DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/15/2026 has been entered. Claim 1 has been amended. Claims 1-8 remain pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bennett, US (20110127111).
In regards to claim 1 Bennett discloses:
A cage assembly (10, cage 70; figs. 1, 2) configured to raise and lower with respect to a container (2) having an opening closed by a hatch cover (6), the cage assembly comprising:
a rail structure (72, 74) having a proximal side (right hand side at gangway 30), a distal side (opposite to 30) opposite to the proximal side (right and left hand sides as shown in fig. 2 and annotated drawings below), and first and second ends (top and bottom ends 74; fig. 1) defining a generally rectangular enclosed area open at a bottom of the rail structure (quadrilateral shaped; as described in paragraph [0026]; excerpt below and open at the bottom where to provide access to hatch 6);
said rail structure defining an opening in said proximal side so that a worker can access the enclosed area (free end 34 opening to gangway 30 as shown in fig. 1);
said rail structure further comprising a plurality of horizontal rails (shown as 72 in fig. 1 and side rails in fig. 4; to clarify, at least two horizontal rails on the proximal and distal sides, as shown in annotated fig. 4 below, shown as one in fig. 1 since fig. 1 is a top view) including a top rail (top rail 72 in fig. 1; shown hatched cross section in fig. 4 and top rail 74 in fig. 4; see annotated drawings below) and a lower rail (lower rail below 72 in fig. 1; shown hatched cross section in fig. 4 and lower rail below 74 in fig. 4; see annotated drawings below);
said top rail having a generally rectangular configuration to define said enclosed area (two sides 72 & two sides 74 forming rectangular configuration as shown in fig. 1); and
said rail structure defining a respective bump out on at least one of said proximal and distal sides thereof (bump outs on both proximal and distal sides; see annotated drawings of figs. 1 and 4 below) to facilitate opening of the hatch cover (the safety cage described as “sufficiently sized to allow simultaneous access to multiple, and preferably all, hatch openings of a tank” as described in paragraph [0037]; and where the bump outs as annotated below allows/facilitates for room to the worker to move around and access said hatches when located at perimeter edges of the cage), said lower rail being located directly below and parallel {portions of top and lower rails as marked in the annotated drawings below and as shown across fig. 4 (not going into the page), see first annotated drawings and notice the two sections making up each of the top and lower rails} the top rail (as shown in annotated drawings of figs. 1 and 4 below) as the lower rail and top rail extend along a portion of an associated one of the proximal and distal sides (see portions of the proximal and distal sides along which the rails extends; annotated fig. 1 below, note that the edges of the proximal and distal sides are still considered a portion of the sides), the bump out being formed at an other portion of the associated one of the proximal and distal sides (see portions of the proximal and distal sides along which the bump outs extends; fig. 1; reproduced below) at least in part by the lower rail transitioning from being directly below the top rail to being laterally outboard of but parallel to (also referring to first annotated drawings below section pointed to with the blue arrow labelled “portion of lower rail extending outbound of top rail” which is indeed still parallel to the top rail) the top rail (see at least portion of the lower rail outboard of top rail in annotated drawings below) to define a clearance (see annotated drawings below) so as not to interfere with the hatch cover when opened (not interfering with hatch cover 6 as shown in figs. 1-4).
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In regards to claim 7 Bennett discloses said bump out is located across from said opening (Bump out at distal end as shown in annotated drawings above).
In regards to claim 8 Bennett discloses wherein said bump out comprises first and second bump outs located on said proximal side and said distal side of said rail structure, respectively (bump outs on both sides as shown in annotated drawings above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/16/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive because:
Applicant argues “Bennett does not include a bump out as claimed. The structure of Bennett that the Office Action is referring to as the "Portion of lower rail extending outboard of the top rail" is an oblique rail segment that is never parallel to the top rail, as claim 1 requires. Moreover, there is no lower rail in Bennett that transitions from being directly below and parallel the top rail for a portion of the side but transitions to being outboard of but parallel to the top rail along another portion of the side ... nothing in Bennett describes a "lower rail" parallel and directly below the top rail along one of the sides. The Office Action appears to surmise such a rail based solely on some sort of circle structure at the end of the cage”; examiner respectfully disagrees and presents that (A) Bennet discloses said lower rail being located directly below and parallel {portions of top and lower rails as marked in the annotated drawings below and as shown across fig. 4 (not going into the page), see first annotated drawings and notice the two sections making up each of the top and lower rails} the top rail (as shown in annotated drawings of figs. 1 and 4 below) as the lower rail and top rail extend along a portion of an associated one of the proximal and distal sides (see portions of the proximal and distal sides along which the rails extends; annotated fig. 1 below, note that the edges of the proximal and distal sides are still considered a portion of the sides), the bump out being formed at an other portion of the associated one of the proximal and distal sides (see portions of the proximal and distal sides along which the bump outs extends; fig. 1; reproduced below) at least in part by the lower rail transitioning from being directly below the top rail to being laterally outboard of but parallel to (also referring to first annotated drawings below section pointed to with the blue arrow labelled “portion of lower rail extending outbound of top rail” which is indeed still parallel to the top rail) the top rail (see at least portion of the lower rail outboard of top rail in annotated drawings below).
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And (B) examiner is not surmising the sections of the top and lower rails going in and out of the page shown in fig. 4, where these are the rails shown in fig. 1 with reference numeral 72 along with the unnumbered rail parallel to 72 on each of the proximal and distal sides.
Applicant argues “Even if such a rail were present, it still would not meet the limitations of amended claim 1 requiring a "lower rail being located directly below and parallel the top rail as the lower rail and top rail extend along a portion of an associated one of the proximal and distal sides" and "the bump out being formed at an other portion of the associated one of the proximal and distal sides at least in part by the lower rail transitioning from being directly below the top rail to being laterally outboard of but parallel to the top rail."”; examiner respectfully disagrees and presents that Bennet discloses the above argued limitations with three different interpretations, namely: (A) while the claim recites “the bump out being formed at an other portion of the associated one of the proximal and distal sides”, it does not preclude the presence of the bump out on the side that have the “lower rail being located directly below and parallel the top rail as the lower rail and top rail extend along a portion of an associated one of the proximal and distal sides”. And (B) where the claim recites proximal and distal “sides” and note that the term side does not have to be strictly the terminal ends inducing only the rails associated with the side ends. In other words, sections of the top and bottom ends/sides of the cage as shown in fig. 1 can indeed be considered part of the proximal and distal ends, hence not having the bump out and meeting the limitation of “lower rail being located directly below and parallel the top rail”. And finally, (C) where at least as shown on the proximal side (right hand side as view from the perspective of fig. 1) there are two distinct upper and lower bump outs (upper and lower referring to the view of the fig. 1, or can be considered near and far if viewing fig. 2 perspective), where for example the top bump out can be considered the one meeting the recited limitation, while the other can be considered an arbitrary/secondary/auxiliary extension or addition.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please refer to previously presented PTO-892 form for list of references cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHIREF M MEKHAEIL whose telephone number is (571)270-5334. The examiner can normally be reached 10-7 Mon-Fri.
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/S.M.M/Examiner, Art Unit 3634
/GREGORY J STRIMBU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3634
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