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
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 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 1-8, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Endle et al (US 2014/0345883 A1).
Regarding claims 1-4, 6, and 8, Endle teaches a mineral wool mat (e.g., a monolithic gravity-laid inorganic fiber web) comprising at least a plurality of mineral fibers (e.g., glass fibers) stacked on top of each other and side by side within the mineral wool mat (e.g., monolithic), the mineral fibers being secured to one another by a bonding element formed by means of thermally bonding fibers; wherein the bonding element is obtained by melting the thermally bonding fibers. (para 3, 28-29, 38, 42).
Endle teaches the inorganic fiber webs may have a thickness greater than 5 cm (i.e., 50 mm); a density of less than 0.1 g/cm3 (i.e., 100 kg/m3); and the thermal bonding fibers (e.g., organic binder fibers may be less than about 20% based on the total weight of inorganic fiber web (para 3, 28-29, 39). These ranges substantially overlap that of the instant claims. It has been held that overlapping ranges are sufficient to establish prima facie obviousness. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have selected from the overlapping portion of the range taught by Endle, because overlapping ranges have been held to establish prima facie obviousness (MPEP § 2144.05).
Regarding claim 5, Endle teaches wherein the mineral fibers secured to one another by a dry process (para 20, 60).
Regarding claim 7, Endle teaches wherein the thermally bonding fibers comprise a core and a sheath, the core having a melting temperature different from the melting temperature of the sheath (para 28).
Regarding claims 10 and 11, Endle teaches production method for producing a mineral wool mat according to claim 1, the production method implementing at least one first step wherein the thermally bonding fibers and the mineral fibers are mixed together (e.g., mixed in as a binder additive or previously blended), at least one second step wherein the previously mixed mineral fibers and thermally bonding fibers are deposited on a conveyor device (e.g carrier) by means of a mechanical guide means (e.g., rollers) to form a mineral fiber carpet, at least a third step wherein the mineral fiber carpet is conveyed by the conveyor device to an oven wherein the mineral fibers and the thermally bonding fibers are heated to form the mineral wool mat; wherein the mineral fiber carpet is produced continuously during the second step, in a single pass during which the fibers involved in forming the mineral fiber carpet passing through the oven are deposited one on top of the other in series (para 13-17, 28, 32, 47, fig 1).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Endle as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Nielsen et al (US 2015/0298449 A1).
Endle teaches the mineral wool mat of claim 1; and that the mat is monolithic (i.e., wherein at least the mineral fibers are distributed homogeneously within the mineral wool mat) (abstract).
Endle fails to suggest the homogeneous distribution of the mineral fibers being considered in a transverse and/or vertical direction, each of these transverse and/or vertical directions being perpendicular to a main longitudinal direction of elongation of the mineral wool mat.
Nielsen teaches webs of mineral wool with a vertical fiber orientation (i.e., the mineral fibers being considered in a transverse and/or vertical direction, each of these transverse and/or vertical directions being perpendicular to a main longitudinal direction of elongation of the mineral wool mat); wherein the vertical fiber orientation provides high compression strength in the vertical direction and thereby a relatively high compression (abstract, 23, 25).
Therefore, per Nielsen, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to orient the fibers of Endle in a vertical direction to provide its monolithic inorganic fiber web with high compression strength in the vertical direction and thereby a relatively high compression.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN L VAN SELL whose telephone number is (571)270-5152. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur, Generally 7am-6pm.
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NATHAN VAN SELL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1783
/NATHAN L VAN SELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783
