DETAILED ACTION
The response dated 5/13/2026 has been entered and is treated below.
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
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 9-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SE1850502 to Sandstrom in view of US 2003/0034237 to Yester.
Regarding claim 1 Sandstrom discloses a plate feeder for handling overburden or mineral comprising: a feed device having: a material receiving end for receiving material (receiving end of 1); a material discharge end distal of the material receiving end (discharge end of 1); an endless conveyor disposed to define a conveying surface between the material receiving end and the discharge end movable in use to cause material received at the material receiving end to be conveyed to the material discharge end (conveyor 1); a material flow monitoring device disposed in association with the feed device and adapted to obtain in use a measurement representative of a quantity of material passing along the conveying surface of the endless conveyor (13 or page 4 paras 9-11); wherein the feed device is conformed as a surge conveyor (see figure 1); the plate feeder further comprises a chassis supporting the feed device (see figure 1); and a transport carriage supporting the chassis (see figure 1 and wheeled base) and adapted to cause the plate feeder to be movable across a surface for deployment in use (see figure 1); and the material flow monitoring device is adapted to obtain both a volume of material passing along the conveyor (machine translation page 2 para 3, camera 13); and a weight of material passing along the conveyor (13 or page 4 paras 9-11).
Sandstrom does not explicitly disclose wherein the endless conveyor comprises a plurality of successively arrayed metal plates, pans or flights conformed as at least one of overlapping and interlocking to form a continuous surface and direct measurement of a weight of material passing along the endless conveyor through a weighing zone defined relative to the endless conveyor progressively as material on the conveying surface of the endless conveyor is caused to move through the weighing zone
Yester teaches an apron conveyor including the endless conveyor comprises a plurality of successively arrayed metal plates, pans or flights conformed as at least one of overlapping and interlocking to form a continuous surface (140 and para 0037) in order to handle abrasive materials (para 0037) and a system for obtaining direct measurement of a weight of material passing along the endless conveyor through a weighing zone defined relative to the endless conveyor progressively as material on the conveying surface of the endless conveyor is caused to move through the weighing zone (paras 0012 and 0015) in order to weigh the material as it is conveyed and provide a weighing device that is incorporated into the system (paras 0013 and 0039).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of Applicant’s claims to have modified Sandstrom to include the endless conveyor comprises a plurality of successively arrayed metal plates, pans or flights conformed as at least one of overlapping and interlocking to form a continuous surface and direct measurement of a weight of material passing along the endless conveyor through a weighing zone defined relative to the endless conveyor progressively as material on the conveying surface of the endless conveyor is caused to move through the weighing zone, as taught by Yester, in order to handle abrasive materials and to weigh the material as it is conveyed and provide a weighing device that is incorporated into the system. Furthermore, it is noted that such materials and construction of conveyors are standard for apron conveyors (see Yester at para 0007). Additionally using the weighing system of Yester merely entails substituting one known weighing system for another to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 9 Yester teaches the material flow monitoring device comprises a weighing system disposed below a part of the endless conveyor forming the conveying surface in a fixed relationship with the plate feeder so as to obtain a measure of weight of material passing over the conveying surface (see figure 2).
Regarding claim 10 Yester teaches the weighing system is disposed adjacent to a second surface of the endless conveyor opposed to the conveying surface (see figure 3).
Regarding claims 11-14 Yester teaches a weighing system for an apron conveyor including the weighing system comprises an array of weighing devices mounted on a rigid frame (154 figure 7), the weighing system comprises two frame portions wherein a first frame portion is adapted to engage a second surface of the endless conveyor (structure above 153) in figure 7), and a second frame portion (153) carries the array of weighing devices (154) disposed on the second frame portion such that a load carried by the first frame portion is transferred through and measurable by the array of weighing devices in use, the second frame portion is mounted on the plate feeder (see figure 7), and mounted to but carried spaced apart from a primary support frame of the plate feeder (see figure 7), and wherein the first frame portion is seated upon the second frame portion, but is not mounted in fixed manner to the feeder (see figure 7) and the first frame portion is provided with engagement means so configured as to be functionally continuous with corresponding engagement means on a primary support frame of the feeder such that the endless conveyor engages to be translatable thereon (see e.g., figure 4 central portion); and the first frame portion is provided with rotational drive engagement formations (122) configured to co-operate with equivalent rotational drive engagement formations on the support frame such that with the weighing system in position the endless conveyor engages to be translatable continuously thereon (see figure 4 and 7).
Regarding claim 15 Sandstrom discloses a material scanner from which an indication of composition may be obtained, and for example further from which inferences may be drawn about material density, ore quality or other material property (see camera 13).
Regarding claim 16 Sandstrom discloses the transport carriage includes a pair of parallel, driven, ground-engaging tracks (page 6 para 5 discussing wheels or tracks).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/13/2026 with respect to Sandstrom and Yester have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. As discussed above Yester discloses those features (overlapping plates and the weight measuring details) that Applicant alleges to be missing from Sandstrom. Examiner agrees that Sandstrom does not disclose these features but maintains that Yester does and that the combination would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art (see above for detailed claim by claim analysis).
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 MARK C HAGEMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5547. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:15-4:45 (PST).
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/MARK C HAGEMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3652
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