11074695 (B.P.A.I. Sep. 27, 2011)

Ex Parte Ueda

Board of Patent Appeals and InterferencesSep 27, 2011

11074695 (B.P.A.I. Sep. 27, 2011)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE 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 APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 11/074,695 03/09/2005 Takahisa Ueda UEDA3002D1/FJD 4334 23364 7590 09/28/2011 BACON & THOMAS, PLLC 625 SLATERS LANE FOURTH FLOOR ALEXANDRIA, VA 22314-1176 EXAMINER PICKARD, ALISON K ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3674 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/28/2011 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 BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS AND INTERFERENCES ________________ Ex parte TAKAHISA UEDA ________________ Appeal 2009-011793 Application 11/074,695 Technology Center 3600 ________________ Before WILLIAM F. PATE III, STEVEN D.A. McCARTHY and KEN B. BARRETT, Administrative Patent Judges. McCARTHY, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL The Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner’s 1 decision finally rejecting claims 16-21 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being 2 unpatentable over Ueda (JP S63-135653 A, publ. Jun. 8, 1988), Ogino (US 3 4,455,334, issued Jun. 19, 1984) and Ishiguro (US 4,400,433, issued Aug. 4 23, 1983); or, in the alternative, over Ogino and Ueda. We have jurisdiction 5 under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). 6 We REVERSE.7 Appeal No. 2009-011793 Application No. 11/074,695 2 The claims on appeal relate to a material for a gland packing to be 1 used at a shaft sealing portion in a fluid apparatus. (Spec. 1). Claims 16-18 2 are independent. Claim 16 recites: 3 16. A braiding yarn, including: 4 a plurality of longitudinally arranged 5 reinforcing fiber yarns and expanded graphite in 6 the form of caterpillar-like particles integrally 7 bonded to each reinforcing fiber yarn with 8 adhesive thus forming the braiding yarn having a 9 longitudinal direction, wherein: 10 the thus formed braiding yarn being twisted 11 in the longitudinal direction. 12 Claims 17 and 18 recite packings. Each of the packings recited in claims 17 13 and 18 comprises a plurality of braiding yarns meeting the limitations of 14 claim 16. 15 Ueda1 describes a packing made from flexible graphite sheet. One 16 makes the packing by cutting the flexible graphite sheet into strips of 5 mm 17 or less in width. One then laminates the strips with at least one type of 18 reinforcing fiber or foil such as INCONEL 600 nickel/chromium superalloy 19 to form a core. (Ueda 5). One covers the core with knitted INCONEL 600 20 nickel/chromium superalloy fibers to form a braiding yarn. One braids the 21 braiding yarns to form a cord-like structure. One then impregnates the 22 surface of the cord-like structure with a mixture of silicone oil, scale-type 23 graphite and rubber-based adhesive. (Ueda, 6). 24 Ogino describes fabricating a molded packing by bonding a netlike 25 structure 2 to one side of an expanded graphite sheet 1. One bonds the 26 1 All references to “Ueda” in this opinion will be to the translation prepared by FLS, Inc. in or about December 2008. A copy of the translation is in the record. Appeal No. 2009-011793 Application No. 11/074,695 3 netlike structure 2 to the expanded graphite sheet 1 using an adhesive. (See 1 Ogino, col. 2, ll. 40-44 and col. 4, ll. 25-28). One then cuts the bonded 2 material to length, rolls the bonded material into a ring and compresses the 3 ring in a mold to form the packing. (Ogino, col. 2, ll. 54-60). 4 Ishiguro describes a process for forming vermiform or “caterpillar-5 like” particles by treating flake graphite with a strongly oxidative acid 6 solution and then rapidly heating the particles at a temperature of about 600° 7 C to 800° C. (Ishiguro, col. 3, ll. 9-26). Ishiguro also teaches a method for 8 making molding flexible graphite granules. (Ishiguro, col. 2, ll. 37-48). 9 The Appellant argues that neither Ueda, nor Ogino nor Ishiguro 10 discloses expanded graphite in the form of caterpillar-like particles integrally 11 bonded to reinforcing yarns. (App. Br. 12). Neither Ueda nor Ogino 12 appears to mention caterpillar-like particles of graphite. Both Ueda and 13 Ogino use graphite sheet rather than graphite particles in fabricating 14 packings. The Examiner may be correct in concluding that it would have 15 been obvious to use expanded graphite to improve the packing of Ueda and 16 Ogino. (See Ans. 3). At most, however, it would have been obvious to 17 convert the particles into sheet first before using the sheet to improve the 18 packings. As the Appellants point out (see App. Br. 12), the graphite would 19 have ceased to be particulate once converted into sheet. 20 The Examiner does not articulate a persuasive reason why the subject 21 matter of claims 16-18 would have been obvious. We do not sustain the 22 rejection of claims 16-21 under § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Ueda, 23 Ogino and Ishiguro. 24 Appeal No. 2009-011793 Application No. 11/074,695 4 DECISION 1 We REVERSE the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 16-21. 2 3 REVERSED 4 5 6 Klh 7