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 .
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, 5, 7, 41, and 42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application 2005/0062206 to Antonovsky in view of PT-88389 (PT’389) and US Patent 9518630 to McAndrews et al.
Re: claims 1, 3, 5 and 7. Antonovsky shows in figures 1A-1C an air spring comprising: a first body 32; a first piston 40 cooperating with the first body to define a pressurized first chamber 20 including a gas as described in paragraph [0045], the first piston 40 with the exception of the peripheral surface configured to slidably move relative to the first body 10; a pressurized second chamber 30; a flow passage 33 between the first chamber and the second chamber; a sealing structure 50 or particularly upper and lower elements 50 including the intervening peripheral surface to selectively permit or restrict flow between the first chamber and the second chamber, wherein pressure from both the first chamber and the second chamber contributes to biasing the first piston toward an extended position when flow is permitted between the first chamber and the second chamber; the air spring having a fully extended position (piston in top position) and a fully compressed position (piston in bottom position), the air spring configured such that during the majority of the movement of the air spring from the fully extended position to the fully compressed position flow is permitted from the first chamber to the second chamber and while the air spring is adjacent the fully compressed position, the sealing structure 50 covers (i.e. partially or initially covers) an opening or the beginning of element 33 into the flow passage 33 to restrict flow between the first chamber and the second chamber wherein the bushing is positioned to move with the first piston.
Antonovsky is silent with regard to the sealing structure being a bushing.
PT’389 teaches in claim 3 the limitation of a seal being in the form of a bushing.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the sealing structure of Antonovsky to have been a bushing, in view of the teachings of PT’389, in order to include a sealing component that provides greater durability.
Antonovsky, as modified, is silent with regard to the air spring comprising part of a bicycle rear shock absorber.
McAndrews et al. teach in figure 1 the use of an air spring 100 comprising par of a bicycle rear shock absorber.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the air spring of Antonovsky, as modified, to have been a part of a bicycle rear shock absorber, in view of the teachings of McAndrews et al., in order to provide a means of adjusting the spring rate based on the users weight or riding style on the part of the suspension that carries a large portion of the rider/bike load.
Re: claim 41. Antonovsky, as modified, teaches in figures 1A-1C of Antonovsky wherein bushing is positioned to move with the first piston, the bushing 50 comprises a length sufficient such that, after the bushing 50 first covers the opening during compression of the air spring, the bushing 50 can continue to cover (i.e. cover more than the initial covering) the opening as the bushing 50 and first piston 40 translate further during compression of the air spring, as broadly recited.
Re: claim 42. Antonovsky, as modified, teaches in figures 1A-1C of Antonovsky wherein compression of the air spring defines a spring curve that comprises a bump zone outside of covering the opening and a bottom out zone covering the opening, the bottom out zone comprising positions of the air spring where the bushing covers the opening, wherein variation in slope of the spring curve is greater in the bottom out zone due to resistance due to the opening covering than in the bump zone, such that resistance to compression as a function of displacement increases at a greater rate in the bottom out zone due to greater resistance than in the bump zone.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 9, 10, 12-13, 20-26, and 43-45 are 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.
Claims 29-31, 33-36, 39-40, and 46-50 are allowed.
Response to Amendment
Upon further review, Examiner has rejected the limitation added to independent claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELODY M BURCH whose telephone number is (571)272-7114. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 6:30AM-3PM, generally.
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mmb
September 12, 2026
/MELODY M BURCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616
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