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 § 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 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schulz (US PG-pub 2020/0224817).
Regarding claims 1 and 3, Schulz teaches an outer pipe 118 (fig. 2) and an inner pipe (best seen as 102) within the outer pipe, the inner pipe distanced from the outer pipe to provide a space, the space (best seen as 126) evacuated to define a vacuum; an annular wall (portion 120) extending inwardly from the outer pipe and defining an aperture (nearest line portion 104) about a central axis, the annular wall defining a closed end of the space; a first connector 106, 110 connected to the inner pipe; and a second connector 108 extending through the aperture and connected to the first connector, wherein the first connector and the second connector are each hollow and connected such that the inner pipe is in fluid communication with the second connector through the aperture; wherein the second connector is connected in an interference fit with the first connector (the connector means is an interference fit with couplings 106 and 108).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schulz(US PG-pub 2020/0224817), as applied to claims 1 and 3, above, in view of Fullner (US PG-pub 2020/0224817).
Regarding claims 12 and 13, Schulz teaches essentially all claimed features, but fails to disclose an aircraft comprising: the aircraft fuel system.
Fullner teaches an inner connector 48 (fig. 1) and outer connector 50 included in an aircraft fuel system, for the purpose of permitting high pressure fluid to travel from side to side (para. 0002).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of filing, to employ in Schulz the combination of the pipe assembly an aircraft comprising: the aircraft fuel system, for the purpose of permitting high pressure fluid to travel from side to side.
Claims 14-17 are allowed.
Claims 2 and 4-11 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Schulz fails to disclose (claim 2) wherein the first connector and the second connector comprise reciprocal threaded portions connecting the first connector to the second connector; (claim 4) wherein one of the first connector and the second connector comprises a material with a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than the other of the first connector and the second connector, and wherein the one of the first connector and the second connector with the material with the higher coefficient of thermal expansion forms an interference fit with the other of the first connector and the second connector; (claim 5) wherein the annular wall comprises a ring extending around the aperture, and wherein the first connector comprises a head engaged with the ring such that an opening of the first connector is aligned with the aperture along a common central axis; (claim 9) wherein the fluid handling component comprises a component connector and a fluid carrying portion, wherein the outer pipe comprises an outer connector connected to the component connector of the fluid handling component, and wherein the second connector is fluidically coupled to the fluid carrying portion; (claim 14) the method steps including passing at least a part of the second hollow connector through the aperture from an opposite side of the annular wall to the first connector.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to P. MACADE NICHOLS whose telephone number is (571)270-5428. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00-5:00 P.M..
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/P. MACADE NICHOLS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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