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 § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-13 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation: “the second bearing assembly is positioned at one end of the sleeve far away from the impeller and fixedly connected to the sleeve by a fixing member.” The term “far away” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “far away” 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. For the purposes of examination, “far away” will be interpreted as “the second bearing assembly is positioned at a closed end of the sleeve distal from the impeller” based on the provided Figures.
Claims 7 and 17 each recite the limitation: “ends of the rotating shaft and the inner ring facing the closed end of the sleeve are substantially flush.” It is unclear how multiple ends of the rotating shaft are substantially flush with the inner ring. As seen in Figure 3, only the bottom end of the rotating shaft (40) appears to be substantially flush with the inner ring (481) while the upper end of the rotating shaft (40) is distal to the inner ring. For the purposes of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “one of the two ends of the rotating shaft and the inner ring facing the closed end of the sleeve are substantially flush.”
Claims 2-13 are also rejected as they depend on a rejected claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hyland (US 5,009,578). Regarding Claim 1:In Figure 1, Hyland discloses a fluid pump (10) comprises: a pump casing (11, 25) comprising a sleeve (16, 20) arranged therein and dividing an internal space of the pump casing into a first space (27, 55) and a second space (41); an impeller (100) arranged in the pump casing (arranged in pump casing portion 25); and a motor (stator 45, 46 with rotor 56, henceforth referred to as M) for driving the impeller to rotate in the pump casing (see column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 8), the motor (M) comprising a stator (45, 46) and a rotor (56) fixedly connected to the impeller through a rotating shaft (shaft 61, as seen in Figure 1); wherein the rotor (56), the rotating shaft (61) and the impeller (100) are movably arranged in the first space (as seen in Figure 1, rotor 56 the shaft 61 and the impeller are arranged to movably rotated in the first space 27, 55), the stator (45, 46) is fixedly arranged in the second space, a first bearing assembly (bearing 65 in adaptor 72, henceforth referred to as FB) and a second bearing assembly (bearing 65 in adaptor 73, henceforth referred to as SB) are respectively arranged at two ends (ends at 98 and 94) of the rotating shaft (see Figure 1), and the second bearing assembly (SB) is positioned at a closed end (20) of the sleeve distal from the impeller (as seen in Figure 1) and fixedly connected to the sleeve by a fixing member (adaptor 73 fixedly connects SB to the sleeve portion 20, see column 4, lines 61-64).|Regarding Claim 2:In Figure 1, Hyland discloses the fluid pump (10), wherein the sleeve (16, 20) is a cylindrical structure (sleeve is cylindrical, see Hyland’s claim 1) with an open end (open end at end plate 12) and a closed end (20), and the second bearing assembly (SB) is received in the sleeve (via 73) and located at the closed end of the sleeve (as seen in Figure 1, SB is at closed end 20 via 73).Regarding Claim 13: In Figure 1, Hyland discloses the fluid pump (10), wherein the first bearing assembly (FB) comprises a first bearing holder (72) and a first bearing (FB) disposed within the first bearing holder (as seen in Figure 1), the first bearing holder (72) is stacked on an outer side of the open end of the sleeve (via bolts 75 coupling 72 to 12 on the outer side of the open end of the sleeve 16), dividing the first space (27, 55) into a first subspace (27) and a second subspace (55), the impeller is arranged in the first subspace (impeller 100 is in 27, see Figure 1), and the rotor (56) is arranged in the second subspace (rotor 56 is in 55, see Figure 1), the first bearing holder is provided with through holes (72 has at least one orifice 80 indicating that it can have multiple holes 80, see column 5, lines 5-8), which communicates the first subspace with the second subspace (see column 6, lines 9-13).Regarding Claim 14: In Figure 1, Hyland discloses a fluid pump (10) that comprises: a pump casing (11, 25) comprising a sleeve (16, 20) arranged therein, the sleeve comprising an open end (open end at end plate 12) and a closed end (at 20) and dividing an internal space of the pump casing into a first space (27, 55) and a second space (41); an impeller (100) rotatably arranged in the first space (in 27) adjacent to the open end of the sleeve (as seen in Figure 1); and a motor (stator 45, 46 with rotor 56, henceforth referred to as M) for driving the impeller (100) to rotate (see column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 8), the motor comprising a stator (45, 46) fixedly arranged in the second space (arranged in 41 as seen in Figure 1), and a rotor (56) rotatably arranged in the first space (arranged in 55) and fixedly connected to the impeller through a rotating shaft (shaft 61, as seen in Figure 1), the rotating shaft (61) comprising an axial extending flow passage (axial flow passage extending from 105 to 94, see Figure 1); wherein two ends (ends at 98 and 94) of the rotating shaft (61) are respectively supported by a first bearing assembly (bearing 65 with adaptor 72) and a second bearing assembly (bearing 65 with adaptor 73), the second bearing assembly (65, 73) is positioned at the closed end (20) of the sleeve (see Figure 1) and defines channels (as mentioned in column 5, lines 16-20, at least one orifice 81 is provided in 73, indicating that a plurality of orifices 81 can be provided, act as channels) communicating with the flow passage and the first space (communicates with first space 55 via 80 and with flow passage via the impeller 100 as evident from Figure 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 7-12 and 17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. These claims depend on one of the aforementioned allowable claims and so are also allowable for the same reasons.
Claim 3 recites the limitations: “the second bearing assembly (44) comprises a second bearing holder (48) and a second bearing (47), the second bearing holder comprises an inner ring (481) and an outer ring (483) surrounding the inner ring, the second bearing (47) is arranged within the inner ring.” Hyland’s fixing member (73) already serves as a bearing holder and so there would be no reasonable motivation to add a further second bearing holder comprising an inner ring and an outer ring.
In Figures 1-2, Verrelst et al. (US 2022/0364561) discloses a bearing assembly (6, 9) in a screw compressor that comprises a bearing holder (9) and a bearing (6), the bearing holder (9) comprises an inner ring (20) and an outer ring (21) surrounding the inner ring, the bearing (6) is arranged within the inner ring (as seen in Figure 1). However, Verrelst makes no mention of a fixing member to connect the bearing assembly to a sleeve. Substantial impermissible hindsight reconstruction would be required to modify Hyland’s fixing member (73) and associated bearing (65, 77) to accommodate Verrelst’s bearing holder and doing so would alter Hyland’s intended operation (for instance providing a flow venturi or orifice 81 in 73).
Searches have also not yielded a bearing holder of the type claimed here with a further fixing member to fixedly connect the second bearing assembly to the sleeve.
Claims 4-6 and 8-12 are also allowable as they depend on claim 3.
Claims 15, 16 and 18-20 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 15 recites the limitations: “the second bearing assembly (44) comprises a second bearing holder (48) and a second bearing (47), the second bearing holder (48) comprises an inner ring (481) and an outer ring (483) surrounding the inner ring, the second bearing (47) is arranged within the inner ring (481), the inner ring is axially spaced from the closed end of the sleeve, and the outer ring (483) axially abuts against the closed end (54) of the sleeve (50).” Hyland’s bearing holder (73) does not comprise the inner and outer rings as claimed herein. Modifying Hyland’s bearing holder (73) to incorporate the structures disclosed above would require substantial impermissible hindsight reconstruction and would require altering features such as the orifice (81) within this bearing holder. Searches have also not yielded a bearing holder of the type claimed herein and also comprising the channels of parent claim 14.
Claims 16 and 18-20 are also allowable as they depend on claim 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See appended PTO-892 for relevant prior art related to fluid pumps and associated bearing structures.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7571. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 12 pm -8 pm ET.
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/DOMINICK L PLAKKOOTTAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746