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 .
Priority
Benefit of earlier filing date of 12/29/2022 of provisional application No. 63/477,767 is acknowledged as required by 35 U.S.C. 119.
Applicant has not complied with one or more conditions for receiving the benefit of an earlier filing date as follows. Figs. 3A, 3B, 4, 5 and 6B do not have support in Provisional Patent Application 63/477,767 and therefore does not benefit from the earlier date.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the housing unit, the motor, the battery source, the connection rod of the landing gear assembly, the screws, the rack and pinion connection of the sleeve body and the tube and their structural relationship in the lift and the trailer must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). Drawings must also show connection structure between the sleeve and the tube and show multiple housing units. No new matter should be entered.
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.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show the housing unit, the motor, the battery source, the connection rod of the landing gear assembly, the screws, the rack and pinion connection of the sleeve body and the tube and the connection of the lift to the trailer as described in the specification. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). 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 Objections
Claims 1, 2, 8 and 9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1 and 8, “an upper ward lifting movement” should read --an upward lifting movement--.
Claim 2, “The lift apparatus of claim 1 being removable from the trailer” should read --The lift apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lift apparatus is removable from the trailer--.
Claim 9, “The lift apparatus of claim 1 being removable from the trailer” should read --The lift apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lift apparatus is removable from the trailer--.Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-14 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.
Claims 1 and 8 recite “the sleeve including a second plurality of teeth located in circumstances of the sleeve, the first plurality of the teeth meshed with the second plurality of the teeth such that a rotary motion of the connection tube is converted to a linear motion of the sleeve”. It is not clear how two pipes can be connected together via teeth so that rotation of one will lead to linear motion of the other. Examiner has interpreted the rotary pipe to be a pinion.
Claim 8 recites “the electric lift apparatus comprising multiple housing units”. It is not clear how a lift apparatus can have multiple housing units, with each housing unit having a motor, a battery source, a connection tube and a sleeve. It is also noted that drawings show only one sleeve and no housing unit is shown.
Claim 8 recites “the electric lift apparatus comprising multiple housing units” and “wherein the housing unit includes”. It is not clear if applicant intended to claim -- wherein each housing unit of the multiple housing units includes--.
Claims 2-7 and 9-14 are rejected due to dependency on rejected claims 1 and 8.
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.
Insomuch as the claims are best understood, especially in view of the Section 112, 2nd paragraph rejections and drawing objections, advanced above claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morga et al. (US 20150137483 A1) hereinafter Morga in view of Searer et al. (US 10252591 B1) hereinafter Searer.
Regarding claims 1 and 5, Morga teaches a portable electric lift apparatus for trailer bed legs (par. 0001: “a hitch device that assists in leveling a trailer and more specifically a hitch that raises and lowers a ball so that a tongue of a trailer is moved up and down”), the electric lift apparatus comprising a housing unit (60) and a control module (par. 27: “one or more controllers”), wherein the housing unit includes: a motor (62), a battery source electrically connected to the motor (par. 38: “The motor may include batteries or connect to a battery for power. The motor may be an electric that drives a shaft”), a connection tube (66 with a hole inside to receive shaft 64 and internal parts of motor) attached to the motor, the connection tube including a first plurality of teeth (teeth 68 of 66), and a sleeve (14 with a longitudinal hole inside) for use to support a connection rod (12) of landing gear assembly of the trailer bed leg, the sleeve including a second plurality of teeth (teeth 68 of 14) located in circumstances of the sleeve, the first plurality of the teeth meshed with the second plurality of the teeth such that a rotary motion of the connection tube is converted to a linear motion of the sleeve (par. 41-42: “the motor rotates the gear 66 to actuate the ball mount 14”), and wherein the control module is connected to the motor by electrical wires (par. 27: “The one or more controllers may be wireless, may include a wire”) passing through the connection tube (inner wires of motor), the control module including multiple control buttons, wherein one of the buttons controls an upper ward lifting movement of the sleeve and another one of the buttons controls a downward movement of the sleeve (par. 27: “A portion of the one or more controllers may be a key fob that is in wireless communication with a controller in the lifting device”).
Searer teaches an electric tongue jack with a control unit having upward (41) and downward (40) movement buttons (104) and a motherboard (406) connected to memory buttons shown in Figs. 2-6.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to use control system of Searer in lifting device of Morga. Doing so would make device of Morga capable of returning to a desired height after being extended or retracted.
Regarding claim 2, Morga teaches the lift apparatus is removable from the trailer (by disengagement of hitch bar 4 from hitch mount of vehicle).
Regarding claim 3, Morga teaches the sleeve (14) is concentrically attached to the connection rod (12) of the landing gear assembly when in use.
Regarding claim 4, Morga teaches the sleeve comprises a set of screws for use to affix the sleeve to the connection rod of the landing gear assembly (par. 22: screws).
Regarding claim 6, Morga teaches the first plurality of the teeth is meshed with the second plurality of the teeth so that the sleeve is engaged with the connection tube to conduct rack and pinion operations (par. 22: “rack and pinion configuration”).
Regarding claim 7, Morga teaches the motor is selected from a dual-directional motor (for clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of gear 66 to move the sleeve 14 upward and downward).
Insomuch as the claims are best understood, especially in view of the Section 112, 2nd paragraph rejections and drawing objections, advanced above claims 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morga in view of Searer and Klassy (US 20170015286 A1).
Regarding claims 8 and 12, Morga teaches a portable electric lift apparatus for trailer bed legs (par. 0001: “a hitch device that assists in leveling a trailer and more specifically a hitch that raises and lowers a ball so that a tongue of a trailer is moved up and down”), the electric lift apparatus comprising a housing unit (60) and a control module (par. 27: “one or more controllers”), wherein the housing unit includes: a motor (62), a battery source electrically connected to the motor (par. 38: “The motor may include batteries or connect to a battery for power. The motor may be an electric that drives a shaft”), a connection tube (66 with a hole inside to receive shaft 64 and internal parts of motor) attached to the motor, the connection tube including a first plurality of teeth (teeth 68 of 66), and a sleeve (14 with a longitudinal hole inside) for use to support a connection rod (12) of landing gear assembly of the trailer bed leg, the sleeve including a second plurality of teeth (teeth 68 of 14) located in circumstances of the sleeve, the first plurality of the teeth meshed with the second plurality of the teeth such that a rotary motion of the connection tube is converted to a linear motion of the sleeve (par. 41-42: “the motor rotates the gear 66 to actuate the ball mount 14”), and wherein the control module is connected to the motor by electrical wires (par. 27: “The one or more controllers may be wireless, may include a wire”) passing through the connection tube (inner wires of motor), the control module including multiple control buttons, wherein one of the buttons controls an upper ward lifting movement of the sleeve and another one of the buttons controls a downward movement of the sleeve (par. 27: “A portion of the one or more controllers may be a key fob that is in wireless communication with a controller in the lifting device”).
Searer teaches an electric tongue jack with a control unit having upward (41) and downward (40) movement buttons (104) and a motherboard (406) connected to memory buttons shown in Figs. 2-6.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to use control system of Searer in lifting device of Morga. Doing so would make device of Morga capable of returning to a desired height after being extended or retracted.
Klassy teaches a semi-trailer landing gear with multiple housing units (see Fig. 2) having internal synchronous movement (par. 30).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a synchronized multiple housing units to lift both sides of a trailer.
Regarding claim 9, Morga teaches the lift apparatus is removable from the trailer (by disengagement of hitch bar 4 from hitch mount of vehicle).
Regarding claim 10, Morga teaches the sleeve (14) is concentrically attached to the connection rod (12) of the landing gear assembly when in use.
Regarding claim 11, Morga teaches the sleeve comprises a set of screws for use to affix the sleeve to the connection rod of the landing gear assembly (par. 22: screws).
Regarding claim 13, Morga teaches the first plurality of the teeth is meshed with the second plurality of the teeth so that the sleeve is engaged with the connection tube to conduct rack and pinion operations (par. 22: “rack and pinion configuration”).
Regarding claim 14, Morga teaches the motor is selected from a dual-directional motor (for clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of gear 66 to move the sleeve 14 upward and downward).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Stephens et al. (US 3861482 A) teaches a trailer lift with a sleeve rack 131 and pinion 134 drive.
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Sims (US 5421555 A) teaches a trailer jack with a sleeve rack 31 and pinion 41 drive.
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MAHDI H. NEJAD
Examiner
Art Unit 3723
/MAHDI H NEJAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723