Ex Parte Martino et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardJul 22, 201612820096 (P.T.A.B. Jul. 22, 2016) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR 12/820,096 06/21/2010 Jerry Allen Martino 64833 7590 07/22/2016 FLETCHER YODER (CAMERON INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION) P.O. BOX 692289 HOUSTON, TX 77269-2289 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. OTD-031451 (CMRN:Ol37) CONFIRMATION NO. 1510 EXAMINER COLON MORALES, DAVID ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3753 MAILDATE DELIVERY MODE 07/22/2016 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ExparteJERRY ALLEN MARTINO, VINA Y SHY AMLAL VARMA, and KEITH MCKINLEY ADAMS Appeal2014-005438 Application 12/820,096 Technology Center 3700 Before LYNNE H. BROWNE, THOMAS F. SMEGAL, and LISA M. GUIJT, Administrative Patent Judges. BROWNE, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Jerry Allen Martino et al. (Appellants) appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the rejection of claims 1-20. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ). We REVERSE. Appeal2014-005438 Application 12/820,096 CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER Claim 1, reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter: 1 A system comprising: a gate valve comprising: a valve body having a flow path; a gate disposed within the flow path, wherein the gate substantially blocks fluid flow through the flow path while the gate is in a closed position, and allows fluid flow through the flow path while the gate is in an open position; an actuator configured to transition the gate between the open position and the closed position, wherein the actuator comprises: an outer casing; a permanent magnet, direct current (DC) motor comprising a stator rigidly coupled to an interior of the outer casing, and a rotor configured to rotate with respect to the stator; and an actuating rod assembly engaged with the rotor by a ball screw connection such that rotation of the rotor drives the actuating rod assembly along a longitudinal axis of the actuator, wherein the actuating rod assembly is directly and rigidly coupled to the gate without any gears and without any clutch between the permanent magnet DC motor and the gate. REFERENCES The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the claims on appeal is: Wicke Dare Spain Akkerman Ando Uhler Sanders us 3,771,540 us 4,215,749 us 4,535,813 us 5,295,907 us 5,769,390 US 6,860,288 B2 US 2009/0230338 Al 2 Nov. 13, 1973 Aug. 5, 1980 Aug.20, 1985 Mar. 22, 1994 June 23, 1998 Mar. 1, 2005 Sept. 17, 2009 Appeal2014-005438 Application 12/820,096 REJECTIONS I. Claims 1, 3, 9, 14, 1 and 15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Akkerman and Ando. II. Claims 2 and 13 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Akkerman, Ando, and Dare. III. Claims 4 and 20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Akkerman, Ando, and Wicke. IV. Claims 5, 6, and 19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Akkerman, Ando, and Spain. V. Claims 7 and 16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Akkerman, Ando, and Uhler. VI. Claims 8, 10-12, 17, and 18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Akkerman, Ando, and Sander. DISCUSSION Rejection I The Examiner finds that Akkerman and Ando disclose or suggest all of the limitations of independent claim 1. See Final Act. 4---6. In particular, the Examiner identifies Akkerman's "electric motor 50, torque-limiting device 56, pinion 58, gears 60 and 66, tubular sleeve 22, ball nut 20 and valve stem 18a and 18b" as corresponding to the claimed actuator. Id. at 4. The Examiner further finds that Ando discloses "a stepping motor (a stepper or stepping motor is a type of brushless DC motor, as it is known in the 1 The statement of the rejection for claim 14 states that the claim is rejected as unpatentable over Akkerman, Ando, and "Engineering Expedient." See Final Act. 22. However, "Engineering Expedient" is not a prior art document and appears to refer to the Examiner's reasoning. Accordingly, claim 14 stands rejected as unpatentable over Akkerman and Ando. 3 Appeal2014-005438 Application 12/820,096 art)." Id. at 5. Based on these findings, the Examiner determines that it would have been obvious "to replace the actuator of Akkerman to be of the stepper motor kind, like the one taught by Ando." Id. at 5---6. Appellants contend that "Akkerman teaches a principle of operation of redundant actuation of valve member 20 by indirectly coupling multiple actuators to the ball nut 20. The redundant actuation system enables movement of valve member 20 in the event one actuator fails." Appeal Br. 9. In support of this contention, Appellants note that "Akkerman states, '[h]and wheel 130 shown in FIG. 1 can be pushed downwardly against spring 132 into engagement with the upper end of shaft 62 to rotate the ball nut to move the valve stem to its operating position, if for some reason the electric motor is broken.'" Id. (citing Akkerman 6:5-9). From this evidence, Appellants conclude that "the principle of operation of Akkerman requires that the electric motor 50 be indirectly coupled to the ball nut 20 to enable use of a redundant actuator (i.e., hand wheel 130) in case the electric motor 50 fails." Id. at 9-10. Akkerman's Figure 1 shows the components identified by the Examiner as corresponding to the actuator. Describing the actuator Akkerman states: In the actuator of this invention, the ball nut is rotated by electric motor 50 mounted in an open section 52 of the housing 16. Output shaft 54 of the motor is connected to a centrifugal clutch and a torque-limiting device both located in housing 56. Output shaft 57 of the torque-limiting device is connected to pinion 58 in the gear housing portion of the actuator housing. Pinion 58 drives gear 60, which rotates shaft 62 and pinion 64, which is in engagement with large diameter gear 66. This gear rotates tubular sleeve 22 and ball nut 20 and thus causes the valve stem to move longitudinally to its operating position and to compress spring 28. 4 Appeal2014-005438 Application 12/820,096 Akkerman 4: 15-2 7. Describing the handwheel Akkerman further states that "[h]andwheel 130 shown in FIG. 1 can be pushed downwardly against spring 132 into engagement with the upper end of shaft 62 to rotate the ball nut [20] to move the valve stem to its operating position, if for some reason the electric motor is broken." Id. at 6: 5-9. Thus, the operation of handwheel 130 also requires rotation of shaft 62 and pinion 64 to engage large diameter gear 66 in order to rotate ball nut 20. Large gear 66 and ball nut 20 are two of the components identified by the Examiner as corresponding to the actuator, which the rejection proposes replacing with Ando' s stepper motor. See Final Act. 4---6. Replacement of these components would render the handwheel 130 inoperable and unsuitable for its intended purpose. The Examiner does not explain how the modification could be made without disabling the handwheel. See Ans. 3. Thus, Appellants' argument is convincing. For this reason, we do not sustain the Examiner's decision rejecting independent claim 1, and claim 3, which depends therefrom. The Examiner's rejection of independent claims 9 and 15, would similarly render Akkerman's device unsuitable for its intended purpose. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner's decision rejecting claims 9 and 15. Rejections II-VII Rejections II-VII rely upon the same improper combination of Akkerman and Ando, as Rejection I. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner's decision in these rejections for the same reason we do not sustain the Examiner's decision regarding Rejection I. DECISION The Examiner's rejections of claims 1-20 are REVERSED. REVERSED 5 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation