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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/06/25 has been considered by the Examiner.
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, 5, 6, 12, 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) or (a)(2) as being anticipated by US 4 937 028 A issued to Glemet et al.
Regarding Claims 1, 5, 6, 12, 14 and 15-
Glemet et al., teach a process for producing thermoplastic resins reinforced with long fibers in which rovings are impregnated with a wetting thermoplastic polymer by means of a die and a baffle zone, then taking up the impregnated rovings in a second die where they are then covered with a thermoplastic polymer [abstract].
The continuous fibers that are employed to reinforce the thermoplastic resins are known and are either organic or mineral. By way of example, rovings of fiber glass, silica, carbon, or aramide can be introduced. [Column 3, lines 21-25]. The wetting thermoplastic polymer must be compatible with the coating thermoplastic polymer such as grafted polypropylene – polypropylene. Polymers modified by grafting or sequencing that are particularly useful and include: a grafted polypropylene such as polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride or acrylic acid; a poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) grafted with maleic anhydride; a grafted high-density polyethylene such as high-density polyethylene grafted with acrylic acid or maleic anhydride; a grafted linear low-density polyethylene such as linear low-density polyethylene grafted with acrylic acid or maleic anhydride; a poly(ether-amide) sequenced copolymer, and the like Column 3, line 39-column 4, lines 56].
At Example 1, Glemet et al., teaches a preparation of polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride on roving of E glass filaments with a mol wt. of 5,000. The coated fibers are sheathed with PP and granulated.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 9, 11 and 13 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. There was no prior art that teaches the combination of claim 1 with component B.
Regarding Claims 3, 7, 8 and 10 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.
Glemet et al., teaches that is set forth above but does not teach the limitations sought in Claim 3, 7, 8 and 10. The closest prior art of USPN 4,581,392 issued to Armstrong et al. Armstrong et al., discloses the same process as in Glemet et al., in that when the melted polymer is used (PP), a coupling agent can also be added (not as a primer) but contained in the thermoplastic sizing composition. Armstrong et al., discloses the possible blend of non-grafted PP with an aminosilane (C2) as sizing composition. The wt. % of the PP and the coupling agent (C2) is not given. The melted composition is applied in an amount of 1 to 10 wt. % (based on the glass fibers) and the coupling agent 0 to 2 wt% (on the same basis).
However, claims 3, 7, 8 and 10-11 differ from Armstrong et al. in that the polypropylene should be chosen, the use of coupling agent blended with the sizing agent should also be chosen. Furthermore, no amount of PP higher than 10 /12 (83%) is disclosed (2 wt.% of the coupling agent and 10 wt.% of the melting polymer), as such there are no indications to use such blend in the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
USPN 6,045,912 issued to Taguchi et al. sizing agents used on long glass fibers which include an amino silane dispersion within a polypropylene wax.
USPUB 20080292739A1 issued to Kashikar et al. teaches a process for producing long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic compositions.
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/Arti Singh-Pandey/
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 1759
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