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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 30 April 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 30 April 2026, with respect to the objections to claims 5-6 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objections of 11 March 2026 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the prior art rejection of claim(s) 1 and 3 have been considered, and in response the same art is applied to the amended claims. Although the amendments further limit the claimed invention, upon further consideration the Examiner maintains that the cited prior art is reasonably interpreted as teaching each and every one of the recited limitations. See the updated rejection(s) and annotated Figure below.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1 objected to because of the following informalities: claim(s) should be amended to recite “a lid lock operably connected to the rotatable actuator so that the lid lock moves to a locking position responsive to rotation of the rotatable actuator to a first angular orientation, and so that the lid lock moves to an unlocking position responsive to rotation of the rotatable actuator to a second angular orientation”. Appropriate correction or clarification is required.
Claim(s) 3 objected to because of the following informalities: claim(s) should be amended to recite “a hub portion rotationally coupled to the rotatable actuator”. Appropriate correction or clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lanius (US-5149152-A).
With regards to claim 1, Lanius discloses the locking mechanism (24 Figure 1) of claim 3, further comprising:
a lid lock (112 Figure 6) operably connected to the actuator (82 Figure 6) so that the lid lock moves to a locking position responsive to rotation of the actuator to a first angular orientation (Figure 4), and so that the lid lock moves to an unlocking position responsive to rotation of the actuator to a second angular orientation (Figure 3); and
a lid latch (74 Figure 6) structured to be engageable with the lid lock when the lid lock is in the locking position (Figure 4), and structured to be disengaged from the lid lock when the lid lock is in the unlocking position (Figure 3),
wherein the rotatable actuator has an elliptical actuation surface (88 Figure 6) structured to contact the lid lock to push the lid lock from the unlocking position into the locking position (Col. 6 Lines 4-32).
With regards to claim 3, Lanius discloses a locking mechanism (24 Figure 1) comprising:
a rotatable actuator (82 Figure 6);
a hub portion (96 Figure 6) rotationally coupled to the actuator (82 Figure 6); and
a fastener-receiving portion (98 Figure 2) rotationally coupled to the hub portion and including a fastener-receiving cavity (the contiguous cavity comprising 108, 42, see Annotated Figure 5 below) having a shank-receiving portion (108 Figure 5) and a head-receiving portion (42 Figure 5) having a diameter different from a diameter of the shank-receiving portion (as shown Figure 5).
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Annotated Figure 5
With regards to claim 4, Lanius discloses the locking mechanism of claim 3, wherein the fastener-receiving portion (98 Figure 2) comprises an insert (104 Figure 6) detachably mounted on the hub portion (96 Figure 6) so as to be removable from the hub portion (Col. 5 Lines 58-65).
With regards to claim 5, Lanius discloses the locking mechanism of claim 3, wherein the fastener-receiving cavity (108, 42 Figure 2) has a longitudinal axis (central axis of 42, Figure 6) extending parallel to a rotational axis (rotational axis of 98, Figure 2) of the fastener-receiving portion (98 Figure 2).
With regards to claim 9, Lanius discloses a receptacle assembly (10 Figure 1) including the locking mechanism (24 Figure 1) in accordance with claim 1.
With regards to claim 10, Lanius discloses the receptacle assembly of claim 9, further comprising a receptacle (12 Figure 1) and a lid (14 Figure 1) operably connected to the receptacle and to the lid latch (24 Figure 1), the lid being structured to cover (as shown Figure 1) an opening of the receptacle (as shown Figures 8-9).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 11-13 allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Although the references of record show some features similar to those of applicant's device, the prior art fails to teach or make obvious the claimed invention. With regards to claim 11, the prior art fails to teach a fastener-receiving portion rotationally coupled to the hub portion and including a head- receiving portion and a shank-receiving portion; and a key rotatably secured to the base portion, the key including a hub rotation prevention portion structured to contact a surface of the base portion when the key rotates responsive to insertion of a shank of an over-length fastener into the shank-receiving portion. With regards to claim 13, the prior art fails to teach a fastener-receiving portion rotationally coupled to the hub portion and including head- receiving portion and a shank-receiving portion structured SO that rotation of the hub portion with respect to the base portion is enabled when: a) a fastener with a head having a thickness equal to or less than a predetermined thickness is received in the head-receiving portion; and b) an overall length of the fastener equal to a combination of the head thickness and a length of a shank of the fastener received in the shank-receiving portion lies within a predetermined range. Therefore, such an arrangement is not taught by the prior art, nor can the Examiner can find teaching or motivation to suggest such a modification to one of ordinary skill in the art without fundamentally altering the principles of operation of the device or otherwise relying upon the benefit of impermissible hindsight reasoning.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Noah Horowitz, whose telephone number is (571)272-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 11:00AM - 7:00 PM.
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/NOAH HOROWITZ/Examiner, Art Unit 3675
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