DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office Action regarding application number 19/140,846, which is a 371 of PCT/US2023/084761, filed on 12/19/2023, which is a continuation of PRO 63/476,973, filed on 12/23/2022.
This action is in response to the Applicant’s Response received 07/15/2026.
Election of Restricted Inventions
The Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I and Species A1 (claims 1-4, 8, and 9) in the reply is acknowledged.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-17 are pending.
Claims 5-7 and 10-17 are withdrawn.
Claims 1-4, 8 and 9 are examined below.
No claim is allowed.
Examiner Comment
The use of the terms “BASF” and “FIBRO”, each which is a trade name or a mark used in commerce, has been noted in this application. The term should be accompanied by the generic terminology; furthermore the term should be capitalized wherever it appears or, where appropriate, include a proper symbol indicating use in commerce such as ™, SM, or ® following the term.
Although the use of trade names and marks used in commerce (i.e., trade marks, service marks, certification marks, and collective marks) are permissible in patent applications, the proprietary nature of the marks should be respected and every effort made to prevent their use in any manner which might adversely affect their validity as commercial marks. See MPEP 608.01(v).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Indefiniteness
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites “high purity alumina”. The term “high purity” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The specification is suggestive that purity values of at least 99.3% are included in this definition, but the specification says “such as”, meaning that a literal reading of the text implies that different, potentially lesser purity values could also read on the phrase “high purity alumina”. As the recitation lacks a clear meaning, the claim is determined to be indefinite and ambiguous.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-3, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by GREEN (US 6,536,950 B1, pub. 23 years ago).
Regarding claim 1, GREEN teaches a temperature sensing device comprising:
a thermocouple having a pair of wires (pair of wires 12 and 14), a temperature measuring junction between the wires (thermocouple 10), and an insulator covering the wires (electrical insulation 22); and
a protective sheath comprising:
a tertiary sheath surrounding the wires, the temperature measuring junction, and the insulator of the thermocouple (sapphire sheath 25),
a secondary sheath surrounding the tertiary sheath (inner protective tube 30), and
a primary sheath surrounding the secondary sheath (sapphire reinforced outer protection tube 24);
wherein the tertiary sheath contains sapphire (sapphire sheath 25 may comprise synthetic sapphire, pure corundum; see explanation of Fig. 1A at cols. 7-8).
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Regarding claim 2, GREEN teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1, wherein the primary sheath contains at least one of sapphire, alumina, zirconium, mullite or a combination thereof (sapphire reinforced outer protection tube 24).
Regarding claim 3, GREEN teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1, wherein the secondary sheath contains at least one of alumina, zirconium, mullite or a combination thereof (“inner protective tube 30 may comprise sapphire”).
Regarding claim 8, GREEN teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1 above, wherein the primary sheath contains high purity alumina and the secondary sheath contains high purity alumina (“inner protective tube 30 may comprise a high temperature, high purity ceramic tube. Such a ceramic tube can be made of, for example, alumina”; GREEN teaches affirmatively that “[t]ypical insulating materials include high temperature, high purity ceramics, such as alumina,” col. 1, ll. 49-51).
Regarding claim 9, GREEN teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1, wherein the protective sheath is free of precious metal (no precious metals are described for use in the protective sheath, and thus the claim limitation is satisfied).
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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-4, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KITA (US 6,190,038 B1, pub. 25 years ago) in view of GREEN (US 6,536,950 B1, pub. 23 years ago).
Regarding claim 1, KITA teaches a temperature sensing device comprising:
a thermocouple having a pair of wires (thermocouple wires 6, 7), a temperature measuring junction between the wires (hot junction 9 wherein the temperature is to be measured), and an insulator covering the wires (compacted filler 8 is of porous heat-resisting ceramics); and
a protective sheath (1) comprising:
a tertiary sheath surrounding the wires, the temperature measuring junction, and the insulator of the thermocouple (innermost layer 3 composed of at least one selected from a material including aluminum oxide),
a secondary sheath surrounding the tertiary sheath (innermost layer 2 and outermost layer 3), and
a primary sheath surrounding the secondary sheath (outermost layer 2).
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KITA does not disclose expressly that the tertiary sheath contains sapphire, only that it includes aluminum oxide generally.
GREEN teaches that the use of a sapphire envelope/sheath fitted over the thermocouple increases the life of the device, especially in extremely high temperature and chemically reactive environments (col. 2).
Skilled artisans would have found it obvious to modify KITA and combine with the teachings of GREEN to use sapphire specifically in the sheath covering the thermocouple because this modification is very well-known to increase the life of the thermocouple device.
Regarding claim 2, modified KITA teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1, wherein the primary sheath contains at least one of sapphire, alumina, zirconium, mullite or a combination thereof (outermost layer 2 can include the element zirconium, via Mo-ZrO2).
Regarding claim 3, modified KITA teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1, wherein the secondary sheath contains at least one of alumina, zirconium, mullite or a combination thereof (innermost layer 2 and outermost layer 3 can include the element zirconium, via Mo-ZrO2, and alumina).
Regarding claim 4, modified KITA teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1, wherein the primary sheath or the secondary sheath comprise multiple layers (see Fig. 2, secondary sheath comprises two layers; alternative interpretations are available where the primary sheath can comprise outermost layers 2/3).
Regarding claim 8, modified KITA teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1 above, but does not disclose expressly that the primary sheath contains high purity alumina and the secondary sheath contains high purity alumina.
GREEN teaches affirmatively that “[t]ypical insulating materials include high temperature, high purity ceramics, such as alumina,” col. 1, ll. 49-51).
Skilled artisans would have found it obvious to modify KITA and use “high purity” aluminum for each of the insulating layers because these are known “typical” materials useful for insulating a high temperature thermocouple, and skilled artisans would expect only predictable results from the use of this material.
Regarding claim 9, modified KITA teaches the temperature sensing device of claim 1, wherein the protective sheath is free of precious metal (no precious metals are described for use in the protective sheath, and thus the claim limitation is satisfied).
Conclusion
No claim is allowed.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELO TRIVISONNO whose telephone number is (571) 272-5201 or by email at <angelo.trivisonno@uspto.gov>. The examiner can normally be reached on MONDAY-FRIDAY, 9:00a-5:00pm EST. The examiner's supervisor, NIKI BAKHTIARI, can be reached at (571) 272-3433.
/ANGELO TRIVISONNO/
Primary Examiner
