Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of a marine engine coupler (Group I) in the reply filed on AUGUST 12, 2025 is acknowledged.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
They fail to include reference numeral 13.
They fail to show the structural relationships between the claim elements recited in claims 1-5 & 7. The drawings should include a cutaway view(s) of the marine coupler fully assembled in order to show said structural relationships.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Double Patenting
Claim 7 is provisionally rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as claiming the same invention as that of claim 1 of copending Application No. 19/361,669 (published as US 2026/0043440). This is a provisional statutory double patenting rejection since the claims directed to the same invention have not in fact been patented.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Costabile, US 4,566,855. Figs. 9-12, show a marine engine coupler (80) that could be used for connecting a sterndrive input shaft to an engine flywheel comprising:
a backing plate (82) for mounting to the engine flywheel;
a center shaft (97) with an inner end and an outer end, the inner end adapted for mounting to the backing plate;
the center shaft having inner (99) and outer (96) splines, the inner splines receiving the sterndrive input shaft;
a dampener hub (92) with a splined (94) central passageway (93) for receiving in driving engagement the center shaft outer splines;
a plurality of legs (94B) extending out from the splined central passageway of the dampener hub;
a damper housing (83) having a top surface (84) and a plurality of jaws (84A) extending axially downward away from the top surface;
the outer end of the center shaft connected to the damper housing;
fasteners (see unnumbered fasteners in Fig. 12) for mounting the damper housing to the backing plate with the center shaft and
dampener hub secured between the damper housing and the backing plate with the jaws extending axially downward away from the top surface and disposed between the
plurality of legs on the dampener hub; and
resilient dampers (94B, col. 8, line 67-col. 9, line 2), mounted between the dampener hub and the damper housing for transmitting the force from the engine flywheel to the sterndrive input shaft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 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. Tenney shows a coupler comprising splines and resilient dampers. Gödde shows a coupler comprising alignment markings and resilient dampers
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/Greg Binda/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3679