Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/15/26 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN5956985, Chang in view of USPN’s: 6619225 Presniakov, 4821670, Foxcroft, 4709651, Lance, and USPN 4345503, Runyon, and as evidenced by: USPN’s: 6582097, Chang, ‘097.
Regarding Claim 9, Chang discloses a combination whistle and multicomponent assembly comprising a handle (frame parts 10a and 10b), the assembly associated with a whistle (122, 124, and 120) adapted to emit sound using an air flow (Col. 2 lines 10-30), the whistle comprising:
an opening (122) connected to a mouthpiece (see second annotated figure 3 below) located upstream (the mouthpiece body is located upstream from the mouthpiece opening), the air flow being introduced through the mouthpiece (Col. 2, lines 10-30),
an air compression chamber (see 1st annotated figure 3 below, which shows the compression chamber, forward of mouthpiece opening 22, which is consistent with the compression chamber 21 being forward of the mouthpiece opening 19, see figures 5 and 8) with a trapezoidal-cross-section- shape (see second annotated figure 3 below) along a longitudinal axis of the compression chamber, the air compression chamber being located downstream from the mouthpiece (see second annotated figure 3 below), the trapezoidal cross-section includes a first side parallel to a second side, the first side being smaller than the second side and located downstream from the mouthpiece (see second annotated figure 3 below), that opens onto an exit window 124, the air compression chamber opening via a single opening into an expansion chamber (see 1st annotated figure 3 below),
wherein the whistle is fully integrated inside the handle (fig. 3),
so that both the whistle and the two contiguous parts of the handle form a single piece of plastic (since the parts are said to be bonded integrally, col. 2, lines 38-48, and are said to be plastic, see also Claim 6)
and wherein the handle includes an integral proximal end connected to the foldable tool part and an opposite distal end (see 1st annotated figure 3 below).
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Chang lacks the Claim 9 features of: feature (I) the combination whistle and multicomponent assembly comprising a knife having a blade, the blade being secured to the handle at a proximal end of the handle and adapted to be folded into a longitudinal slot provided in the handle that separates the handle into two contiguous parts, that oppose each other along a longitudinal and substantially median plane of the handle; the whistle being incorporated into one of the parts; feature (II) the first side of the compression chamber opening via a single hole into two distinct an expansion chambers that are sealed from each other and that each open onto an exit window, which compression chamber has a larger cross section than one of the two expansion chambers; wherein the compression chamber includes block having an oblique wall; feature (III) wherein the whistle and the two contiguous parts of the handle are molded together; and feature (IV) where the handle also includes a constant flat ramp with a slope between 5 degrees to 20 degrees extending from the distal end of the handle to the single hole of the air compression chamber in a longitudinal direction of the handle beyond the air compression chamber.
With regard to Feature (I), as a preliminary matter, in Chang, the folding implement tool 20 thereof (lens piece) is incorporated into the handle of Chang such that it is secured to the handle at a proximal end of the handle and adapted to be folded into a longitudinal slot provided in the handle that separates the handle into two contiguous parts (see figs 1-3), that oppose each other along a longitudinal and substantially median plane of the handle (fig 3); the whistle being incorporated into one of the parts the handle (top part, fig. 3).
Also, in the “description of the related art” section of Chang, it is noted that, “To increase the functions of [a] key holder, it has been proposed heretofore to attach other devices, such as a whistle, a foldable knife or a flashlight, to the mounting end of the key chain. It is desirable to provide a key holder that incorporates a number of functions”. As such, Chang’s disclosure already envisions the possibility of a combined knife-whistle assembly.
Also, Chang, 097 discloses a combination whistle and hey holder assembly, similar to that of Chang, and shows that in such an assembly numerous differing folding tools, e.g. mirroring tool 40 and lens tool 50, can be pivotally connected to a median portion of the body thereof, and stacked one on the other (fig 1-5).
Presniakov discloses a combination whistle and key holder assembly with a whistle and a foldable tool connected to a same handle, in the same field of endeavor as the combination whistle/key holder and foldable tool combination assembly of the present invention and of Chang, and includes a blade being secured to the handle (fig 1-3) and adapted to be folded into a longitudinal slot (space between inner parts 58 of plates) provided in the handle that separates the handle into two contiguous parts (fig 1) that oppose each other along a longitudinal and substantially median plane of the handle (fig 1), the whistle being incorporated into one of the parts (top part in fig 1-3), in order to provide a device which includes a whistle and a knife together to allow a user to use both devices in emergency situations (col 1, 20-35, and col 6, 25-45).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chang by adding an additional tool in the form of a knife to the foldable whistle/keychain device of Chang: the knife having a blade (as shown in Presniakov), the blade being secured to the handle and adapted to be folded into a longitudinal slot provided in the handle, in order to provide a device which includes a whistle and a knife together to allow a user to use both devices in emergency situations, as taught in Presniakov.
In addition, an artisan making such a modification would have been motivated to incorporate the knife tool of Presniakov into the whistle/holder device of Chang in such a manner in which the knife would be stacked over or under the foldable tool 20, such that the tool 20 and foldable blade will separate the handle into two contiguous parts, that oppose each other along a longitudinal and substantially median plane of the handle, since the addition of an additional foldable tool in such an assembly attached as such, is evidenced by Chang ‘097, and since the foldable configuration is already disclosed in Chang, and Chang ‘097, and Presniakov,
Also, in making this modification, it would also have been obvious to have the foldable blade be attached to the proximal end of the handle of Chang, since in Chang, the foldable tool part thereof is attached to the proximal end of the handle, (as is also the case in Presniakov, see fig 1, where the blade 14 is attached at an opposite end of the handle 30 with respect to whistle 50/56), which disclosures would encourage one adding a foldable blade thereto to also add the foldable blade onto a section of the assembly where a foldable part is already attached thereto.
With regard to feature (II), of the number of compression chambers, and their relation to the opening of the whistle, and the oblique wall in the opening, Foxcroft discloses a whistle like the whistle apparatus of Chang and discloses that such an assembly includes a compression chamber 22 opening via a single hole into two distinct an expansion chambers (24 and 26) that are sealed from each other (fig 4a and col 5 lines 1-10, which show chambers 24 and 26, separated from one another, and opening to windows 24c and 26c) and that each open onto an exit window (24c, 26c), which expansion chamber has a larger cross section than one of the two compression chambers (see fig 4a), and the compression chamber includes a block having an oblique wall with a slope up to the hole (see annotated fig 3c below), in order to allow a user to produce a loud noise without requiring more than moderate blowing, see col. 5 lines 35-40 where it is disclosed that “The cluster of whistles of different intrinsic pitches, owing to the different but close lengths of the respective columns (i.e. within 7% of one another), produce an exception ally loud and piercing noise without requiring more than moderate blowing by the user, but is unexpectedly difficult, if not impossible, to "over-blow” unless a quite excessive blowing force is used”. ` `
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chang by including compression chamber opening into two distinct an expansion chambers that are sealed from each other and that each open onto an exit window, which expansion chamber has a larger cross section than one of the two compression chambers, and the compression chamber include a block having an oblique wall with a slope up to the hole, in order to provide a whistle shape which produces good volume and audibility, as taught by Foxcroft.
With regard to feature (III) of the whistle and the two contiguous parts of the handle being molded together, Lance discloses that in a multicomponent whistle assembly, in the same field of invention as the multicomponent whistle and handle assembly of the present invention, with a handle portion 17, that the combined handle 17 and whistle part 2 are molded in a single piece to form the whistle/handle assembly (claim 3 of Lance).
It would have been obvious as a matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Chang by having the separate parts thereof which form the body/handle portions together be molded together as a single piece of plastic as shown in Lance, in order to have the parts be inseparably and securely attached to one another, and thus, bonded integrally, as required by Chang, via the forming technique disclosed by Lance, to achieve this structure/function. Integrally molding is advantageous because it eliminates the need to attach separate parts during manufacturing.
With regard to feature (IV) Runyon discloses a mouthpiece for use in a wind instrument (abstract) in the same field of endeavor as the whistle wind instrument of the present invention and discloses that in such a mouth-piece of a wind instrument it is known to include a constant flat ramp 38 having with a n acute slope which extends in a longitudinal direction of the mouth piece from a distal end of the mouthpiece beyond an air compression chamber (32) in a longitudinal direction of the mouthpiece, and discloses that the thickness/shape of the wedge 38 alters the tone of the instrument (col. 5, 20-40), and discloses that the wedge is placed in relation to the chamber 32 in order to allow a the tone quality obtained from the musical instrument to be modified (par col. 4, lines 10-30).
It would have been obvious as a matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Chang by including the mouth piece of the handle including where the mouthpiece will includes a constant flat ramp extending from the distal end of the handle to the single hole of the air compression chamber in a longitudinal direction of the handle beyond the air compression chamber, in order to allow a the tone quality obtained from the musical instrument to be modified, as taught by Runyon.
Regarding the claimed slope range Runyon is silent as to the actual angle in which the ramp wall slopes upwardly in the hole thereof, thus Runyon and modified Chang lack this feature of the particular slope.
In this regard, it is first noted that the angle shown in annotated fig 3c of Foxcroft above of the oblique wall thereof is a smaller acute angle, which appears to be in the claimed slope range.
However, it would have been obvious as a matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Chang by having the slope of the oblique part be between 5 to 20 degrees, since the modification in view of Runyon already includes a slope in this approximate range and since the changing of a shape of an element of an invention was held to be in the realm of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art, see In re Dailey, 357 F.2d 669, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1966), and MPEP 2144.04-IV.B.
Also, because Runyon teaches that it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to vary the slope of the ramp portion of Runyon because discovering a thickness and thus shape and angle of the ramp would have been a mere design consideration based on a desired end tone that a user may desire. Such a modification would have involved only routine skill in the art to accommodate the aforementioned requirement(s). It has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. Further, the Applicant has not established any criticality to the particular claimed angles of slope. For example, in page 7 of the present specification, where the sloping values are presented, no criticality is mentioned as to how these values lead to any surprising or previously unknown benefits. Thus, in view of the teachings of Runyon it would have been obvious as a matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Chang by having the slope of the oblique part be between 5 to 20 degrees.
Regarding Claim 10, in Chang, the air compression chamber has a section along a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the handle that reduces (at least in height) in the direction of the expansion chamber (see annotated figure 3 below).
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Regarding claim 11, in Chang, the exit window has a bevelled edge on a side opposite the air compression chamber (see annotated fig 3 above).
Regarding Claim 12, in Chang, the whistle is arranged in the handle so that the air flow is conducted in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle (col 2 lines 10-35).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Chang in view of Presniakov, Foxcroft, Lance, and Runyon, and further in view of USPN 5727319, Myerchin and as evidenced by USPN 2555735, Estabrooks.
With regard to claim 13, the Chang device modified by Presniakov, Foxcroft and Sharp discloses all the limitations of Claim 9 as discussed above. Modified Chang lacks (A) the blade comprising a hole capable of being used as a shackle opener and (B) the blade having a cutting edge having at least a notched part (Claim 13).
With regard to features A and B, Myerchin discloses a knife like the whistle knife apparatus of the present invention, and discloses that such an assembly includes the blade comprising a hole capable of being used as a shackle opener (14A, col. 2 lines 50-55) and has a blade having a cutting edge having at least a notched part (serrated edge) (Claim 13). Also, Estabrooks teaches that it is beneficial for knives to have at least a partially serrated edge since such serrations are more effective at cutting particular workpieces such as meat, col 1 , 6-10.
As to feature (A) it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Chang by having the blade comprising a hole capable of being used as a shackle opener, as taught in Myerchin, in order to perform the additional function of opening shackles or bottles or other devices without having to use an additional tool.
And, as to feature (B), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Chang by having the blade comprise at least a partially serrated edge as shown in Myerchin, in order to allow the blade to more effectively cut some workpieces, including meat, as taught by Estabrooks.
Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Chang in view of Presniakov, Foxcroft, Lance, and Runyon, and further in view of USPN 4320576, Beerman.
Regarding Claims 14-15, the Chang device modified by Presniakov, Foxcroft, and Sharp discloses all the limitations of Claim 9 as discussed above. Modified Presniakov lacks the plastic is thermoplastic plastic (Claim 14), wherein the thermoplastic plastic is polyamide (PA) or polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), (claim 15),
Beerman discloses a razor knife (fig 1) with a self-retracting blade 18 and a handle 11 made of halves 10a and 10b, and discloses that in plastic handled sheathed knives, it is common to have the plastic handle constructed out of a polyamide (which is a thermoplastic, as disclosed in https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/polyamide) in order to use a material suitable in plastic handle knives, col 3, lines 5-15.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Chang by having the handle thereof comprise of thermoplastic being a polyamide in order to use a material suitable in knife handles, such as that taught by Beerman.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Chang in view of Presniakov, Foxcroft, Lance, and Runyon, and further in view of US 20050237736, to Wimsatt.
Regarding claim 17, in Chang, the handle includes a through hole through which a ring can be passed (portion in part 33 which receives ring 32 of key chain 30), the through hole being separated from the whistle by two side flat sections, e.g. the top and bottom flat sections in annotated fig 2 below, which separate the through hole from the body and thus from the whistle.
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However, this through-hole is in the proximal end of the handle, as defined in the Claim 9 rejection above.
Thus, Chang lacks the distal end of the handle having a through hole through which a ring can be passed, the through hole being separated from the whistle by two side flat sections.
Wimsatt discloses a combination whistle device in which a whistle is incorporated in a handle with a light emitting device 8 and a key holding device 12 and 13, in the same field of endeavor as the combination whistle and light emitting device of Chang and the combo whistle in Wimsatt includes two through holes 12 and 13 being formed on a proximal and distal end of the handle of the whistle (fig 2), in order to allow a user to be able to attach multiple sets of keys thereto and to allow for ready accessibility, and independent usage of the keys, par 0037.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Chang by adding a second through hole to the handle at a distal end thereof, in order to allow a user to be able to attach multiple sets of keys thereto and to allow for ready accessibility, and independent usage of the keys, as taught by Wimsatt. Such a modification would include the distal end of the handle having a through hole through which a ring can be passed, the through hole being separated from the whistle by two side flat sections.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed 1/15/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of the claim(s) under 35 USC 103 (as the claims have now been amended) have been fully considered and are partly persuasive. Applicant persuasively argues that Werth lacks the ramp thereof being a flat ramp. As Applicant points out, the ramp in Werth is best described as curved. Thus, the claims are now rejected in view of Runyon. Applicant also now argues that the fact that the Office must rely on five references to meet the features of the claimed invention, per claim 9, that this alone is evidence that the invention is not obvious over the art that is cited, without improper hindsight. This is not found persuasive. Nothing in the MPEP or other rules of patent examining precludes the use of a certain number of references to meet a certain claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. USPN’s/USPGPUBs 4449474 1054793 6460698 0754314 5611615 2606400 1568275 2397593 1770965 3178986 3030845 4345503 D320219 D243843 2606400 3326073 20210169180 2697298 20090126552 7637795 9017135 2551367 4940451 and 0825610 disclose state of the art knife and whistle assemblies having certain aspects of the present invention while, and thus disclose elements of the present invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Fernando Ayala whose telephone number is (571) 270-5336. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Boyer Ashley can be reached on 571-272-4502. The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/FERNANDO AYALA/
Examiner, Art Unit 3724
/BOYER D ASHLEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724