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 .
Acknowledgment is made of the amendment filed 10/7/25. Accordingly the application has been amended.
Specification
The amendments to the specification filed 10/7/25 has not been entered because the paragraph numbers are not consistent with the specification on file, dated 9/1/23. The paragraphs 0079-0081 of the specification dated 9/1/23 are not the same as the amended paragraphs 0079-0081 and thus inconsistent. It appears that the amended paragraphs are the same as paragraphs 0066-0068.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “capping”, as in claim 10, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings submitted 10/7/25 are not of sufficient quality to permit examination. The replacement drawings submitted 10/7/25 include reference to C for the capping in response to a drawing objection (as noted above and as presented previously), however the drawings are of such insufficient quality that the element C cannot be seen or identified and thus the drawings cannot be examined for accuracy and compliance. In the drawings submitted it appears that reference C is indicated the same elements as P1 and the sealing member, there are no other structures visible to identify as element C. Accordingly, replacement drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to this Office action. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action.
Applicant is given a shortened statutory period of TWO (2) MONTHS to submit new drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.81. Extensions of time may be obtained under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.136(a) but in no case can any extension carry the date for reply to this letter beyond the maximum period of SIX MONTHS set by statute (35 U.S.C. 133). Failure to timely submit replacement drawing sheets will result in ABANDONMENT of the application.
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) 1-4,7-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GB2490304.
Claim 1. GB 2490304 discloses a beam for a construction element of a wood-framed structure, the beam (10 or 100) comprising:
a first and a second longitudinal members (13,14 as in 10 or the any of multiple combinations of the members 13 or 14 of 100 as seen in figure 3) extending longitudinally parallel to one another and at a distance from one another, each of said longitudinal members comprising an outer face and an inner face (as seen in the figures), the respective inner faces of the longitudinal members facing one another, the beam being closed by first and second closure panels (11,12) bearing on the transverse sides of the longitudinal members,
wherein the outer face of at least one of the longitudinal members is provided with at least one longitudinal groove (16) to receive a sealing strip which is suitable for ensuring the seal between the beam and another component of the construction element (where it is capable of the claimed intended use),
wherein the longitudinal members have a T-shaped section, the inner face of the longitudinal members being formed by the base of the T and the closure panels being fitted by their longitudinal edges in shoulders of the longitudinal members formed on either side of the sides of the T (as noted at page 8, lines 19-32), and
wherein at least the longitudinal member which is provided with the at least one longitudinal groove is made of solid wood panels, from panels with multiple layers (page 10, lines 16-17) wherein an outer layer of a panel forming the outer face of said longitudinal member is a sheet of OSB or other suitable material in which respectively the wood grain or the ply of the panel forming the outer face is oriented in the longitudinal direction X of the beam (page 10, lines 16-17, where the OSB has a grain and/or ply and where the material forms the longitudinal length of the beam and therefore the ply is considered to be oriented in the longitudinal direction of the beam as it is throughout the longitudinal length of the beam).
GB2490304 does not expressly disclose that the solid wood material is plywood, or that the grain of the wood is oriented in the longitudinal direction of the beam, but does disclose that it is OSB or other suitable material, and further discloses the use of plywood to form ribs 19 (page 10, lines 10-14).
At the time the invention was filed, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the panel to be plywood because applicant has not disclosed that plywood provides an advantage, is used for a particular purpose, or solves a stated problem. One of ordinary skill in the art, furthermore, would have expected the OSB, and applicant’s claimed plywood to perform equally well as disclosed in the specification and in GB2490304.
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to modify GB2490304 to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1, where the outer layer of the longitudinal member is a sheet of plywood and the grain of the wood is oriented in the longitudinal direction (where GB2490304 discloses the play of the panel is oriented in the longitudinal direction as noted above) because such a modification would have been considered a mere design consideration which fails to patentably distinguish over the prior art of GB2490304. Further it is noted it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to substitute the OSB of GB2490304 to be plywood, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416. In the instant case it would have been obvious for at least the reason that they are art recognized equivalents and GB2490304 indicates substituting with any known suitable material and applicant discloses in the specification that they are known equivalents and both suitable materials and having the grain oriented in the longitudinal direction improves the strength of the of the member.
Claim 2. The beam as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer face of at least one of the longitudinal members (page 4, lines 11-16; page 9, lines 11-16) is provided with at least one longitudinal groove (16) for receiving a sealing strip which is suitable for ensuring the seal between the beam and another component of the construction element (where it is capable of the claimed intended use).
Claim 3. The beam as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second longitudinal members are maintained at a distance from one another by spacers (15) extending transversely, which are disposed between the closure panels and which rest by their ends in grooves (the housing joints as noted at page 9, lines 1-9 and as seen in figure 3) formed on the respective inner faces of each of the longitudinal members.
Claim 4. The beam as claimed in claim 3, wherein the spacers are disposed at intervals so as to form cavities (18) closed by the closure panels (as seen in figure 3), said beam further comprising insulation means (17) arranged in said cavities.
Claim 7. The beam as claimed in claim 1, wherein the depth of the longitudinal groove corresponds substantially to the thickness of the outer layer of the panel forming the outer face of the longitudinal member (as best understood this is seen in the figures and noted in the disclosure).
Claim 8. The beam as claimed in claim 1, wherein the closure panels comprise a material comprising wood, and are preferably chosen from among medium-density wood fiber panels or panels made of hard-wood fibers transformed under high pressure or oriented wood particle panels, or plywood panels, or solid wood panels, composite wood panels comprising wood fibers and plastic resins (page 10, lines 16-17).
Claim 11. The beam as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one intermediate longitudinal member (one of the intermediate members 13 or 14 of 100 as seen in figure 3) of the same thickness as the first and second longitudinal members in the direction of vertical axis Z of the beam, extending longitudinally parallel to said longitudinal members between the inner faces of said longitudinal members which are turned toward one another, said intermediate longitudinal member being disposed equidistant between the first and second longitudinal members in the direction of the longitudinal axis Y (as seen in figure 3 where 13/14 is equidistant between 13 of the left side and the next 14 to the right side).
Claim 12. The beam as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
- above the first and second longitudinal members and the intermediate longitudinal member in the direction of the vertical axis Z of the beam, an intermediate panel (any other member of 100,300,200 or any combination of additional 10 as seen in figures 1-3,6,8,9,15,17,18,21) extending longitudinally and parallel to the first closure panel, symmetrically with said first closure panel with respect to said longitudinal members and said intermediate longitudinal member, said intermediate panel being of the same length and of the same width as the first and second closure panels;
- other longitudinal members (any other member 100,300,200 or any combination of additional 10 as seen in figures 1-3,6,8,9,15,17,18,21) and another intermediate longitudinal member extending longitudinally and parallel to the intermediate panel and symmetrically with the first and second longitudinal members and the intermediate longitudinal member, respectively, with respect to said intermediate panel,
- the second closure panel being arranged to close the beam by bearing against the top face of the other longitudinal members as seen in at least figure 6 where 202 closes 100,300) and of the other intermediate longitudinal member, symmetrically with the intermediate panel with respect to said other longitudinal members and said other intermediate longitudinal member (where they may be arranged in combinations as noted in the disclosure and figures).
Claim 13. A construction element chosen from the group comprising wall, frame or a wood-framed structure, the construction element comprising a beam as claimed in claim 1 (as seen in the figures and disclosure).
Claim 14. A wood-framed structure, including a house or a building, the structure comprising a construction element as claimed in 13 (as seen in the figures and noted in the disclosure).
Claim(s) 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GB 2490304 in view of Wrightman (5020289).
Claims 9-10. GB 2490304 discloses the beam as claimed in claim 1, but does not expressly disclose comprising a sealing strip disposed in the longitudinal groove, said sealing strip being suitable for ensuring the seal between the beam and another component of the construction element, for example a bracing panel or a cladding panel of the structure incorporating the beam wherein the sealing strip is a compression strip held compressed by a capping such that, as long as the capping is in place, the sealing strip and the capping are entirely contained in the groove whereas, when the capping is removed, the sealing strip inflates outward beyond the edges of the longitudinal groove.
Wrightman discloses a beam having a longitudinal groove in the outer surfaces and further discloses a sealing strip (any one or all of 100,102,104,84) disposed in the longitudinal groove, said sealing strip being suitable for ensuring the seal between the beam and another component of the construction element, for example a bracing panel or a cladding panel of the structure incorporating the beam wherein the sealing strip is a compression strip held compressed by a capping (the upper member 12) such that, as long as the capping is in place, the sealing strip and the capping are entirely contained in the groove (as seen at figure 3) whereas, when the capping is removed, the sealing strip inflates outward beyond the edges of the longitudinal groove (as noted at col. 7, line 38-col 8, line 6).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to pursue known design options and include a sealing strip held in the groove by a capping (the member attached to the groove) to achieve the predictable result of watertight joining of elements to prevent damage to the structure and its elements.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/7/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that due to the grooves of the edge layers to position the webs it cannot be asserted that the longitudinal member is T-shaped. This is not persuasive as seen in figure 3 and as noted in the disclosure at page 8 (see above) the members have a rebate forming the T-shape. Applicants arguments that reference is silent concerning the arrangement of the wood grain or ply of the layers of the panel according to an orientation of the longitudinal direction is not persuasive. T he claim recites “or the ply of the panel… is oriented in the longitudinal direction”, this does not specify or particularly require a specific orientation of the ply, merely than an extent or portion of the ply is oriented in the longitudinal direction of the beam. In any orientation of the ply, a portion or extend of the ply will necessarily be oriented in the longitudinal direction of the beam for at least the reason that the ply is along the beam and the panel extends along the beam. Accordingly applicants arguments are not persuasive. Further it is noted that the previous office action relied upon GB2490304 for teaching OSB, which is no longer part of the scope of amended claim 1.
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 JESSICA LAUX whose telephone number is (571)272-8228. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-3:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Mattei can be reached at 571.270.3238. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JESSICA L. LAUX
Examiner
Art Unit 3635
/JESSICA L LAUX/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3635