DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Elections/Restrictions
2. This office action is a response to Applicant's election filed on 02/10/2026 with traverse of Group I, claims 1-9 for further examination. Claims 10-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
3. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 02/10/2026. The traversal is on the grounds that the claims of all Groups I-III can be examined together without imposing a serious search burden on the Examiner. This is not found persuasive because regardless of the search method, inventions with different limitations will require different search strategies, and the times to consider the relevancy of collective references would increase proportionality as well. Even though a few U.S. Patents disclosing a battery paste application hopper assembly may have some of the common features of all species, a prior art that satisfies the limitations of group I would not necessarily satisfy the limitations of groups II-III, as they contain different combinations of structural components with different functional limitations (see bolded text indicating different structural components with different functional limitations in each of groups II-III). Thus, it is necessary to search for one of the inventions in a manner that is not likely to result in finding art pertinent to the other invention.
Thus far, applicant has not proved or provided convincing argument that there is no material difference between the three species currently on the record. Therefore, the requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/20/2023 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. 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.
6. Claims 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
As regards to claim 6, line 3 recites the limitation “actuator of said second actuator”, which is unclear as recited the limitation of the actuator of.. actuator. For examination purposes, examiner is interpreting “actuator of said second actuator” as “actuation of said second actuator”. To correct this problem, amend line 3 to recite “actuation of said second actuator”.
Claims 7-9 are rejected at least based on their dependency from claim 6.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 1-5 are allowable. Claims 6-9 would be allowable if amended to overcome the current rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) above. Claims 1-9 would be allowable because the closest prior arts of record, Mendoza et al. (US 2015/0096645 A1), Howlett (US 4,098,494 A), Mendoza et al. (US 2014/0083562 A1), and none of the other cited closest prior arts of record teach nor suggest “an actuator having a connection with said scraper bar, wherein actuation of said actuator prompts rotation of said scraper bar” as in the context of independent claim 1.
Mendoza et al. '645 teaches a battery paste application hopper assembly ([0017]; fig 1-2), comprising:
a housing (18) establishing an interior (interior of 18) ([0017]; fig 1-2);
a paste delivery roller (38) situated at the interior (interior of 18) of the housing (18) ([0017]; fig 1-2);
a feed roller (34) situated at the interior (interior of 18) of the housing (18) ([0017]; fig 1-2), the feed roller (34) located adjacent (see fig 1-2, 38 adjacent 34) the paste delivery roller (38) ([0017]; fig 1-2),
a clearance (see fig 1-2, clearance between 38 and 34) established at a confrontation between the feed roller (34) and the paste delivery roller (38) ([0017]; fig 1-2); and
an actuator (hopper motor, not shown) having a connection with the feed roller (34) ([0017]; fig 1-2).
Howlett teaches an assembly (col 3, In 21-31; fig 1), comprising:
a scraper bar (54) situated at the interior of the housing (col 4, In 2-15; fig 1),
an actuator (50+52) having a connection with the scraper bar (54) (col 4 In 2-15; fig 1).
Mendoza et al. '562 teaches a battery paste application hopper assembly ([0048]-[0049]; fig 10), comprising:
an actuator (894) actuatable to rotate the feed roller about an eccentric axis ([0048]-[0049]; fig 10),
wherein rotation of the feed roller about the eccentric axis (eccentric axis of 906, 912) adjusts the clearance established between the feed roller and the paste delivery roller ([0048]-[0049]; fig 10).
That is, Mendoza et al. '645 teaches a battery paste application hopper assembly ([0017]; fig 1-2), comprising:
a housing (18) establishing an interior (interior of 18) ([0017]; fig 1-2);
a paste delivery roller (38) situated at the interior (interior of 18) of the housing (18) ([0017]; fig 1-2);
a feed roller (34) situated at the interior (interior of 18) of the housing (18) ([0017]; fig 1-2), the feed roller (34) located adjacent (see fig 1-2, 38 adjacent 34) the paste delivery roller (38) ([0017]; fig 1-2),
a clearance (see fig 1-2, clearance between 38 and 34) established at a confrontation between the feed roller (34) and the paste delivery roller (38) ([0017]; fig 1-2); and
an actuator (hopper motor, not shown) having a connection with the feed roller (34) ([0017]; fig 1-2), however Mendoza et al. '645 does not disclose a scraper bar situated at said interior of said housing, said scraper bar located downstream a clearance established between said paste delivery roller and said feed roller; and an actuator having a connection with said scraper bar, wherein actuation of said actuator prompts rotation of said scraper bar.
Howlett teaches an assembly (col 3, In 21-31; fig 1), comprising:
a scraper bar (54) situated at the interior of the housing (col 4, In 2-15; fig 1),
an actuator (50+52) having a connection with the scraper bar (54) (col 4 In 2-15; fig 1).
However, the prior art does not teach nor fairly suggest employment of the elements of Howlett upon the assembly of Mendoza et al. '645 such that the
claimed limitations are met. There exists no motivation without benefit of hindsight for employment of the scraper bar of Howlett upon the assembly of Mendoza et al. '645, with further modification such that the scraper bar rotates, such that the claimed limitations are met.
Conclusion
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: all references cited on the attached PTO-892 Notice of References Cited excluding the above relied upon references.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jethro M Pence whose telephone number is (571)270-7423. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8:00 A.M. - 6:30 P.M..
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dah-Wei D. Yuan can be reached on 571-272-1295. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jethro M. Pence/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1717
Prosecution Insights