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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 6, 7, 9, and 10 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected embodiment, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 09 February 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Baljet et al. (US 3,757,932).
In Re claim 1, Baljet et al. disclose an anti-vibration device (16) for a vibration source (12) and a transmission portion (base 14), comprising: a first elastically deformed portion (26) shaped as a plate having a thickness in a first thickness direction; a second elastically deformed portion shaped as a plate having a thickness in a second thickness direction intersecting the first thickness direction (see different 26 which is located 90 degrees to the first elastically deformed portion; the planes intersect); and a third elastically deformed portion shaped as a plate having a thickness in a third thickness direction (see third 26 which is located at an angle relative to the first and second elastically deformed portions).
In Re claim 2, each of the first, second, and third elastically deformed portions has a flat surface lying in a plane orthogonal to its related thickness direction, and the surfaces are non-parallel (see multiple angled leaf springs 16).
In Re claim 3, the first, second, and third thickness directions are all perpendicular to each other (see leaf springs 16 which are rotated 90 degrees to each other). The examiner points out that Baljet et al. disclose that the angles my be “varied within wide limits” and may even be “at right angles” (col. 3-4, lines 47-52).
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mao et al. (US 2017/0025936).
In Re claim 1, Mao et al. disclose an anti-vibration device (leaf spring 100; fig. 2) for a vibration source (104) and a transmission portion (base 103), comprising: a first elastically deformed portion (101A) shaped as a plate having a thickness in a first thickness direction; a second elastically deformed portion (101B) shaped as a plate having a thickness in a second thickness direction intersecting the first thickness direction; and a third elastically deformed portion (102B) shaped as a plate having a thickness in a third thickness direction intersecting the first and second thickness directions.
In Re claim 2, each of the first, second, and third elastically deformed portions has a flat surface lying in a plane orthogonal to its related thickness direction, and the surfaces are non-parallel (see 101A, 101B, and 102B).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-12 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.
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/THOMAS W IRVIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616