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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-10 are currently pending. Claims 1-10 are currently amended.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09 December 2022 was filed before the mailing date of the first Office Action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “set of reliefs and recesses extending over at least a portion of the lower face of its peripheral wall” of Claim 6 and “the structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses also extends over at least a portion of the opposite lateral faces of the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing, said portion extending from the lower face of the peripheral wall, in the direction of its upper face” of claim 7 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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(s) 1-3 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brough (US 20080179418 A1) in view of Djerf (US 8727228 B2).
In regards to claim 1, Brough teaches a support for railway track rails of a railway sleeper type, comprising:
a central core (see annotated Fig. 1c below) of parallelepipedal appearance (as seen in Fig. 2a) being comprised of at least two juxtaposed slats (12) (Fig. 1c) of thickness e (the thickness of slats 12), made of solid wood or wood-based materials (para. [0042], lines 4-5), and
a protective sheathing (14) (Fig. 1c) covering said central core (as seen in Fig. 1c), said protective sheathing (14) being in one piece (as seen in Fig. 1c), and being formed by a peripheral wall (as seen in Fig. 1c) having at least two opposite upper and lower faces (see annotated Fig. 1c below) and two opposite lateral faces (see annotated Fig. 1c below) to fit at least the four longitudinal faces (as seen in Fig. 2a, the four faces are longitudinal) of the central core (see annotated Fig. 1c below) as well as at least one internal partition (as seen in Fig. 1c, portion of protective sheathing 14 between slats 12 and peripheral walls) extending between two opposite faces or two contiguous faces of the said peripheral wall (as seen in Fig. 1c, portion of protective sheathing 14 between slats 12 and peripheral walls) and delimiting with the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing (14) at least two cells (as seen in Fig. 1c, the location where slats 12 are) each having a shape complementary (as seen in Fig. 1c) to a slat (12) of the said central core (see annotated Fig. 1c below).
Brough does not teach wherein said slats have a plurality of through-holes formed through their thickness, and in that the through-holes of each slat are connected to the through-holes of the adjacent slats by pins of plastic material filling said through-holes.
Djerf teaches wherein said slats (18) (Fig. 9) have a plurality (col. 7, lines 39-43, “pilot holes” teaches a plurality) of through-holes (50) (Fig. 9, the hole is a through-hole for the first five slats 18) formed through their thickness (as seen in Fig. 9), and in that the through-holes (50) of each slat (18) are connected to the through-holes (50) of the adjacent slats (18) by pins (44) of plastic material filling said through-holes (50).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the slats of Brough to include through-holes and pins connecting the through-holes as taught by Djerf with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of increasing the structural integrity of the sleeper (see Djerf, col. 7, lines 57-64).
While the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf does not explicitly teach that the pins filling said through-holes are made of a plastic material, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a plastic material with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of reducing the cost of manufacturing, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 277 F.2d 197, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960). See MPEP § 2144.07.
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In regards to claim 2, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said protective sheathing (14) (Brough, Fig. 1c) is comprised of plastic material (Brough, para. [0044], lines 2-6).
In regards to claim 3, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said protective sheathing (14) (Brough, Fig. 1c). Brough does not teach a pair of caps adapted to cover the left and right end faces of said central core.
Djerf teaches a pair of caps (16) (Fig. 7) adapted to cover the left and right end faces (col. 7, lines 1-8) of said central core (12) (Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the protective sheathing of Brough to include a pair of caps to cover the end faces as taught by Djerf with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of sealing the core from the environment (see Djerf, col. 7, lines 13-14).
In regards to claim 8, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 1. Brough does not teach wherein said slats are each formed of a series of abutting strips.
Djerf teaches slats formed of a series of abutting strips (100a) (Fig. 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the slats of Brough to include being formed from a series of abutting strips as taught by Djerf with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of increasing the structural integrity of the slats since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to substitute functional or mechanical equivalents. In re Ruff, 256 F.2d 590, 118 USPQ 340 (CCPA 1958) and Smith v. Hayashi, 209 USPQ 754 (Bd. of Pat. Inter. 1980). See MPEP § 2144.06(II).
In regards to claim 9, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said slats (12) (Brough, Fig. 1c) extend parallel to each other (Brough, as seen in Fig. 1c) and parallel or perpendicular (Brough, as seen in Fig. 1c) to the upper and lower faces of the peripheral wall (Brough, see annotated Fig. 1c above) of the protective sheathing (14) (Brough, Fig. 1c).
In regards to claim 10, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said slats (12) (Brough, Fig. 1c) extend parallel to each other (Brough, as seen in Fig. 1c).
While Brough does not teach the slats extending at an angle to the upper and lower faces of the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the slats being at an angle to the upper and lower faces of the peripheral wall with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of increasing the structural integrity of the sleeper, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950). See MPEP § 2144.04(VI)(C).
Claim(s) 4-7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brough (US 20080179418 A1) in view of Djerf (US 8727228 B2) and De Lisi (US 20150308051 A1).
In regards to claim 4, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 1.
Brough does not teach wherein the upper face of said protective sheathing comprises at least two recesses extending symmetrically on either side of a plane passing through the center of said protective sheathing and extending perpendicular to its longitudinal axis.
De Lisi teaches wherein the upper face of said protective sheathing (5) comprises (as seen in Fig. 1) at least two recesses (4, 53) extending symmetrically (as seen in Figs. 1 and 17) on either side of a plane (Y) passing through the center (as seen in Fig. 1) of said protective sheathing (5) and extending perpendicular to its longitudinal axis (Y is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis as seen in Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the protective sheathing of Brough to include at least two recesses as taught by De Lisi with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of increasing the ease of manufacturing with guide plates (see De Lisi, para. [0102]).
In regards to claim 5, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf and De Lisi above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 4, wherein the recesses (4, 53) (De Lisi, Figs. 1, 17) comprise threaded holes (De Lisi, as seen in Fig. 17, threaded screws are positioned to be placed in holes located in recesses 53).
In regards to claim 6, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 1.
Brough does not teach wherein the peripheral wall of said protective sheathing has a structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses extending over at least a portion of the lower face of its peripheral wall.
De Lisi teaches wherein the peripheral wall (70, 71) (Fig. 20) of said protective sheathing (51) (Fig. 17) has a structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses (as seen in Figs. 20, 23) extending over at least a portion of the lower face (as seen in Fig. 23, the reliefs and recesses extend over the length of the lower face) of its peripheral wall (70, 71).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the protective sheathing of Brough to include reliefs and recesses on the lower face as taught by De Lisi with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of increasing the sleeper’s resistance to displacement (see De Lisi, para. [0041]).
In regards to claim 7, the combination of Brough as modified by Djerf and De Lisi above teaches the support for railway track rails, according to claim 6, wherein the structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses (as seen in Figs. 20, 23) also extends over at least a portion of the opposite lateral faces (as seen in Fig. 20, the lower edge of the lateral face of 71 has the reliefs and recesses) of the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing (51), said portion extending from the lower face of the peripheral wall (as seen in Fig. 23, the reliefs and recesses extend over the length of the lower face), in the direction of its upper face (as seen in Fig. 20, the reliefs and recesses are also formed into the lateral face of 71 moving up towards the upper face).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xu (CN 110396872 A) discloses a bamboo combined sleeper material.
Fang (CN 104532692 A) discloses a wooden sandwich lamination composite material sleeper.
Perraud (US 20130082116 A1) discloses a use of a composition based railway sleeper with thermoplastic resin.
Fernando (US 20080061161 A1) discloses an attachment of components to composite materials.
Lane (US 20070040293 A1) discloses a lightweight composite railroad tie.
Griffith (US 6454505 B1) discloses a subway rail anchor assembly.
Niedermair (US 20020062545 A1) discloses a coated timber and method of manufacturing.
Bayer (US 5799870 A) discloses a thermoplastic railroad tie.
Rosvall (WO 8103038 A1) discloses a concrete sleeper block comprising a rail support insert plate of elastomeric material.
Lee (US 4286753 A) discloses a combination wood and plastic railroad tie.
Crowe (US 2686009 A) discloses a railroad tie pad.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES WILLIAM JONES whose telephone number is (571)270-7063. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 11am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samuel Morano can be reached at (571) 272-6684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES WILLIAM JONES/ Examiner, Art Unit 3615
/S. Joseph Morano/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3615