DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
All current claims are generic to the elected species and no Claims are presently withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 1/20/2026. Applicant appears to be arguing traversal as all claims are presently drawn to the elected Species, however during prosecution the claims may be amended to read on multiple different species, and the restriction is set in place to avoid undue burden on the examiner should applicant take this course of action, and to avoid undue coverage by multiple inventions claimed during later prosecution. As such the restriction is made final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
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.
Claims 1-4,6-7,10-13,15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4538381 to Vogel in view of US Patent 11946309 to Gore.
As to claim 1, Vogel discloses An oven appliance (Fig 1) defining a vertical direction (up down), a lateral direction (left right), and a transverse direction (depth), the oven appliance comprising: a cabinet forming a cooking chamber (Fig 1 interior); at least one heating element positioned within the cooking chamber (common feature to supply heat to interior of chamber, shown in Gore: 90; obvious to use in Vogel to supply desired heat to cook); a door rotatably coupled to the cabinet between an open position and a closed position (13; feature also shown in Gore: 26,17); and a bumper protruding along the transverse direction (19, extends “out” ie traverse direction) and positioned between the cabinet and the door (19 between 13 and cabinet 15), the bumper configured to provide dampening between the cabinet and the door in the closed position (Col 1, Line 10-15), wherein the bumper comprises a first heat face and a second heat face (A1,A2 face as indicated in Figures 1,2 below, specifically the face A1, A2 are the sloped faces that slope from the side of 17 to the exterior side 15) to guide heated air along the lateral direction (inherent feature that when oven is opened and hot air escapes it will pass along the surface of the gasket, and as such hot air will pass along A1 and A2 in “left and right” directions respectively, ei. Laterally), and wherein each of the first heat face and the second heat face is linear (A1,A2 best seen as linear by arrow indicated Figure 2 below).
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As to claim 2, Vogel discloses the bumper is attached to a front wall of the cabinet (Fig 1).
As to claim 3, Vogel discloses the cabinet comprises an attachment aperture (33) into which the bumper is accepted, the attachment aperture comprising a clocking pattern to restrict rotation of the bumper with respect to the front wall (up and down slit 33 for bar 29 Fig 2,3).
As to claim 4, Vogel discloses the bumper comprises an alignment tab, and wherein the cabinet comprises an alignment aperture to selectively receive the alignment tab (up and down slit 33 for bar 29 Fig 2,3).
As to claim 6, Vogel discloses the bumper (19) further comprises a convex face (C1 below) convex upward (upward compared to the rest of the bumper C1 below) to restrict heated air along the vertical direction (restricts heated air flowing up and out of the oven as door opens, also pushing it away from oven face, Fig 1), the convex face being positioned between the first heat face and the second heat face along the lateral direction (C1 between A1,A2 laterally below).
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As to claim 7, Vogel discloses the bumper comprises a plurality of through holes (holes for 25 through A1, A2 which will pass vertically Fig 1) formed predominantly along the vertical direction through the bumper.
As to claim 10, Vogel discloses A domestic appliance defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction, the domestic appliance comprising: a cabinet forming a receiving chamber (17); a door (13) rotatably coupled to the cabinet to provide selective access to the receiving chamber; and a resilient bumper (19) protruding along the transverse direction and positioned between the cabinet and the door, the resilient bumper (19) configured to provide dampening between the cabinet and the door when the door is moved to a closed position, wherein the resilient bumper comprises a first face and a second face to guide air along the lateral direction, and wherein each of the first face and the second face is linear (As cited and rejected claim 1 above; Fig 1-4; A1,A2 below).
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As to claim 11, Vogel discloses the resilient bumper is attached to a front wall of the cabinet (19, Fig 1).
As to claim 12, Vogel discloses the cabinet comprises an attachment aperture (33) into which the bumper is accepted, the attachment aperture comprising a clocking pattern to restrict rotation of the bumper with respect to the front wall (up and down slit 33 for bar 29 Fig 2,3).
As to claim 13, Vogel discloses the bumper comprises an alignment tab, and wherein the cabinet comprises an alignment aperture to selectively receive the alignment tab (up and down slit 33 for bar 29 Fig 2,3).
As to claim 15, Vogel discloses the bumper (19) further comprises a convex face (C1 below) convex upward (upward compared to the rest of the bumper C1 below) to restrict heated air along the vertical direction (restricts heated air flowing up and out of the oven as door opens, also pushing it away from oven face, Fig 1), the convex face being positioned between the first heat face and the second heat face along the lateral direction (C1 between A1,A2 laterally below).
As to claim 16, Vogel discloses the bumper comprises a plurality of through holes (holes for 25 through A1, A2 which will pass vertically Fig 1) formed predominantly along the vertical direction through the bumper.
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Claims 5,14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4538381 to Vogel as applied to claim 1,10 above and further in view of US Patent 3846608 to Valles.
As to claim 5,14, Vogel does not expressly disclose the bumper is attached to a rear panel of the door, which is taught by Valles (29 on 9).
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Vogel to include where the bumper is attached to a rear panel of the door using the teachings of Valles as this would have been a mere rearrangement of parts with predictable results and equivalent sealing results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8-9,17-18 is 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSE SAMUEL BOGUE whose telephone number is (571)270-1406. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Laurenzi can be reached on 571-270-7878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JESSE S BOGUE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746