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 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: end of the claim there is comer (pushback effect,). It must be period.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-3 are rejected as failing to define the invention in the manner required by 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
The claim(s) are narrative in form and replete with indefinite language. The structure which goes to make up the device must be clearly and positively specified. The structure must be organized and correlated in such a manner as to present a complete operative device. The claim(s) must be in one sentence form only. Note the format of the claims in the patent(s) cited.
Claims 1 and 3 have multiple sentences.
See, some patents in “Conclusion” section in prior art made of record for how to write claim(s).
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 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/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Melinat (US – 4,375,842).
As per claim 1, Melinat discloses Disc Brake Caliper Piston And Housing Retraction And Knockback Control Mechanism comprising:
a pushback ring or element (104, Fig: 2, 4) is press-fitted on the brake piston (54, Fig: 2, 4) in order to create/accumulate a reactive force when the brake pedal is pressed and the brake piston advances, pushing the ring against the brake piston dust shield. There is no friction between the pushback ring and the brake caliper bore and the pushback ring is able to slide along the brake piston when the reactive force created overcomes the friction between the pushback ring and the brake piston, allowing the brake piston to advance towards the brake disc (The friction ring 110 operates as a grip-and-slip mechanism so that when piston 54 is moved by pressure in chamber 56 for an axial distance greater than the limited amount of movement L.sub.p, spring washer 104 is fully biased to the position shown in FIG. 4 and friction ring 110 can move no further relative to caliper housing 24 so that it slips relative to the piston surface 90. Thus the friction ring 110 establishes a new clamping position on piston 54, Col: 3, Ln: 57-65, Fig: 2, 4). In absence of brake pressure the pushback ring normally rests on the release washer/angled surface (Fig.4), without pressing against it and in case of a normal or a panic braking event and after the brake pressure has been released, the dust shield will bring the pushback ring back in contact with the release washer/angled surface and the residual tension in the brake piston will push the pushback ring against the release washer/angled surface (When the hydraulic pressure in chamber 56 is released, the biasing force of spring washer 104 acts on friction ring 110 to move that ring, piston 54 and brake pad assembly 72 concurrently toward cylinder end wall 58 until the friction ring surface 118 engages the recess end wall 102. This limits the amount of retraction of piston 54 and therefore of inboard brake pad assembly 72 to the distance L.sub.p., Col: 3, Ln: 65 – Col: 4, Ln: 4, Fig: 2, 4). This will weaken the clamping force of the pushback ring and will facilitate pushing back the piston during the first few rotations of the brake rotor (function of . If needed, an elastic element (110, Fig: 4) can be introduced between the pushback ring and the brake piston dust shield in order to achieve a specific pushback effect, (Col: 2, Ln: 66 – Col: 3, Ln: 12, Fig: 2, 4).
Also see claim objection and claim rejection 112 above.
As per claim 2, Melinat discloses Disc Brake Caliper Piston And Housing Retraction And Knockback Control Mechanism comprising:
a similar mechanism can be installed on the mounting pins (16, 18, Fig: 1) of a floating brake caliper (12, Fig: 1), in order to control the gap between both brake pads (44, 72, Fig: 2) and the brake rotor (74, Fig: 2).
As per claim 3, Melinat discloses Disc Brake Caliper Piston And Housing Retraction And Knockback Control Mechanism comprising:
for correct operation, the reactive force needed to push back the brake piston when the brake pressure (pedal) is released is weaker than the force needed to slide the pushback ring along the brake piston (When the hydraulic pressure in chamber 56 is released, the biasing force of spring washer 104 acts on friction ring 110 to move that ring, piston 54 and brake pad assembly 72 concurrently toward cylinder end wall 58 until the friction ring surface 118 engages the recess end wall 102. This limits the amount of retraction of piston 54 and therefore of inboard brake pad assembly 72 to the distance L.sub.p., Col: 3, Ln: 65 – Col: 4, Ln: 4, Fig: 2, 4) and the latter is weaker than the force needed to dismount the brake piston dust shield. The dismounting force of the dust shield will be established to be as low as possible, as a safety measure in case the pushback ring gets stuck and doesn’t allow the brake piston to advance toward the brake disc ((Col: 2, Ln: 66 – Col: 3, Ln: 12, Fig: 2, 4).
Also see claim rejection 112 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
A: Straut (US – 4,083,436),
B: Kawaguchi et al. (US – 4,058,084),
C: Ernst Meier (US – 3,631,767),
D: R. T. Burnett (US – 3,377,076),
E: HAINES et al. (US – 2020/0378456 A1),
F: Chouings Leslie Cyril (GB – 1008717 A), and
G: GAO, Jing-feng (CN – 114046322 A).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAN M AUNG whose telephone number is (571)270-5792. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM.
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/SAN M AUNG/Examiner, Art Unit 3616
/Robert A. Siconolfi/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3616