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 Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Line 3 recites “circumferentially space ramps”, consider instead – circumferentially spaced ramps --.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-17, 19 & 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harker (US 20230107192 A1) in view of Bristol (US 3590668 A).
Regarding claim 1 Harker discloses a hand tool (element 10, fig. 1), comprising:
an elongated handle (element 20, fig. 2) having an interior annular wall (element 34, fig. 2) that defines a cavity (element 32, fig. 2);
a drive gear (element 44, fig. 2) rotatably supported in the cavity (para. [0040]; “the spindle 44 and rollers 66 are held within the cylindrical race 34”) for movement between a radially compressed position (para. [0040]; note, turning the handle “will cause the rollers 66 to wedge against their corresponding adjacent inclined surfaces 56 and the cylindrical race 34 when the spindle 44 is rotated”) and a radially decompressed position (para. [0040]; “when the cylindrical race 34 rotates in the free rotating direction, the rollers 66 release immediately because no brinelling has occurred”), the drive gear having an inner periphery configured to engage a fastener (para. [0038]; “spindle 44 has a center opening 45… designed as a twelve-point wrench for engaging fasteners”), and an outer periphery containing circumferentially spaced pockets (para. [0044]; “an outer diameter surface 172 that is the radially outermost portion of each lobe 156”; note, protrusions (lobe, element 156) retain rollers within valley (element 160), which includes ramp (inclined surface, element 168));
a plurality of roller members (element 66, fig. 2), each roller member moveably contained in a corresponding pocket of the drive gear (para. [0038]; “The rollers 66 are held captive between the cylindrical race 34, a corresponding inclined surface 56, a valley 52, and a corresponding back surface 62. These adjacently located surfaces form a cavity 68 that captures each roller 66 between the races 34, 48. The rollers are movable from a first position locating said rollers 66 relatively near their corresponding valleys 52 to a second position”) and
a plurality of abutments (element 50, 56, 58, 62, fig. 4; para. [0038]; “spindle 44 has a second race 48 that has a series of lobes 50 protruding radially outward”) to facilitate movement of the roller members that causes movement of the drive gear to the radially compressed position to apply a torquing force on the fastener in response to selective rotation of the handle in a first direction (para. [0039]; “Each lobe 50 of the spindle 44 is designed to have a roller 66 held adjacent thereto” “The rollers 66 are held captive between the cylindrical race 34, a corresponding inclined surface 56, a valley 52, and a corresponding back surface 62”; para. [0041]; “rotation of the spindle 44… wedge the rollers 66 between the inclined surfaces 56 and cylindrical race 34”).
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Harker first embodiment (fig. 1-7) fails to disclose:
an elastically flexible drive gear; and a cage member to support the drive gear in the cavity to facilitate movement of the roller members.
However, in a second embodiment (fig. 8-15), Harker teaches that a wrench using a similar roller clutch to the embodiment disclosed in Fig. 1-7, may additionally include a cage member (element 180, fig. 11) to support the drive gear in the cavity (para. [0046]; “The detent slider 210 has teeth 217 on opposite ends that selectively lock the cage 180 in different positions with respect to the spindle 150”; note, drive gear (spindle, element 150) is supported by boss (element 194) of cage (element 180)) to facilitate movement of the roller members (para. [0047]; “each finger 184 locates each roller 152 to a point of contact 240 that is shifted from the valley 160 to a particular side”).
Harker teaches that the cage member provides the benefit of load balancing, to simultaneously engage or load the rollers when the rollers are compressed into the wedged position.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the first embodiment of Harker by incorporating the cage member of the second embodiment of Harker. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate the improved functionality in uniform loading of the roller members.
Harker modified fails to disclose:
an elastically flexible drive gear.
Bristol teaches a hand tool (“wrench”, no element # given) comprising an elongated handle (element 10, fig. 2) and an elastically flexible drive insert (element 14, fig. 2; col. 2, line 35-49; “The insert 14 may be constructed of any suitable material having sufficient resiliency to permit its flexing sufficiently to solidly engage the surfaces and corners of a nut”).
Bristol teaches an elastically flexible drive insert which is resiliently compressible to provide torque-transmitting friction to tightly grip a fastener (col. 1, line 46-57)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Harker by incorporating the elastically flexible drive gear of Bristol into the hand tool of Harker. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate the improvement in functionality of the hand tool in providing a drive gear which flexes to more effectively clamp the fastener as the rollers wedge themselves in the torquing position. As Bristol suggests, this provides greater torque transmission by tightly gripping the fastener.
Regarding claim 2 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 1 and further teaches:
wherein each pocket comprises a ramp (element 56, fig. 2; para. [0038]; “the valleys 52 on the second race 48 are adjacent to inclined surfaces 56”) oriented toward the annular wall (para. [0038]; “the inclined surfaces 56 are concave as they face the cylindrical race 34”), and a pair of radial protrusions defining circumferential boundaries of each ramp (para. [0038, 39]; “The rollers 66 are held captive between the cylindrical race 34, a corresponding inclined surface 56, a valley 52, and a corresponding back surface 62”; note, outer diameter surface 58 continuous with both inclined surface and back surface, forming “rearward boundary” for forward valley and roller), the protrusions defining walls for limiting circumferential movement of each roller member (para. [0038, 39]; “These adjacently located surfaces form a cavity 68 that captures each roller 66 between the races 34, 48”).
Regarding claim 3 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 2 and further teaches:
wherein each wall is biased against a corresponding roller member to force the roller member to wedge between the ramp and the annular wall (para. [0040, 41]; note, abutments contain cantilevered biasing member (element 72), rollers are placed adjacent to biasing member, when torque is applied, rollers are forced by biasing member to wedge between ramp (inclined surface, element 56) and annular wall (cylindrical race, element 34)) and thereby radially compress the inner periphery of the drive gear inwardly against the fastener to apply the torquing force on the fastener (para. [0041]; “rotation of the spindle 44… wedge the rollers 66 between the inclined surfaces 56 and cylindrical race 34”).
Regarding claim 4 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 1 and further teaches:
wherein the drive gear is caused, in response to selective rotation of the handle in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction, to move to the radially decompressed position release the torquing force on the fastener (para. [0040]; “when the cylindrical race 34 rotates in the free rotating direction, the rollers 66 release immediately because no brinelling has occurred”; note, cylindrical race is a part of wrench head (element 23) and wrench handle (element 20), and cylindrical race moves in response to rotation of handle).
Regarding claim 5 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 4 and further teaches:
wherein the drive gear is caused to expand radially outward in response to the selective rotation of the handle in the second direction to dislodge the roller members from wedged positions between the ramps and the annular wall.
As previously described, Harker teaches rotation of the handle in a second direction will release the rollers from their compressed position (wedged engagement) and allow free rotation of the drive gear (spindle, element 44) (para. [0040]).
Bristol teaches that when pressure is released from the wrench, the insert recovers to its original shape (col. 2, line 42-49; col. 3, line 35-42).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the expansion of the drive gear into the hand tool of Harker modified. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that, when torque is released from the wrench, the flexible drive gear would return to its unstressed condition, thereby pushing on the rollers. As the rollers are no longer being forcibly wedged, the force imparted by the flexing drive gear would dislodge the rollers.
Regarding claim 6 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 1 and further teaches:
wherein the drive gear is formed of a resiliently compressible material.
Bristol teaches the insert has “a circular periphery and interior nut-engaging flats and being slit so as to render it resiliently compressible” (col. 1, 48-52).
Regarding claim 7 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 6 and further teaches:
wherein the resilient material comprises an alloy steel.
Bristol teaches “the inserts are preferably constructed of a harder ferrous alloy of suitable resiliency” (col. 2, line 52-55), wherein steel alloys are included in the broad grouping of ferrous alloys.
Regarding claim 8 Harker discloses a hand tool (element 10, fig. 1), comprising:
an elongated handle (element 20, fig. 2) having an interior annular wall (element 34, fig. 2) that defines a cavity (element 32, fig. 2);
a drive gear (element 44, fig. 2) configured to engage a fastener (para. [0038]; “spindle 44 has a center opening 45… designed as a twelve-point wrench for engaging fasteners”), the drive gear being rotatably supported in the cavity (para. [0040]; “the spindle 44 and rollers 66 are held within the cylindrical race 34”) for movement between a radially compressed position to apply a torquing force on the fastener (para. [0040]; note, turning the handle “will cause the rollers 66 to wedge against their corresponding adjacent inclined surfaces 56 and the cylindrical race 34 when the spindle 44 is rotated”), and a radially decompressed position to relieve the torquing force on the fastener (para. [0040]; “when the cylindrical race 34 rotates in the free rotating direction, the rollers 66 release immediately because no brinelling has occurred”); and
a plurality of roller members (element 66, fig. 2) moveably contained on the drive gear (para. [0040]; “Movement of the rollers 66 into the second position is facilitated by rotation of the spindle 44 with respect to the cylindrical race 34 in the head 23”); and
a plurality of abutments (element 50, 56, 58, 62, fig. 4; para. [0038]; “spindle 44 has a second race 48 that has a series of lobes 50 protruding radially outward”) on the drive gear that, in response to selective rotation of the handle in a first direction, facilitate movement of the roller members that causes movement of the drive gear to the radially compressed position (para. [0039]; “Each lobe 50 of the spindle 44 is designed to have a roller 66 held adjacent thereto” “The rollers 66 are held captive between the cylindrical race 34, a corresponding inclined surface 56, a valley 52, and a corresponding back surface 62”; para. [0040]; “rotation of the spindle 44… wedge the rollers 66 between the inclined surfaces 56 and cylindrical race 34”).
Harker fails to disclose:
an elastically flexible drive gear
Bristol teaches a hand tool (“wrench”, no element # given) comprising an elongated handle (element 10, fig. 2) and an elastically flexible drive insert (element 14, fig. 2; col. 2, line 35-49; “The insert 14 may be constructed of any suitable material having sufficient resiliency to permit its flexing sufficiently to solidly engage the surfaces and corners of a nut”).
Bristol teaches an elastically flexible drive insert which is resiliently compressible to provide torque-transmitting friction to tightly grip a fastener (col. 1, line 46-57)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Harker by incorporating the elastically flexible drive gear of Bristol into the hand tool of Harker. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate the improvement in functionality of the hand tool in providing a drive gear which flexes to more effectively clamp the fastener as the rollers wedge themselves in the torquing position. As Bristol suggests, this provides greater torque transmission by tightly gripping the fastener.
Regarding claim 9 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 8 and further teaches:
wherein the drive gear comprises an inner periphery (element 45, fig. 2) configured to engage the fastener (Harker; para. [0038]; “spindle 44 has a center opening 45… designed as a twelve-point wrench for engaging fasteners”), and an outer periphery (element 48, fig. 2) containing circumferentially space ramps (element 56, fig. 2; para. [0038]; “the valleys 52 on the second race 48 are adjacent to inclined surfaces 56”), and the plurality of abutments positioned between the circumferentially spaced ramps (para. [0038]; “each lobe 50 has a back surface 62 that faces an adjacent valley 52”), and the ramps being oriented toward the annular wall (para. [0038]; “the inclined surfaces 56 are concave as they face the cylindrical race 34”).
Regarding claim 10 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 9 and further teaches:
wherein each roller member is supported on a corresponding ramp for movement along the ramp between a corresponding abutment and the annular wall (para. [0039]; “The rollers 66 are held captive between the cylindrical race 34, a corresponding inclined surface 56, a valley 52, and a corresponding back surface 62”).
Regarding claim 11 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 10 and further teaches:
wherein each abutment is biased against a corresponding roller member to force the roller member to wedge between the ramp and the annular wall (para. [0039, 40]; note, abutments contain cantilevered biasing member (element 72), rollers are placed adjacent to biasing member, when torque is applied, rollers are forced by biasing member to wedge between ramp (inclined surface, element 56) and annular wall (cylindrical race, element 34)) and thereby radially compress the drive gear inwardly against the fastener to apply the torquing force on the fastener (para. [0040]; “rotation of the spindle 44… wedge the rollers 66 between the inclined surfaces 56 and cylindrical race 34”).
Regarding claim 12 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 11 and further teaches:
wherein each abutment defines one circumferential boundary of one ramp (para. [0038, 39]; “The rollers 66 are held captive between the cylindrical race 34, a corresponding inclined surface 56, a valley 52, and a corresponding back surface 62”; note, outer diameter surface 58 continuous with both inclined surface and back surface, forming “rearward boundary” for forward valley and roller).
Regarding claim 13 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 12 and further teaches:
wherein each abutment limits movement of the corresponding roller member (para. [0038, 39]; “The rollers 66 are held captive between the cylindrical race 34, a corresponding inclined surface 56, a valley 52, and a corresponding back surface 62. These adjacently located surfaces form a cavity 68 that captures each roller 66 between the races 34, 48”).
Regarding claim 14 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 8 and further teaches:
wherein the drive gear is formed of a resiliently compressible material.
Bristol teaches the insert has “a circular periphery and interior nut-engaging flats and being slit so as to render it resiliently compressible” (col. 1, 48-52).
Regarding claim 15 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 14 and further teaches:
wherein the resilient material comprises an alloy steel.
Bristol teaches “the inserts are preferably constructed of a harder ferrous alloy of suitable resiliency” (col. 2, line 52-55), wherein steel alloys are included in the broad grouping of ferrous alloys.
Regarding claim 16 Harker discloses a hand tool (element 10, fig. 1), comprising:
an elongated handle (element 20, fig. 2) having an interior annular wall (element 34, fig. 2) that defines a cavity (element 32, fig. 2);
a drive gear (element 44, fig. 2) configured to engage a fastener (para. [0038]; “spindle 44 has a center opening 45… designed as a twelve-point wrench for engaging fasteners”) and an outer periphery (element 48, fig. 2) containing circumferentially spaced abutments (element 50, 56, 58, 62, fig. 4; para. [0038]; “spindle 44 has a second race 48 that has a series of lobes 50 protruding radially outward”) and circumferentially spaced ramps (element 56, fig. 2; para. [0038]; “the valleys 52 on the second race 48 are adjacent to inclined surfaces 56”) oriented toward the annular wall (para. [0038]; “the inclined surfaces 56 are concave as they face the cylindrical race 34”), the drive gear being rotatably supported in the cavity (para. [0040]; “the spindle 44 and rollers 66 are held within the cylindrical race 34”) for movement between a radially compressed position to apply a torquing force on the fastener (para. [0040]; note, turning the handle “will cause the rollers 66 to wedge against their corresponding adjacent inclined surfaces 56 and the cylindrical race 34 when the spindle 44 is rotated”), and a radially decompressed position to relieve the torquing force on the fastener (para. [0040]; “when the cylindrical race 34 rotates in the free rotating direction, the rollers 66 release immediately because no brinelling has occurred”);
a plurality of roller members (element 66, fig. 2) supported on the ramps for movement between the abutments and the annular wall (para. [0040]; “Movement of the rollers 66 into the second position is facilitated by rotation of the spindle 44 with respect to the cylindrical race 34 in the head 23”); and
a bias member (element 72, fig. 2) arranged between a corresponding abutment and a corresponding roller member to apply a bias force that urges the roller member against the annular wall in response to the selective rotation of the handle in the torquing direction (para. [0039, 40]; note, abutments contain cantilevered biasing member (element 72), rollers are placed adjacent to biasing member, when torque is applied, rollers are forced by biasing member to wedge between ramp (inclined surface, element 56) and annular wall (cylindrical race, element 34)).
Harker fails to disclose:
an elastically flexible drive gear
Bristol teaches a hand tool (“wrench”, no element # given) comprising an elongated handle (element 10, fig. 2) and an elastically flexible drive insert (element 14, fig. 2; col. 2, line 35-49; “The insert 14 may be constructed of any suitable material having sufficient resiliency to permit its flexing sufficiently to solidly engage the surfaces and corners of a nut”).
Bristol teaches an elastically flexible drive insert which is resiliently compressible to provide torque-transmitting friction to tightly grip a fastener (col. 1, line 46-57)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Harker by incorporating the elastically flexible drive gear of Bristol into the hand tool of Harker. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate the improvement in functionality of the hand tool in providing a drive gear which flexes to more effectively clamp the fastener as the rollers wedge themselves in the torquing position. As Bristol suggests, this provides greater torque transmission by tightly gripping the fastener.
Regarding claim 17 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 16 and further teaches:
wherein the drive gear expands radially outwardly in response to the selective rotation of the handle in the non-torquing direction to facilitate dislodging of the rollers from wedged positions between the ramps and the annular wall.
Harker, para. [0040]; “when the cylindrical race 34 rotates in the free rotating direction, the rollers 66 release immediately because no brinelling has occurred”; note, cylindrical race is a part of wrench head (element 23) and wrench handle (element 20), and cylindrical race moves in response to rotation of handle.
Bristol teaches that when pressure is released from the wrench, the insert recovers to its original shape (col. 2, line 42-49; col. 3, line 35-42).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the expansion of the drive gear into the hand tool of Harker modified. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that, when torque is released from the wrench, the flexible drive gear would return to its unstressed condition, thereby pushing on the rollers. As the rollers are no longer being forcibly wedged, the force imparted by the flexing drive gear would dislodge the rollers.
Regarding claim 19 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 16 and further teaches:
wherein the drive gear is formed of a resiliently compressible material.
Bristol teaches the insert has “a circular periphery and interior nut-engaging flats and being slit so as to render it resiliently compressible” (col. 1, 48-52).
Regarding claim 20 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 19 and further teaches:
wherein the resilient material comprises an alloy steel.
Bristol teaches “the inserts are preferably constructed of a harder ferrous alloy of suitable resiliency” (col. 2, line 52-55), wherein steel alloys are included in the broad grouping of ferrous alloys.
Claims 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harker, as modified by Bristol, as applied to claim 16, in further view of Ludtke et al. (US 9415486 B2).
Regarding claim 18 Harker modified teaches the limitations of claim 16 and further teaches:
further comprising a washer member (element 38, fig. 2) supported in the cavity.
Harker teaches “a washer 38 is placed on the base ledge 36 to facilitate the rotation of parts installed above the washer 38” (para. [0038]).
Harker modified fails to teach:
the washer member having a radial projection on an outer edge thereof that engages a notch in the annular wall to prevent rotation of the washer member during selective rotation of the handle.
Ludtke teaches a hand tool (element 10, fig. 1) comprising a cavity (element 32, fig. 3), a drive gear (element 20, fig. 3), and a washer member (element 42, fig. 1), the washer member having a radial projection on an outer edge thereof that engages a notch in the annular wall to prevent rotation of the washer member during selective rotation of the handle.
Ludtke teaches a washer (cover plate, element 42) and a retaining ring (scar ring, element 40) which cover and, in combination, retain the drive gear and other ratchet mechanism components of the disclosed wrench. The washer has an eccentric lobe that sits inside a mirrored area of the cavity (element 32) of the wrench head (box-end, element 30).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Harker modified by incorporating the radial projection of the Ludtke washer into the washer of Harker modified. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the eccentric geometry of the washer would assist in locating the washer during assembly and limit movement of the washer during use.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yang (US 20200246945 A1) teaches multiple embodiments of a wrench using rollers, an interior annular wall, and a drive gear with exterior annular ramps to transmit torque and to allow free movement in a second direction. The embodiments include a cage to support the rollers and biasing members for the rollers.
Wang (WO 2016176817 A1) teaches multiple embodiments of a wrench using rollers, an interior annular wall, and a drive gear with exterior annular ramps to transmit torque and to allow free movement in a second direction. The embodiments include a cage to support the rollers and biasing members for the rollers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEEGAN T MARTIN whose telephone number is (571) 272-7452. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 am - 5:00 pm.
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/KEEGAN T MARTIN/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/JASON KHALIL HAWKINS/Examiner, Art Unit 3723