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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 1-14, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Walz et al., German Patent Publication DE102020123324 (hereinafter “Walz”) in view of Gerngross et al., WIPO Publication WO2022228601 (hereinafter “Gerngross”).
In Reference to Claim 1 and 2:
Walz discloses a composite membrane for a membrane pump comprising: an elastomeric body (1) having an outer edge (2) with a clamping surface (3), a base (4) forming a chamber (7), and a flexible membrane section (5) connecting the outer edge to the base; an insert (8) at least partially in the chamber; and a composite layer (aluminum composite- 11) connecting the insert (8) to the body (1)
Walz fails to disclose wherein the composite layer has a thickness less than 100 m, and formed with a plurality of hook-shaped anchor elements engaging into the body.
However, in the same field of endeavor, composite polymer structures Gerngross discloses an aluminum polymer anchoring layer wherein “the thickness of the anchoring layer can be in particular between 0.5 and 100 micrometers or particularly preferably between 10 and 50 micrometers.”
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify the composite polymer material of Walz, with the teachings of Gerngross, containing a similar aluminum polymer composite material of a thinner variety because such a modification is a simple substitution of one known aluminum polymer layer for another providing the same predictable results of a strong bond and reducing the cost of production by reducing the required thickness of the composite layer to provide a strong bond between the composite and insert.
In Reference to claim 3:
Walz as modified further discloses wherein the anchor elements have at least partially a maximum extension between 0.2 and 30 micrometers. See, Gerngross Figure 2 and 3: “In addition to the cuboid structures, Fig. 3c) also shows parts of the dendritic structures - see upper left and lower right area. These structures show a very smooth surface without the formation of a microstructure worth mentioning. An enlargement of the cuboid structures can be seen in Fig. 3d). The typical sizes of the cuboids are in the range of a few tens of nanometers for the finest structures down to the low micrometer range”.
In Reference to Claim 4:
Walz as modified further discloses wherein the anchor elements are formed by wet-chemical etching of the insert. See, Gerngross’s Claim 5; See also Abstract: “The invention additionally relates to a method for etching anchoring structures.”
In Reference to Claim 5:
Walz as modified further discloses wherein the anchor elements are formed at least partially from cuboid formations. See, Gerngross Figure 2 and 3.
In Reference to Claim 6:
Walz further disclose wherein the cuboid interlock with material forming the body. See, Walz which discloses wherein the composite layer with anchors interlocks with the body. See, Walz Figure 3.
In Reference to Claim 7:
Walz further discloses wherein the composite layer and a surface of the insert (8) engaging the composite layer (11) are of the same material. See, Walz : “ The insert 8 is also formed from a base body 10 and a composite section 11, in the example shown Ver collar section 11 encloses the base body 10 almost completely. The base body 10 and the composite section 11 differ from one another in that the base body 10 is formed from a solid material and the composite section 11 from an open-pored material, the same base material—namely aluminum—being used in both cases.”
In Reference to claim 8:
Walz further discloses wherein the insert (8) has a density of between 2.5 and 8.8 g/cm; at least in a part adjacent the composite layer. See, Walz which discloses the insert being made of aluminum. Aluminum has a density of 2.7 g/cm. “ The insert 8 is also formed from a base body 10 and a composite section 11, in the example shown Ver collar section 11 encloses the base body 10 almost completely. The base body 10 and the composite section 11 differ from one another in that the base body 10 is formed from a solid material and the composite section 11 from an open-pored material, the same base material—namely aluminum—being used in both cases.”
In Reference to Claim 9:
Walz further discloses wherein the insert (8) is made of aluminum. See, Walz which discloses the insert being made of aluminum. Aluminum has a density of 2.7 g/cm. “The insert 8 is also formed from a base body 10 and a composite section 11, in the example shown Ver collar section 11 encloses the base body 10 almost completely. The base body 10 and the composite section 11 differ from one another in that the base body 10 is formed from a solid material and the composite section 11 from an open-pored material, the same base material—namely aluminum—being used in both cases.”
In Reference to Claim 10:
Walz further discloses wherein the elastomeric body has an upper wall (6a) and a lower wall (6b) forming a chamber (7) holding at least part of the insert(8) and the composite layer (11) least on the lower wall. See, Walz Figure 1, 2 and 3.
In Reference to Claim 11:
Walz further discloses wherein the composite layer is connected to the upper and lower walls. See, Walz Figure 1 or 2.
In Reference to Claim 12:
Walz further discloses wherein the elastomeric body has at least one base layer made of a thermoplastic elastomer directly engaging the insert. “With regard to the elastomer body itself, in principle different elastomers can be considered as the material, with the elastomer body preferably being formed from a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), for example from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). In principle, however, all types of thermoplastic polymers are suitable.”
In Reference to Claim 13:
Walz as modified discloses a method of making a composite membrane according to claim 1, wherein an insert (8) is provided which has, at least in sections, a composite layer (11) forming an outer surface and formed with a plurality of hook-shaped anchor elements (See, Walz and See the modified version of Greengross which shows cuboidal hooks formed after the etching of the aluminum composite material) , the composite layer has a thickness of less than 100 pm (as taught by Greengross), and the insert encapsulated with a molten elastomer to form the elastomeric body. See, Walz : “The subject matter of the invention is also a method for producing a composite membrane according to the invention according to patent claim 10. Accordingly, an insert, preferably made of aluminum, is first provided, which is at least partially formed from an open-pored material, and the insert is then cast around the insert to form the elastomer body with a molten elastomer”.
In Reference to Claim 14:
Walz as modified wherein the insert is provided with the hook-shaped anchor elements by treating at least a partial surface of the insert with a wet-chemical etching process prior to encapsulation with the elastomer. See, Gerngross’s Claim 5; See also Abstract: “The invention additionally relates to a method for etching anchoring structures.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL S. COLLINS whose telephone number is (313)446-6535. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8:00-5:30.
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/DANIEL S COLLINS/ Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/NATHANIEL E WIEHE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745