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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8, 11-14 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gschwend et al. (US 4921381) in view of Dohi et al. (US 2021//0324893).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Gschwend et al. discloses an expanding dowel-pin Fig. 8 (and method of providing), comprising: an upper collet 1 including: an upper-collet proximal end and an upper-collet distal end; and an upper-collet, inside-conical bore 1a that is tapered more narrowly towards the upper-collet proximal end, inside-conical bore; a tapered cylinder 12 including: a tapered cylinder first end and a lower collet 14 including: a lower-collet proximal end and a lower-collet distal end; a lower-collet, inside-conical bore that is tapered more narrowly towards the lower-collet proximal end and a lower-collet, inside-straight bore with lower-collet internal screw threads, the lower-collet, inside-straight bore extending from the lower-collet, inside-conical bore to the lower-collet proximal end; wherein: the upper collet, the tapered cylinder, and the lower collet are, in that order, configured to have a bolt 13 pass therethrough; the lower-collet internal screw threads are configured to engage the bolt, such that, when the bolt is rotated a first direction relative to the lower collet, the upper collet and the lower collet are configured to be compressed together by the bolt, resulting in the tapered cone forcing the expansion of the upper-collet and the lower-collet. However, Gschwend et al. fails to explicitly disclose that the tapered cylinder is a double tapered cylinder. Nevertheless, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since it has been held that mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected result is produced. In re Harza, 274 F.2d 669, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960)
Gschwend et al. also fails to disclose slits on the upper and lower collets. Dohi et al., an expanding dowel-pin, shows this to be well known in the art. Dohi et al. discloses the use of slits 57 Fig. 10 on collet 54. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the collets of Gschwend et al. with slits as taught by Dohi et al. in order to allow for expansion collets. (Para. 0170 of Dohi et al.)
Regarding claim 2, the combination discloses wherein: the one or more upper-collet slits (57 of Dohi et al.) are four upper-collet slits: two, upper-collet, distal-end slits that extend from the upper-collet 1 distal end and two upper-collet, proximal-end slits that extend from the upper-collet proximal end, each of the two upper-collet, distal-end slits are positioned 90-degrees radially of one of the two upper-collet, distal-end slits; the one or more lower-collet slits (57 of Dohi et al.) are four lower-collet slits: two, lower-collet, distal-end slits that extend from the lower-collet 14 distal end and two, lower-collet, proximal-end slits that extend from the lower-collet proximal end, each of the two, lower-collet distal-end slits are positioned 90-degrees radially of one of the two, lower-collet, distal-end slits; the upper-collet, inside conical bore is configured to interface with the first tapered cone 12, making an upper-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; the lower-collet, inside conical bore is configured to interface with the second tapered cone (duplicate), making a lower-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; the upper-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface and the four upper-collet slits are configured, in response to the bolt compressing the upper collet towards the lower collet, to create an upper-collet expansion force at the upper-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; the lower-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface and the four lower-collet slits are configured, in response to the bolt 13 compressing the upper collet towards the lower collet, to create a lower-collet expansion force at the lower-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; and the upper-collet expansion force is independent of the lower-collet expansion force. Regarding claim 3, the combination discloses wherein: the expanding dowel-pin Fig. 8 is configured to be placed into a hole formed within an upper plate 18, being an upper-plate hole, then through another hole 17a formed within a lower plate 17, being a lower-plate hole; and the upper-collet 1 expansion force together with the lower-collet 14 expansion force is capable of creating an expanding dowel-pin concentric-alignment force that forces concentric alignment between the upper-plate hole and the lower-plate hole.
Regarding claim 8, the combination as modified discloses wherein the double-tapered cylinder 12 further comprises a straight cylinder positioned (at 2 Fig. 4) between the first tapered cone and the second tapered cone. Regarding claim 11, the combination as modified discloses wherein the first tapered cone 12 is configured to make the expansion of the upper collet 1 a uniform upper-collet expansion along the length of the upper collet, inside-conical bore and the second tapered cone is configured to make the expansion of the lower collet 14 a uniform lower-collet expansion along the length of the lower-collet, inside-conical bore.
Regarding claim 12, the combination as modified discloses wherein the double-tapered cylinder 12 is configured such that compression by the bolt 13 of the upper collet 1 towards the lower collet 14 does not deform the double-tapered cylinder and the double-tapered cylinder does not bind the bolt.
Regarding claim 14, the combination discloses wherein: the one or more upper-collet slits (57 of Dohi et al.) are four upper-collet slits: two, upper-collet, distal-end slits that extend from the upper-collet distal end and two upper-collet, proximal-end slits that extend from the upper-collet proximal end, each of the two upper-collet, distal-end slits are positioned 90-degrees radially of one of the two upper-collet, distal-end slits; the one or more lower-collet slits are four lower-collet slits: two, lower-collet, distal-end slits (57 of Dohi et al.) that extend from the lower-collet distal end and two, lower-collet, proximal-end slits that extend from the lower-collet proximal end, each of the two, lower-collet distal-end slits are positioned 90-degrees radially of one of the two, lower-collet, distal-end slits; the upper-collet, inside conical bore is configured to interface with the first tapered cone, making an upper-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; the lower-collet, inside conical bore is configured to interface with the second tapered cone, making a lower-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; the upper-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface and the four upper-collet slits are configured, in response to the bolt 13 compressing the upper collet towards the lower collet, to create an upper-collet expansion force at the upper-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; the lower-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface and the four lower-collet slits are configured, in response to the bolt compressing the upper collet towards the lower collet, to create a lower-collet expansion force at the lower-collet, double-tapered cylinder interface; and the upper-collet expansion force is independent of the lower-collet expansion force. Regarding claim 18, the combination as modified discloses wherein the double-tapered cylinder 12 further comprises a straight cylinder positioned (at 2 Fig. 4) between the first tapered cone and the second tapered cone.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 9, 10, 15-17 and 19 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: In view of a review of the prior art by the Examiner; the prior art of record neither teaches nor suggests all of the claimed subject matter of claims 4-7, 9, 10, 15-17 and 19 including where the upper collet further includes two upper-collet flats, each upper-collet flat located at a radially opposite side of the other upper-collet flat, the two upper-collet flats configured to interface with the upper-plate slot. There is no motivation to modify the prior art references, absent the applicant’s own disclosure, in the manner required by the claims.
Claim 20 is allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: In view of review of the prior art by the Examiner; the prior art of record neither teaches nor suggests all of the claimed subject matter of claim 20 including where the expanding dowel pin has an upper-collet torsional captive flats and an upper-collet torsional locking feature such that the upper-collet torsional captive flats are configured to be held from rotating relative to the bolt and the upper-collet torsional locking feature is configured to interface with and prevent rotation of the lower-collet torsional locking feature and rotation of the lower collet relative to the bolt. There is no motivation to modify the prior art references, absent the applicant’s own disclosure, in the manner required by the claims.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE G BYRD whose telephone number is (571)270-1824. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kristina Fulton can be reached at 5712727376. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/EUGENE G BYRD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675