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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 September 25, 2025 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, 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.
Claim 54 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peterson et al (US Publication 2009/0249930), herein referred to as Peterson, in view of Dobson et al (US Patent 5,216, 031), herein referred to as Dobson, and Bagley (US Publication 2019/0263013) and further in view of Thorne (US Patent 2,018,932) and Schillheim (US Patent 9,333,659). Regarding claim 1, Peterson discloses a food comminution device (e.g., figs. 2-4) comprising an actuating part (20), a base part (30), and a cutting part (blade tray 50), wherein food items (“such as an onion, an apple or any other item that is desired to be chopped or sliced,” para. 0038, lines 3-4) for comminution can, in order to be comminuted, be selectively pushed through the cutting part (para. 0038, lines 10-15). (Note: Peterson discloses a variety of different cutting parts (e.g., different cutting parts 50 as described in para. 0040, lines 3-4-14 and para. 0041-0043) can selectively be mounted in the food comminution device (para. 0031) with a corresponding pusher (para. 0040, lines 1-3). Further, Peterson discloses wherein the actuating part (20) is movably connectable (para. 0021) to the base part (30) and is configured to selectively push food items (e.g., “an onion, an apple, or any other item that is desired to be chopped or sliced,” Peterson, para. 0038, lines 3-4) bearing against the pressing plunger (CITE) through the cutting part for comminution by means of a linear movement of the actuating part relative to the base part (para. 0038, lines 10-19) • Peterson fails to disclose the food comminution device includes both of the cutting part and a spiral cutting part, wherein the actuating part is configured to selectively receive one of the pressing plunger or the driver; wherein the base part is configured to selectively receive one of the cutting part or the spiral cutting part, wherein the actuating part comprises a rotary drive arranged in the actuating part that is couplable to each one of the driver and the pressing plunger selectively received by the actuating part, and the driver is configured to transmit a rotational movement from the rotary drive to food items to selectively rotate the food items relative to the spiral cutting part for comminution.
However, the following references provide teaching pertinent to this limitation: First, Dobson (US Patent 5,216, 031) teaches it is known in the art of food comminution devices to provide a food comminution device (fig. 2) comprising an actuating part (12, 24), a base part (38), and a spiral cutting part (52), wherein the base part (38) is configured to selectively receive one of a plurality of the spiral cutting parts (col. 3, lines 55-64 and col. 4, lines 26-32); wherein the actuating part (12, 14) is movably connectable to the base part (38) and is configured to selectively push food items (34) through the spiral cutting part (52) for comminution by means of a movement of the actuating part (12, 14) relative to the base part (col. 5, lines 8-16); and wherein the actuating part (12, 24) comprises a rotary drive (col. 3, lines 8-13) and a driver (securing projections 32) arranged in the actuating part (fig. 2) that is couplable or coupled to the rotary drive (col. 3, lines 13-18), wherein the driver (32) is configured to transmit a rotational movement from the rotary drive to food items (col. 3, lines 18-25 and col. 5, lines 8-16) to selectively rotate the food items (34) relative to the spiral cutting part (52) for comminution (col. 5, lines 14-16). Dobson states in col. 3, lines 47-40, “[a] vertically elongate rectangular base 38 is telescopically received through the open lower end 18 of the housing for vertical movement relative to the housing 12.” Further, Dobson states in col. 3, lines 44-46, “The rectangular configuration of the base 38 is complementary to that of the housing chamber 14 for non-rotational reception therein.” The rectangular configuration of the actuating part and base part taught by Dobson have a similar slidable, yet non-rotational, movement as compared to the actuating part of base part disclosed by Peterson. Second, Bagley (US Publication 2019/0263013) teaches it is known in the art of food comminution devices to provide a food comminution device with a frame (tray 120) formed with a central opening (130) configured to selectively receive one of a cutting part or a spiral cutting part (para. 0044, lines 1-6, i.e., “configured to accommodate one or more removable processing inserts, such as shown in FIG. 5 in which the tray 120 is illustrated with a preferred spiralizing insert 200. Alternatively, the spiralizing insert may be replaced with other inserts such as a grid of blades of the type described above [i.e., as shown in figs. 1-3]” [emphasis added]) Additionally, Bagley describes in para. 0044, lines 7-10, a rotary drive (110) for use with spiralizing insert (200) “to engage an upper portion of a food item so that a user may rotate the food item safely atop the spiralizing insert for spiral cutting” [emphasis added]. The teaching of Bagley suggests it is known in the art of food comminution devices to include a cutting part (i.e., “grid of blades” 40; para. 0044, lines 1-6), a spiral cutting part (200) and a rotary drive (110), wherein food items (e.g., onions; para. 0039) for comminution can, in order to be comminuted, be selectively pushed through the cutting part (para. 0036, lines 4-9) or rotated by means of the rotary drive relative to a spiral cutting part (para. 0044, lines 7-10). The teaching of Bagley suggests grid-type cutting parts and spiral cutting parts can be used in the same food comminution device, so long as a suitable actuating part is provided.
It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention to modify the food comminution device of Peterson with the teaching of Dobson and Bagley such that the food comminution device includes both of the cutting part and a spiral cutting part (as taught by Bagley), wherein the base part is configured to selectively receive one of the cutting part or the spiral cutting part (as taught and suggested by Bagley), wherein the actuating part is movably connectable to the base part so as to selectively push food items through the cutting part for comminution by means of a movement of the actuating part relative to the base part, and wherein the actuating part comprises a rotary drive and a driver arranged in the actuating part that is couplable or coupled to the rotary drive, wherein the driver is configured to transmit a rotational movement from the rotary drive to food items to selectively rotate the food items relative to the spiral cutting part for comminution in order to increase the types of cutting functions of the food comminution device (i.e., to perform chopping, dicing and spiral cutting operations) and to facilitate safe operation of the food comminution device when rotating the food item relative to the spiral cutting part (Bagley, para. 0044, lines 7-10).ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date because all claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective function and the combination would have yielded predictable results. • The modified food comminution device of Peterson substantially disclosed above fails to disclose the rotary drive is configured as a manually actuatable drive with a removable crank, and manual rotation of the hand crank relative to the actuating part produces the rotational movement.
However, the following references provide teaching pertinent to the aforementioned limitations:
Thorne (US Patent 2,018,932) teaches a press-type processing device with an actuating part (upper half of device shown in fig. 1) with a rotary drive (33) configured as a manually actuatable drive (via handle 43) that can be used to push a item through a cutting part (53) and be rotated to move a pressing tool (36) toward another processing part (46).
Additionally, Schillheim (US Patent 9,333,659) teaches it is known in the art of food comminution devices to provide an actuating part (12) with a rotary drive (16) configured to be manually actuatable (via handle 17). by means of which a food item (e.g., “fruit and hard vegetables like apples, radishes, carrots, beets and cucumbers,” col. 1, lines 39-40) for comminution can be rotated relative to a spiral cutting part (col. 3, lines 31-41). Additionally, Schillheim states in col. 3, lines 3-6, “[f]or simpler cleaning of the device it is possible to separate the fixation and drive device 16 from the cover 12 in that the hand crank 17 and the drive axle 18 are disengaged from one another.” This suggests the rotary drive taught by Schillheim is modular and can be used with the spiral cutting part of the modified food comminution device of Peterson substantially disclosed above by inserting the drive axle (18) through the cylindrical well (24) formed through actuation part (20) of Peterson. The user reattaches hand crank (17) to drive axle (18) to facilitate comminution of a food item therein by rotating hand crank (17) to drive fixation device (19, taught by Schillheim) which grips the food item for rotation relative to the spiral cutting part.
It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention to modify the food comminution device of Peterson substantially disclosed above with the teaching of Thorne and Schillheim such that the motorized rotary drive of Dobson is replaced with a manually actuated hand crank in order to facilitate simple manually powered operation that can be performed without the need of additional electrical power. Moreover, the aforementioned modification would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention because the substitution of one known element for another would have yielded predictable results and all claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective function and the combination would have yielded predictable results.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 54 has been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-5, 10, 13, 20, 22, 29, 32-34, 37, 45-47, 50-51 and 53 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The prior art fails to disclose or make obvious to combine a food comminution device comprising a rotary drive arranged in the actuating part that is couplable to each one of the driver and the pressing plunger selectively received by the actuating part. The closest prior art on the record includes Peterson (US Publication 2009/0249930), in Dobson (US Patent 5,216, 031), and Bagley (US Publication 2019/0263013). Peterson discloses a food comminution device (e.g., figs. 2-4) comprising an actuating part (20), a base part (30), and a cutting part (blade tray 50), wherein food items (“such as an onion, an apple or any other item that is desired to be chopped or sliced,” para. 0038, lines 3-4) for comminution can, in order to be comminuted, be selectively pushed through the cutting part (para. 0038, lines 10-15). (Note: Peterson discloses a variety of different cutting parts (e.g., different cutting parts 50 as described in para. 0040, lines 3-4-14 and para. 0041-0043) can selectively be mounted in the food comminution device (para. 0031) with a corresponding pusher (para. 0040, lines 1-3).
Further, Peterson discloses wherein the actuating part (20) is movably connectable (para. 0021) to the base part (30) and is configured to selectively push food items (e.g., “an onion, an apple, or any other item that is desired to be chopped or sliced,” Peterson, para. 0038, lines 3-4) bearing against the pressing plunger through the cutting part for comminution by means of a linear movement of the actuating part relative to the base part (para. 0038, lines 10-19). However, Peterson fails to disclose the actuating part is configured to selectively receive the pressing plunger or a driver, wherein the actuating part comprises a rotary drive arranged in the actuating part that is couplable to each one of the driver and the pressing part selectively received by the actuating part. Dobson (US Patent 5,216, 031) discloses an actuating part (12, 24), a base part (38), and a spiral cutting part (52), wherein the base part (38) is configured to selectively receive one of a plurality of the spiral cutting parts (col. 3, lines 55-64 and col. 4, lines 26-32); wherein the actuating part (12, 14) is movably connectable to the base part (38) and is configured to selectively push food items (34) through the spiral cutting part (52) for comminution by means of a movement of the actuating part (12, 14) relative to the base part (col. 5, lines 8-16); and wherein the actuating part (12, 24) comprises a rotary drive (col. 3, lines 8-13) and a driver (securing projections 32) arranged in the actuating part (fig. 2) that is couplable or coupled to the rotary drive (col. 3, lines 13-18), wherein the driver (32) is configured to transmit a rotational movement from the rotary drive to food items (col. 3, lines 18-25 and col. 5, lines 8-16) to selectively rotate the food items (34) relative to the spiral cutting part (52) for comminution (col. 5, lines 14-16). Dobson states in col. 3, lines 47-40, “A vertically elongate rectangular base 38 is telescopically received through the open lower end 18 of the housing for vertical movement relative to the housing 12.” Further, Dobson states in col. 3, lines 44-46, “The rectangular configuration of the base 38 is complementary to that of the housing chamber 14 for non-rotational reception therein.” The rectangular configuration of the actuating part and base part taught by Dobson have a similar slidable, yet non-rotational, movement as compared to the actuating part of base part disclosed by Peterson. While the teaching of Dobson is highly considerable with respect to the disclosure of Peterson, Dobson does not teach or suggest the rotary drive is couplable to each of a driver and a pressing plunger selectively received by the actuating part. Bagley (US Publication 2019/0263013) teaches it is known in the art of food comminution devices to provide a food comminution device with a frame (tray 120) formed with a central opening (130) that is “configured to accommodate one or more removable processing inserts, such as shown in FIG. 5 in which the tray 120 is illustrated with a preferred spiralizing insert 200. Alternatively, the spiralizing insert may be replaced with other inserts such as a grid of blades of the type described above [i.e., as shown in figs. 1-3]” [emphasis added] (para. 0044, lines 1-6). Bagley teaches it is known to selectively use grid-type cutting parts or spiral cutting parts within the same food comminution device. However, Bagley does not teach selectively providing one of a pressing plunger or a driver.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hauser et al (US Publication 2011/0192290) discloses an upright spiral slicer for vegetables with a hand-crank. Schillheim (US Publication 2016/0046032) discloses a rotary pusher (13) configured to rotate with cover rim (12) to push a food item (G) toward a funnel-shaped spiral slicer (5). Patel (US Publication 2016/0193744) discloses an onion cutting device with a plurality of specialist cutting blades including grid cutters (e.g., 10-12), linear slicers (e.g., 14-15) and at least one spiral cutting tool (6). Patel does not teach a separate pressing plunger and driver, or a an actuating part having a rotary drive to which each of the pressing plunger and the driver are selectively coupled, wherein the actuating part is configured to linearly push food through a grid cutter when the pressing plunger is attached. Quinesser (US Publication 2021/0267417) discloses a spiralizer for food.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL ALLEN DAVIES whose telephone number is (571)270-1511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday; 9am-5pm EST.
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/SAMUEL A DAVIES/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724 September 30, 2026
/BOYER D ASHLEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724
