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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on April 28, 2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 1, line 8, applicant claims “a screw”. There is a prior mention of “a screw” (line 7) and it is unclear as to exactly how many “screw(s)” the applicant is attempting to claim in that under 35 USC 112 each distinct feature/limitation is required to have an exact nomenclature and subsequent references to the same feature/limitation should be preceded by a “said” of “the”. The lack of clarity renders the claimed subject matter indefinite.
Note: A similar issue exists with “several through holes II” on line 12 with a prior mention of “several through holes II” on line 9.
In claim 1, line 10, “the overlapping through hole I” appears to lack proper antecedent basis.
In claim 1, line 13, “the overlapping through hole II” appears to lack proper antecedent basis.
Claims 2-4 are rejected based on their claim dependencies.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2-4 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
De Brito (USP 4,023,287) discloses a snow shovel pivotally attached to a snow blower.
Niemela et al. (USPGPub 2013/0298429) discloses a laterally slideable snow shovel assembly mounted in front of a snow blower.
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/ROBERT E PEZZUTO/Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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