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 . 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 6-8 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, line 10, the indefinite pronoun “its” should be replaced by the noun to which it refers.
In claim 6, line 2, the indefinite pronoun “it” should be replaced by the noun to which it refers.
In claim 7, line 4, the phrase “road/rail devices” should be replaced by “road/rail wheel devices” in order to keep terminology consistent.
In claim 8, line 1, the phrase “road/rail wheel chassis” should be replaced by “road/rail .
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hay et al. (US 1,985,540).
Referring to Claim 1: Hay discloses a combined road/rail wheel device that is adjustable by an adjusting device between road operation and rail operation, the combined road/rail wheel device comprising:
a wheel (14) that is driven or not driven and configured to rotate about a wheel axis (11) and includes a road tire (16) with a tire running surface at an outer radial circumferential surface of the wheel and an axial inside and an axial outside oriented away from the axial inside (Fig. 2);
the adjusting device;
a wheel flange (30) arranged at the axial inside or the axial outside of the wheel, connected to co-rotate with the wheel and extendable by the adjusting device in its entirety or partially from a radially retracted position (Fig. 3) (page 2, Col. 1, lines 13-15) for road operation to a radially extended position (Fig. 2) for rail operation (page 2, Col. 1, lines 42-53);
a radially outer wheel flange circumferential surface of the wheel flange (30) that extends radially at the most to the tire (16) running surface in the radially retracted position (Fig. 3) and extends radially beyond the tire running surface in the radially extended position (Fig. 2),
wherein a wheel flange side surface of the wheel flange is oriented perpendicular to the wheel axis and configured to engage a side flank of a rail head (42) of a rail of a track section in the radially extended position of the wheel flange (Fig. 2) (page 2, Col. 1, lines 65-74), or
wherein the wheel flange circumferential surface of the wheel flange is configured to engage a track channel of a groove rail of a rail track in the radially extended position of the wheel flange.
Referring to Claim 2: Hay discloses the combined road/rail wheel device according to claim 1, wherein the wheel flange (30) includes plural wheel flange sectors or wheel flange segments (27) that are guided along plural radial guides (54), and wherein the wheel flange sectors or segments are adjustable with respect to their radial positions between the radially retracted position (Fig. 2) and the radially extended position (Fig. 5) by the adjustment device (page 2, Col. 2, lines 65-71).
Referring to Claim 3: Hay discloses the combined road/rail wheel device according to claim 2, wherein the wheel flange sectors or wheel flange segments (27) are distributed over an entire circumference of the wheel flange (Fig. 3).
Referring to Claim 4: Hay discloses the combined road/rail wheel device according to claim 2, wherein the wheel flange sectors or wheel flange segments (27) respectively form a circular sector or a circular segment in cross section (Fig. 3).
Referring to Claim 5: Hay discloses the combined road/rail wheel device according to claim 2, wherein the wheel flange sectors or wheel flange segments (27) are guided retractable and extendable at a wheel flange base element (36) of the wheel flange (page 2, Col. 2, lines 65-71) (Figs. 2 and 5).
Referring to Claim 6: Hay discloses the combined road/rail wheel device according to claim 2, wherein the adjustment device is configured and controlled so that it performs the following adjustments when establishing a radially extended position of the wheel flange:
all wheel flange sectors or wheel flange segments (27) are moved from the radially retracted position into the radially extended position (page 2, Col. 1, lines 65-74), or
only a wheel flange sector or wheel flange segment or wheel flange sectors or wheel flange segments are moved from the radially retracted position into the radially extended position which are in a circumferential portion of the wheel flange which is adjacent to the rail or groove rail when the wheel rotates and the remaining wheel flange sectors or wheel flange segments are moved into the radially retracted position or maintained in the radially retracted position.
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.
Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hay in view of MacKenzie (US 1,859,832).
Referring to Claim 7: Hay does not specifically teach a combined road/rail chassis of a combined road/rail vehicle, the combined road/rail chassis comprising: at least one axle; and at least two combined road/rail devices according to claim 1 rotatably arranged at the axle. However, MacKenzie teaches a combined road/rail chassis (26) of a combined road/rail vehicle (Figs. 7 and 9), the combined road/rail chassis comprising: at least one axle (5); and at least two combined road/rail devices (1) rotatably arranged at the axle (Figs. 7 and 9). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Hay to use its road/rail wheel devices on a vehicle with a chassis, as taught by MacKenzie, in order to allow said vehicle to travel on both roads and rails with a reasonable expectation of success.
Referring to Claim 8: Hay does not specifically teach that wheels of the two combined road/rail wheel devices have a track width at the axle which is adapted to a track width of the rail track. However, MacKenzie teaches a combined road/rail chassis (26) of a combined road/rail vehicle (Figs. 7 and 9), wherein wheels of the two combined road/rail wheel devices (1) have a track width at the axle which is adapted to a track width of the rail track (page 4, lines 60-74) (Figs. 7 and 9). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Hay to use its road/rail wheel devices on a vehicle with a chassis and axle adapted to the track width, as taught by MacKenzie, in order to allow said vehicle to travel on both roads and rails, with the wheels being properly aligned with the rails, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Claim(s) 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hay in view of MacKenzie and DE 102018220633 A1.
Referring to Claim 9: Hay teaches a road/rail vehicle system, comprising: a combined road/rail vehicle (page 5, Col. 2, lines 25-40), but does not specifically teach that the road/rail vehicle includes at least one combined road/rail vehicle chassis according to claim 7, at least one super structure attached at the combined road/rail chassis and removeable therefrom without destruction, wherein the super structure includes a cab configured to transport persons or loads, at least one drive device coupleable with the combined road/rail wheel device and configured to drive at least one wheel of the combined road/rail wheel device of the combined road/rail chassis. However, DE 102018220633 teaches an intermodal passenger transport system (see attached EPO translation, Para. [0008]), wherein at least one super structure (2) attached at the combined road/rail chassis (100) and removeable therefrom without destruction (Fig. 5C), wherein the super structure includes a cab (22) configured to transport persons (Fig. 5A) (Para. [0055]) or loads, at least one drive device coupleable with the combined road/rail wheel device and configured to drive at least one wheel of the combined road/rail wheel device of the combined road/rail chassis (Para. [0013]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Hay to use its road/rail wheel devices on a vehicle with a removable super structure, including a passenger cab and a drive device, as taught by DE 102018220633, in order to allow said vehicle to transport persons in an intermodal manner with a reasonable expectation of success.
Referring to Claim 10: Hay does not specifically teach that the drive is integrated in a module together with the combined road/rail chassis. However, DE 102018220633 teaches an intermodal passenger transport system (see attached EPO translation, Para. [0008]), wherein the drive is integrated in a module together with the combined road/rail chassis (100) (Para. [0013]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Hay to use its road/rail wheel devices on a vehicle with a drive integrated with the chassis, as taught by DE 102018220633, in order to allow said vehicle to transport persons in an intermodal manner using interchangeable drive platforms with a reasonable expectation of success.
Referring to Claim 11: Hay does not specifically teach that a group of different super structures is provided, and wherein coupling devices are provided so that a super structure selected from the group is configured to be coupled by the coupling devices with the combined road/rail chassis or decoupled therefrom. However, DE 102018220633 teaches an intermodal passenger transport system (see attached EPO translation, Para. [0008]), wherein a group of different super structures (2) is provided (Para. [0022]), and wherein coupling devices are provided so that a super structure selected from the group is configured to be coupled by the coupling devices with the combined road/rail chassis (100) or decoupled therefrom (Para. [0046]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Hay to use its road/rail wheel devices on a vehicle with different super structures having chassis coupling devices, as taught by DE 102018220633, in order to allow said vehicle to transport persons in an intermodal manner using interchangeable drive platforms with a reasonable expectation of success.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hay in view of MacKenzie and Publicover (US 2007/0214995 A1).
Referring to Claim 12: Hay does not specifically teach plural combined road/rail vehicles coupleable by coupling devices to form a vehicle interconnection in rail operation or in road operation. However, Publicover teaches a vehicle, process and system for mass transportation, comprising plural combined road/rail vehicles coupleable by coupling devices to form a vehicle interconnection (“pods”) in rail operation or in road operation (Para. [0011]) (Figs. 2 and 3A). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Hay to use its road/rail wheel devices on coupleable vehicles, as taught by DE 102018220633, in order to allow said vehicle to transport persons in coupled “pods or groups for higher speed travel than on ordinary roads” (see Publicover abstract) with a reasonable expectation of success.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY L KUHFUSS whose telephone number is (571)270-7858. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:00am to 6:00 pm CDT.
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/ZACHARY L KUHFUSS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617