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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 10/09/2025 and 03/27/2025 are acknowledged by the Examiner.
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 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 of this title, 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 and 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zaleske et al. (US 3262027) in view of Christensen (US 8641010).
Zaleske et al. disclose:
1. (Currently Amended) An electromagnetic valve (seen in fig. 2) comprising: a solenoid (having solenoid spool 18) around which a coil (19) is wound; an attractor (16) that is disposed inside the solenoid; a plunger (14) that is connected to a valve body (13) and is attracted to the attractor by energization of the solenoid; a pipe (15) that is provided inside the solenoid and accommodates the plunger (as seen in fig. 2); and a housing (41, 45) that includes a first support (32, figs. 5, 6) disposed to overlap with one end of the solenoid in an axial direction (as seen in fig. 2) and a second support (31 or other 32, figs. 5, 6) disposed to overlap with another end of the solenoid in the axial direction (as seen in fig. 2), and that has, in the first support and the second support, a first attachment hole (35) and a second attachment hole (other end 35) into which the pipe is fitted (as seen in fig. 2), respectively.
Claim 3. (Currently Amended) The electromagnetic valve according to claim 1, wherein the first attachment hole and the second attachment hole have a same diameter (designated with the same element number to indicate identical elements, just on opposite ends).
Claim 4. (Currently Amended) The electromagnetic valve according to claim 1, wherein: the housing includes a plate-shaped connection portion (41, figs. 5, 6) that connects the first support and the second support.
Although Zaleske et al. seems to show the first and second attachment holes as abutting the tube 15 in fig. 1, Zaleske et al. is silent on actual contact, and therefore does not explicitly disclose wherein the first attachment hole abuts an outer circumference of the pipe on one side in a radial direction thereof; and the first attachment hole abuts the outer circumference of the pipe on one side in a direction parallel to the connection; and wherein the second attachment hole abuts the outer circumference of the pipe on the other side in the radial direction thereof.
However, Christensen teaches a related solenoid arrangement, including several embodiments in which a tube is retained within the yoke via snap fit or abutment with the attachment holes around the tube, and further in which the first attachment hole (10) abuts an outer circumference (such as via 17 in fig. 5) of the pipe on one side in a radial direction thereof (see figs. 6b, 7); and the first attachment hole abuts the outer circumference of the pipe on one side in a direction parallel to the connection portion (as seen in figs. 5 and 6b, 17 extends from the connection portion); wherein the second attachment hole abuts the outer circumference of the pipe on the other side in the radial direction thereof (due to 17 elastically loading the tube toward the opposite side to create a snap fit, or alternatively, opening 9 is part of the yieldable yoke that engages the outer surface of the tube via friction, see col. 2, ll. 33-38, “where elastic properties of the yoke provides a variable dimension of the opening and therefore allows, in an expanded state of the opening, insertion of the tube in the opening and, in a less expanded state of the opening, engagement between the edge of the opening and the tube”), for the purpose of providing a very simple valve design in which the solenoid is fixed to the tube by use of the yoke itself, thereby only requiring a low amount of components (abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Zaleske et al., wherein the first attachment hole abuts an outer circumference of the pipe on one side in a radial direction thereof; and the first attachment hole abuts the outer circumference of the pipe on one side in a direction parallel to the connection; and wherein the second attachment hole abuts the outer circumference of the pipe on the other side in the radial direction thereof, as taught by Christensen, for the purpose of providing a very simple valve design in which the solenoid is fixed to the tube by use of the yoke itself, thereby only requiring a low amount of components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 8382062 B2 and JP 2003156269 A each disclose related valves with means adjacent an opening for retaining the tube in the solenoid.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARINA TIETJEN, whose telephone number is 571-270-5422. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (10:30AM-7:00PM CST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Tom Barrett can be reached at 571-272-4746, Ken Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881, and Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARINA A TIETJEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
Prosecution Insights