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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in REPUBLIC OF KOREA on 04/03/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR10-2024-0045201 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kunio et al (JP 2000230494 A) in view of Curtis (2408918).
Regarding claim(s) 1, Kunio, fig 1-3 discloses a cooling module, comprising: a water pump 10 including a motor housing 40 that has a stator 41 accommodated therein, and is formed with a rotor accommodation part (45a,45b) formed concavely (at 45a) on one surface thereof, an impeller 14 that is disposed on one side of the motor housing, a rotor 43 that is formed integrally with the impeller 14 and rotatably provided inside the rotor accommodation part, and a shaft 44 that is inserted through a through hole formed in a center of the rotor 43 and the impeller, and has one end exposed to one side of the rotor and the other end coupled and fixed to the other side of the rotor accommodation part; and a reservoir tank 20 including a main body in which coolant is stored, a pump mounting part (portion of 12 accommodating 14) that is formed corresponding to one side of the impeller 14 and motor housing of the water pump and is concavely formed with a second channel groove (right side of inner surface of channel radially surrounding 14 going to 13,25 ) corresponding to the a first channel groove (left side of inner surface of channel radially surrounding 14 going to 13,25), a communication part 11 that makes the main body and a cooling water inlet side 21 of the impeller communicate with each other, and a pump coupling part (portion of housing 12 that is outer side of channel radially surrounding 14 going to 13,25).
Kunio discloses the first channel groove (left side of inner surface of channel radially surrounding 14 going to 13,25) as part of tank body as well as second channel groove (right side) but fails to disclose first channel groove (left side of inner surface of channel radially surrounding 14 going to 13,25) as part of pump housing rotor accommodation part (45a,45b). Curtis teaches a channel groove 17 such tank side part 25 is part of tank housing and pump side part 12 is part of pump housing 13.
Since the pump housing has rotor accommodation part (45a,45b) on side of tank therefore the pump side part (first channel groove which is left side of inner surface of channel radially surrounding 14 going to 13,25) would be part of rotor accommodation part.
As to claim 2, Kunio fails to disclose a thrust member that is coupled to one end of the shaft to limit the impeller and rotor from moving to one side. Curtis teaches a thrust member 22 that is coupled to one end of the shaft 19 to limit the impeller 20 and rotor (inner side of 20) from moving to one side.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the device disclosed by Kunio as modified with a thrust member that is coupled to one end of the shaft to limit the impeller and rotor from moving to one side as taught by Curtis in order to prevent axial movement of shaft/rotor.
As to claim 3, main body, the pump mounting part, the communication part, and the pump coupling part of the reservoir tank are integrally formed as a single member (since the entire assembly is integrally assembled).
As to claim 4, the communication part 21 of the reservoir tank is formed at a lower end of the main body.
As to claim 5, the pump mounting part (portion of 12 accommodating 14) of the reservoir tank and a portion of the pump coupling part (portion of housing 12 that is outer side of channel radially surrounding 14 going to 13,25)are disposed below the lower end of the main body 20.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 8-11 is/are allowed. Claim(s) 6, 7 is/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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior fails to disclose insert member having one side inserted into and coupled to the communication part of the reservoir tank, the other side rotatably coupled to one end of the shaft, and formed with a communication channel that makes the main body of the reservoir tank and the fluid inlet side of the impeller communicate with each other in combination with other limitations of claim 8. The prior fails to disclose one side of the motor housing of the water pump is inserted into an inside of the pump coupling part in combination with other limitations of claim 6.
Related prior art Batchelder et al (6276908), Sato et al (5181838), Mack (3871796) teach different embodiments of pump housing attached to tank body but fails to disclose the allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Atif Chaudry at phone number 571-270-3768. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (9:30AM-6:00PM EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Kenneth Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881, or Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ATIF H CHAUDRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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