Ex Parte Smith

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Oct 16, 2018

13885410 (P.T.A.B. Oct. 16, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
13/885,410 05/15/2013
49458 7590 10/18/2018
DON W. BULSON (PARK)
RENNER, OTTO, BOISSELLE & SKLAR, LLP
1621 EUCLID AVENUE/ 19TH FLOOR
CLEVELAND, OH 44115
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Thomas R. Smith
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. CONFIRMATION NO.
PA53P0032WOUS 6249
EXAMINER
CUMAR, NATHAN
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3675
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
10/18/2018 ELECTRONIC
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.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
ipdocket@rennerotto.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte THOMAS R. SMITH 1
Appeal2018-000340
Application 13/885,410
Technology Center 3600
Before LEE L. STEPINA, RICHARD H. MARSCHALL, and
FREDERICK C. LANEY, Administrative Patent Judges.
STEPINA, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from a rejection of claims 2,
3, 5, and 6. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
1 The Appeal Brief indicates that Parker-Hannifin Corporation is the real
party in interest. Appeal Br. 2.
Appeal2018-000340
Application 13/885,410
CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER
The claims are directed to seals for sealing an assembly including a
housing with a bore and a generally annular element received within the
bore, such as a flowline diverter. Spec. ,r 2. Claim 2, reproduced below, is
illustrative of the claimed subject matter:
2. A seal for installation within an assembly including a
housing having a generally annular bore which extends along a
central longitudinal assembly axis, and a generally cylindrical
element disposed coaxially in the bore and radially spaced-apart
therefrom to define a gap therebetween, the assembly having a
gland defined between the element and the bore, the gland having
a first end wall and a second end wall spaced-apart axially from
the first end wall, and the gland having a peripheral sidewall
extending axially between the first and the second end wall and
radially circumferentially about the assembly axis, the peripheral
sidewall having fluid passageway opening thereinto for
providing a source of fluid pressure, the seal comprising:
a generally annular body formed of an elastomeric
polymeric material, the body extending around a central
longitudinal seal axis and configured to be receivable within the
gland coaxially with the assembly axis intermediate the bore and
the element, the body having a radial first end face disposable
opposite the gland first end wall, and a radial second end face
spaced-apart axially from the first end face and disposable
opposite the gland second end wall, and the body having an inner
diameter face extending axially intermediate the first and the
second end face and disposable opposite the element, and an
outer diameter face spaced-apart radially from the inner diameter
face and extending axially intermediate the first and second end
face and being disposable opposite the bore, the inner diameter
face having a first lip portion extending radially therefrom
towards the element, and a second lip portion axially spaced-
apart from the first lip portion and extending radially from the
inner diameter face towards the element, the first and the second
seal lip being energizable responsive to fluid pressure received
from the fluid passageway to sealingly engage the sidewall of the
gland;
2
Appeal2018-000340
Application 13/885,410
a generally annular first coiled spring anti-extrusion
member extending around the longitudinal seal axis, the first
anti-extrusion spring member being embedded into the body
outer diameter face adjacent the body first end face;
a generally annular second coiled spring anti-extrusion
member extending around the longitudinal seal axis, the second
anti-extrusion spring member being embedded into the body
outer diameter face adjacent the second end face;
a generally annular first energizing coiled spring member
extending around the longitudinal seal axis, the first energizing
spring member being embedded into the body first lip portion,
and the body first lip portion being energized by the first
energizing spring member to engage the gland sidewall; and
a generally annular second energizing coiled spring
member extending around the longitudinal seal axis, the second
energizing spring member being embedded into the body second
lip portion, and the body second lip portion being energized by
the second energizing spring member to engage the gland
sidewall in the absence of said fluid pressure,
whereby with the seal being under pressure in the
assembly, the first and the second anti-extrusion spring member
seal the gap on opposite ends of the seal to prevent the seal body
from being extruded into the gap.
Appeal Br. (Claims App. 1-2).
REFERENCES
The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the claims on
appeal is:
Braconier
Pippert
Petrash
us 4,288,083
us 4,379,558
us 5,890,535
3
Sept. 8, 1981
Apr. 12, 1983
Apr. 6, 1999
Appeal2018-000340
Application 13/885,410
REJECTION
Claims 2, 3, 5, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Petrash, Pippert, and Braconier.
OPINION
The Examiner finds that Petrash discloses most of the elements
required by claim 2, but relies on (i) Pippert to disclose two embedded coil
spring anti-extrusion members and on (ii) Braconier to disclose energizing
coiled spring members embedded in lip seals. See Final Act. 3-8. With
respect to the disclosure of Braconier, the Examiner finds that coil spring 32
biases a lip of seal body 22 towards shaft 12. Id. at 7 ( citing Braconier,
2:40-45, Fig. 2). The Examiner reasons that incorporating anti-extrusion
members and energizing coiled spring members as disclosed by Pippert and
Braconier, respectively, in the seal taught by Petrash would improve sealing
and retention. Id. at 7-8.
Appellant argues that coil spring 32 of Braconier is not embedded in a
lip portion of seal body 22. Appeal Br. 10-11. In response, the Examiner
states:
Coil spring 32 [of Braconier] is embedded in the lip portion (fig
1), which is comparable to the coil spring 120a/120b embedded
in fig 3 of the application, where a portion of the spring
120a/120b is not covered by the elastomeric seal material.
Dictionary.com defines "embedded" as "to fix into a surrounding
mass", and "to surround tightly or firmly". When the lip portion
53 of Petrash is modified with embedded energizing spring
member, as taught by Braconier, the seal assembly teaches the
claim limitations.
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Appeal2018-000340
Application 13/885,410
Ans. 3. Thus, the Examiner's response focuses on the requirements of the
term "embedded" and finds, based in part on the extent to which Appellant's
coil spring is embedded in Figure 3, that the coil spring disclosed by
Braconier is also embedded.
We agree with the Examiner that the broadest reasonable
interpretation of the term "embedded," in light of Appellant's Specification
and Figures, does not preclude the exposure of a small portion of the object
that is embedded. See Fig. 3. 2 However, we agree with Appellant that coil
spring 32 of Braconier is not disclosed as embedded in a lip portion of seal
body 22. Rather, coil spring 32 appears to be embedded in the main portion
of seal body 22 itself. In this regard, we note that claim 2 recites "the inner
diameter face [ of the body of the seal] having a first lip portion extending
radially therefrom towards the element, and a second lip portion axially
spaced-apart from the first lip portion and extending radially from the inner
diameter face towards the element." Appeal Br. (Claims App. 1). Thus, the
first and second lips are subcomponents of the body of the seal.
Accordingly, we agree with Appellant that "[b ]eing in the groove 30 [in seal
body 22 of Braconier] is not the same as being 'embedded' in the lip
portions of the seal, even under the definition of 'embedded' proffered by
the Examiner." Reply Br. 2-3. In other words, although the Examiner's
rejection of claim 2 adequately addresses the addition of an energizing coil
spring to the seal structure disclosed by Petrash, the Examiner does not
sufficiently address the placement of such an energizing coil spring as
recited by claim 2.
2 Appellant's Specification does not use the term "embedded."
5
Appeal2018-000340
Application 13/885,410
For the reason discussed above, we do not sustain the rejection of
claim 2 and claim 3 depending therefrom as unpatentable over Petrash,
Pippert, and Braconier. As independent claim 5 recites substantially similar
elements to those discussed above regarding claim 2 (Appeal Br. (Claims
App. 2-3), we likewise to do not sustain the rejection of claim 5 and claim 6
depending therefrom as unpatentable over Petrash, Pippert, and Braconier.
DECISION
The Examiner's rejection of claims 2, 3, 5, and 6 is reversed.
REVERSED
6