COMMISSIONER'S DECISION
Lack of Invention: Electrical Connector with Environmental Seal
No advance in the art was found over the art which disclosed that conductor
receiving openings each covered with a membrane having a thinner central
portion are known. Rejection affirmed.
****
This decision deals with Applicant's request for review by the Commissioner of
patents of the Examiner's Final Action on application 313,392 (Class 339-47).
The application was filed on October 13, 1978, by Bunker Ramo Corp., and is
entitled ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH ENVIRONMENTAL SEAL. The inventor is William
A. Kailus. The Examiner in charge issued a Final Action on March 13, 1981,
refusing the application. Applicant had requested an oral Hearing, but later
decided to rely on his written submissions.
The invention relates to an insert placed in one end of an electrical multi-
contact connector. The insert 19 provides not only a sealing means for pockets
30 situated therein but also a plurality of visible indexing recesses 40. A
membrane 36 covers each of the pockets and has a thickness sufficient during
normal operation to seal the pockets while still easily accepting a socket
contact 26. Figures 2, 3 and 4, below, depict the arrangement:
(see formula I, II, III)
In the Final Action the Examiner refused the application as lacking inventive
ingenuity in view of the applied French patent:
1,202,435 Jan. 11, 1960 Bac
The Bac patent discloses an electric connector having a grommet which provides
restrictive apertures 2 which, during installation, will be pierced for the
passage of the number of cables equal to the connections to be used. Figures 1
and 2, below, show that arrangement:
<IMG>
In the Final Action the Examiner stated (in part):
* * *
Applicant's alleged invention relates to a member for
sealing the conductor of an electrical connector. The
member includes a membrane having a thickness sufficient to
maintain its integrity under normal operating conditions
(without a conductor inserted in it), but also being thin
enough to permit insertion of a conductor therethrough.
The claims are rejected because the subject matter thereof
lacks inventive ingenuity in view of Bac. The Bac patent
describes a connector comprising a sealing member having a
plurality of openings corresponding to the number of
conductors to be used. Each opening is closed by a layer of
material molded integrally with said sealing member. Said
layer has a thin central portion, surrounded by a thicker
zone and is offset from the entrance of each opening; the
cross section of an opening is greater than the cross
section of an inserted conductor (figs. 2 and 3).
As can be seen from the cited patent, the structure, mode of
use and purpose of applicant's alleged invention are known,
and no inventive contribution can be detected therein.
Minor variations introduced by the applicant such as the use
of a circumferential riser do not confer patentability to
the sealing member.
Rebuttal of Applicant's Arguments
The applicant's arguments advanced in his letter of February
16, 1981 contravene the facts as shown in the cited refer-
ence. The use of a layer (applicant's membrane) having a
cross section greater than the maximum cross section of the
conductor inserted through it, which layer has a central
portion, surrounded by a thicker zone is well shown in the
Bar's patent. Therefore, applicant's statements "Since the
membrane cross-section is greater than the maximum cross
section of the electrically conductive members..." and "the
relatively thin central portions and relatively thick sur-
rounding portions..." cannot be accepted as referring to
novel matter. Concerning the Bac patent, the applicant
states that "From the figures of this patent, it does not
appear to teach or suggest... openings of cross section
greater than the maximum cross section of...conductive mem-
bers mounted in the connector", and "none of these refer-
ences show the membranes being fixed to the periphery of the
conductive-member receiving opening". However the drawings
of Bac clearly show the relationships in question.
* * *
In making his case for allowance, the Applicant submitted new claims and argued
(in part):
Newly submitted claim 1 now introduces the feature of
the conductive members terminated to conductors. Further-
more, the pockets are defined as having enlarged conductor
member receiving openings. The membranes are thin enough to
permit insertion therethrough of a conductive member and the
conductor terminated thereto without a sealing engagement
with either said membrane or the edge of said enlarged open-
ing thereby reducing the likelihood that said membrane will
be severed from said opening and carried into said pocket.
Newly submitted claim 5 has been modified to highlight
features of the structure. Neither of these claims is dis-
closed, suggested or even hinted in the citation relied upon
by the Examiner.
* * *
The present application differs from the prior practice
in the art since it is directed to a novel membrane configu-
ration which seals empty pockets but which is easily pierced
by insertion of a contact. Applicant has recognized that as
a conductive member is inserted through a sealing membrane,
there is a danger that portions of the membrane will be
separated from the insert and carried into the connector.
The present invention eliminates or minimizes this potential
problem by calling for membranes which extend across an en-
larged conductive member receiving opening of cross-section
greater than the maximum cross-section of the electrical
conductive member.
Since the opening cross-section is greater than the max-
imum cross-section of the electrical conductive member,
neither the electrical conductive member nor its conductor
will be sealingly engaged by either the edges of the opening
or the thin flexible membrane. In other words, the struc-
tural arrangement of the present invention permits a contact
to be inserted through the appropriate membrane without con-
tacting the membrane periphery or tearing the membrane
therefrom. Furthermore, since sealing is neither required
nor desired at the enlarged conductive member receiving
opening, the dimensions of this opening are not subject to
critical tolerances which are expensive to achieve.
In a further refinement of the present invention, the
sealing membranes are molded with relatively thin central
portions and relatively thick surrounding portions to create
a stress point at the membrane center. This stress point
further helps reduce the possibility of severing the mem-
brane from the insert body.
* * *
The structure disclosed in Bac has a pocketed resilient
member with membranes sealing empty pockets. The membranes
are molded to constricted neck portions at the entry to the
pockets. These neck portions are constricted to seal
against conductors which extend from the pockets after a
terminated contact is inserted therein. In the present
application, the membranes are not mounted to the pocket
openings at constricted neck portions. The structure of the
present invention does not have these constricted neck por-
tions because applicant is not concerned with obtaining a
sealing effect at the entry to the pockets. Circumferential
riser 34 spaced from the pocket entry provides all the seal-
ing effect that is needed in the structure of the present
invention.
Even if applicant did want to obtain sealing at the
pocket entry, it could not be accomplished since the inven-
tion specifically requires that the conductive member re-
ceiving openings be of cross-section greater than the maxi-
mum cross-section of the electrical conductive members and
that the membranes be fixed to the periphery of these en-
larged openings. Thus, neither these enlarged openings nor
the thin flexible membranes attached thereto could produce
the sealing effect of Bac.
* * *
Bac fails to anticipate the present invention; it fur-
ther fails to render the present invention obvious since it
contains no teaching or remote suggestion of a contact to
membrane cross-sectional relationship so important to the
present specification and claims. Finally, Bac does not re-
motely teach or suggest the thin central membrane feature of
the present invention.
* * *
The issue before the Board is whether or not the application is directed to a
patentable advance in the art. Amended claim 1 reads:
A member for sealing the conductor-receiving end of an elec-
trical connector comprising: an insert having a plurality of
longitudinally extending pockets for receiving electrically
conductive members terminated to conductors, said pockets
having enlarged conductive-member receiving openings; said
enlarged conductive-member receiving openings being of cross
section greater than the maximum cross section of said
electrically conductive members and having membranes fixed
to the periphery of said openings to seal said longitudinal-
ly extending pockets prior to insertion of electrically con-
ductive membranes; said membranes being molded integrally
with said insert and being of thickness sufficient to main-
tain the integrity of said membranes when a given pocket is
empty, but being thin enough to permit insertion there-
through of a conductive member and the conductor terminated
thereto without a sealing engagement with either said mem-
brane or the edge of said enlarged opening thereby reducing
the likelihood that said membrane will be severed from said
opening and carried into said pocket.
We have reviewed Applicant's specification in light of the amendments to the
claims and the arguments submitted, and also in view of the applied patent to
Bac.
In the disclosure, we are informed at the bottom of page 2 and the top of page 3
that Applicant's "...insert or grommet includes an integrally molded membrane
...which completely seals each conductor receiving pocket," and that the thick-
ness of the membrane is sufficient to assure and maintain a sealing effect
during normal operation with the pocket empty, but not so thick as to prevent or
impede insertion of the conductor.
Further in the disclosure, we are informed on page 5 that the thickess of the
membrane must be such that it will not bend or damage the contact, and that the
thickness of the membrane will depend on the elastomeric material used, and that
the molded membrane is offset slightly from the outer edge of the insert mem-
ber. On page 6, information pertaining to the thickness is provided to avoid
severing the membrane from the body so that "The seal obtained by the membrane
36 is complete, and its reliability is for superiod to prior art sealing tech-
niques."
We turn now to a consideration of what has been disclosed via-…-via Applicant's
arguments that the membrane will not be in sealing contact with the conductive
member, and that sealing is not required. Nowhere do we find in the disclosure
a statement or an indication that Applicant's pierced membrane does not, or
ceases to, contact the conductor when the conductor is in place in the insert.
Figure 3 of the drawings shows a conductor 26 in place and being contacted by
membrane 36. Such configuration depicts what is stated in the disclosure, viz.,
that the seal obtained by the membrane is complete, and that the relative thick-
ness of the center portion to the outer portion of the membrane covering each
pocket is so designed to avoid tearing of the membrane upon insertion of a con-
ductor. Thus from the disclosure and the drawings we are lea to the view that
there is no support for the arguments that the membrane will not contact the
conductor in a sealing manner, because the membrane is formed of resilient mate-
rial which will tend to contact the conductor surface and thus tend to act as a
seal, as shown in Fig. 3.
Considering next the Bac patent and Applicant's arguments with respect thereto,
we find that Bac's insert member as described, and as shown in Figure 2, is a
molded member which has a plurality of openings covered by a membrane which on
being pierced allows a conductor to pass through the insert in sealing engage-
went. The Bac membrane covering each opening is shown to have an outer thicker
portion and an inner thinner portion. We note also that the opening is greater
than the cross section of the conductor, and that the thinner part of the mem-
brave engages the conductor, just as Applicant's membrane engages the conductor
as shown in Applicant's Figure 3.
In summary, we are not persuaded by Applicant's arguments that his membrane does
not contact the conductor after piercing. Further, we believe that the Bac
reference sufficiently shows that conductor receiving openings each covered with
a membrane having a thinner central portion are known. Consequently, we do not
find in Applicant's disclosure, and we are not persuaded by Applicant's argu-
ments, that there is sufficient subject matter to overcome the prior art.
Therefore, we recommend that the rejection of the application be affirmed.
J.F. Hughes M.G. Brown
Assistant Chairman Member
Patent Appeal Board, Canada
I concur with the reasoning and findings of the Patent Appeal Board.
Accordingly, I refuse to grant a patent on this application. The Applicant has
six months within which to appeal my decision under Section 44 of the Patent
Act.
J.H.A. Gari‚py
Commissioner of Patents
Date at Hull, Quebec
this 2rd. day of April, 1982
Agent for Applicant
Fetherstonhaugh & Co.
Box 248
Montreal Dorval Airport
Dorval, Quebec
H4Y 1A8