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
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.
Claims 1-7 and 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colston et al. (US 10,105,007) in view of Norris (US 2018/0279634).
With regard to claims 1 and 15, Colston teaches an smoker (FIG. 5) comprising: a cabinet (100), a smoking chamber (110) positioned within the cabinet; and a smoke generating assembly (112/115/138/142/146) for providing a flow of smoke into the smoking chamber (110), the smoke generating assembly comprising: a smoke barrel (space containing auger 134) defining a smoldering chamber that extends between a first end (end at 120) and a second end (end at 112) along a central axis (FIG. 5), the smoke barrel (space containing auger 134) being configured for receiving combustible material; an auger (134) positioned within the smoke barrel and being rotatable about the central axis for selectively urging the combustible material from the first end (end at 120) toward the second end (end at 112) of the smoldering chamber.
Although Colston teaches a heat transfer component 188 and a heat sink 138; Colston does not explicitly teach a smoldering heater positioned adjacent the smoke barrel for smoldering the combustible material as the auger advances the combustible material past the smoldering heater; and an insulating spacer positioned between the smoke barrel and the smoldering heater; however, Norris from the same field of endeavor directed toward a smoker including a smoke generator that is configured to provide a controllable method of producing smoke without creating a flam teaches the aforementioned limitations: a smoldering heater (335) positioned adjacent the smoke barrel (330) for smoldering the combustible material as the auger (740) advances the combustible material past the smoldering heater (335); and an insulating spacer (338) positioned between the smoke barrel (330) and the smoldering heater (335) (“In some embodiments, an insulation layer 338 may be wrapped around the portion of conveyor casing 330 that is exterior of housing 310 and heat tape 335. Insulation layer 338 prevents a user from burning themselves on heated conveyor casing 330 and heat tape 335 when smoker 100 is in use. Heat tape 335 may be connected to control panel 216 to allow a user to adjust the temperature generated by heat tape 335. In some embodiments, the heat provided to conveyor casing 330 may be regulated by a rheostat or a programmable logic controller that adjusts the current supplied to the heat tape 335. Adjusting the current supplied to heat tape 335 can adjust the temperature of the conveyor casing 330.”, para. [0058]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device in the Colston reference, to include a smoldering heater positioned adjacent the smoke barrel for smoldering the combustible material as the auger advances the combustible material past the smoldering heater; and an insulating spacer positioned between the smoke barrel and the smoldering heater, as suggested and taught by Norris, for the purpose of providing a protective feature to a user to avoid a user from burning themselves (Norris: para. [0058]).
Although Colston does not teach that the smoker is an “indoor” smoker, however, it is submitted that the intended operational environment in which the subject apparatus (i.e., smoker) will be utilized within is merely a limitation related to the intended use. It is respectfully submitted that a limitation related to the intended use of an apparatus (see MPEP 2111.02 - Effect of Preamable, Item II.: "If the body of a claim fully and intrinsically sets forth all of the limitations of the claimed invention, and the preamble merely states, for example, the purpose or intended use of the invention, rather than any distinct definition of any of the claimed invention's limitations, then the preamble is not considered a limitation and is of no significance to claim construction. Pitney Bowes, Inc. V. Hewlett-Packard Co., 182 F.3d 1298, 1305, 51 USPQ2d 1161, 1165 (Fed. Cir. 1999). See also Rowe V. Dror, 112 F.3d 473, 478, 42 USPQ2d 1550, 1553 (Fed. Cir. 1997) ("where a patentee defines a structurally complete invention in the claim body and uses the preamble only to ate a purpose or intended use for the invention, the preamble is not a claim limitation"); Kropa V. Robie, 187 F.2d at 152, 88 USPQ2d at 480-81 (preamble is not a limitation where claim is directed to a product and the preamble merely recites a property inherent in an old product defined by the remainder of the claim) " Notwithstanding the foregoing, it would have been obvious before the effective date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the device in the Colston reference, such that the smoker is utilized indoors for the purpose of providing additional operational environments into which the subject smoker may be utilized.
With regard to claims 2 and 16, Norris teaches the insulating spacer (338) prevents any direct contact between the smoke barrel (330) and the smoldering heater (335) (see FIG. 7; “In some embodiments, an insulation layer 338 may be wrapped around the portion of conveyor casing 330 that is exterior of housing 310 and heat tape 335. Insulation layer 338 prevents a user from burning themselves on heated conveyor casing 330 and heat tape 335 when smoker 100 is in use. Heat tape 335 may be connected to control panel 216 to allow a user to adjust the temperature generated by heat tape 335. In some embodiments, the heat provided to conveyor casing 330 may be regulated by a rheostat or a programmable logic controller that adjusts the current supplied to the heat tape 335. Adjusting the current supplied to heat tape 335 can adjust the temperature of the conveyor casing 330.”, para. [0058]).
With regard to claims 3 and 17, Norris teaches the insulating spacer (338) is in direct contact with the smoke barrel (330) and the smoldering heater (335) (see FIG. 7; “In some embodiments, an insulation layer 338 may be wrapped around the portion of conveyor casing 330 that is exterior of housing 310 and heat tape 335. Insulation layer 338 prevents a user from burning themselves on heated conveyor casing 330 and heat tape 335 when smoker 100 is in use. Heat tape 335 may be connected to control panel 216 to allow a user to adjust the temperature generated by heat tape 335. In some embodiments, the heat provided to conveyor casing 330 may be regulated by a rheostat or a programmable logic controller that adjusts the current supplied to the heat tape 335. Adjusting the current supplied to heat tape 335 can adjust the temperature of the conveyor casing 330.”, para. [0058]).
With regard to claims 4 and 18, Norris teaches the smoldering heater comprises:
a heating block (310) defining a heater sleeve (wall portion of block 310; FIG. 7); and a heating element (portion of heater 335) positioned within the heater sleeve (part of 335 within wall of wall portion of black 310 as illustrated in FIG. 7) for selectively heating the heating block (310).
With regard to claims 5 and 19, Norris teaches the heating block defines an arcuate surface matching a curvature of the smoke barrel (portion of barrel 330 within heating block 310 in which the insulating spacer 338 is defined with an arcuate surface as illustrated in FIG. 7).
With regard to claim 6, Norris teaches the heating block is constructed from aluminum (metal conductor such as aluminum may be used within the heating element 335: “In some embodiments, the heating element may be wrapped around a 4.25 inch length of conveyor casing 330 that is exterior of housing 310. As an example, HTS/Amptek Duo-Tape® Heavy Insulated Tape may be used for heat tape 335 as the heating element.”, Norris: para. [0059]).
With regard to claim 7, Norris teaches the insulating spacer (338) defines an arcuate surface matching a curvature of the smoke barrel (330 (see FIG. 7).
With regard to claim 11, with regard to the limitation of the insulating spacer is constructed from ceramic, it is submitted that the aforementioned limitation is not critical to the subject invention as claim 12 recites that the insulating spacer is constructed from a material having a lower thermal conductivity than the smoke barrel and the smoldering heater, and notwithstanding the foregoing, Norris explicitly teaches: “the insulating spacer is constructed from a material having a lower thermal conductivity than the smoke barrel and the smoldering heater.”, Norris: para. [0058]).
With regard to claim 12, with regard to the limitation of the insulating spacer is constructed from a material having a lower thermal conductivity than the smoke barrel and the smoldering heater, it is submitted that the aforementioned limitation is not critical to the subject invention as claim 11 recites that the insulating spacer is constructed from ceramic, and notwithstanding the foregoing, Norris explicitly teaches: “the insulating spacer is constructed from a material having a lower thermal conductivity than the smoke barrel and the smoldering heater.”, Norris: para. [0058]).
With regard to claim 13, Norris teaches the smoke generating assembly further comprises: a container (770) positioned below the smoke barrel and the smoldering heater for receiving and extinguishing the combustible material (container 770 includes cooling liquid 775 to receive spent combustible material as illustrated in FIG. 7).
With regard to claim 14, Colston teaches a mounting bracket (170) fixed to the cabinet (100); and
a plurality of fasteners attaching the smoke barrel, the smoldering heater, and the insulating spacer to the mounting bracket (“Returning to FIG. 6, grill 100 can also include one or more fasteners 195 for connecting support member 170 to oven section 110 and/or warming cabinet 180. For instance, fastener 195 can comprise a threaded element, screw, bolt, rivet, bracket, clamp, clip, or other means for fastening. As shown in FIG. 7, support member 170 can include one or more fastener receiving elements (e.g., a (threaded) hole). In at least one embodiment, fastener 195 maintains an attachment position of support member 170 relative to oven section 110 and/or warming cabinet 180. However, in certain embodiments, the weight of oven section 110 and/or warming cabinet 180 are substantially supported by attachment element(s) 177.”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-10 and 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. The cited prior art does not teach the limitation of the smoke barrel defines a cutout and the insulating spacer is positioned in the cutout of the smoke barrel.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH W ISKRA whose telephone number is (313) 446-4866. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 09:00-17:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, IBRAHIME ABRAHAM can be reached on 571-270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH W ISKRA/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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