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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/8/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendments
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments. The previous rejections are withdrawn. New rejections are set forth herein .
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.
Claims 1, 2, and 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grether (US D542,105S) in view of Stolarczyk (US 4,361,412).
Regarding claim 1, Gerther discloses an aerator accessory, wherein:
the accessory comprises a handle (Item A) having a main body and a plurality of connecting joints surrounding the main body, a top end and a bottom of each connecting joint respectively connected to an aerator socket with a respective diameter, wherein the diameters of the aerator sockets are different, an axial direction of each aerator socket extending from the top end to the bottom end (best shown in Figure 6);
each aerator socket comprising an opening end and an inner sidewall, and one opening end of at least one of the aerator sockets has a first fastening portion with a plurality of engaging teeth disposed evenly around the opening end (Item B);
one inner sidewall of at least one of the aerator sockets has a second fastening portion with two opposite parallel tangent planes (Item C); and
one inner sidewall of at least another aerator socket has a third fastening portion comprising at least two tapered fastening grooves on the inner sidewall partially extending in the inner sidewall along the axial direction (Item D).
Grether fails to explicitly disclose one inner sidewall of at least another aerator socket has a fourth fastening portion comprising a plurality of fastening grooves evenly disposed around the inner sidewall and fully extending along the inner sidewall along the axial direction..
Stolarczyk teaches a socket wherein one inner sidewall comprising a plurality of fastening grooves evenly disposed around the inner sidewall and fully extending along the inner sidewall along the axial direction (Figure 9). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify a one of the plurality of aerator socket of Grether to have the grooves as taught by Stolarczyk. Such a modification would allow a user to increase the amount of torque that could be applied between the fastener and the tool (Stolarczyk Column 1 Lines 37-40).
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Enlarged Figure 7 - Gerther
Regarding claim 2, Gerther in view of Stolarczyk disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the handle is a plane body (best shown in Gerther Figure 6).
Regarding claim 4, Gerther in view of Stolarczyk disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first fastening portion comprises six engaging teeth ringed around the opening end of the socket (best shown on Gerther Figures 7 on the left).
Regarding claim 5, Gerther in view of Stolarczyk disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first fastening portion comprises eight engaging teeth ringed around the opening end (Gerther Figures 7 on the bottom).
Regarding claim 6, Gerther in view of Stolarczyk disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third fastening portion comprises two tapered fastening grooves (Gerther – Enlarged Figure 7).
Regarding claim 7, Gerther in view of Stolarczyk disclose the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third fastening portion comprises a plurality of fastening grooves ringed around the inner peripheral wall (Gerther – Enlarged Figure 7 shows two which is a plurality).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grether (US D542,105S) in view of Stolarczyk (US 4,361,412) in view of Correa (US D575,122S).
Regarding claim 3, Gerther discloses the aerator accessory as claimed in claim 1. Gerther fails to explicitly disclose further comprising five connecting joints arranged radially around the handle.
Correa teaches a multitool with at least five connecting joints arranged radially around the handle (Figure 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the number of connecting joints around the handle to include a fifth joint as taught by Correa. Such a modification would allow another size of socket to be incorporated to the faucet tool of Gerther, thus allowing the user the ability to have another tool on the multi tool for added convenience. This is beneficial since there are several different fitting sizes and styles and the combinations between the common fittings and styles is limitless.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 4/8/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under Gerther in view of Vines have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Gerther in view of Stolarczyk
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TOM R RODGERS whose telephone number is (313)446-4849. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8AM-5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Posigian can be reached at (313) 446-6546. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TOM RODGERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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