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 Objections
Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities: Appears to contain.
Claim 4 objected to because of the following informalities: Missing a period.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 (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 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 1-3 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brecht et al. (US 20200047926 A1) in view of Wolf (US 20150217879 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Brecht et al. discloses a drum-type dosing apparatus for producing individual dosing quantities of a pulverulent product (item 3, figure 1), the drum-type dosing apparatus comprising:
a product store arranged in a filling position (items 4 and 41, figure 1);
a dosing drum (item 5, figure 1);
a rotary drive for the dosing drum (¶ [0030]);
said dosing drum defining at least two dosing openings spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction of said dosing drum (item 7, figure 1);
and said rotary drive being configured to stepwise rotate said dosing drum about an axis of rotation (item 19, figure 1) such that said dosing portion with ends up located, over a course of a cycle, at least in said filling position (item 41, figure 1) and in a discharging position (item 43, figure 1; ¶ [0030]).
However, Brecht et al. is silent on dosing openings combined to conjointly form a dosing portion.
Wolf discloses a dosing apparatus for producing individual dosing quantities of a pulverulent product (item 1, figure 1), the drum-type dosing apparatus comprising:
a product store arranged in a filling position (items 5 and 6, figure 1);
a dosing drum (item 8, figure 1);
said dosing drum defining at least two dosing openings spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction of said dosing drum (item 10, figure 1) which are combined to conjointly form a dosing portion (items 10 and 16, figure 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have modified the dosing drum of Brecht et al. so that the dosing openings are combined to conjointly form a dosing portion as taught by Wolf in order to permit simultaneous metering of multiple dosing openings at once with equal pressure (see Wolf ¶ [0015]).
Regarding claim 2, Brecht et al. discloses the drum-type dosing apparatus of claim 1, wherein said dosing
However, Brecht et al. is silent on a dosing portion.
Wolf discloses the dosing portion on said dosing drum.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have modified the dosing drum of Brecht et al. so that the dosing openings are combined to conjointly form a dosing portion as taught by Wolf in order to permit simultaneous metering of multiple dosing openings at once with equal pressure (see Wolf ¶ [0015]).
Regarding claim 3, Brecht et al. discloses the drum-type dosing apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least two dosing openings define opening axes (item 7, figure 1; ¶ [0026]).
However, Brecht et al. is silent on a dosing portion and said at least two dosing openings are arranged in pairs on either side of the central plane.
Wolf discloses wherein said dosing portion has a central plane running radially in relation to the axis of rotation (items 18 and 17, figure 1);
said at least two dosing openings are arranged in pairs on either side of the central plane (item 10, figure 2);
and, said at least two dosing openings define opening axes located parallel to one another and to the central plane (¶ [0043], [0045], and [0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the dosing openings of the drum-type dosing apparatus of Brecht et al. with parallel opening axes arranged in pairs to the central plane as taught by Wolf in order to prevent partial quantities of powder inadvertently escaping while filling (see Wolf ¶ [0019] and [0059]).
Regarding claim 7, Brecht et al. discloses the drum-type dosing apparatus of claim 1, wherein individual one of said at least two dosing openings are delimited on an inside (item 23, figure 1) by a filter element (item 8, figure 1; ¶ [0026]) and are configured to be connected, through said filter element, to a negative-pressure source (item 15, figure 1; ¶ [0031]).
Regarding claim 8, Brecht et al. discloses the drum-type dosing apparatus of claim 1, wherein individual ones of said at least two dosing openings are delimited on the inside by a filter element and are configured to be connected, through said filter element, to a positive-pressure source (item 16, figure 1; ¶ [0032]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brecht et al. in view of Wolf, further in view of Spiers et al. (US 20030034085 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Brecht et al. discloses the drum-type dosing apparatus of claim 1, wherein said product store (item 4, figure 1), at said filling position (item 41, figure 1), is open in a direction of the dosing drum by way of a dispensing opening (figure 1).
However, Brecht et al. is silent on said dispensing opening has a width which spans said at least two dosing openings spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction.
Spiers et al. discloses a drum-type dosing apparatus (figure 2) wherein said product store (item 300, figure 2), at said filling position (position A, figure 2), is open in a direction of the dosing drum (item 204, figure 2) by way of a dispensing opening (item 304, figure 2);
and, in the circumferential direction, said dispensing opening has a width which spans said at least two dosing openings spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction (item 210, figure 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the dispensing opening of Brecht et al. to span at least two dosing openings as taught by Spiers et al. in order to fill multiple dosing openings with powder at the same time in a single filling step which increases likelihood of completing filling of dosing openings without undesirable pulverization of the powder particles (see Spiers et al. ¶ [0017]).
Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brecht et al. in view of Wolf and Spiers et al. as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Hoepfer et al. (US 20200047925 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Brecht et al. as modified discloses the drum-type dosing apparatus of claim 4, wherein said product store includes, adjacent to said dispensing opening, a stirrer for the product (¶ [0031]).
However, Brecht et al. is silent on the specific orientation of the stirrers.
Hoepfer et al. discloses a dosing apparatus for a powder product (abstract) wherein said product store (items 5 and 3, figure 2) includes two stirrers (items 8 and 9, figure 2) for the product;
and, said two stirrers being spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction (¶ [0020]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to provide the product store of Brecht et al. with two stirrers as taught by Hoepfer et al. in order to form uniform homogeneous powder, improving reproducibility and dosing accuracy of powder product dispensed (see Hoepfer et al. ¶ [0006] and ¶ [0008]-[0011]).
Regarding claim 6, Brecht et al. as modified discloses the drum-type dosing apparatus but is silent on the specifics of the said two stirrers.
Hoepfer et al. discloses two stirrers (items 8 and 9, figure 2) have stirrer axes (items 14 and 16, figure 2), located parallel to one another and to the axis of rotation (item 12, figure 2; ¶ [0018]);
and, said two stirrers are configured to be driven in opposite directions (items 15 and 17, figure 1; ¶ [0020]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to arrange the two stirrers of Brecht et al. as modified axes parallel to one another and the axis of rotation and configured to be driven in opposite directions as taught by Hoepfer et al. in order to stir the powder product with symmetrical stirring and improved uniformity, mesh with one another and generate an effective width with no gaps (see Hoepfer et al. ¶ [0008]-[0009] and ¶ [0020]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art.
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/NOAH JACOB ARIF/Examiner, Art Unit 3754
/PAUL R DURAND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3754 September 29, 2026
