DETAILED ACTION
This is a first Non-Final Office Action on the merits in response to the application filed 06/13/23. The request for foreign priority to a corresponding KR application filed 07/12/22 has been received and is proper. Claims 1-20 are currently pending, yet all are rejected as detailed below. 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 § 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Yamashita
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yamashita (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2023/0349440) (priority date: 10/09/20). Yamashita is directed to a shock absorber. See Abstract.
Claim 1: Yamashita discloses a body valve assembly (25A, 25B) [Figs. 10-11, 13-14] configured to generate a damping force for a frequency sensitive shock absorber (1A, 1B), the body valve assembly comprising: a body valve main body (202) installed at an end of the frequency sensitive shock absorber adjacent to a compression chamber (20) and configured to adjust movement of working fluid between the compression chamber and a reserve chamber (6); a body pin (231A, 231B) penetrating and fastened to the body valve main body and having a body inlet flow path (382A) formed therein in communication with the compression chamber; a body main retainer (414A) coupled to the body pin and having a body main chamber (371A) formed therein in communication with the body inlet flow path (via 401A); a body main valve (451A) coupled to the body pin and configured to open and close the body main chamber; a body pilot housing (421A) coupled to the body pin and having one side facing the body main valve and the other side on which a body pilot chamber (501A) is formed in communication with the body inlet flow path; and a free piston (481A, 636B) coupled to the body pin and accommodated in the body pilot chamber and configured to press the body pilot housing in a direction toward the body main valve when pressure in the body pilot chamber increases above a predetermined pressure. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 2: Yamashita discloses a body inlet disk interposed between the body pilot housing and the free piston, wherein the body pilot chamber is communicated with the body inlet flow path via the body inlet disk so that an inflow flow rate of working fluid introduced into the body pilot chamber during a compression process of the frequency sensitive shock absorber is limited compared to an inflow flow rate of working fluid introduced into the body main chamber, selectively depending on a frequency during the compression process of the frequency sensitive shock absorber. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 3: Yamashita discloses that the body inlet disk comprises at least one body inlet disk slit formed to communicate the body inlet flow path formed in the body pin with the body pilot chamber to allow working fluid to be introduced into the body pilot chamber. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 4: Yamashita discloses that the free piston is configured to press the body pilot housing in a direction toward the body main valve by pressure of working fluid introduced into the body pilot chamber and allow the body main valve to close the body main chamber during a low frequency compression process, and wherein the free piston is configured to allow the body main valve to be opened during a high frequency compression process as the pressure of working fluid introduced into the body pilot chamber becomes lower than pressure of working fluid introduced into the body main chamber and a force of pressing the body pilot housing in a direction toward the body main valve is weaker than in the low frequency compression process. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 5: Yamashita discloses that when an inflow flow rate of working fluid introduced into the body pilot chamber increases and pressure of the body pilot chamber increases as a stroke of a piston rod of the frequency sensitive shock absorber is operated in a greater range during a low frequency compression process than during a high frequency compression process, the free piston presses the body pilot housing in a direction toward the body main valve when pressure in the body pilot chamber increases above the predetermined pressure, and the body pilot housing pushes the body main valve to close the body main chamber. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 6: Yamashita discloses that when an inflow flow rate of working fluid introduced into the body pilot chamber decreases and pressure of the body pilot chamber decreases as a stroke of a piston rod of the frequency sensitive shock absorber is operated in a smaller range during a high frequency compression process than during a low frequency compression process, and a force with which the free piston presses the body pilot housing in a direction toward the body main valve is weakened, the free piston is configured to allow the body main valve to be opened when pressure in the body pilot chamber decreases below the predetermined pressure. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 7: Yamashita discloses that the body inlet flow path is formed in the form of a slit on an outer peripheral surface of one side of the body pin along a longitudinal direction of the body pin. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 8: Yamashita discloses that the body valve body comprises a plurality of body compression flow paths and a plurality of body extension flow paths that are penetratively formed therein in a direction connecting the compression chamber and the reserve chamber. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 9: Yamashita discloses a disc spring configured to press the body pilot housing in a direction toward the body main valve. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 10: Yamashita discloses a body washer mounted to the body pin in the other direction opposite to one direction in which the free piston faces the body pilot housing; and a body spacer mounted to the body pin to maintain a spacing between the body washer and the body pilot housing. See Figs. 10-11, 13-14.
Claim 11: see claim 1 above. Yamashita further discloses a first cylinder (3) with a piston rod (21) and piston valve (18) mounted thereon to separate the first cylinder into two chambers (19, 20), as well as a second cylinder (2) surrounding the first cylinder to form a reserve chamber (6). See Fig. 1.
Claims 12-20: see claims 2-10 above, respectively.
Conclusion
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VISHAL SAHNI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3657
/VISHAL R SAHNI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616 May 18, 2026
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