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 § 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 and 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US 20220128386).
Regarding claim 1, US 20220128386 discloses the use of a drum shell comprising a first wood ply (104), a second wood ply (102),
US 20220128386 does not disclose the use of a non-wood ply between said first and second wood plies.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the shell as disclosed in Park to include a non-wood ply since Park discloses that one of his layers can be made from a non-wood ply (see paragraph 0030).
Regarding claim 9, Park does not disclose the use of a mating surface of said
non-wood ply is attached to said first wood ply, and wherein said mating surface is roughened.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the mating surface as disclosed in Park to include a roughened surface since roughen surfacse are well known surfaces for mating materials.
Regarding claim 10, Park does not disclose a specific non-wood
volume of said drum shell.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the volume of said drum shell as disclosed in Park to incuse a specific volume as a matter of design choice.
Regarding claims 11 and 12, Park further discloses that any of his layers can comprises a material selected from the group of metal, carbon fiber, plastic, and fiberglass (paragraph 0030).
Regarding claim 13, Park does not disclose wherein said non-wood ply is
aluminum.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to modify the drum shell as disclosed in Park to include aluminum since the use of aluminum is conventional and well known in the art.
Claims 2-8 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.
Claims 14-27 are allowed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLY R LOCKETT whose telephone number is (571)272-2067. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei Hammond can be reached at 571-270-7938. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIMBERLY R LOCKETT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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