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 .
This Office Action is sent in response to Applicants’ Communication received on November 26, 2025 for application number 19/401,412. This Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, and Claims.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicants’ claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copies have been filed in parent Application No. JP2025-059074 filed on March 31, 2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on November 26, 2025 is noted. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takahashi et al. (JP 2020-125689 A), hereinafter “Takahashi”.
Regarding claim 1, Takahashi discloses an internal combustion engine using a gaseous fuel (Abstract), comprising: a delivery pipe (Fig. 1 (50)) configured to store the gaseous fuel (Abstract); a cylinder head (Fig. 1 (30)) including an insertion hole (Fig. 1 (surrounding the lower part of element 61)) opened to a combustion chamber (Fig. 1 (13)) of the internal combustion engine (Fig. 1 (13)); an injector (Fig. 1 (60)) including a main body (Fig. 1 (61)) connected to the delivery pipe (Fig. 1 (50)) and a nozzle (Fig. 1 (lower part of element 61)) extending from the main body (Fig. 1 (61)) and inserted into the insertion hole (Fig. 1 (surrounding the lower part of element 61)), the injector (Fig. 1 (60)) being configured to inject the gaseous fuel in the delivery pipe (Fig. 1 (50)) from the nozzle (Fig. 1 (lower part of element 61)) into the combustion chamber (Fig. 1 (13)); and an elastic member (Fig. 1 (70)) disposed in a compressed state between the main body (Fig. 1 (61)) and the cylinder head (Fig. 1 (30)), the elastic member (Fig. 1 (70)) being configured to apply, to the main body (Fig. 1 (61)), a force that pushes the main body (Fig. 1 (61)) toward the delivery pipe (Fig. 1 (50)).
Regarding claim 2, Takahashi discloses the internal combustion engine according to claim 1, wherein a force that is generated by a pressure of the gaseous fuel supplied from the delivery pipe to the injector and pushes the main body toward the cylinder head is a fuel pressure load (paragraphs 26-31), the force that is applied to the main body by the elastic member and pushes the main body toward the delivery pipe is an elastic load (paragraphs 29-31), a force that is generated by a combustion pressure in the combustion chamber and pushes the injector toward the delivery pipe is a combustion pressure load, and the fuel pressure load is smaller than a sum of the elastic load and the combustion pressure load (paragraphs 27-31, 33-35).
Conclusion
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/O.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3747
/LINDSAY M LOW/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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