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 .
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) 16-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hanst (US 5,401,312) in view of des Garennes et al (US 7,581,684) and further in view of Theurer (US 4,103,622).
Hanst discloses a track bed bonding system comprised of a spray delivery vehicle for spraying a slurry solvent to harden and stabilize a track bed. Hanst discloses the ground to be utilized as a railway and it is inherent in the art that a railway includes a bed, ballast, ties and rails. The road vehicle 10 includes a tank 20 for transporting the slurry 44 and a sprayer 40 for applying the slurry to the bed.
Hanst disclose the delivery vehicle and hardening slurry as described above. However, Hanst does not specifically show a controller for controlling the discharge rate at a specific width and speed of the vehicle. Des Garennes discloses a system for delivering a liquid composition comprised of a controller 2225 for controlling and continuously monitoring the rates of fluid adhesive applied to the surface beneath the vehicle. The controller further monitors the amount of fluid and the depth to which it is applied to the ground surface. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have applied a controller, like that of Garennes, to a fluid delivery system, like that of Hanst, with the expected result of providing a system to control the delivery and depth of the fluid being applied so as to efficiently apply the fluid and prevent waste or over application.
The combination of Hanst and Garennes describes the fluid delivery system and vehicle with a controller. However, the combination does not show the system to include vehicles for traversing rails to apply the fluid adhesive. Theurer discloses a railway maintenance device being operable on both road wheels and rail wheels. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have applied a combination of fluid delivery and controller, like that of Hanst and Garennes, to a railway maintenance vehicle, like that of Theurer, with the expected result of fitting a vehicle with both road and rail capabilities so as to apply fluid adhesives on railway road beds with and without rails and in various degrees of construction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert J McCarry Jr. whose telephone number is (571)272-6683. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00-3:00.
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/Robert J McCarry Jr/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615
RJM
February 18, 2026