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 was filed in this application after a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but before the filing of a Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or the commencement of a civil action. 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examination under 37 CFR 1.114 and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the appeal has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114 and prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on May 7, 2026 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.
Claims 16-19, 21, 23, 37-40, and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heinzelmann (EP 1911995 A2; see previously provided machine translation) in view of Yamazaki (CN 105471188 A; see provided machine translation).
Regarding claim 16, Heinzelmann discloses a drive, comprising:
a housing (4) including a flat support surface (the surface of 4 that 12 directly contacts and the surface that the leftmost unlabeled circular members directly contacts in Figure 1 as shown below);
an adapter plate (6) attached to the housing, the adapter plate including a first groove (the groove that 10 fits into) located on an outer circumference of the adapter plate and extending continuously in a circumferential direction and a second groove (shown below; the groove that the leftmost unlabeled circular member fits into as shown in Figure 1) located on a side of the adapter plate facing the support surface and extending continuously in the circumferential direction;
a cover hood (2); and
a first sealing ring (10) arranged in the first groove on the outer circumference of the adapter plate and arranged between the cover hood and the adapter plate, and forming a seal between the cover hood and the adapter plate.
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Annotated Figure 1 of Heinzelmann (EP 1911995 A2)
While Heinzelmann appears to disclose a second sealing ring in the unlabeled member on the left half of 6 in Figure 1 as being an O-ring given since the unlabeled member has the exact same cross-section as O-rings 10 and 12, Heinzelmann does not explicitly disclose a second sealing ring arranged in the second groove on the side of the adapter plate facing the support surface, arranged between the adapter plate and the support surface, and forming a seal between the adapter plate and the support surface.
Yamazaki teaches an O-ring (41) that is arranged on a side of an adapter plate (11) facing a support surface (81) and arranged between the adapter plate and the support surface, the O-ring fits into a continuous groove (141) formed in the adapter plate (see Figure 3), and forms a seal between the adapter plate and the support surface.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the drive of Heinzelmann to have a second sealing ring arranged in the second groove on the side of the adapter plate facing the support surface, arranged between the adapter plate and the support surface, and forming a seal between the adapter plate and the support surface, as taught by Yamazaki, for the purpose of increasing the prevention of foreign debris from entering into the transmission. Once Heinzelmann is modified by Yamazaki, the leftmost unlabeled circular member in Figure 1 of Heinzelmann would be an O-ring thus forming a seal between the adapter plate and the support surface.
Regarding claim 17, Heinzelmann discloses that the cover hood is adapted to be placed on the flat support surface (2 directly contacts 6 as shown in Figure 1).
Regarding claim 18, Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki discloses that the first sealing ring is arranged as an O-ring (10 is an O-ring; see the top lines 2-4 of Page 3 of the machine translation), and the second sealing ring is arranged as an O-ring (Yamazaki teaches an O- ring in the rejection of claim 16) or a flat sealing ring.
Regarding claim 19, Heinzelmann discloses that the drive includes a gearbox (4 is a gearbox) adapted to be driven by an electric motor (the gears in the gearbox are capable of being driven by an electric motor thus meeting the claim limitation. It has been held that the recitation that an element is “adapted for or “adapted to” a function is not a positive limitation but only requires the ability to so perform. Claim scope is not limited by claim language that suggests or makes optional but does not require steps to be performed, or by claim language that does not limit a claim to a particular structure. See MPEP 2111.04.).
Regarding claim 21, Heinzelmann discloses that a shaft (one of the nested circular members is in Figure 1 is viewed as a shaft since it is circular and all structures have some amount of thickness thus creating a shaft) of the drive projects into a space (the space that the viewed shaft is located in Figure 1) surrounded by the cover hood.
Regarding claim 23, Heinzelmann discloses that the shaft projects through a recess (the area where the viewed shaft is located in Figure 1 is considered a recess thus meeting the claim limitation) of the housing and/or through a recess of the adapter plate.
Regarding claim 37, Heinzelmann discloses that the cover hood includes a radially projecting tab region (the portion of 2 that 14 goes through in Figure 1) through which a screw (14) projects, a threaded region (the threaded shaft of 14) of the screw being screwed into a threaded hole (the threaded hole in 4 as shown in Figure 1) of the support surface, a screw head (the head of 14) of the screw pressing the tab region toward the support surface.
Regarding claim 38, Heinzelmann discloses that the tab region is elastically deformable (every material is deformable to some degree thus the viewed tab region is viewed as meeting this claim limitation).
Regarding claim 39, Heinzelmann discloses that before the cover hood is placed onto and connected to the adapter plate, a surface region (the region of the tab that the screw head of 14 directly contacts in Figure 1) of the tab region facing away from the support surface is arranged as a flat surface (the surface region is flat as shown in Figure 1) that is parallel to a contact surface (the surface of 2 that directly contacts 4) provided on the cover hood for contacting the support surface, and, when the cover hood is positioned onto the support surface and the screw is then tightened, the tab region is pressed and elastically deformed such that the entire contact surface of the cover hood is positioned against the support surface (see Figure 1).
Regarding claim 40, Heinzelmann discloses that the adapter plate includes a radially projecting projection (shown below), and an edge region (shown below) of the cover hood is arranged between the projection and a dome-shaped elevation (shown below) of the housing part delimiting the support surface.
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Annotated Figure 1 of Heinzelmann (EP 1911995 A2)
Regarding claim 43, Heinzelmann discloses that the first sealing ring extends completely and/or continuously in a circumferential direction (left to right in Figure 1) against the cover hood (10 is an O-ring thus it is viewed as being a continuous member since an O-ring that is in multiple pieces is no longer an O-ring).
Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heinzelmann (EP 1911995 A2; see previously provided machine translation) in view of Yamazaki (CN 105471188 A; see provided machine translation) as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Sigmund (WO 2013/156111 A1; see previously provided machine translation).
Regarding claim 26, Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki discloses all of the claim limitations, see above, but does not disclose that the adapter plate and/or the cover hood is arranged as an injection molded part.
Sigmund teaches a cover hood (1) that is an injection molded part (see the last full paragraph of page 2 of the machine translation).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cover hood of Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki to be an injection molded part, as taught by Sigmund, for the purpose of providing a cover hood that is made in an economical manner while providing sufficient strength to protect a portion of the drive.
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heinzelmann (EP 1911995 A2; see previously provided machine translation) in view of Yamazaki (CN 105471188 A; see provided machine translation) as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Yamanaka et al. (US 10,591,079 B2).
Regarding claim 27, Heinzelmann discloses that a screw head (the top of 14) of a screw (14), passing through the adapter plate and screwed into a threaded hole (the hole in 4 that 14 goes into) in the support surface, press the adapted plate toward the support surface.
Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki does not disclose a plurality of screws and a corresponding plurality of threaded holes.
Yamanaka et al. teaches mounting a plate (24) to a support surface (the top surface of 20 in Figure 4) via a plurality of screws (42) that engage threaded holes (the holes in 20 that each 42 engages) in the support surface.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the drive of Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki to have a plurality of screws that engage into corresponding threaded holes, as taught by Yamanaka et al., for the purpose of increasing the strength of the connection between the adapter plate and the support surface.
Claims 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heinzelmann (EP 1911995 A2; see previously provided machine translation) in view of Yamazaki (CN 105471188 A; see provided machine translation) and further in view of Yamanaka et al. (US 10,591,079 B2) as applied to claim 27 above, and further in view of H. B. Chatfield (US 2,695,726 A).
Regarding claim 28, Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki and further in view of Yamanaka et al. discloses a drill pattern (the pattern that the plurality of threaded holes have once Heinzelmann is modified by Yamanaka et al.) of the threaded holes has a discrete rotational symmetry (the term discrete is defined as " apart or detached from others; separate; distinct; consisting of or characterized by distinct or individual parts; discontinuous’ by dictionary.com thus any pattern of the threaded holes is viewed as being discrete).
Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki and further in view of Yamanaka et al. does not disclose that the adapter plate does not have a discrete rotational symmetry.
H. B. Chatfield teaches a plate (2; see Figure 9) that has a plurality of holes (12) that are not formed in a rotational symmetry (the holes in 2 force the plate to be fastened to a housing in a singular orientation thus is viewed as meeting the claim limitation).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the adapter plate of Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki and further in view of Yamanaka et al. to not have a discrete rotational symmetry, as taught by H. B. Chatfield, for the purpose of providing a structure that prevents the adapter plate from being fastened to the support surface in a plurality of ways thus aiding in streamlining the assembly process of the drive.
Regarding claim 29, of Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki and further in view of Yamanaka et al. and further in view of H. B. Chatfield discloses that the adapter plate has a preferred direction along which the adapter plate has a greatest extension (as best understood and given the 112(b) issue(s) above, it is viewed that Heinzelmann in view of Yamanaka et al. and further in view of H. B. Chatfield meets this claim limitation given the non-symmetrical screw hole pattern taught by H. B. Chatfield above).
Regarding claim 30, of Heinzelmann in view of Yamazaki and further in view of Yamanaka et al. and further in view of H. B. Chatfield discloses that the preferred direction is oriented parallel to a plane (the plane that is formed by the surface of 4 that 2 directly contacts; Heinzelmann) that includes a contact surface (the surface of 4 that 2 directly contacts in Figure 1 of Heinzelmann) of the cover hood.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 20, 22, 24, 25, 31-36, and 41 are allowed over the prior art of record.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed May 7, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The Applicant argued on Page 9 of the Remarks that “However, in the combination of Heinzelmann and Yamazaki, there is no adapter plate that includes two grooves, i.e., "a first groove located on an outer circumference of the adapter plate and extending continuously in a circumferential direction and a second groove located on a side of the adapter plate facing the support surface and extending continuously in the circumferential direction," in which a first sealing ring is arranged in the first groove and forms a seal between a cover hood and the adapter plate and in which a second sealing ring is arranged in the second groove and forms a seal between the adapter plate and a support surface.”
Figure 1 of Heinzelmann has an adapter plate (6) formed with a first groove that an O-ring (10) fits into, and the adapter plate of Heinzelmann has an unlabeled circular member located in a groove as shown on the left side of Figure 1. Yamazaki is used to teach that unlabeled circular member as being an O-ring thus once Heinzelmann is modified by Yamazaki, the structure would have an adapter plate with a first groove, a second groove, and sealing rings located in both grooves. Furthermore, O-rings being located in continuous grooves is a common mechanical structure which would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
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/ADAM D ROGERS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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