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 § 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.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by McIntosh (US 2,075,952). McIntosh discloses an expansion anchor comprising: an anchor bolt (40); an expansion sleeve (20) around the bolt; a wedge body (30) in a front region of the anchor bolt for expanding the sleeve; the expansion sleeve has a front face facing the wedge body and an expansion slit (23) originating at the front face of the expansion sleeve; the slit including a stem and an adjoining head (24) which is wider than the stem; the stem being located between the head and the front face; the head is off center relative to the stem (Fig. 9 and 10); and the head is elongated perpendicular to the stem.
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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. Hoppe (US 6,676,348) teaches another example of a slit with an off-center stem and head. The additional references cited are to general interest teaching other head shapes.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FLEMMING SAETHER whose telephone number is (571)272-7071. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 - 7:00 eastern.
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/FLEMMING SAETHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675
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