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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 11, the limitation “wherein one of the propeller shaft and the pump shaft includes a third coupling, and the other of the propeller shaft and the pump shaft includes a third coupling receiver coupled to the third coupling” (emphasis added) renders the claim indefinite for being confusing.
Claim 11 recites a third coupling and a third coupling receiver, without the preceding claim 1, or the claim 11 itself, first reciting a first or second couplings or coupling receivers, thereby making the claim confusing. It is recommended that the word “third” be deleted in claims 11-13 to overcome the rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 11 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Foster (US 3,025,824 A).
Regarding claim 1, Foster shows an outboard motor [10] attached to a transom [11] at a rear end of a boat hull [11], the outboard motor comprising: a drive unit [20]; a drive shaft [58] to be rotationally driven by the drive unit; a propeller [57]; a propeller shaft [56] to rotate together with the propeller; a transmission mechanism [38] to transmit rotation of the drive shaft to the propeller shaft; a cooling water flow path [18] through which cooling water flows; and a water pump [14] to pump the cooling water into the cooling water flow path; wherein the water pump includes: an impeller [28, 48]; and a pump shaft [40, 42] to rotate together with the impeller; and the pump shaft is coaxial with the propeller shaft and rotatable together with the propeller shaft.
Re claim 2, the drive shaft is rotatable in both a forward direction and a reverse direction opposite to the forward direction; and the water pump is a non-volumetric pump.
Re claim 4, the water pump is a centrifugal pump.
Re claim 5, the pump shaft is detachably connected to the propeller shaft.
Re claim 11, as best understood, the propeller shaft includes a third coupling and the propeller shaft includes a flared third coupling receiver coupled to the third coupling.
Re claim 14, see the explanation above for claim 1.
Re claims 15-16, the outboard motor is attached to a transom at a rear end of the hull.
Claims 1, 5-6, 11 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Alexander Jr. et al. (US 5766047 A).
Regarding claims 1 and 14, Alexander Jr. et al. show an outboard motor attached to a transom at a rear end of a boat hull [1a], the outboard motor comprising: a drive unit [1]; a drive shaft [2] to be rotationally driven by the drive unit; a propeller [16]; a propeller shaft [11] to rotate together with the propeller; a transmission mechanism (Fig 2) to transmit rotation of the drive shaft to the propeller shaft; a cooling water flow path [110] through which cooling water flows; and a water pump [92] to pump the cooling water into the cooling water flow path; wherein the water pump includes: an impeller [102]; and a pump shaft [95] shaped as a quill shaft (see col. 6, line 14-15) to rotate together with the impeller; and the pump shaft is coaxial with the propeller shaft and rotatable together with the propeller shaft (see Fig 3).
(Note: Applicant may note that a quill shaft is well known in the art as a shaft with splines on both ends and designed to connect driving and driven components)
Re claim 5, the pump shaft is detachably connected to the propeller shaft.
Re claim 6, a joint [32] in the form a sleeve is provided to connect the propeller shaft to the pump shaft; wherein the propeller shaft includes a first coupling at an inner surface; the pump shaft includes a second coupling at an outer surface. The joint includes a first coupling receiver at its inner surface that is coupled to the first coupling, and a second coupling receiver at its outer surface that is coupled to the second coupling.
Re claim 11, in an alternate interpretation, the pump shaft includes a third coupling, and the propeller shaft [11, 32] includes a third coupling receiver coupled to the third coupling.
Re claims 15-16, the outboard motor is attached to a transom at a rear end of the hull.
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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Foster (US 3,025,824 A) in view of Honda (US 12103653 B2).
Foster shows an outboard motor having a drive shaft rotationally driven by a drive unit [20] in the form of an engine, as described above.
Foster however fails to disclose the drive unit as being an electric motor to be driven by electric power supplied from a power source.
Honda shows an outboard motor having a drive shaft [18] rotationally driven by a drive unit [15], and a propeller shaft [23] rotatable together with a propeller [26], wherein the drive shaft is rotatable in both a forward and reverse directions (see col. 10, lines 15-18), and wherein the drive unit can be either an internal combustion engine or an electric motor (col. 5, lines 14-
15), thereby establishing an equivalence between the two types of drive units.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use an electric motor as a drive unit for powering the drive shaft and the propeller, as taught by Honda. Having such an arrangement would have provided an eco-friendly option with low-noise operations, zero emissions, low maintenance, quick acceleration, and low operational costs. It would have also been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide a power source that would have been necessary to power the electric motor.
Claims 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alexander Jr. et al. (US 5766047 A).
Alexander Jr. et al. disclose a pump shaft [95] shaped as a quill shaft (see col. 6, line 14-15) and including a third coupling, as described above.
Alexander Jr. et al. however do not expressly disclose the third coupling as having a third spline shaft, or the third coupling receiver as having a third spline hole to receive the third spline shaft.
Applicant may note that a “quill shaft” is well known in the art as a shaft as having splines on both ends and designed to connect driving and driven components. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to construct the pump shaft coupling (third coupling) as a spline shaft, and construct the propeller shaft coupling receiver with a corresponding spline hole to receive and mate with the spline shaft. Having such a construction would have provided a secure coupling link to efficiently transmit torque from the propeller shaft to the pump shaft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kloss (US 2542682) shows outboard motor having a pump shaft that is coaxial with the a propeller shaft (Fig 2)
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/AJAY VASUDEVA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615