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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A (the tipping mechanism of fig. 4) in the reply filed on 12/15/2025 is acknowledged. Claims 6-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Robinson et al. (US 4,447,185), hereafter referred to as Robinson, in view of Zhao et al. (US 11,104,527 B1), hereafter referred to as Zhao.
Consider claim 1. Robinson teaches an apparatus for tipping boxes, comprising: a stationary support structure (1), a chute (22) fixed with respect to the stationary support structure and including an inclined surface having an upper edge and a lower edge (see fig. 1 and column 6, lines 21-25), a movable support (3) carrying two tipping arms (5), wherein the tipping arms carry a first and a second guide (15) extending parallel to a longitudinal direction and configured to engage respective outer edges of a box, and a drive unit (7, 8) configured to move said tipping arms with respect to the stationary support structure along a straight direction (see figs. 3 and 4) inclined with respect to a vertical direction and to rotate the tipping arms with respect to the stationary support structure around an axis parallel to said longitudinal direction (see figs. 4 and 5), wherein the movable support is rotatable with respect to the stationary support structure about a first axis (X-X) parallel to said longitudinal direction, and wherein the tipping arms are rotatable jointly with respect to the movable support around a second axis (Y-Y) parallel to said first axis, and wherein the drive unit is configured to control rotation of the movable support with respect to the stationary support structure around said first axis and rotation of the tipping arms with respect to the movable support around said second axis independently from each other (via 7 and 8), wherein said drive unit comprises a first motor (7) fixed with respect to said stationary support structure and arranged to control the rotation of said movable support with respect to the stationary support structure around said first axis (see column 4, lines 10-12), and wherein said drive unit comprises a second motor (8) carried by said movable support and arranged to control the rotation of said tipping arms with respect to the movable support around said second axis (see column 4, lines 20-22).
Robinson does not explicitly teach that the first drive motor and the second drive motor are rotary motors. Zhao teaches that rotary motors (110, 112) are well-known in the art for tipping and dumping a container. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Robinson’s apparatus with rotary motors as taught by Zhao in order to reduce the overall size of the actuator and to reduce the number of exposed moving parts to improve reliability.
Consider claim 2. Robinson teaches that said drive unit is controlled to actuate the movable support and the tipping arms in opposite directions to each other so as to move the box along said straight direction up to a position wherein an upper edge of the box is adjacent to the upper edge of said chute (see figs. 3 and 4).
Consider claim 3. Robinson teaches that said drive unit is controlled to stop the rotation of said movable support and to control the rotation of said tipping arms so as to overturn the box around said second axis (see figs. 5 and 6).
Consider claim 4. Robinson teaches that said chute comprises a pair of lateral sides located on opposite sides (left and right sides of 22 in fig. 1) of said inclined surface and wherein said tipping arms extend inside with respect to said pair of lateral sides (sides of 22 extend beyond arms 5 in fig. 1).
Consider claim 5. Robinson teaches an inlet conveyor (12) arranged to advance the boxes in the longitudinal direction. Robinson does not explicitly teach an outlet conveyor. Zhao teaches an outlet conveyor (130) arranged to advance the products released from boxes along a transverse direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Robinson’s apparatus with an outlet conveyor as taught by Zhao and to position the outlet conveyor in the claimed orientation in order to transport articles which have been dumped from the box for further processing.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The attached PTO-892 lists references which teach various devices for tipping containers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN D SNELTING whose telephone number is (571)270-7015. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:30 EST.
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/JONATHAN SNELTING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3652