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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
Six out of the eight call out numbers in Figure 2 of the Drawings Replacement Sheet are illegible.
The drawings are objected to for not providing “satisfactory reproduction characteristics” as explained in more detail via the section of the MPEP inserted below.
1.84 Standards for Drawings
[please note iterations between the title and "(l)" have been cut out for simplicity]
(l) Character of lines, numbers, and letters. All drawings must be made by a
process which will give them satisfactory reproduction characteristics. Every line, number, and letter must be durable, clean, black (except for color drawings),
sufficiently dense and dark, and uniformly thick and well-defined. The weight of
all lines and letters must be heavy enough to permit adequate reproduction. This
requirement applies to all lines however fine, to shading, and to lines representing cut surfaces in sectional views. Lines and strokes of different thicknesses may be used in the same drawing where different thicknesses have a different meaning.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-6 and 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma (CN212679865) in view of Minoura (US4826150).
Re claim 1, Ma discloses a controlled descent device (Figs. 1-7, see also para. [n0006] of MT: “A portable disc-type permanent magnet eddy current descent device”), comprising, a capstan (6) mounted upon a rotatable shaft (24) having a central axis, a non-ferrous, electrically conductive plate (22, see also para. [n0040] of MT: “copper or aluminum”) joined to the rotatable shaft (24), the conductive plate (22) having a first side and a second side, and a first plurality of magnets (25) mounted on a first brake housing mounted in a first spaced relationship with the first side of the conductive plate (22) and a second plurality of magnets (25) mounted on a second brake housing mounted in a second spaced relationship with the second side of the conductive plate (see para. [n0031] of MT: “The first magnetic component is a permanent magnet 25, and the second magnetic component is a conductor disk 3. In a preferred embodiment, the first magnetic component is a conductor disk 3, and the second magnetic component is a permanent magnet 25”).
Ma fails to disclose wherein the first brake housing (13) and the second brake housing (14) are independently joined to the rotatable shaft and one of the first brake housing and the second brake housing is rotatably joined to the rotatable shaft. Minoura teaches, in the context of eddy brakes, wherein the first brake housing (11) and the second brake housing (12) are independently joined to the rotatable shaft and one of the first brake housing and the second brake housing is rotatably joined to the rotatable shaft (see col. 3, lines 3-9 of Minoura: “An approximately cup-shaped internal case 11 is fixed to the side surface of the bracket 3 such as to cover the rotating disk 9 from one side thereof and an approximately cup-shaped external case 12 is mounted on the open side of the internal case such as to cover the rotating disk 9 from the other side thereof”). It 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 to have included the first brake housing and the second brake housing are independently joined to the rotatable shaft and one of the first brake housing and the second brake housing is rotatably joined to the rotatable shaft in a descent device of Ma according to the teachings of Minoura in order to vary “the positions of the permanent magnets 17 on the movable side facing those 13 on the fixed side by rotating the adjusting handle 18 so that the load applied to the rotating operation” can be easily adjusted (see col. 4, lines 48-52 of Minoura).
Re claim 2, Ma in view of Minoura discloses the controlled descent device of Claim 1, wherein the conductive plate is in a shape of a disc 9 (see Fig. 3 of Minoura).
Re claim 3, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the controlled descent device of Claim 1, wherein the first plurality of magnets (17) are mounted on the first brake housing (12) by being joined to a first disc (15) of magnetic material (the cross section of first disc 15 appears to indicate a ferrous metal magnetic material), the first disc (15) of magnetic material being joined to the first brake housing (col. 3, lines 20-21 of Minoura: “A supporting disk 15 is rotatably supported by the inside surface of the external case 12”).
Re claim 4, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the controlled descent device of Claim 1, wherein the second plurality of magnets (13) are mounted on the second brake housing (11) by being joined to a second disc (14) of magnetic material (the cross section of first disc 15 appears to indicate a ferrous metal magnetic material), the second disc (14) of magnetic material being joined to the second brake housing (col. 3, lines 10-12 of Minoura: “A plurality (in the embodiment, (6) of permanent magnets 13 on the fixed side are provided on the inside surface of the internal case 11 through mounting disk 14”).
Re claim 5, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the controlled descent device of Claim 1, wherein the first plurality of magnets comprises three stationary magnets, each of the three stationary magnets having a north and a south pole, the three stationary magnets being mounted radially and equally spaced about the central axis (see col. 3, lines 22-26 of Minoura: “A plurality (in the embodiment, (6) of permanent magnets 17 on the movable side are mounted on the supporting disk 15 such that they are concyclically arranged at equal intervals”).
Re claim 6, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the controlled descent device of Claim 1, wherein the second plurality of magnets comprises three rotatable magnets, each of the three rotatable magnets having a north and a south pole, the three rotatable magnets being mounted in radially equally spaced relationship about the central axis (see col. 3, lines 10-13 of Minoura: “A plurality (in the embodiment, (6) of permanent magnets 13 on the fixed side are provided on the inside surface of the internal case 11 through mounting disk 14 such that they are concyclically arranged at equal intervals”).
Re claim 9, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the controlled descent device of Claim 1, having a first configuration in which the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phased at a first phase angle and a second configuration in which the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phased at a second phase angle, the second phase angle being different from the first phase angle (see col. 3, line 64 to col. 4, line 4 of Minoura: “By rotating clockwise the adjusting handle 18 shown in FIG. 5 from this state, the facing positions of the permanent magnets 17 on the movable side are displaced in order from the position with the same polarity to an adjacent position with a different polarity with respect to the permanent magents 13 on the fixed side opposite thereto, in the circumferential direction, the eddy current thereby being gradually increased”).
Re claim 10, Ma discloses a method of induction braking in a controlled descent device, comprising, providing a controlled descent device (Figs. 1-7, see also para. [n0006] of MT: “A portable disc-type permanent magnet eddy current descent device”), the controlled descent device comprising, a capstan (6) mounted upon a rotatable shaft (24) having a central axis, a non-ferrous, electrically conductive plate (22, see also para. [n0040] of MT: “copper or aluminum”) joined to the rotatable shaft (24), the conductive plate (22) having a first side and a second side, a first plurality of magnets (25) mounted on a first brake housing mounted in a first spaced relationship with the first side of the conductive plate (22) and a second plurality of magnets (25) mounted on a second brake housing mounted in a second spaced relationship with the second side of the conductive plate wherein the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are mounted in a radial configuration about the central axis (see para. [n0031] of MT: “The first magnetic component is a permanent magnet 25, and the second magnetic component is a conductor disk 3. In a preferred embodiment, the first magnetic component is a conductor disk 3, and the second magnetic component is a permanent magnet 25”) and rotating the capstan about the central axis (see para. [n0033] of Ma: “the escape rope passes through the rope hole 17 provided on the device housing 1 and is looped onto the pulley 6; finally, one end of the escape rope is connected to the body of the person escaping, and the person jumps out ofthe building exit. The reverse magnetic force generated by the induced current in the conductor disc 3 is used for braking, allowing the person to land at a safe speed”).
Ma fails to disclose wherein the first brake housing and the second brake housing are independently joined to the rotatable shaft and the second brake housing is rotatably joined to the rotatable shaft, and further wherein in a first configuration the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phased at a first phase angle and in a second configuration the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phase at second phase angle, the second phase angle being different from the first phase angle, and rotating the second brake housing to move the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets from the first configuration to the second configuration.
Minoura teaches, in the context of eddy brakes, wherein the first brake housing (11) and the second brake housing (12) are independently joined to the rotatable shaft and one of the first brake housing and the second brake housing is rotatably joined to the rotatable shaft (see col. 3, lines 3-9 of Minoura: “An approximately cup-shaped internal case 11 is fixed to the side surface of the bracket 3 such as to cover the rotating disk 9 from one side thereof and an approximately cup-shaped external case 12 is mounted on the open side of the internal case such as to cover the rotating disk 9 from the other side thereof”). Minoura further teaches wherein in a first configuration the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phased at a first phase angle and in a second configuration the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phase at second phase angle, the second phase angle being different from the first phase angle, and rotating the second brake housing to move the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets from the first configuration to the second configuration (see col. 3, line 64 to col. 4, line 4 of Minoura: “By rotating clockwise the adjusting handle 18 shown in FIG. 5 from this state, the facing positions of the permanent magnets 17 on the movable side are displaced in order from the position with the same polarity to an adjacent position with a different polarity with respect to the permanent magents 13 on the fixed side opposite thereto, in the circumferential direction, the eddy current thereby being gradually increased”).
It 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 to have included wherein the first brake housing and the second brake housing are independently joined to the rotatable shaft and the second brake housing is rotatably joined to the rotatable shaft, and further wherein in a first configuration the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phased at a first phase angle and in a second configuration the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets are phase at second phase angle, the second phase angle being different from the first phase angle, and rotating the second brake housing to move the first plurality of magnets and the second plurality of magnets from the first configuration to the second configuration in the method disclosed by Ma according to the teachings of Minoura in order to enable “the formation of permanent magnet escape devices with different braking capabilities, suitable for different customer needs, such as the needs of different body weights”, para. [n0039] of MT of Ma).
Re claim 11, Ma in view of Minoura discloses the controlled descent device of Claim 1, wherein the conductive plate is in a shape of a disc 9 (see Fig. 3 of Minoura).
Re claim 12, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the method of Claim 10, wherein the first plurality of magnets (17) are mounted on the first brake housing (12) by being joined to a first disc (15) of magnetic material (the cross section of first disc 15 appears to indicate a ferrous metal magnetic material), the first disc (15) of magnetic material being joined to the first brake housing (col. 3, lines 20-21 of Minoura: “A supporting disk 15 is rotatably supported by the inside surface of the external case 12”).
Re claim 13, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the method of Claim 10 wherein the second plurality of magnets (13) are mounted on the second brake housing (11) by being joined to a second disc (14) of magnetic material (the cross section of first disc 15 appears to indicate a ferrous metal magnetic material), the second disc (14) of magnetic material being joined to the second brake housing (col. 3, lines 10-12 of Minoura: “A plurality (in the embodiment, (6) of permanent magnets 13 on the fixed side are provided on the inside surface of the internal case 11 through mounting disk 14”).
Re claim 14, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the method of Claim 10, wherein the first plurality of magnets comprises three stationary magnets, each of the three stationary magnets having a north and a south pole, the three stationary magnets being mounted radially and equally spaced about the central axis (see col. 3, lines 22-26 of Minoura: “A plurality (in the embodiment, (6) of permanent magnets 17 on the movable side are mounted on the supporting disk 15 such that they are concyclically arranged at equal intervals”).
Re claim 15, Ma in view of Minoura disclose the method of Claim 10, wherein the second plurality of magnets comprises three rotatable magnets, each of the three rotatable magnets having a north and a south pole, the three rotatable magnets being mounted in radially equally spaced relationship about the central axis (see col. 3, lines 10-13 of Minoura: “A plurality (in the embodiment, (6) of permanent magnets 13 on the fixed side are provided on the inside surface of the internal case 11 through mounting disk 14 such that they are concyclically arranged at equal intervals”).
Claims 7-8 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma (CN212679865) in view of Minoura (US4826150) and further in view of Araki (EP0367387).
Re claim 7, Ma in view of Minoura fails to explicitly disclose the controlled descent device of Claim 3, wherein the first disc of magnetic material is made of low carbon steel. Araki teaches constructing eddy current brake components out of low carbon steel (see col. 8, line 36 of Araki). It 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 to have made the disc (15) of Minoura out low carbon steel according to the teachings of Araki in order to make use of a material through which magnetic fluxes are allowed to easily pass (see col. 8, lines 32-36).
Re claim 8, Ma in view of Minoura fails to explicitly disclose the controlled descent device of Claim 4, wherein the first disc of magnetic material is made of low carbon steel. Araki teaches constructing eddy current brake components out of low carbon steel (see col. 8, line 36 of Araki). It 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 to have made the disc (14) of Minoura out low carbon steel according to the teachings of Araki in order to make use of a material through which magnetic fluxes are allowed to easily pass (see col. 8, lines 32-36).
Re claim 16, Ma in view of Minoura fails to explicitly disclose the method of Claim 12, wherein the first disc of magnetic material is made of low carbon steel. Araki teaches constructing eddy current brake components out of low carbon steel (see col. 8, line 36 of Araki). It 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 to have made the disc (15) of Minoura out low carbon steel according to the teachings of Araki in order to make use of a material through which magnetic fluxes are allowed to easily pass (see col. 8, lines 32-36).
Re claim 17, Ma in view of Minoura fails to explicitly disclose the method of Claim 13, wherein the first disc of magnetic material is made of low carbon steel. Araki teaches constructing eddy current brake components out of low carbon steel (see col. 8, line 36 of Araki). It 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 to have made the disc (14) of Minoura out low carbon steel according to the teachings of Araki in order to make use of a material through which magnetic fluxes are allowed to easily pass (see col. 8, lines 32-36).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ben Pezzlo whose telephone number is (571)272-9656. The examiner can normally be reached M to Th 7 to 5.
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/BAP/Examiner, Art Unit 3634
/DANIEL P CAHN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3634