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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 07/14/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 objected to because of the following informalities:
Regrading claim 8, in line 1 the phrase “A manual grinder” should be changed to “The manual grinder”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-7 and 8-10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the upper part" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the outer side surface" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the lower part" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the number" in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the number" in line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the upper port" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the lower port" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the number" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the area" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the top surface" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "the bottom" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "the top end" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the side part" in line 18. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 9-10 are rejected because they depend from claim 8.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the outer side surface" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the side wall" in line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the bottom of the bracket" in lines 9-10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the bottom of the upper shell" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the upper and lower surfaces" in line 11. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the bottom surface of fixed ring" in lines 12-13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the top" in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the inner side of the upper end of the intermediate ring" in lines 13-14. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the bottom of the guiding shaft" in line 23. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the top" in line 24. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the top" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (CN207604868U attached NPL, English Machine translation) in view of Lee (US20170332831A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, Lin discloses a manual grinder, comprising a shell (fig.5: (1, 6 and 11)), a handle (fig.5: (24)) and a grinding assembly (fig.5: (31) and (32)),
the grind assembly is arranged in the shell, a transmission shaft (fig.5: (21)) is arranged in the shell, the upper end of the transmission shaft penetrates the shell and is connected with the handle (fig.5: (24)), and the lower end of the transmission shaft is penetrated in the grinding assembly (fig.5: (31) and (32)),
wherein the top of the shell is provided with an opening (fig.4: the opening of the element (11)) and a swivelling cover (fig.5: (23)), the swivelling cover is rotatably connected with the shell (paragraph 0041); the upper end of the transmission shaft penetrates the swivelling cover (fig.5).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, Lin does not disclose the swivelling cover is provided with a feed port, the feed port is provided with a closing cover, the closing cover is fixed relative to the shell; and wherein the feed port is less than half the area of the top surface of the swivelling cover.
Lin teaches a manual grinder (abstract), comprising a cover is provided with a feed port (fig.9: (331)), the feed port is provided with a closing cover (fig.9: (331a)), the closing cover is fixed relative to a shell (fig.9: (20)) (paragraphs 0065-0067 and 0093); and wherein the feed port is less than half the area of the top surface of the swivelling cover (fig.9).
Both of the prior arts of Lin and Lee are related to a manual grinder;
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cover of the apparatus of Lin by a feed port, the feed port is provided with a closing cover, the closing cover is fixed relative to the shell, and wherein the feed port is less than half the area of the top surface of the cover as taught by Lee, since it has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results requires only routine skill in the art. [KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)]. Thereby having the swivelling cover is provided with a feed port, the feed port is provided with a closing cover, the closing cover is fixed relative to the shell; and wherein the feed port is less than half the area of the top surface of the swivelling cover.
Regarding claim 2, Lin discloses wherein the shell comprises an upper shell forming a feeding cavity (fig.5: (11)), an intermediate ring fixing the grinding assembly (fig.5: see the bottom ring of the element (1) at the elements (4)), and a lower shell forming a receiving cavity (fig.5: (61)) from top to bottom.
Therefore, the modification of Lin in view of Lee teaches the limitations of claim 2.
Regarding claim 3, Lin discloses wherein the grinding assembly comprises an internal grinding disc (fig.5: (31)) and an external grinding disc (fig.5: (32)) which are matched with each other, and a grinding cavity with a large top and a small bottom is formed between the internal grinding disc and the external grinding disc (fig.5: see the cavity between elements (31) and (32)).
Therefore, the modification of Lin in view of Lee teaches the limitations of claim 3.
Regarding claim 4, Lin discloses wherein the internal grinding disc (fig.4: (31)) is in the shape of a circular table, the upper part of the outer side surface of the internal grinding disc is provided with a first conical grinding surface, the lower part of the outer side surface of the internal grinding disc is provided with a second conical grinding surface, the first conical grinding surface and the second conical grinding surface extend to intersect, the first conical grinding surface and the second conical grinding surface are both provided with grinding teeth, the number of the grinding teeth on the second conical grinding surface is greater than that on the first conical grinding surface (figs.2 and 4: (31)), a through hole is arranged in the center of the internal grinding disc, and the transmission shaft is penetrated in the through hole and fixedly connected with the internal grinding disc (figs.2, 4-5).
Therefore, the modification of Lin in view of Lee teaches the limitations of claim 4.
Regarding claim 5, Lin discloses wherein the upper port of the external grinding disc (fig.4: (32)) is provided with a third conical grinding surface, the lower port of the external grinding disc is provided with a fourth conical grinding surface, the third conical grinding surface and the fourth conical grinding surface extend to intersect, the third conical grinding surface and the fourth conical grinding surface are both provided with grinding teeth, and the number of the grinding teeth on the fourth conical grinding surface is larger than that on the third conical grinding surface (figs.2 and 4: (32)).
Therefore, the modification of Lin in view of Lee teaches the limitations of claim 5.
Regarding claim 7, Lin in view of Lee does not disclose wherein the bottom of the swivelling cover is provided with a groove formed by inward bending, the top end of the shell is provided with an arc-shaped folded edge, and the arc-shaped folded edge is installed by matching with the groove;
However, Lin discloses the bottom of the swivelling cover is matching with the top end of the shell to detachably mounted on the rotating shaft and covers an opening of the body to prevent objects from falling out of the opening (paragraph 0041);
and obviously the cover (23) should have a fixing element to be match with a fixing element of the shell to detachably mounted on the rotating shaft and covers an opening of the body to prevent objects from falling out of the opening;
Therefore; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the bottom of the swivelling cover is provided with a receiving fixing element, the top end of the shell is provided with a fixing element, and the fixing element is installed by matching with the receiving fixing element in order to detachably mounted on the rotating shaft and covers an opening of the body to prevent objects from falling out of the opening (Lin: paragraph 0041).
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 8, the closet prior art is Lin (CN207604868U), however in the opinion of the Examiner that the arts of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitation of “a horizontal slider, which is slidably mounted on the pair of vertical members, a horizontally disposed ram which is attached to the framework and the horizontal slider, a surface contoured second roller which is rotatably mounted on the horizontal slider, and a second motor which is mounted on the horizontal slider and is in motive relation with the surface contoured first roller and a chute between each processing unit” in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Claims 9-10 are depended from claim 8.
Claim 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED S ALAWADI whose telephone number is (571)272-2224. The examiner can normally be reached 08:00 am- 05:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CHRISTOPHER TEMPLETON can be reached at (571)270-1477. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMED S. ALAWADI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725