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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species B in the reply filed on September 23rd, 2025 is acknowledged.
Priority
The later-filed application must be an application for a patent for an invention which is also disclosed in the prior application (the parent or original nonprovisional application or provisional application). The disclosure of the invention in the parent application and in the later-filed application must be sufficient to comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, except for the best mode requirement. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 32 USPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
The disclosure of the prior-filed application, Application No. 16/999,838, fails to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application. The prior-filed application does not provide support for the embodiment of the invention elected by the applicant, i.e. the prior-filed application does not provide support for claimed limitations such as an elongated limiting pawl. Therefore, the priority date of the application for examination purposes will be February 10th, 2023.
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required: Claim 7 recites …the handle being couple to the second surface of the base portion…. The specification does not appear to provide proper antecedent bases for this claim limitation. The specification states the second surface is element 244, which is the bottom surface of the gear from which the two posts extend. The figures show the handle being connected to the upper ends of elements 130.
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 1 be found allowable, claim 5 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m). Claim 1 line 11 recites …about a gear axis that is normal to the actuator axis… and claim 5 line 1 recites …wherein the gear axis is normal to the actuator axis.
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.
Claim 11 is 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.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the engaged position" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "in disengaged position" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sauer (U.S. Publication 2021/0052264) in view of Bowman (U.S. Patent 0,380,081).
Sauer discloses a device (for example see Figures 2C and 2D) comprising:
(claim 1) an elongated linear actuator gear (34)
(claim 1) wherein the elongated linear actuator gear extends along an actuator axis (a longitudinal axis of element 34) from a first end to a second end
(claim 1) wherein the elongated linear actuator gear includes a plurality of teeth (36) that extend normal to the actuator axis
(claim 1) wherein the plurality of teeth define a plurality of recesses (38)
(claim 1) wherein each recess is disposed between a pair of adjacent teeth
(claim 4) wherein each of the plurality of teeth extend from a first end to a second end along a tooth axis that is normal to the actuator axis
(claim 4) wherein the first end of each of the plurality of teeth is aligned along a first axis parallel to the actuator axis
(claim 4) wherein the second end of each of the plurality of teeth is aligned along a second axis parallel to the actuator axis and the first axis (for example see Figure 2C)
(claim 1) a rack housing (48) extending along the actuator axis
(claim 1) wherein the rack housing is couple to the linear actuator gear
(claim 1) wherein the linear actuator gear is configured to displace along the actuator axis relative to the rack housing
(claim 6) wherein the rack housing further comprises an actuator slot (for example see Figure 2D) extending parallel to the housing axis
(claim 6) wherein a portion of the linear actuator gear is movably disposed within the actuator slot
(claim 1) a cylinder gear (122) including
(claim 1) a base portion (the part of the gear from which the arms extend) coupled to the rack housing
(claims 1 and 5) wherein the base portion is configured to rotate relative to the rack housing about a gear axis (the central longitudinal axis of element 122) that is normal to the actuator axis
(claim 1) wherein the base portion includes
(claim 1) a first surface (the surface elements 126 extend from)
(claim 1) a second surface (the surface elements 130 extend from)
(claim 1) a circumferential surface extending between the first surface and the second surface
(claim 1) wherein the circumferential surface extends in a direction parallel to the gear axis
(claim 2) wherein the circumferential surface is substantially cylindrical
(claim 3) wherein the base portion is disc shaped
(claim 1) a first post (126) extending from the first surface of the base portion such that the first post is configured to be disposed within a first of the plurality of recesses
(claim 1) a second post (126) extending from the first surface of the base portion such that the second post is configured to be disposed within a second recess of the plurality of recesses (paragraph 23)
(claim 1) wherein when the base portion rotates in a first rotational direction about the gear axis, the first and second posts engage a first portion of the plurality of teeth to displace the linear actuator gear in a first linear direction
(claim 1) wherein when the base portion rotates in a second rotational direction about the gear axis, the first and second posts engage a second portion of the plurality of teeth to displace the linear actuator gear in a second linear direction
(claim 7) a handle (50) coupled to the cylinder gear
(claim 7) wherein the handle is coupled to the second surface of the base portion (the handle is indirectly coupled to the second surface via elements 122 and the portion of element 32 between the first surface and the second surface)
Sauer fails to disclose the device wherein the cylinder gear includes a first locking notch formed in the circumferential surface and the device further comprising an elongated limiting pawl. Bowman teaches a device comprising a linear actuator gear (E), a rack housing (A), and a cylinder gear (B, D, J, etc.) having a base portion including circumferential surface (the outer surface of element J), wherein the circumferential surface includes a first locking notch (the connecting point between the perpendicular surface and the ramped surface of the teeth of element J as best shown in Figure 1) and the device further comprising an elongated limiting pawl (K) pivotably coupled to a portion of the rack housing, wherein the limiting pawl extends from a first end to a second and includes an engagement portion disposed at the first end such that rotation of the cylinder gear in a first rotational direction about a gear axis causes the engagement portion to contact a portion of the first locking notch in an engagement position (claim 11; the perpendicular wall prevents rotation of the handle C in the direction opposite a’ shown in Figure 1) preventing further rotation of the cylinder gear in a first linear direction and such that rotation of the cylinder gear in a second rotational direction about the gear axis causes the engagement portion to not contact the portion of the first locking notch, i.e. a disengagement position (claim 11; the engagement portion moves along the ramped surface of the teeth allowing handle see to be rotated in the direction of a’ as shown in Figure 1), allowing rotation of the cylinder gear in the second rotational direction and allowing displacement of the linear actuator gear in a second linear direction (column 1 line 59 to column 2 line 73) in order to lock the position of the linear actuator gear during use. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to provide the device of Sauer wherein the circumferential surface includes a first locking notch and the device further comprises an elongate limiting pawl in view of Bowman in order to lock the position of the linear actuator gear during use.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 for cited references the examiner felt were relevant to the application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nicholas Woodall whose telephone number is (571) 272-5204. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am to 5:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Truong, at (571. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NICHOLAS W WOODALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3775