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 .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I (Claims 1-14) in the reply filed on 2/13/26 is acknowledged.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-7, 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Antolini (3,115,261).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Antolini discloses a material moving attachment for a vehicle, comprising:
A box blade (35) having a blade working face (68) directed toward a front of the blade and extending in a lateral direction between opposed side plates (69), each side plate projecting forward of the blade working face (Figure 8), the side plates having inboard surfaces directed towards one another for laterally enclosing a material collection space adjacent the blade working face (Figure 9)
A coupling mechanism for attaching the blade to a vehicle, the coupling mechanism including:
A first coupling portion fixed to the blade and having at least one coupling channel (71) extending along a coupling axis, the coupling axis generally parallel to a ground surface and orthogonal to the lateral direction
A second coupling portion (19) attachable to the vehicle, the second coupling portion having at least one arm (21) alignable parallel with the coupling axis, each arm slidably receivable in a respective coupling channel (71) to releasably interconnect the first and second coupling portions for attachment of the blade to the vehicle
Regarding claims 2 and 12-13, each coupling channel extends between a channel front end open to the front face of the blade and a channel rear end axially opposite the channel front end and open to a rear of the blade (Figures 5, 9) (Column 4 lines 37-43).
Regarding claim 3, the second coupling portion comprises a vehicle mount opposite the at least one arm for mounting the second coupling portion to the vehicle with the at least one arm projecting away from the vehicle (Figure 1).
Regarding claims 5-6, the coupling mechanism comprises a locking mechanism (22) for axially locking the first and second coupling portions relative to each other when interconnected wherein the locking mechanism includes a locking member (22) moveably coupled to one of the first and second coupling portions, and when the first and second coupling portions are interconnected, the locking member (22) is movable relative to an abutment structure (43) fixed to the other one of the first and second coupling portions, between a locked position for interlocking engagement with the abutment structure (43) to axially lock the first and second coupling portions relative to each other, and an unlocked position clear of the abutment structure (43).
Regarding claim 7, the locking member (22) comprises a finger with a notch and the abutment structure comprises a retaining bar (43) extending in the lateral direction that receives the notch in the locked position.
Regarding claim 14, the at least one coupling channel includes a pair of coupling channels (Figure 9) spaced laterally apart from each other for receiving respective arms of the second coupling portion.
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) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Antolini (3,115,261) as applied to claims 1-2 above and further in view of Fulton (2001/0023546).
Regarding claim 9, Antolini discloses the invention as described above, but fails to disclose a trailer frame for attaching the blade to the rear of a vehicle. Like Antolini, Fulton discloses a material moving blade attached to a vehicle. Unlike Antolini, Fulton discloses that a trailer frame can be used to attach a moving blade to the rear of the vehicle. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a trailer frame in Antolini as taught by Fulton when it is desired to use the blade in a pulling configuration as it would be combining prior art elements according to known methods to obtain predictable results (KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 USPQ2d 1385 (2007)).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 8 and 10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Stewart (8,991,079) also discloses using channels to connect a blade to a vehicle.
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/JAMIE L MCGOWAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671