DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-4, 8, 11 and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kalwaites (US 3,135,023). Kalwaites discloses an arrangement for arranging number of filaments/fibers (10) transferred by a transferring device (332) to at least two separate subsets of said filaments, wherein said transferring device (332) is configured to receive the filaments (10) to a surface of the transferring device (332) in an input area (336) of the transferring device from multiple outputs and transfer the filaments from the input area/slots (336) to an output area of the transferring device in a first direction and shown in figures 15 and 16. Further, a further process wherein the arrangement at least one fluid flow providing device/nozzle (337) having a stream flow towards at least one portion of the filaments (10), col. 15, lines 24- transferred by the transferring device (332), thereby deflecting a path of said portion of the filaments in a second direction (1-10) differing from said first direction (107) and to separate said portion to a subset (103B) from the rest (103A) of the filaments (103) and again to provide at least two separate subsets (103A, 103B) of the filaments. The arrangement includes at least one winding device for
winding the bundles of the filaments as shown in figure 18. Furthermore, the arrangement comprises at least two fluid flow providing devices for providing stream flows towards at least two portions of the filaments transferred by the transferring device and thereby to provide at least three separate subsets of the filaments, and again three separate bundles (113) for said further process of bundles, wherein said at least two fluid flow providing devices are arranged sequentially in the first direction as also shown in figures 15 and 16. However, Kalwaites does not disclose fluid flow toward the at least one portion of the filaments.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the stream flow of Kalwaites through the slots substantially defines a fluid flow to form the at least two separate/three subsets of filament as shown in figure 16.
With regard to claims 2 and 16, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the at least two separate bundles of filaments of Kalwaites can be processed further by being reopened and size the bundle was winded in order to minimize handling while filaments are processed at high speed to produce yarn.
With regard to claim 8, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention through routine experimentation that the arrangement of Kamlwaies can include but not limited to at least 300 outputs, etc. with each having a nozzle that efficiently forms the filament subsets each having between 100-300 filaments in order to produce the yarn in a cost effective manner or depending on end use thereof.
With regard to claim 17, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention through routine experimentation that the stream/fluid flow of Kalwaites can be controlled by a flow rate with a speed but not limited to 50-330 m/s, etc. to form the desired sized bundle subsets.
Further, with regard to claim 18, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the filaments formed into bundles of Kalwaites can be made but not limited to continuous filaments, etc. in order to efficiently form yarns in a high speed operation.
Claims 5-7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kalwaites as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hautemont (US 3,820.430). Kalwaites discloses the invention as set forth above except for showing a pressure manipulating device that guide the filament subsets for further processing.
Hautemont discloses a yarn transporting device with a fluid conduit having at least one pressure manipulating/fluid flow device (30, 32) positioned between input and multiple output areas that creates air flow that sucks the filament into multiple conduits as shown in figure 3. Further, the device includes compressing device (58) for providing compressed air to the inout of the fluid flow device.
With regard to claim 5, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that the at least two/three separate bundles of filaments of Kalwaites being winded can be provided with an pressure manipulating device as taught by
Hautemont so that the two/three subset bundles car easily transported to the winder or as required for an end use thereof.
With regard to claims 6-7, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention that pressure manipulating/fluid flow device of Kalwaites
when viewed with Hautemont can include but not limited to ejector, etc. that would allow
pressure to be adjusted to allow are steady flow of the two/three subset bunded to be transported
toward the winder in an uniform manner as known in the textile art.
With regard to claims 10-11, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention the arrangement of Kalwaites can be provided with at least one fluid flow device between the multiple output and input areas as taught by Hautemont
in order to quickly form the subset bundles in an uniform manner or depending on end use
thereof.
Furthermore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention the arrangement of Kalwaites can be provided with air compressing device to the fluid flow device as taught by Hautemont in order to transport filaments at high speed to form the subset bundles quickly and efficiently.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9, 12 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. Claim 9 with its dependents are allowable because the prior art does not teach of suggest the arrangement including the fluid flow providing device with an input for receiving fluid flow and number of outputs for providing and focusing number of high-speed fluid flows towards the filaments transferred, wherein speed of the high-speed fluid flow is configured to be higher than a transferring speed of the material, whereupon a velocity gradient of the high-speed fluid flow is configured to induce a dragging force dragging the filaments towards a maximum of said velocity gradient and thereby changing the path of the filaments.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Each of the prior art references cited on PTO-892 discloses a system of separating filaments into two separate directions for bundling.
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June 12, 2026 /TAJASH D PATEL/ Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 3732
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