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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of the species of Figs. 8 and 9, in the reply filed on Feb 26, 2026, readable on claims 1, 5, and 6, is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 2-4 and 7-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on Feb 26, 2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 7/28/25, 1/15/25, 4/27/25, and 9/9/22 were filed and the submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention (“Lifting Device”) is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: it appears that in claim 1, line 10, the word – an – should be inserted before “air supplied.”
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 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.
Claims 1, 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakayama et al. (US 2021/0252720) (see IDS).
RE claim 1, Nakayama et al. (US 2021/0252720) discloses a lifting device (see Figs. 1-15) comprising: a body having a cylindrical shape (102) (see Figs. 10-12); and a member having an annular shape, wherein the body includes, at an axial end thereof, a flat surface (see Fig. 15; and Exhibit A) configured to hold a workpiece (S1), the member is disposed on an outer periphery of the flat surface of the body, and includes an annular protruding portion that protrudes beyond the flat surface (16) (see para [0102]) (see Exhibit A) of the body in an axial direction of the body, the annular protruding portion (158) having a circular-arc-shaped cross section, and an air supplied (see Fig. 10A and paragraph [0030]) to the body flows along the flat surface of the body and the annular protruding portion of the elastic member. Note that the applicant’s defined “an elastic member” is considered as a member being made of an elastic material. Nakayama et al. (US 2021/0252720) discloses the pad member 86 (see Fig. 2) is made of, for example, an elastic material such as rubber in paragraph [0054] of specification:
[0054] The pad member 86 is made of, for example, an elastic material such as rubber, and includes a cylindrical main part 90 and a pad portion 92 formed under the main part 90, while an insertion hole 94 into which the pin member 88 is inserted penetrates through the main part 90 in the axial direction (in the direction of arrows A1 and A2)
Nakayama et al. lifting device (US 2021/0252720) does not specifically show that a member having an annular shape is an elastic member. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mechanical engineering art or a material engineering art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide an elastic material such as rubber, elastomer, polyurethane on the body of Nakayama et al. (US 2021/0252720) to provide a soft grip to absorb the delicate workpieces to a user.
Exhibit A
[AltContent: textbox (Annular groove of holder (116) )][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Curved surface (para [0062]))][AltContent: textbox (Protruding portion (158) )][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: arrow]
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[AltContent: textbox (Working holding flat surface (16) (see paragraph [0102]))]
RE claim 5, Fig. 10B of Nakayama et al. lifting device (US 2021/0252720) shows a holder (106) configured to hold the elastic member (102), wherein the holder is attached to the body.
RE claim 6, Figs. 12 and 15 of Nakayama et al. lifting device (US 2021/0252720) also teach that the elastic member includes an annular projection projecting radially outward, and the annular projection is fitted into an annular attachment groove (see Exhibit A) provided in the holder.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL T CHIN whose telephone number is (571) 272-6922. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-4:30 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Hodge, can be reached on (571) 272-2097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL T CHIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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