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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
No Information Disclosure Statement has been filed.
Specification/Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
The cam does not have a part number.
The plectrum does not have a part number.
The support piece does not have a part number.
The drive shaft does not have a part number.
The tension mooring anchor chain does not have a part number.
The connection assembly does not have a part number.
Please provide part numbers in the specification and drawings.
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.
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.
Claims 1-8 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 the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 line(s) 1 sets forth the limitation “type”. The addition of the word "type" to an otherwise definite expression extends the scope of the expression so as to render it indefinite. Ex parte Copenhaver, 109 USPQ 118 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1955). See MPEP § 2173.05(b).III.E.
Claim 4 line(s) 3 sets forth the limitation “the second end”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Perhaps the Applicant intended claim 4 to be dependent on claim 3.
Claim 8 sets forth the limitation “in a first state, the escapement shaking assembly does not work, the material collection assembly naturally upwardly inclines from the material container to the collection pocket net; […] in a third state, the escapement shaking assembly stops working, the material collection assembly is restored to a natural upward inclined state under an action of dead weight.”. It is unclear how the third state of the material collection assembly is different from the first state. If the escapement shaking assembly “does not work”, it is also “stops working” and both the first state and the third state lead to the same result, which is the material collection assembly naturally upwardly inclines from the material container to the collection pocket net.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 have allowable subject matter over the prior art of record. The prior art neither teaches, suggests, nor makes obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art a seesaw feeding device for collecting solid materials suspended in a flow field comprising the combination of claimed elements.
YOU (CN 113274785) discloses an immersed suspended solid matter enrichment flow guide cover device (title, Figs., see translation) and appears to discloses a material collection assembly including a container (implied by collection of suspended solids; L19-24), an annular water discharging screen mesh (Fig. 1 #4), and a delivery part (Fig. 1 #2).
MOON (US 20190161368) discloses a spilled oil collecting apparatus.
STIX (US 4053412) discloses a collecting device for a swimming pool comprising a net, an anchor and a chain.
BATES (US 10323375) discloses a floating litter trap.
Telephonic Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIAM A ROYCE whose telephone number is (571)270-0352. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-4:30.
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/Liam Royce/ Examiner, Art Unit 1777
LIAM A. ROYCE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1777