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, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/23/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 24 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 24, line 16 - it appears there is a typographical error and “direct of the yarn tail” should read --direct the yarn tail--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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(s) 24, 25, 28, 33, 36-39, and 50 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mima, Foreign Patent Document, EP1584595A1.
Regarding independent claim 24, Mima discloses a yarn control device (101, Fig. 6) for controlling a yarn tail of a yarn (e0, Fig. 9a), comprising: a moveable body (101, Fig. 4a-d; 101 is portable Paragraph [0040], line 1) and a first moveable member (116, Fig. 9C), the movable body comprising: a pair of angled jaws (102, Figs. 6, 7, 8a-c) comprising an upper jaw and a lower jaw that converge (102, Figs. 6, 7, 8a-c), the upper jaw and the lower jaw configured to capture the yarn on contact with the movable body (102 captures Ya, Yb, Fig. 9C) and guide the yarn towards an operative region of the movable body (SP, Fig. 6); an inlet (105, Fig. 9c) for introducing a first fluid ("air" Paragraph [0041], line 1) into the movable body (101, Fig. 6); and a first fluid outlet (103, Fig. 6, 9C) located in proximity to the operative region of the movable body (103 near SP, Fig. 6), and oriented to expel the first fluid in a first fluid flow away from the movable body ("air issuing means 105 having a nozzle opening 104 for issuing a jet of compressed air or the like in a direction crossing the yarn receiving hole 103" Paragraph [0041], lines 5-7, air is reoriented through 103 to flow away from movable body 101, Figs. 9a-c); wherein the first moveable member is housed within the movable body (116 housed in 101, Fig. 9C) and configured to traverse the operative region (116 traverses SP, Fig. 6), moving between an operative configuration to clamp the yarn and an inoperative configuration to release the yarn (Paragraph [0047], lines 3-8); and wherein in the operative configuration the yarn is retained in the operative region of the body by the first movable member such that the first fluid flow captures and holds the yarn tail externally of the movable body (fluid flow in 103 captures and holds yarn tail Ya, Yb externally of movable body 101, Fig. 6), orienting the yarn tail coaxially within the first fluid flow (yarn retained in SP by 116, such that fluid flow captures yarn and orients yarn coaxially with first fluid flow, the yarn tail Ya, Yb is coaxially oriented within fluid flow of 103, Fig. 9C, 6), whereby movement of the movable body adjusts the direction of the first fluid flow and yarn tail entrained therein to direct the yarn tail towards a receiver (101 is portable, thus adjusting the orientation of 101, will necessarily adjust the fluid flow through 103, Figs. 6-9C, and allow yarn tail Ya, Yb to be directed to receiver Ba, Fig. 3A-C, equivalent to receiver in Fig. 9A-B).
Regarding claim 25, Mima discloses a second moveable member (112, Fig. 6) housed within the movable body (101, Fig. 6), configured to operate in conjunction with the first moveable member (Paragraph [0045], lines 1-5) to provide a feed configuration (Paragraph [0047]), wherein the yarn tail is retained in the operative region of the body (Fig. 9C), and drawn through the operative region by the first fluid flow thereby varying a length of the yarn tail (Paragraph [0047]).
Regarding claim 28, Mima discloses the first moveable member (116, Fig. 9C) has a head (see Annotated Figure 6 of Mima, below) for clamping and securing the yarn to the movable body (101, Fig. 6).
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Annotated Figure 6 of Mima
Regarding claim 33, Mima discloses wherein the pair of angled jaws (102, Fig. 6) have beveled edges (102 is sloping/beveled, Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 36, Mima discloses the first fluid outlet (103, Fig. 6, 9C) is located in close proximity to the operative region (SP, Fig. 6) and directed away from the body (103 expels yarn ends out of body 101, 102, Fig. 9C) such that the first fluid flow is expelled in a direction parallel to a run direction of the yarn across the operative region of the moveable body (103 expels yarn ends out of body 101, 102, parallel to run direction of yarn, Fig. 9C).
Regarding claim 37, Mima discloses the first fluid outlet (103, Fig. 6, 9C) is on a surface of the body (outlet is on surface of body 101, 102, Fig. 6, Fig. 9C).
Regarding claim 38, Mima discloses wherein the first fluid outlet (103, Fig. 9C) is in fluid communication with the first fluid inlet via an internal bore (103, 104, Fig. 9C) within the movable body (Paragraph [0041], lines 4-7; Fig. 9C).
Regarding claim 39, Mima discloses wherein the internal bore (103, 104, Fig. 9C) is oriented to expel the first fluid flow perpendicularly to the movable body (fluid expelled in bore 103, perpendicular to body 101, 102, Fig. 6, 9C).
Regarding claim 50, Mima discloses a spool handling device comprising the yarn control device (Paragraph [0054], lines 11-16).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 26-27, 29, 32, 34-35, 41, 43, and 47-48 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.
Regarding claim 26, Mima, a close prior art, discloses a yarn control device, but alone, or in combination, fails to teach suggest or render obvious wherein the first and second movable members are a pair of reciprocating pistons. It would not have been obvious to modify Mima, because such a modification would require additional complexity to manufacture, maintain, and operate.
Claim 27 would also be allowable, because it depends from claim 26 and is further limiting.
Regarding claim 29, Mima, a close prior art, discloses a yarn control device, however alone or in combination, fails to teach suggest or render obvious wherein the second movable member has a head which forms an aperture when brought into contact with the operative region of the body, restraining the yarn within the operative region and allowing the yarn to be drawn through the aperture. It would not have been obvious to modify Mima, because such a modification would require additional complexity to manufacture, maintain, and operate.
Claim 30 would also be allowable, because it depends from claim 29 and is further limiting.
Regarding claim 32, Mima, a close prior art, discloses an inlet and outlet for fluid flow, however alone or in combination, fails to teach, suggest, or render obvious a series of fluid inlet and outlet valves are located within the body to control flow of a working fluid into and out of respective first and second bores, in which the first and second moveable members are located. It would not have been obvious to modify Mima, because such a modification would require additional complexity to manufacture, maintain, and operate.
Claim 41 would also be allowable, because it depends from claim 32 and is further limiting.
Regarding claim 34, Mima, a close prior art, discloses the first moveable member is activated to clamp the yarn once in the operative region of the body (Paragraph [0047]), however fails to teach suggest or render obvious completing this operation by supplying working fluid to the activation supply port to allow the working fluid to enter the bore in which the first moveable member is located. It would not have been obvious to modify Mima, because such a modification would require additional complexity to manufacture, maintain, and operate.
Claim 35 would also be allowable, because it depends from claim 34 and is further limiting.
Regarding claim 43, Marbacher, US4118919, a close prior art, discloses the majority of the features of claim 43 including first and second fluid flows that intersect, however Marbucher, alone or in combination with the additional limitations required by claim 24 from which 43 depends, fails to teach, suggest, or render obvious “whereby movement of the movable body orients the first fluid flow to intersect the second fluid flow, such that the second fluid flow expels the entrained yarn tail from the first fluid flow towards the receiver”. It would not have been obvious to combine Mima and Marbucher, because such a modification would require additional complexity to manufacture, maintain, and operate.
Claims 47 and 48 are allowable because they depend from allowable claim 43 and are further limiting.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to applicant’s arguments on pages 9-13, that Mima does not disclose a first fluid outlet oriented to expel a first fluid flow away from a movable body, Examiner notes, that Mima does disclose this limitation, “the air issuing means 105 issues air into the yarn receiving hole 103” (Paragraph [0050], lines 1-2), thus 103 is a first fluid outlet which expels fluid away from movable body 101 as shown in Figure 6. Applicant’s arguments are therefore not persuasive.
With respect to applicant’s arguments on pages 13-14, that Mima does not disclose the yarn tail being coaxially oriented with the first fluid flow, and captured and held therein externally of any movable body, Examiner notes, that Mima does disclose this limitation as shown in Figure 6, where yarn tail is coaxially oriented with the first fluid flow in 103, and captured and held therein externally of the movable body 101. Yarn tails Ya, Yb, are shown to be coaxial to fluid flow out of 103 external to 101, further Paragraph [0050] discusses the fluid flow in element 103. Because the handy splicer is portable, when the splicer encounters the yarn tail, fluid flow in 103 orients the yarn, and any movement of the splicer will continue orient the yarn tail coaxial to 103 and external to the movable body. Applicant’s arguments are therefore not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “capturing one or more yarn tails with a jet of air alone”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
With respect to applicant’s arguments on pages 14-15 of Remarks, filed 6/23/2026, that Mima does not disclose “the first fluid flow captures and holds the yarn tail externally of the movable body, orienting the yarn tail coaxially within the first fluid flow”, because the yarns must first be guided and introduced into the yarn receiving hole by the yarn guiding member, it is noted that applicant claims the yarn is captured during “the operative configuration”, thus Examiner refers to the configuration of Mima in which there is fluid flow as the operative configuration, and thus the yarns are captured in the fluid flow. Applicant’s arguments are therefore not persuasive, since applicant is comparing the inoperative configuration of Mima to the claimed operative configuration of applicant’s invention. The operative configuration of Mima discloses the limitations of claim 24 as stated above in the rejection under U.S.C. 102, above. Applicant’s arguments are therefore not persuasive.
With respect to applicant’s arguments on page 15 that Mima does not disclose orientation of the yarn tail by movement of the movable body, it is noted that Mima does disclose this feature. Because the handy splicer is portable, when the splicer encounters the yarn tail, fluid flow in 103 orients the yarn, and any movement of the splicer will continue orient the yarn tail coaxial to 103 and external to the movable body as shown in Figure 6. Applicant’s arguments are therefore not persuasive.
Conclusion
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/K.R.B./Examiner, Art Unit 3654 /Victoria P Augustine/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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