to the suction passage on a downstream side (Fig. 16),
in a cross section including a gas injection port (Fig. 16, opening of 115 on surface 113s) being an opening of the gas injection passage on the downstream side and a liquid ejection port (Fig. 16, 240) being an opening of the liquid ejection passage on the downstream side, when a direction from the gas injection port to the liquid ejection port is a positive direction (Fig. 16, direction from 113a through 115; Annotated Fig. 16) and a direction opposite to the positive direction is a negative direction (Annotated Fig. 16), the cover member includes a cover portion (Fig. 16, 250), the cover portion being in contact with, on a positive direction side, an upper surface of the nozzle body (Fig. 16, 113s) facing the positive direction side, and being exposed to an outside (Fig. 16, exposed to an outside of the nozzle body), and
of end faces of the cover portion facing the gas injection port (Annotated Fig. 16), an end face located closest to a negative direction side is located outward of an edge of the gas injection port in a direction orthogonal to the positive direction (Annotated Fig. 16).
Annotated Figure(s)
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Regarding claim 2, Esaki discloses the spray nozzle according to claim 1.
Esaki further discloses a liquid pool (Fig. 16, 260) between the suction passage and the liquid ejection passage, and wherein a maximum flow path sectional area of the liquid pool is larger than a maximum flow path sectional area of the suction passage (Fig. 16).
Regarding claim 3, Esaki discloses the spray nozzle according to claim 1.
Esaki further discloses wherein the liquid pool is defined by the outer surface of the nozzle body and the inner surface of the cover member Fig. 16).
Regarding claim 6, Esaki discloses the spray nozzle according to claim 1.
Esaki further discloses wherein entire areas of the end faces of the cover portion facing the gas injection port are located outward of the edge of the gas injection port in the direction orthogonal to the positive direction (Figs. 10 & 16).
Regarding claim 7, Esaki discloses the spray nozzle according to claim 1.
Esaki further discloses wherein, when a virtual straight line is drawn to intersect the positive direction through an end in the negative direction of the gas injection passage and an end of the upper surface closest to the gas injection port (Annotated Fig. 16),
entire areas of the end faces of the cover portion facing the gas injection port are located outward of the virtual straight line in the direction orthogonal to the positive direction (Annotated Fig. 16).
Annotated Figure(s)
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The most relevant prior art includes Esaki (US 2014/0263743), Higashiyama (US 2021/0128866), Lee (US 2010/0206305), Sasai (US 2016/0354560), and Bagwell (US 4,767,576).
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The combination of the prior arts teaches various features of the claimed invention, as presented above, but fail to teach or suggest, in combination with other limitations of claim 4 “wherein the nozzle body has, as the upper surface, a first upper surface, disposed at a same position as an end in the positive direction of the gas injection port in a direction along the positive direction, and being orthogonal to the positive direction, and the cover portion includes a first cover portion in contact with the first upper surface.”
The combination of the prior arts teaches various features of the claimed invention, as presented above, but fail to teach or suggest, in combination with other limitations of claim 5 “wherein the nozzle body has, as the upper surface, a second upper surface located on the positive direction side of the liquid ejection passage, and the cover portion includes a second cover portion in contact with the second upper surface.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW DOMENIC ONDREJCAK whose telephone number is (571)270-5465. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00-5:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arthur 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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/ANDREW DOMENIC ONDREJCAK/ Examiner, Art Unit 3752
August 21, 2026
/TUONGMINH N PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752
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