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 .
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.
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.
(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, 4, 7-8, 13-14, 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Perelli (Pat. No.: 5,410,825).
Regarding independent claim 1, Perelli discloses a snowthrower comprising:
an auger housing (14) comprising spaced-apart first and second sidewalls (16a-16b) connected to one another by a rear wall (20) to define a front-facing collection opening, wherein the auger housing (14) comprises a lower edge (24) extending between the first and second sidewalls along a transverse direction (See Fig. 1 or Fig. 2);
an auger (26) positioned within the auger housing (14) between the collection opening and the rear wall (20);
an oscillating scraper (48) connected to the lower edge (24) of the auger housing (as seen in Fig. 4), the oscillating scraper (48) extending downwardly from the lower edge (24) toward a ground surface (as seen in Fig. 3) and configured to move relative to the auger housing in a reciprocating motion (See col. 6, lns. 14-24 where it discloses the scraper is biased upward when the edge encounters an obstacle and downward when the edge encounters a trough or recess); and
an actuator (64) configured to provide the reciprocating motion to the oscillating scraper (48; See cols. 5-6, lns. 67-24 where it discloses because of the actuator 64, the scraper 64 moves upward and downwards along its “vertical travel path”, i.e., the reciprocating motion).
Regarding claim 4, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper (48) is configured to move in a direction perpendicular to the transverse direction relative to the auger housing (i.e., forward and backward as disclosed in col. 6, lns. 14-24).
Regarding claim 7, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper (48) comprises one portion extending between the first and second sidewalls (as seen in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 8, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper extends along all or most of a length of the lower edge (24) of the auger housing along the transverse direction (See Fig. 4 where the scraper extends along most of the length of the lower edge).
Regarding claim 12, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses
Regarding claim 13, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein one of the auger housing (14) and the oscillating scraper defines one or more pins (70a or 70b) and the other of the auger housing and the oscillating scraper (48) defines one or more slots (66) configured to receive the one or more pins (See col. 5, lns. 28-47 for disclosure of the attachment means).
Regarding claim 14, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper (48) defines a leading end (40) cantilevered (i.e., supported from one end, See col. 5, lns. 40-48 where it discloses the scraper is attached to the housing from a region generally near a top edge 76 of the scraper) from the lower edge (24) of the auger housing, wherein the leading end (40) protrudes about 0 inches to 3 inches below a lowest-most point of a profile of the auger (as seen in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 16, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper (48) defines an upper surface that is positioned to form a continuous path with an inner surface of the auger housing (as seen in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 17, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper (48) extends at an angle of less than or equal to 90 degrees relative to the ground surface when the snowthrower is in an operating position on the ground surface (See Fig. 3 where the scraper is depicted as extending at an angle around 45 degrees).
Regarding claim 18, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper comprises a material selected from aluminum, steel, and plastic (See col. 4, lns. 15-18).
Regarding claim 19, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper (48) comprises a cantilevered member having an upper end (76) movably connected (at least operably) to the lower edge (24) of the auger housing, and a leading end (40) positioned at or near the ground surface.
Regarding claim 20, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the reciprocating motion of the oscillating scraper (48) relative to the auger housing is selectively actuated (i.e., the actuator either applies upward or downward motion depending on if an obstacle or recess is encountered, See col. 6, lns. 14-24 for disclosure of the upward and downward motion depending on what is encountered).
Claims 1, 4, 6, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Weight (Pat. No.: 5,813,152).
Regarding independent claim 1, Weight discloses snow thrower comprising:
an auger housing (15) comprising spaced-apart first and second sidewalls (16A-B) connected to one another by a rear wall to define a front-facing collection opening (See Fig. 1), wherein the auger housing (15) comprises a lower edge (17) extending between the first and second sidewalls along a transverse direction (as seen in Fig. 1);
an auger (52) positioned within the auger housing (15) between the collection opening and the rear wall;
an oscillating scraper (See Fig. 2 for the elements of the oscillating scraper, with elements 20, 22A3 and 22B3 corresponding to portions of the claimed scraper) connected (operably) to the lower edge (17) of the auger housing, the oscillating scraper extending downwardly from the lower edge (17) toward a ground surface and configured to move relative to the auger housing in a reciprocating motion (See col. 1, lns. 49-65 where it discloses the “oscillatable elongate blade member having a longitudinal cutting edge, a pair of support arms attached to the ends of the oscillatable elongate blade member and being pivotally attached to the snow blower housing… drive means for actuating the cams which actuate the support arms for rapidly oscillating the oscillatable elongate blade member forwardly and rearwardly”); and
an actuator (24A-B) configured to provide the reciprocating motion to the oscillating scraper (See col. 5, lns. 34-38 where it discloses the spring members partially cause the member to oscillate).
Regarding claim 4, Weight discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper is configured to move in a direction perpendicular to the transverse direction relative to the auger housing (See col. col. 1, lns. 49-65 where it discloses the oscillatible scraper is oscillated “forwardly and rearwardly” which corresponds to the claimed configured to move in a direction perpendicular to the transverse direction).
Regarding claim 6, Weight discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper is configured to move at a frequency about 1-200 Hertz (See col. 4, lns. 9-14 where it discloses the oscillating scraper is driven by sprockets rotating at approximately 360rpms, note that 360rpms is approximately 6 Hz).
Regarding claim 9, Weight discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper comprises two or more portions (22A3 and 22B3 seen in Fig. 2 each corresponding to one of the two or more portions) extending between the first and second sidewalls and positioned such that a gap exists between each adjacent portion of the oscillating scraper (as seen in Fig. 2).
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 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perelli in view of Ting (Pat. No.: 4,833,800).
Regarding claim 2, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, but fails to disclose wherein the oscillating scraper is configured to move along the transverse direction relative to the auger housing. Like Perelli, Ting discloses a snowthrower comprising an shearing attachment (11) connected to a lower edge of an auger housing (See col. 4, lns. 9-18). Unlike, Perelli, Ting discloses wherein the shearing attachment (11) is configured to move along the transverse direction relative to the auger housing (See Fig. 5 where the depicted angle “A” corresponds to the movement along the transverse direction relative to the auger housing). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to configure the scraper of Perelli, to move along the transverse direction as disclosed by Ting, with a reasonable expectation of success, in order to “accumulate the cut matter for pickup” (See col. 3, lns. 29-36).
Regarding claim 3, the above combination discloses the snowthrower of claim 2. Ting, of the combination discloses that the oscillating scraper is configured to translate over a distance of at least 0.05 inches (See Fig. 5 where scraper 11 is translated at least 0.05 inches along A). Ting, of the combination, fails to disclose the oscillating scraper is configured to translate over a total distance of about 0.05 inches to 0.75 inches along the transverse direction as claimed. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to contrive any number of desirable ranges for the translating range limitation disclosed by Applicant, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. It is further noted that there do not appear to be any details of criticality provided for in Applicant’s disclosure for the presently claimed range.
Claims 5, 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perelli.
Regarding claim 5, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 4, and although it appears that the translatable distance of the Perelli scraper would be within the claimed range, Perelli fails to specifically disclose wherein the oscillating scraper is configured to translate over a total distance of about 0.05 inches to about 0.375 inches in the direction perpendicular to the transverse direction. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to contrive any number of desirable ranges for the translatable distance limitation disclosed by Applicant, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. Further, there do not appear to be any details of criticality regarding this range disclosed in the instant specification.
Regarding claim 10, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and although it appears that the thickness of the Perelli scraper would be within the claimed range, Perelli fails to specifically disclose wherein the oscillating scraper defines a thickness of about 0.05 inches to 0.476 inches. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to contrive any number of desirable ranges for the scraper thickness limitation disclosed by Applicant, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. Further, there do not appear to be any details of criticality regarding this range disclosed in the instant specification.
Regarding claim 11, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and although it appears that the width of the Perelli scraper would be within the claimed range, Perelli fails to specifically disclose wherein the oscillating scraper defines a width of about 1 inch to 12 inches. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to contrive any number of desirable ranges for the scraper width limitation disclosed by Applicant, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. Further, there do not appear to be any details of criticality regarding this range disclosed in the instant specification.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perelli in view of Brown (Pub. No.: 2009/0013563).
Regarding claim 15, Perelli discloses the snowthrower of claim 1, and also discloses wherein the oscillating scraper defines a leading end (40) cantilevered (i.e., supported from one end, See col. 5, lns. 40-48 where it discloses the scraper is attached to the housing from a region generally near a top edge 76 of the scraper) from the lower edge (24) of the auger housing.
However, Perelli fails to disclose wherein the auger housing comprises a skid coupled to the first or second sidewall, wherein the skid defines a lower surface configured to support the auger housing upon the ground surface when the snowthrower is in an operating position and wherein the leading end of the scraper is positioned about 0 inches to 3 inches vertically above an elevation of the lower surface of the skid.
Brown discloses a similar snowthrower with a rotating device (20) connected to a lower end of an auger housing (as seen in Fig. 3). More specifically, Brown teaches wherein the auger housing comprises a skid (160) coupled to the first and second sidewall (146 and 148) of the auger housing, wherein the skid (160) defines a lower surface (166) configured to support the auger housing upon the ground surface when the snowthrower is in an operation position (as described in para. [0017]-[0018]). Brown further teaches in para. [0023] that prior to operation the skid plate 160 should be adjusted such that the rotating device 20 with corresponding edges 40 extending therefrom and the auger are each freely rotatably without mechanical interference with each other (this corresponds to the claimed positioning of the leading edge about 0 to 3 inches vertically above the lower surface of the skid).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the auger housing of Perelli, to include the skids of Brown, with a reasonable expectation of success, as providing skids to snow throwers with ground-contacting blades is well known in the art in order to optimize the device performance for a specific ground surface.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perelli in view of Bullington et al. (Pub. No.: 2014/0196323; hereinafter Bullington).
Regarding independent claim 21, Perelli discloses a snowthrower implement comprising:
an auger housing (14) comprising spaced-apart first and second sidewalls (16a-16b) connected to one another by a rear wall (20) to define a front-facing collection opening, wherein the auger housing (14) comprises a lower edge (24) extending between the first and second sidewalls along a transverse direction (See Fig. 1 or Fig. 2);
an auger (26) positioned within the auger housing (14) between the collection opening and the rear wall (20);
an oscillating scraper (48) connected to the lower edge (24) of the auger housing (as seen in Fig. 4), the oscillating scraper (48) extending downwardly from the lower edge (24) toward a ground surface (as seen in Fig. 3) and configured to move relative to the auger housing in a reciprocating motion (See col. 6, lns. 14-24 where it discloses the scraper is biased upward when the edge encounters an obstacle and downward when the edge encounters a trough or recess), and
an actuator (64) configured to provide the reciprocating motion to the oscillating scraper (48; See cols. 5-6, lns. 67-24 where it discloses because of the actuator 64, the scraper 64 moves upward and downwards along its “vertical travel path”, i.e., the reciprocating motion).
However, Perelli fails to disclose wherein the snowthrower implement is for attachment with a utility vehicle. Bullington discloses in para. [0002] that “snow removal equipment may, in some case, be walk-behind models. However, snow blower or snow thrower attachments can sometimes be added to lawn tractors or other riding yard maintenance vehicles as well.” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to attach the snowthrower implement of Perelli to the utility vehicle of Bullington, as such a modification is well known in the art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/28/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments on pgs. 6-7 that Perelli fails to teach the actuator of amended claim 1, has been fully considered but is unpersuasive. Applicant states that since the actuator of Perelli is a spring biasing means, it cannot be reasonably interpreted as an actuator. However, this is not in line with Applicant’s disclosure. Para. [0042] of the instant specification lists examples of the compatible actuators and lists “spring/solenoid” as an embodiment. Therefore, it is reasonable to interpret that the spring biasing means 64 of Perelli functions as an actuator since it is a device that causes another element (i.e., the scraper) to operate. Additionally, in response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “[the actuator] does not merely passively bias the scraper”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Applicant’s arguments on pg. 8 that Weight fails to teach the scraper extending downwardly from the lower edge” of claim 1, has been fully considered but is unpersuasive. Col. 5, lns. 1-8 discloses that the “user can adjust the height of the elongate blade members 20,38 above the ground surface either upwardly or downwardly… relative to the housing 15” (note that “relative to the housing” includes the lower edge 17 of the housing 15). Accordingly, the scraper 20 when lowered to the ground relative to the housing would be “extending downwardly from the lower edge” as required by claim 1.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Audrey L Lusk whose telephone number is (571)272-5132. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 8am-5pm.
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, Christopher Sebesta can be reached at (571)272-0547. 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.
/A.L.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3671
/JAMIE L MCGOWAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
