DETAILED ACTION
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on August 28, 2023 has been reviewed and considered by the Examiner.
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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Creighton (US 2011/0005425) in view of Miller (US 6,502,518).
Creighton discloses a method of modifying a railcar to form an extended railcar comprising the steps of providing an existing railcar, shown in figure 1, with a plurality of hoppers 38 supported on a pair of trucks 31, 32, with the laterally end hoppers including sloped end floors, shown in figure 2A. Each end section including a center sill section, a pair of side sill sections; a pair of top chord sections, a pair of side wall sections with each side wall section extending between a side sill section and a top chord section. Figure 2A shows the forming of an underframe construction of the modified railcar between the repurposed end sections, wherein the underframe construction includes a center sill construction coupled to the center sill sections of each repurposed end section, a plurality of hopper gate openings between the repurposed end sections, and at least one hopper divider between the repurposed end sections and forming a pair of sidewall constructions 56 of the modified railcar between the repurposed end sections, wherein each sidewall construction includes a side sill section 80e coupled to one of the side sill sections of each repurposed end section; a top chord section 54 coupled to one of the top chord sections of each repurposed end section, a side wall section extending between the side sill section and the top chord section. Backing bars 80i are installed inside the hopper to support the side walls and extend from the lower side sill to the upper top chord supporting the extended roof of the car.
Creighton discloses the structure of the railcar as described above. Miller recites a method of modifying a multiple hopper railcar comprised of the step of “severing railcar 10 into three sections 14, 16 and 18, and removing center section 16”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have utilized the step of severing or cutting, like that of Miller, with a railcar, structure, like that of Creighton, with the expected result of effectively and accurately cutting the railcar to be modified so as to allow for an accurate reattachment of the end sections.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert J McCarry Jr. whose telephone number is (571)272-6683. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00-3:00.
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/Robert J McCarry Jr/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615
RJM
November 19, 2025
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