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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 1, 4, 11, 12, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Intorq GMBH & Co. KG (DE 202017103961) in view of Kendrion (DE 10 2016 103 176) (Applicant cited) (machine translation attached).
Regarding independent claim 1, Intorq discloses an electromagnetically released spring-applied brake (see machine translation, ¶ 0001) having a rotational axis (X) for attachment to a machine wall or to a machine housing or similar (18) (see e.g. FIG. 9), wherein the spring-applied brake consists of a coil carrier (4), of at least one armature disc (14), at least one brake rotor (15) and a flange plate (10), wherein the coil carrier is equipped with one or more solenoids (19) and with one or more compression springs (see ¶ 0037), wherein the parts of the coil carrier up to the flange plate are arranged one behind the other in the stated order along the rotational axis (see e.g. FIG. 8), wherein the coil carrier has, in the region of its outer circumference and proceeding from a pole surface, at least three axially extending spacer strips (9, 13), which are integrally formed with the coil carrier (see FIG. 3-7; spacer strips are integrally formed with coil carrier), wherein each of the spacer strips ensures, with a guiding region (9), via a corresponding armature driver groove (see FIG. 4, plate (4) has grooves corresponding to guiding regions (9)) of the at least one armature disc (see FIGS. 3-7), a rotationally fixed and axially movable mounting of the at least one armature disc (see e.g. FIGS. 4-7; ¶ 0001), wherein each of the spacer strips has a centering region (see e.g. FIGS. 6, 7; narrow portion of (13) passing through holes on flange plate (10)), which axially adjoins the guiding region (see FIGS. 5, 6) and is connected to the flange plate via a connection point (13) (see FIG. 7), wherein the brake rotor is clamped between the at least one armature disc and the flange plate by the force of the at least one compression spring to achieve a braking effect (see ¶ 0002), and wherein the at least one armature disc is drawn towards the coil carrier counter to the force of the at least one compression spring by energising the at least one solenoid to suspend the braking effect (see ¶ 0001).
Intorq does not disclose that the each of the spacer strips is connected to the flange plate via a connection point by laser welding.
Kendrion teaches an electromagnetically released spring-applied brake (see machine translation, ¶ 0001; FIG. 2) comprising at least three axially extending spacer strips (22) (see ¶ 0011, “several connecting elements”), which are integrally formed with the coil carrier (2) (see ¶ 0012, “[a]t least one of the connecting elements . . . can be formed integrally with the housing”), wherein each of the spacer strips is connected to a flange plate (18) via a connection point by laser welding (see ¶ 0013).
It would have been obvious to connect the flange plate of Intorq to the spacer strips using a laser welding process to substitute one known method of connecting a flange plate to spacer strip for another (see e.g. Kendrion, ¶ 0013), in addition to providing a laser welding step that precisely sets the air gap at a predetermined distance (see Kendrion, ¶ 0030), in addition to providing a laser welding step that is known in the art to be a high speed welding process with minimal heat input, leading to low distortion, superior strength and reduced post-connection finishing.
Regarding claim 4, Intorq discloses that the spacer strips have, over their axial extent, a differing cross-section of guiding region (9) and centering region (see FIGS. 3-7), that the guiding region has a larger radial extent than the centering region (see FIG. 3), and that the guiding region has, in its region facing the armature driver groove, a rounded or angular geometry (see FIG. 3).
Regarding claim 11, Intorq discloses that the spacer strips are preferably arranged on the coil carrier at equal angular intervals from one another in relation to a rotational axis (see FIGS. 2, 3).
Regarding claim 12, Intorq discloses that the flange plate (9) has the shape of a smooth circular ring (see FIG. 5).
Regarding claim 14, Intorq discloses that the centering regions of the spacer strips have laterally arranged, mutually opposing free faces (see FIG. 3, opposite sides of (13)), so that the centering regions have a smaller width in the circumferential direction than the guiding regions (see FIG. 3).
Regarding claim 20, Intorq discloses that in that the spring-applied brake has a round outer contour (see FIG. 4).
Claim 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baker et al. (US 5,620,065) in view of Kendrion (DE 10 2016 103 176) (Applicant cited) (machine translation attached).
Regarding independent claim 1, Baker discloses an electromagnetically released spring-applied brake (see Abstract, FIGS. 2-8) having a rotational axis (see FIG. 7) for attachment to a machine wall or to a machine housing or similar (56), wherein the spring-applied brake consists of a coil carrier (72), of at least one armature disc (80), at least one brake rotor (94) and a flange plate (88), wherein the coil carrier is equipped with one or more solenoids (82) and with one or more compression springs (84, 86), wherein the parts of the coil carrier up to the flange plate are arranged one behind the other in the stated order along the rotational axis (see e.g. FIG. 2), wherein the coil carrier has, in the region of its outer circumference and proceeding from the pole surface, at least three axially extending spacer strips (76, 78) (see col. 3, lines 33-36), which are integrally formed with the coil carrier (see FIG. 2; col. 3, lines 33-36), wherein each of the spacer strips ensures, with a guiding region (see FIG. 2, portion of (76) adjacent to plate (80)), via a corresponding armature driver groove (see e.g. FIG. 7, grooves (166, 168, 170)) of the at least one armature disc (see FIG. 7), a rotationally fixed and axially movable mounting of the at least one armature disc (see col. 3, lines 32-51), wherein each of the spacer strips has a centering region (see e.g. FIG. 2; portion of (78) extending above plate (80)), which axially adjoins the guiding region (see FIG. 2) and is connected to the flange plate via a connection point (see FIG. 2, portion of (78) adjacent to flange plate (88)), wherein the brake rotor is clamped between the at least one armature disc and the flange plate by the force of the at least one compression spring to achieve a braking effect (see col. 3, lines 45-51), and wherein the at least one armature disc is drawn towards the coil carrier counter to the force of the at least one compression spring by energising the at least one solenoid to suspend the braking effect (see col. 3, lines 45-51).
Baker does not disclose that the each of the spacer strips is connected to the flange plate via a connection point by laser welding.
Kendrion teaches an electromagnetically released spring-applied brake (see machine translation, ¶ 0001; FIG. 2) comprising at least three axially extending spacer strips (22) (see ¶ 0011, “several connecting elements”), which are integrally formed with the coil carrier (2) (see ¶ 0012, “[a]t least one of the connecting elements . . . can be formed integrally with the housing”), wherein each of the spacer strips is connected to a flange plate (18) via a connection point by laser welding (see ¶ 0013).
It would have been obvious to connect the flange plate of Baker to the spacer strips using a laser welding process to substitute one known method of connecting a flange plate to spacer strip for another (see e.g. Kendrion, ¶ 0013), in addition to providing a laser welding step that precisely sets the air gap at a predetermined distance (see Kendrion, ¶ 0030), in addition to providing a laser welding step that is known in the art to be a high speed welding process with minimal heat input, leading to low distortion, superior strength and reduced post-connection finishing.
Regarding claim 5, Baker discloses that the spacer strips have, over their axial extent, a cross-section which corresponds to the part of a cylinder lateral face with the rotational axis, at least on the inner side of the centering region (see e.g. FIG. 10).
Claims 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kendrion (DE 10 2016 103 176) (Applicant cited) (machine translation attached) in view of Intorq GMBH & Co. KG (DE 202017103961).
Regarding claim 15, Kendrion teaches a method for producing an electromagnetically released spring-applied brake (see ¶¶ 0029, 0030), wherein the spring-applied brake consists of a coil carrier (2), of at least one armature disc (8), at least one brake rotor (10) and a flange plate (18), wherein the coil carrier is equipped with one or more solenoids (4) and with one or more compression springs (see machine translation, ¶ 0026, “spring (not shown)”), wherein the parts of the coil carrier up to the flange plate are arranged one behind the other in the stated order along the rotational axis (see FIG. 2), wherein the coil carrier has, in the region of its outer circumference and proceeding from a pole surface, at least three axially extending spacer strips (22) (see machine translation, ¶ 0011, “The housing can be connected to the flange via several connecting elements that partially encompass the housing and the flange”), and which allow, via a centering region and via a connection point, a connection to the flange plate (see FIG. 2; machine translation, ¶ 0013), wherein the spacer strips are integrally formed with the coil carrier (see machine translation, ¶ 0012, “[a]t least one of the connecting elements connecting the housing to the flange . . . can be formed integrally . . . with the housing”), wherein the individual parts of the spring-applied brake, from the coil carrier to the flange plate, are inserted in the stated order into a device (32, 38) (see FIG. 4) which consists of a device plate (32) and at least one press stamp (38), wherein the press stamp presses all the parts of the spring-applied brake onto each other in direct contact against the device plate (see machine translation, ¶ 0030, “the flange 18 is pressed onto the friction disc 10 with the pressing tool”) and is then retracted in a displacement-controlled manner by the size of the desired air gap (see machine translation, ¶ 0030, “then moved by an exactly predetermined distance . . . [t]he new air gap has been moved back”), and the spacer strips are connected to the flange plate in this position by laser welding (see ¶ 0030).
Kendrion does not disclose that the spacer strips ensure, via a guiding region, a rotationally fixed and axially movable mounting of the at least one armature disc.
Intorq teaches an electromagnetically released spring-applied brake (see machine translation, ¶ 0001), wherein a coil carrier has at least three axially extending spacer strips (9, 13), which are integrally formed with the coil carrier (see FIG. 3-7; spacer strips are integrally formed with coil carrier), wherein each of the spacer strips ensures, via a guiding region (9), a rotationally fixed and axially movable mounting of the at least one armature disc (see FIG. 4, plate (4) has grooves corresponding to guiding regions (9)) (see also FIGS. 4-7; ¶ 0001).
It would have been obvious to replace the guiding elements (20) with the integrally formed spacer strips, as taught by Intorq, to eliminate the number of parts required for assembly (e.g. the integrally formed spacer strips are configured to perform the function of guiding the armature instead of separately formed guide pins).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 15 have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection noted above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS J LANE whose telephone number is (571)270-5988. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Siconolfi can be reached at (571)272-7124. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NICHOLAS J LANE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616
March 18, 2026