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 .
Claims 1-15 are pending in the current application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS submitted on 9/26/2023 list US publication 2014/0022097. This reference appears to be unrelated to the current invention and was not considered by the examiner.
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 “locking means” (claim 11) 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.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: #11. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) 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.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Page 2, line 3 cites US 2014022097 and describes it as showing a fixed propeller
that can be retracted into the hull of a boat. This appears to be an incorrect reference.
Page 5 line 11 recites ‘The drive unit is in on example”. The examiner believes “on” should be “one”.
Appropriate correction or clarification is required.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. “Locking means” of claim 14 are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “adjustment mechanism” in claim 1.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) it is being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
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 references are used in the rejections below:
D1 JAMES M) 12 May 1959
D2 WO 2018/198063 A1 (B4S SA [CH]) 1 November 2018
D3 JP S61 198197 U 11 December 1986 (1986-12-11)
D4 US 1 124 645 A (OVERTON CHARLES S$ [US]) 12 January 1915
D5 KR 2014 0076940 A (SAMSUNG HEAVY IND [KR]) 23 June 2014
D6 US 2 987 027 A (WANZER ARTHUR W) 6 June 1961
D7 EP 2 979 972 A1 (SAMSUNG HEAVY IND [KR]) 3 February 2016
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)(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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 and 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a2) as being anticipated by HAWTHORNE, US 2 885 990 (disclosed by applicant).
HAWTHORNE discloses (references in parentheses apply to this document): a drive system (see figure 3) for a marine vessel (S) comprising a circular first housing (30) provided with an opening (70, see figure 3) and being fixed to an opening inside a hull (H) of the marine vessel (S), and a drive unit (see figure 3) arranged inside the first housing (30), where the drive unit (3) comprises a second circular housing (see figure 3) comprising a drive motor (see figure 3) and a marine propulsion system attached to the second housing (see figure 3: the motor, the leg and the propeller shaft are in one housing), where the marine propulsion system comprises a leg (see figure 3) and a hub provided with at least one propeller (10), where the drive system comprises an adjustment mechanism (14, 16, 18) arranged to adjust the position of the drive unit in the first housing (30), where the drive system is provided with a parking position (see figure 2) in which the marine propulsion system is positioned inside the first housing and a drive position (see figure 3) in which the marine propulsion system is positioned outside of the first housing (30), wherein the first housing (30) is provided with an inwardly extending flange (76) having a tapered flange shape (see surface 77),
where the inwardly extending flange is arranged around the circumference of the opening (see figure 3), and that the second housing is provided with an edge at the circumference of a lower side (80) of the second housing, having an edge shape complementary to the flange shape (see figure 3), such that the edge of the second housing bears on the flange of the first housing when the drive system is in the drive position (see figure 3: element 80 can engage with 77 to seal the housing).
See figure 3 of HAWTHORNE for features of claims 2, 4-9 and 11.
Claim 2 (sealing gasket 78, protrusion 76),
Claim 4: electric drive motor 12
Claim 6: see tapered edges 77, 80 (fig. 3)
Claim 9: compressible sealing gasket 78
Claims 12 & 13: housing is capable of rotating or being in a fixed position.
Claim 14: screw 14 and gear nut 16 can lock in the desired predetermined position
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 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HAWTHORNE. Claim features of O-ring thickness (claim 3), substituting an internal combustion engine (claim 5), tapered flange angles (claims 7 and 8) and the outer shape of the housings being non-circular (common for non-rotating housings) are all obvious alterations or alternatives easily accomplished by a skilled artisan.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify HAWTHORNE by altering or substituting the features of the indicated claims. Doing so are all routine changes easily accomplished by a routineer in final design and outfitting of the retractable propulsion system.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 3483843 and US 5522335 each disclose retractable thruster systems.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY D WIEST whose telephone number is (571)270-5974. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:00 - 3:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Samuel Morano can be reached at 571 272 6684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY D WIEST/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615