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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. The current title “side brush mechanism with novel structure” contains the word “novel” not considered as part of the title of an invention (see MPEP 606). A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The following title is suggested: “Side brush mechanism for a tunnel type car washing machine”.
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.
Claim 1 recites one end of a rocker arm actuator mounted on the tunnel type car washing machine. Therefore the tunnel type car washing machine is a claimed feature. Therefore, the tunnel type car washing machine that mounts one end of a rocker arm actuator of a side brush mechanism must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s).
Claim 3 recites a vertical seat bearing. While figure 1 shows a numerical reference 14 directed to the vertical seat bearing, the structure is not clearly shown in the drawing. The term “vertical seat bearing” renders the claim indefinite and therefore the structure of the vertical seat bearing is necessary in order to understand the scope of the invention.
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.
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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites a “reducer, the reducer in driving connection with the side brush assembly to drive the side brush assembly to rotate”. It is noted that the specification does not sufficiently describe the claimed reducer in a way that allows a person of ordinary skill in the art to understand the scope of the claimed reducer. There is no reducing action described in the specification. Therefore the person of ordinary skill in the art would be able to understand a) what is being reduced by the reducer and b) what structure would constitute as the claimed reducer. For purposes of this examination, this limitation is interpreted as a motor capable of driving the side brush assembly to rotate.
Claim 1 recites “a left-right skew actuator … to swing vertically left and right”. It is unclear what is meant by swinging vertically left and right because the vertical direction has no component in the left and right directions.
Claims 2-10 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim 3 recites “a vertical seat bearing”. The claim and the specification fails to provide any structures to define the claimed vertical seat bearing. This language can mean a number of different things including a) a seat bearing to bear vertical load, b) a seat bearing for a shaft arranged in the vertical direction, c) a thrust bearing in a seat application or other types of bearings.
Claim 6 recites “the second proximity switch corresponds to a top or bottom surface of the side brush swing arm”. It is unclear what a switch corresponding to a surface is meant in the context of the claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han (Korean Patent Document KR 10-0829416 B1) in view of Rosenberger (European Patent Document EP0980802A2).
As per claim 1, Han discloses a side brush mechanism with a novel structure, used for a tunnel type car washing machine, comprising: a side brush mounting beam (10; figure 2), mounted on a tunnel type car washing machine (as shown; figure 2); a side brush assembly (50) for brushing left and right sides of a vehicle (as shown; figures 4-5); a side brush swing arm (20) with one end rotatably connected to the side brush mounting beam (as shown; figures 4, 5) and the other end rotatably connected to a reducer (connected to motor 59); the reducer in driving connection with the side brush assembly to drive the side brush assembly to rotate (motor 59 rotating side brush 50; machine translation page 7, second paragraph; original text paragraph <18>); a rocker arm actuator (25; figure 7) with one end rotatably connected to the side brush swing arm (20) and the other end mounted on the tunnel type car washing machine (as shown; figure 7) to drive the side brush swing arm to swing horizontally left and right (as shown; figure 6).
Han does not explicitly teach a left-right skew actuator arranged between the side brush swing arm and the reducer and used for driving the reducer and the side brush assembly to swing vertically left and right to adjust a brushing angle.
Rosenberger is a related prior art in that it deals with a tunnel type car washing machine having side brushes. Rosenberger teaches a left-right skew actuator (15; figure 2) arranged between the side brush swing arm (11) and the reducer (6) and used for driving the reducer and the side brush assembly to swing vertically left and right to adjust a brushing angle (inclination device 15 actively bringing the side brushes to an inclination position; paragraph [0015]; figures 2, 4). Rosenberger teaches that an active tilting of the side brush provides relief of the vehicle side surface from the weight force of the inclined side brush (in comparison to passive tilting) (paragraph [0005]) and the regulation of the brush can be made more accurately achieving optimum penetration depth of the brush on the vehicle (paragraph [0006]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify Han’s side brush to incorporate Rosenberger’s active tilting actuator at the frame attached to the motor, i.e., incorporating Rosenberger’s active incline device 15 to Han’s tilting bracket 60, because as Rosenberger teaches, an active tilting of the side brush provides relief of the vehicle side surface from the weight force of the inclined side brush (in comparison to passive tilting) (paragraph [0005]) and the regulation of the brush can be made more accurately achieving optimum penetration depth of the brush on the vehicle (paragraph [0006]).
As per claim 2, Han, in view of Rosenberger, discloses the side brush mechanism with a novel structure according to claim 1, and Han further discloses wherein a limit block (35; figure 6) is arranged on the side brush mounting beam (10), and the limit block is used for limiting an opening of a rotation stroke of the side brush swing arm (as shown; figure 6).
As per claim 3, Han, in view of Rosenberger, discloses the side brush mechanism with a novel structure according to claim 1, and Han further discloses wherein a vertical seat bearing is arranged at an end, away from the side brush mounting beam, of the side brush swing arm, the vertical seat bearing is connected to a left-right skew bracket through a left-right skew swing shaft (shaft portion 47 shown to have a bearing (vertical seat shaft) engaging a shaft to pivot to connect the end of arm 20 to bracket 60 (left-right skew bracket); figures 7, 8), and the left-right skew bracket is rotatably connected to the left-right skew actuator (as shown; figures 7, 8).
As per claim 5, Han, in view of Rosenberger, discloses the side brush mechanism with a novel structure according to claim 3, and Han further discloses wherein a first proximity switch bracket (65; figure 7) is arranged on the left-right skew bracket (60), a first proximity switch (80) is arranged on the first proximity switch bracket (as shown; figure 7), and the first proximity switch corresponds to a side surface, away from the side brush mounting beam, of the side brush swing arm and is used for detecting a skew range of the side brush assembly (detecting when the side brush 50 is tilted more than a predetermined range; original text paragraph <24>; machine translation page 7).
As per claim 7, Han, in view of Rosenberger, discloses the side brush mechanism with a novel structure according to claim 1, and Han further discloses wherein the side brush mounting beam (10) is rotatably connected to the side brush swing arm (20) through a side brush swing shaft (31; figure 6), and an anti-falling plate is arranged at a bottom of the side brush swing shaft (fixing bracket 30, which supports shaft 31 is shown to have a bottom plate; figures 2, 7).
As per claim 10, Han, in view of Rosenberger, discloses the side brush mechanism with a novel structure according to claims 3-5, and Han further discloses wherein the reducer is connected to the left-right skew bracket through a reducer adapter flange (motor 59 is shown to have a flange that engages bracket 60; figure 7).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Belanger (U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2019/0176772) teaches a vehicle wash system having an actuator to pivot the side brush at an angle.
Schleeter (U.S. Patent No. 4,453,284) teaches a rocker arm attached to a side brush mounting beam. However. this rocker arm is different from the claimed invention because it does not have one end rotatably connected to the side brush swing arm and the other end mounted on the tunnel type car washing machine.
Belanger (U.S. Patent No. 9,714,011) teaches a vehicle washing machine side brush having a plurality of segments at different angles.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG K KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-1324. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 5:00 pm EST.
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, Courtney Heinle can be reached at (571)270-3508. 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.
/SANG K KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745