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
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.
3. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takei (JP 2019-112746, of record) and further in view of Maekawa (US 2018/0304687).
Takei is directed to a composite comprising metal cords and a topping rubber (an associated tire), wherein said topping rubber includes natural rubber and 0-1 phr of a cobalt containing compound. Takei further teaches that (a) a surface of the metal cords has a N atom ratio between 2 atomic percent and 60 atomic percent and (b) a Cu/Zn ratio (associated with a brass plating on the metal cord) is between1 and 4. In such an instance, though, Takei is silent with respect to the fatty acid content of the natural rubber.
Maekawa is similarly directed to a composite comprising metal cords and a topping rubber. More particularly, Maekawa teaches the use of natural rubber having a fatty acid content less than 0.9% in order to promote initial adhesion and adhesion after high temperature and high humidity (Paragraphs 4, 23, and 25). One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to include a fatty acid content less than 0.9% in the natural rubber of Takei for the benefits detailed above.
Regarding claim 2, Takei states that (a) the metal cord can be a single wire or a plurality of wires and (b) a composition of the cord plating is 40-80 percent of copper and 20-60 percent of zinc.
With respect to claims 3 and 8, Takei teaches the claimed surface treatment with a buffer solution having a pH between 5 and 7.2 and a treatment with one or more triazole compounds.
As to claims 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, and 14, Takei teaches a cobalt containing compound as small as 0 phr.
Regarding claims 6, 11, 15, 17, and 19, the exemplary compositions of Takei include 80 phr of natural rubber (corresponds with 80% as claimed) (Table 1).
Conclusion
4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN R FISCHER whose telephone number is (571)272-1215. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00.
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Justin Fischer
/JUSTIN R FISCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749 June 4, 2026
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