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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art as described in the specification as filed and in view of Dong et al. (US 2022/0290732).
The Applicant’s prior art discloses and shows in the figures label “Prior Art” (Figs. 4A-6) a steering system, comprising: a hydraulic cylinder configured to adjust a steering angle of wheels coupled to an axle, and a pair of hydraulic ports, each including an inboard section in sealing engagement with an outer circumference of a cylinder tube. The Prior Art does not include the pair of seals as described in claim 1.
Dong discloses and shows a piston/cylinder assembly to include a seal (Fig. A shown elsewhere below, item 100) positioned on an outer diameter of a cylinder tube (2) and at an inboard location in relation to a face of an end cap (horizontal end of the cylinder assembly), the seal preventing oil and contaminants from entering undesired spaces within the assembly.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Prior Art to arrange seal at both ends of the cylinder assembly and at an outer diameter of the cylinder tube to likewise prevent oil and contaminants from entering undesired spaces within the assembly.
Cl. 2 – the steering system is included in a forklift vehicle (para. 0030, Fig. 6).
Cl. 3 – the axle is a rear axle (para. 0025).
Cl. 4 – the face is normal to an axis about which a piston oscillates and wherein the piston is arranged in an interior volume of the cylinder tube.
Cl. 5 – the pair of hydraulic ports are directly coupled to an interior volume of the cylinder tube that is spaced away from a piston rod that is coupled to a piston of the cylinder tube (Fig. 5B).
Cl. 6 – an axis parallel to a forward direction of travel of an off-highway vehicle comprising the steering system further comprises where the axis extends through a center of an opening of a port of the pair of hydraulic ports and through an interior volume of the cylinder tube (Fig. 5B).
Cl. 7 – a distance between openings of the pair of hydraulic ports is less than a length of an interior volume of the cylinder tube to which the pair of hydraulic ports are fluidly coupled (Fig. 5B).
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 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art as described in the specification as filed.
Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art discloses and shows the inventions of independent claim 1 as described elsewhere above.
Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art shows in Figs. 4B and 5A each of the pair of hydraulic ports comprising a first passage and a second passage angled relative to the first passage, wherein the second passage directs hydraulic fluid to an interior volume of the cylinder tube. Paragraph 0028 of the specification describes the angle between the central axis of the first passage and the central axis of the piston rod as 55 degrees resulting in the angle between the first passage and the second passage as an angle other than 90 degrees.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to arrange said angle between the central axis of the first passage and the central axis of the piston rod such that the first passage is normal to the second passage in accordance with MPEP 2144.04(VI)(C) and In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950). (Claims to a hydraulic power press which read on the prior art except with regard to the position of the starting switch were held unpatentable because shifting the position of the starting switch would not have modified the operation of the device.)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-16 and 18-20 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant' s arguments with respect to the rejected claims have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds.
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 BOBBY RUSHING, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-0501. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8AM-5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached at (571) 270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BOBBY RUSHING, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618