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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to for the following informalities:
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description:
The “another horizontal axis 117” (see at least parag. [0039] of the original disclosure)
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description:
Ref. no. “264” (see at least Fig 10)
In Figs. 13 and 14, ref. no. “230” is objected to because it points to the “locking element 236”, rather than the “subassembly 230”
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. 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.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Appropriate correction is required.
In paragraph [0065] of the original disclosure, “locking element 230” should be replaced with --locking element 236--.
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.
Claims 1-8, 10, 12-14, and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Flannery (US Patent 10,932,589).
Re Claim 1: Flannery discloses a security gate, comprising:
panels (10); and
a hinge assembly (see Fig. 6B) having an unlocked configuration (when hand wheel 176 is loosened) and a locked configuration (when hand wheel 176 is tightened), the hinge assembly coupling the panels (10) to each other, the hinge assembly including:
a bracket (40) that mounts to one of the panels;
a pin (140) about which the bracket is configured to pivot when the hinge assembly is in the unlocked configuration;
a locking element (134); and
an actuator (176), the actuator being configured to cause the locking element (138) to lockingly engage and to disengage the bracket (40), the hinge assembly being in the locked configuration when the locking element lockingly engages the bracket.
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Re Claim 2: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein the locking element (134) and the bracket (40) include intermeshing teeth (138, 156).
Re Claim 3: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein the actuator (176) includes a threaded fastener (182; Fig. 7F).
Re Claim 4: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein rotation of the actuator (176) causes the locking element (134) to move within a housing (142) of the hinge assembly.
Re Claim 5: Flannery discloses a security gate, further comprising a separator (threaded metal pin 141; Fig. 6B), wherein rotation of the actuator (176) causes the separator (141) to push on the locking element (134).
Re Claim 6: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein the separator includes a fastener (threaded metal pin 141; Fig. 6B; see also Fig. 1C).
Re Claim 7: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein the separator (141) and the actuator include shafts (the threaded shaft of pin 141 and shaft 180 of hand wheel 176; see Figs. 1C and 7D) extending from heads (the head of pin 141 and knob 178 of hand wheel 176) in opposite directions.
Re Claim 8: Flannery discloses a security gate, further comprising a catch (the bore of pin mount 140, holding pin 141; see Fig. 1C) configured to stop the separator (141) from falling out of a housing (126) of the hinge assembly.
Re Claim 10: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein the security gate is configured to be free-standing (see Figs. 5A-5B).
Re Claim 12: Flannery discloses a security gate,
wherein the bracket (40) includes a post (152); and
wherein the locking element (134) fully surrounds the post (152).
Re Claim 13: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein the locking element (134) moves along the post (152) between the unlocked configuration and the locked configuration of the hinge assembly.
Re Claim 14: Flannery discloses a security gate, wherein the pin (140) is received in the post (152).
Re Claim 16: Flannery discloses a hinge assembly (see Fig. 6B) for a security gate, comprising:
a bracket (40);
a pin (140) about which the bracket is configured to pivot when the hinge assembly is in an unlocked configuration (when hand wheel 176 is loosened);
a locking element (134); and
an actuator (176), the actuator being configured to rotate to cause the locking element (138) to lockingly engage and to disengage the bracket (40), the hinge assembly being in a locked configuration (when hand wheel 176 is tightened) when the locking element lockingly engages the bracket.
Re Claim 17: Flannery discloses a hinge assembly,
wherein the bracket (40) includes a post (152); and
wherein the locking element (134) and the bracket (40) include intermeshing teeth (138, 156) that fully surround the post (152).
Re Claim 18: Flannery discloses a hinge assembly, further comprising:
a separator (threaded metal pin 141; Fig. 6B) including a fastener (141),
wherein rotation of the actuator (176) causes the separator (141) to push on the locking element (134); and
wherein the separator and the actuator include shafts (the threaded shaft of pin 141 and shaft 180 of hand wheel 176; see Figs. 1C and 7D) extending from heads (the head of pin 141 and knob 178 of hand wheel 176) in opposite directions.
Re Claim 19: Flannery discloses a hinge assembly, further comprising a catch (the bore of pin mount 140, holding pin 141; see Fig. 1C) configured to stop the separator (141) from falling out of a housing (126) of the hinge assembly.
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 11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Flannery (US Patent 10,932,589), as applied to claims 1-8, 10, 12-14, and 16-19 above, and further in view of Chen (US Patent 5,617,592).
Re Claim 11: Flannery, as discussed for claim 1 above, discloses a security gate significantly as claimed except for further comprising: another bracket that mounts to another one of the panels; and another pin about which the another bracket is configured to pivot when the hinge assembly is in the unlocked configuration, the pin and the another pin being on opposite sides of the actuator.
Chen teaches the use of a hinge assembly having an unlocked position (Fig. 4) and a locked position (Fig. 2) and including a bracket (11) that mounts to a first element (7); a pin (5) about which the bracket (1) is configured to pivot; a locking element (2); and an actuator (6) configured to cause the locking element to lockingly engage and to disengage the bracket; and further comprising: another bracket (1) that mounts to another element (7); and another pin (5) about which the another bracket is configured to pivot when the hinge assembly is in the unlocked configuration, the pin (5) and the another pin (5) being on opposite sides of the actuator, for the purpose of providing a greater degree of freedom for the hinge assembly.
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Flannery, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that it further comprises another bracket that mounts to another one of the panels; and another pin about which the another bracket is configured to pivot when the hinge assembly is in the unlocked configuration, the pin and the another pin being on opposite sides of the actuator, as taught by Chen, for the purpose of providing a greater degree of freedom for the hinge assembly.
Re Claim 20: Flannery discloses a security gate, comprising:
panels (10); and
a hinge assembly (see Fig. 6B) having an unlocked configuration (when hand wheel 176 is loosened) and a locked configuration (when hand wheel 176 is tightened), the hinge assembly coupling the panels to each other, the hinge assembly including:
a bracket (40) that mount to a panel (10), the bracket including a post (152) and a first locking element (154) including first teeth (156);
a pin (140) positioned within the post, the pin being configured to pivot when the hinge assembly is in the unlocked configuration;
a second locking element (134) including second teeth (138); and
an actuator (176), the actuator being configured to rotate to cause the second locking element (134) to move along the post such that the second teeth (138) of the second locking element lockingly engage and disengage the first teeth (156) of the first locking elements, the hinge assembly being in the locked configuration when the second teeth of the second locking element lockingly engage the first teeth of the first locking elements.
Flannery fails to explicitly disclose more than one bracket, including more than one post and more than one pin, such that the actuator is positioned between the pins and between the posts.
Chen teaches the use of a hinge assembly having an unlocked position (Fig. 4) and a locked position (Fig. 2) and including a bracket (11) that mounts to a first element (7); a pin (5) about which the bracket (1) is configured to pivot; a locking element (2); and an actuator (6) configured to cause the locking element to lockingly engage and to disengage the bracket; and further comprising: another bracket (1) that mounts to another element (7); and another pin (5) about which the another bracket is configured to pivot when the hinge assembly is in the unlocked configuration, the pin (5) and the another pin (5) being on opposite sides of the actuator, for the purpose of providing a greater degree of freedom for the hinge assembly.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Flannery, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that more than one bracket, including more than one post and more than one pin, such that the actuator is positioned between the pins and between the posts, as taught by Chen, for the purpose of providing a greater degree of freedom for the hinge assembly.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Flannery (US Patent 10,932,589), as applied to claims 1-8, 10, 12-14, and 16-19 above, and further in view of Ming-Tai (US Patent 5,190,390).
Re Claim 15: Flannery, as discussed for claim 1 above, discloses a security gate significantly as claimed except wherein the bracket mounts to the one of the panels with a spring-loaded button.
Ming-Tai teaches the use of a hinge assembly (see Fig. 2) for coupling elements (4, 5), comprising a bracket (2’) that mounts to one of the elements (5), and further wherein the bracket (2’) mounts to the one of the elements (5) with a spring-loaded button (51), for the purpose of easily and removably attaching the bracket to the element.
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Flannery, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that the bracket mounts to the one of the panels with a spring-loaded button, as taught by Ming-Tai, for the purpose of easily and removably attaching the bracket to the element.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As discussed above, Flannery is considered to be the closes prior art device of record to the device of the instant claims. Claim 9 requires that “the bracket defines an access recess configured to provide access to the separator from a bottom of the hinge assembly” (emphasis added). Flannery fails to disclose such an “access recess” in the bracket. Nor would it have been capable to modify Flannery to include such an “access recess” in order to provide access to the separator “from a bottom of the hinge assembly” since in Flannery, the bracket (40) is located above the separator (141) in the hinge assembly (see Fig. 6B). In addition, there would have been no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so from the prior art of record. For at least these reasons, claim 9 is considered to be allowable over the prior art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW R MCMAHON whose telephone number is (571)270-3067. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
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/MATTHEW R MCMAHON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678