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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the Group 1 (claims 1-7) directed to a conveyor in the reply filed on 10/02/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 8-13 (Group 2) are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected species.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on Chinese Application CN202010664389.5 dated 05/20/2021 and applicant has filed a certified copy of this Chinese application on 11/15/2022.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Hartness (US 7055677 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Hartness teaches (reproduced and annotated Figs. below) a conveying apparatus (conveyor 1110), wherein the conveying apparatus comprises: a first guide rail (col. 20, line 64-col. 1, line 11: guide rail 1185), comprising a first section and a second section connected to each other; a compression module (compression module comprises at least flexible adaptors 1192, gripping members 1132 and body 1130), which can be provided on the first guide rail (best shown in Fig. 44) in a manner of being movably fitted along the first guide rail (col. 20, line 64-col. 1, line 11), wherein the compression module comprises a base (body 1130) and a compression assembly (adaptors 1192, gripping members 1132) with adjustable relative positions (adjustable relative vertical positions Z), the compression assembly is provided on the base, the compression assembly and the base have a gap therebetween, the compression module has a to-be-assembled state and a compression state which are oppositely arranged, and when the compression module is in the compression state, the gap is decreased so as to clamp a clamped member (as shown in Fig. 44, in the compression state, with cylindrical clamped member being clamped, the gap between the compression assembly (1132, 1192) and the base (1130) is z1; this gap z1 is increased to z2 in a to-be-assembled state when the jaws of the compression assembly (1132, 1192) are opened to release the cylindrical clamped member); and a limiting structure (limiting structure comprises right side 1152, 1188 and left side 1152, 1184), configured to adjust the gap between the compression assembly and the base (movement of 1152 on angled surface of 1188 and 1184 opens and closes jaws of the compression assembly and therefore changes gap between the compression assembly (1132, 1192) and the base), in a process that the compression module moves from the first section to the second section (first section of the first guide rail (1185, 1187) is wider than second section; therefore movement of the compression module on the guide rail from the first section to the second section closes the jaws of the compression assembly (1132, 1192) and therefore changes the gap between the compression assembly and the base 1130), a state of the compression module is switched through the limiting structure, and when the compression module is located at the first section, the compression module is in the to-be-assembled state (depending on the size of the cylindrical clamped part, movement of the compression module in the first section in -Y direction shown below gradually opens the jaws of the compression assembly (1192, 1132) and releases the clamped member and makes the compression module ready to grip another object), and when the compression module is located at the second section, the compression module is in the compression state (depending on the size of the cylindrical clamped part, movement of the compression module in the second section in +Y direction shown below gradually closes the jaws of the compression assembly (1192, 1132) and clamps the clamped member).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
The closest prior art to the claimed invention of claim 2 are Hartness and Marti (ES 2224786 A1).
Hartness teaches the limiting structure comprises a second guide rail (1188, 1184) and a limiting member (1152), the first guide rail and the second guide rail are provided in the same direction (Y direction). However Hartness does not teach the second guide rail is provided with a first sliding groove, the limiting member is provided in the first sliding groove (in conveying apparatus of Hartness the second guide rail 1184 and limiting member 1152 are cam mechanisms to push the jaws and not a ramped groove), the base is provided on the first guide rail, and the limiting member is connected to the compression assembly.
Marti teaches (reproduced and annotated Figs. below) a bottle gripping conveying apparatus with movement of the limiting member 62 on ramped second guide rail 63 rotates gear 61 and therefore moves racks 54, 54 to open and close the jaws 4, 4. However Marti does not teach gap between the compression assembly (4, 4) and the base (top surface of 2) changes.
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Claims 3-7 would be allowable due to dependency on allowable claim 2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHDI H NEJAD whose telephone number is (571)270-0464. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30am-4pm EST.
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MAHDI H. NEJAD
Examiner
Art Unit 3723
/MAHDI H NEJAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723