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 .
Prosecution as a Pro-Se
It appears the inventor(s) filed the current application pro se (i.e., without the benefit of representation by a registered patent practitioner). While inventors named as applicants in a patent application may prosecute the application pro se, lack of familiarity with patent examination practice and procedure may result in missed opportunities in obtaining optimal protection for the invention disclosed. The inventor(s) may wish to secure the services of a registered patent practitioner to prosecute the application, because the value of a patent is largely dependent upon skilled preparation and prosecution. The Office cannot aid in selecting a patent practitioner.
A listing of registered patent practitioners is available at https://oedci.uspto.gov/OEDCI/. Applicants may also obtain a list of registered patent practitioners located in their area by writing to Mail Stop OED, Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “102” has been used to designate both the first wrench portion of the embodiment shown in Figure 1 and the inside-gear-wrench portion of the embodiment of Figure 7, reference character “104” has been used to designate both the 2nd wrench portion of the embodiment shown in Figure 1 and the 2nd adjustable wrench portion of the embodiment of Figures 7 and 8. The same applies to the first and second legs 128 and 130 of the two embodiments. Reference character “126” has been used to designate both the chain of the embodiment shown in Figure 1 and the chain of the embodiment of Figure 9. Reference characters “706” and “708” has been used to designate arms of the embodiment shown in Figure 9 and the embodiment of Figure 10 though they operate differently and have different structure. The same issues appear in the specification. 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. 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 because:
In Figure 7 there is an arrow extending away from the device that does not appear to point to anything specific;
the terms “pipe” and “motor” should be deleted from Figure 10 since both are already identified with reference numerals “1002” and “1004” respectively; and
in Figure 11 and paragraph 39 of the specification do not appear to accurately utilize reference numerals. For example, 1102 is pointing to a location but that location does not appear to have anything to do with the term “locked” which paragraph 39 discloses as being shown at 1102. Similar issues exist for most of the reference numerals found in Figure 11 except for possibly 1104 and 1106.
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 as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: Reference numeral 100 in paragraph 40. 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. 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). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the:
The “motor” of claim 1; and
Claim 1 requires a ring that closes completely that drives two half rings with exterior gear surfaces pushing each other through one gear outside by a motor. Figure 11 is the only embodiment that appears to show a ring that closes in its entirety that pushes two half gears via another gear. Figure 11 does not show a motor. The embodiments of Figures 2 and 6 have a single crescent shaped gear. Other embodiments found in the Figures do not include gears. Figure 10 is the only embodiment that includes a motor and that embodiment does not utilize gears or have the required structure of claim 1.
the subject matter of claims 2-4
None of the subject matter found in claims 2-4 is found in the embodiment shown in Figure 11. For example, claim 2 appears to be shown in Figure 7, but Figure 7 does not show a ring that can close in its entirety and push two half gears as required by claim 1. Claim 3 requires a chain or belt which wraps around a pipe which appears to be directed to Figure 9. The embodiment of Figure 9 does not utilize the structure claimed in claim 1 that is directed to Figure 11. Claim 4 appears to be directed to embodiments having two wrenches as shown in Figures 1, 6, and 8. None of the embodiments of Figures 1, 6, or 8 read utilize the structure claimed in claim 1. Further, because claim 4 is dependent of claim 1, claim 4 actually requires three total wrenches (the two ring halves of claim 1 and the two additional wrenches of claim 4) which is not found in any Figures.
must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). 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.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it discusses the purported merits, i.e. “loosening nuts and bolts easily”, “facilitating efficient rotational motion”, and “obviates the need…convenience”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Paragraph 31, line 5, “and is drive” is requires grammatical revision.
Paragraphs 30 and 31, it is recommended a single naming convention be used for the same part. For example, in paragraph 30, 112a and 112b are indicated as “inside wrench gears” but in paragraph 31 the same gears appear to be labeled as “inner gears” (line 6), “locked gears” (line 7) and “gears” (line 8).
Paragraph 35, line 4, “remains in open place” requires grammatical revision.
Paragraph 35, lines 7 and 8, “selects the inside-gear-wrench portion 102 remains attached to the inside-gear-wrench portion 102” requires the 102 in Figure 7 to attach to itself. Figure 7 clearly shows a single unitary part for 102.
Paragraph 37 of the specification is unclear. The chain 126 in figure 1 only engages 118 and 120 and not 102. As such it is unclear what Figure 9 is trying to depict since 118 and 120 are not part of 102. Further, Figure 1 requires what appears to be two different chains, one for each of 118 and 120.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-3 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“A” in lines 3, 2, and 2 respectively of claims 1, 2, and 3 should be “a”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description and enablement requirements. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Regarding the written description requirement. Claims 2-4 appear to be directed to the embodiments of the invention shown in Figure 7 (claim 2), Figure 9 (claim 3), and Figures 1, 6, and 8 (claim 4). As claimed, each claim is dependent, and therefore requires, the structure found in claim 1. No where in the written description has applicant described any possible way for any of these features to be utilized with the device claimed in claim 1 (Figure 11). For example, claim 1 requires the use of two half rings with exterior gear surfaces that are driven by one gear. Claim 2 then requires an additional three-quarter ring that internally rotates another three-quarter ring through two gears externally by an additional motor. For claim 2, the two half gears of Figure 11 and claimed in claim 1 achieve the same function as the three-quarter gear driven by two gears in Figure 7 as found in claim 2. No part of the specification discusses how they can be utilized together or be operated together via two separate motors. Similarly for claims 3, the chain of claim 3 completes the same function as the half gears of claim 1. Lastly for claim 4, only embodiments of the invention that utilize crescent shaped wrenches appear to utilize a second wrench. Further, claim 4 is written so as to require two wrenches in addition to the two half rings of claim 1, i.e. claim 4 actually requires three wrenches which no embodiment found in the specification discusses. Therefore, the specification is considered to lack written description.
Regarding the enablement requirement with respect to claims 2-4:
The amount of direction provided by the inventor is minimal thereby requiring an undue amount of experimentation to come up with the claimed invention. For example, when reviewing the embodiment shown in Figures 1, 6, and 8 with respect to claim 4, the is no discussion provided by the inventor of how, or what, the wrench gears (112a and 112b) work or interact with or how their movement or non-movement affects the springs (114a and 114b) and how they help the heads (116) engage a workpiece. Further, with respect to Figure 1 there is no discussion or guidance of how the belts/chains on the guide bars 118 and 120 help move the necessary structures. Further, with respect to Figure 5, nothing of what is shown allows for the movement of 128 and 130 relative to each other and as such it is unclear how the 2nd wrench works, what the springs 138 do etc. Similar issues exist with respect to claims 2 and 3 with regards to the amount of direction provided by the applicant and with respect to claims 2-4 being usable as part of the device of claim 1 (Figure 11).
The state of the prior art fails to utilize: (1) opposing wrench halves within a separate ring in combination with a separate three-quarter ring driven by two additional gears as required by claim 2, chains and opposing wrench halves simultaneously as required by claim 3, and three separate wrenches as required by claim 4.
Based on the combination of the amount of direction provided by applicant, and the lack of relevant prior art, the amount of experimentation is considered undue for one of ordinary skill to come up with the inventions of claims 2-4.
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 1-4 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.
Regarding claim 1, it is unclear what “a ring…turns two half rings” is intended to mean. It appears the gear 1106 found in Figure 11 turns the two half gears and the ring just supports the half gears. Examiner will interpret the claim as such.
Regarding claims 2-4, please see the relevant drawing, claims, and 112(a) issues above. Because claims 2-4 are each dependent, and therefore require, the structure set forth in claim 1 the scope of each of claims 2-4 is indeterminate as none of what was being claimed was disclosed in such a manner that would reasonably apprise one of ordinary skill in the art of how to combine the separate embodiments found in the disclosure together. Instead, examiner believes one of ordinary skill would understand applicant has disclosed multiple, separate, devices capable of completing the same task on their own. Therefore, the scope of each of claims 2-4 is unclear.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Divack (U.S Patent No. 7,246,541).
Regarding claim 1, Divack teaches (Figures 1, 2, and 5) an electric wrench (10) for engaging pipes (Col. 2, lines 28-33) having a ring (36 and 38) that completely enclose two half rings (42) that have exterior gear surfaces (56) that engage a gear (54) that is driven via a motor (55).
Claimed subject matter
Claims 2-4 are considered to read over the prior art of record because the prior art of record does not teach the claimed combination of features as set forth in the discussion 112(a) discussion above. However, these claims cannot be considered “allowable” at this time due to the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112 (a) and (b) set forth in this Office Action. Therefore, upon the claims being rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112, further consideration of these claims with respect to the prior art will be necessary.
To speed prosecution provided below is relevant prior art to each embodiment discussed in claims 2-4 if claimed separately as independent inventions.
Claim 2:
Sheppard (U.S Patent No. 3,196,717) teaches a three-quarter ring that is driven by two separate gears externally by a motor.
Wesch (U.S Patent No. 5,172,613) teaches a construction similar to Sheppard but also includes an embodiment (Figures 8 and 9) wherein member 120 is translated into and out of engagement while utilizing a spring (221). This is done within ¾ rings.
Harris (U.S Patent No. 2,556,536) teaches a similar construction with two driving idler gears 62’.
Anderson (U.S Publication No. 20210362307) teaches a similar construction with two driving gears.
Claim 3
True (U.S Patent No. 2,615,681) teach it is known to utilize either rigid engaging members (41; Figure 4) and a chain or belt (53; Figure 3; Col. 4, lines 15-21) to engage a work piece.
Perez (U.S Publication No. 20090314137) teaches utilizing a chain to engage a workpiece.
Claim 4
Divack teaches (Figure 7) two wrenches on an electric wrench.
Snyder et al (U.S Patent No. 5,501,107) teaches a device similar to Divack with two wrenches (122 and 66)
Haughom (U.S Publication 20140305265) teaches a plurality of wrenches on an electric wrench.
Harris teaches a plurality of wrenches on an electric wrench (Figure 1).
Other relevant art
Examiner considers Richardson (U.S Publication 20100199812) and Muhareb (U.S Patent No. 8,353,229) extremely relevant to the embodiment shown in Figure 1 of the instant application.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWARD F LANDRUM whose telephone number is (571)272-5567. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marivelisse Santiago-Cordero can be reached at 571-272-7839. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/EDWARD F LANDRUM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761