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 in the reply filed on May 13, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 4-10 and 20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on May 13, 2026.
Note: Applicant contends that Claim 20 reads on the elected Species A embodiment. However, Claim 20 references the damping element including an annular plate which is described in the specification as part of the non-elected Species B embodiment and depicted in Figure 17. Thus, this claim has not been examined (see also the examiner’s comments with respect to this claim below).
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: in line 4 of Claim 1, the word “couped” should read –coupled—to correct a misspelling and in line 4 of Claim 11, the word “couped” should also read –coupled—to correct a misspelling. Appropriate correction is required.
Note: Claims 2-19 (and subsequently Claim 20, as outlined below) are objected to merely due to their dependencies from independent Claim 11.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 8,434,749 to Rogge et al in view of PG Publication No. 2021/0396295 to Rawlings.
Regarding Claim 1, Rogge et al disclose a mounting assembly 10 (see Figures 1-9) configured to couple a motor to a frame of a vehicle (see column 1 lines 15-20 and column 3 lines 4-8) comprising: an inner tube 16 defining an axis (see Figures 1 and 2), a damping element 18 coupled to the inner tube 16 (see Figure 1 and column 3 lines 32-62), and an outer shell 20 that houses each of the inner tube 16 and the damping element 18 (see Figure 1), wherein the damping element 18 is formed of a micro-cellular urethane material (see column 3 lines 4-11).
However, Rogge et al do not disclose that the damping element includes a plurality of projections that extend radially outward from the inner tube and axially along the axis and a plurality of protuberances that extend radially outward from the inner tube and axially along the axis, wherein adjacent projections are separated from each other by one of the plurality of protuberances; and the outer shell is configured to compress at least one of the plurality of projections or at least one of the protuberances.
Rawlings is relied upon merely for their teachings of a mounting assembly (see Figures 1 and 5) having a damping element 16 that includes a plurality of projections A-D that extend radially outward from an inner tube 12 and axially along an axis and a plurality of protuberances 124,128 that extend radially outward from the inner tube 12 and axially along the axis, wherein adjacent projections A&B or C&D are separated from each other by one of the plurality of protuberances 128 or 124 (see Figure 5 and paragraphs 0026, 0027, and 0036); and an outer shell 40 is configured to compress at least one of the plurality of projections A-D or at least one of the protuberances 124,128 (see paragraphs 0036 and 0037).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have designed the damping element of Rogge et al to include a plurality of projections that extend radially outward from the inner tube and axially along the axis and a plurality of protuberances that extend radially outward from the inner tube and axially along the axis, wherein adjacent projections are separated from each other by one of the plurality of protuberances; and the outer shell is configured to compress at least one of the plurality of projections or at least one of the protuberances as taught by Rawlings in order to provide high damping at lower frequencies and low damping at higher frequencies to achieve better overall vibration attenuation at low frequencies and reduced vibration transmission at high frequencies.
Regarding Claim 2, Rogge et al., as modified, do not disclose that the outer shell includes a first shell and a second shell that are configured to mate with each other.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have designed the outer shell of Rogge et al., as modified, to include a first shell and a second shell configured to mate with each other as a matter of design preference dependent upon the desired strength and durability of the outer shell, manufacturing constraints of the mount assembly, and overall size constraints of the mount assembly.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is 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.
Claim 11 is objected as outlined above but would be allowable if rewritten to overcome its objection.
Claims 12-19 (and subsequently non-elected Claim 20) are objected to as being dependent upon an objected to base claim but would be allowable if Claim 11 is rewritten to overcome its objection.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding independent Claim 11 (and its respective dependent Claims 12-20), while U.S. Patent No. 8,434,749 to Rogge et al disclose a mounting assembly configured to couple an electric motor to a frame of a vehicle having an inner tube defining an axis, a damping element coupled to the inner tube and extending along the axis, and an outer shell that houses each of the inner tube and the damping element, wherein the damping element is formed of a micro-cellular urethane material, and the inner tube has a first tapered surface, a second tapered surface, a third tapered surface, and a fourth tapered surface and PG Publication No. 2021/0396295 to Rawlings discloses a mounting assembly with a damping element with projections, neither of these references taken either alone or in combination disclose that the damping element includes a first projection that extends axially along the axis and radially outward from the first tapered surface toward the outer shell, a second projection that extends axially along the axis and radially outward from the second tapered surface toward the outer shell, a third projection that extends axially along the axis and radially outward from the third tapered surface toward the outer shell, and a fourth projection that extends axially along the axis and radially outward from the fourth tapered surface toward the outer shell; and wherein the outer shell compresses each of the first, second, third, and fourth axially extending projections in a direction back toward a respective tapered surface.
It is for these reasons that applicant’s invention defines over the prior art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent No. 5,820,115 to Stevenson et al., PG Publication No. 2005/0035511 to Friedrich et al., PG Publication No. 2007/0262503 to Rogge et al., PG Publication No. 2022/0196107 to Gaspar et al., and Chinese Patent No. CN 112513490 to Gendron et al all disclose mounting assemblies similar to applicant’s.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAMELA RODRIGUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7122. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7 AM - 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Siconolfi can be reached at 571-272-7124. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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PAMELA RODRIGUEZ
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/PAMELA RODRIGUEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616 06/23/26
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