Andrea Rossi’s attempt to get a US patent approved for his E-Cat continues without so far any sign of a conclusion. Thanks to Artefact for finding the latest action via the USPTO web site, which is a “non-final rejection” of the application. Patent examiner Sean Burke provides some reasoning behind this recent rejection, basically stating that what Rossi claims is impossible.
For details, go to http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair and use the following information:
Control Number: 12736193
Tab: Transaction History
Burke’s rejection letter can be seen at the link “non-final rejection” under the “Image File Wrapper” tab. Here are some of his statements (Thanks LENR G):
“The specification is objected to as inoperable. Specifically there is no evidence in the corpus of nuclear science to substantiate the claim that nickel will spontaneously ionize hydrogen gas and thereafter “absorb” the resulting proton…”
“There is presently no peer-reviewed evidence to demonstrate the spontaneous fusion of nickel and protons…”
“Additionally the Examiner notes that if the reaction occurred as claimed by the Applicant, it would also spontaneously occur in nature.. not be patentable subject matter,,.”
“…the specification and all claims are found to be inoperable.”
Below is the table of events concerning this patent, titled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING OUT NICKEL AND HYDROGEN EXOTHERMAL REACTION”.
To have this patent awarded would be a major achievement for Rossi and Industrial Heat, but there is no indication of when that might happen, or if indeed it will. The challenge for Rossi, I think, is to provide enough information to satisfy the patent office, while retaining certain key information so as to keep his competitors from knowing all the secrets involved in the E-Cat. I don’t know if such a balancing act can be achieved. Maybe a successful third party test report will serve to persuade the patent office that the E-Cat is not pure fantasy. The rejection is not final, so maybe there is hope yet for Rossi with this application.