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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I: Claim 1-4 in the reply filed on 3/2/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 5-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention II and III, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/2/2026.
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.
Claims 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moses US 4084357 in view of Kafan as sold on Alibaba.com (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Tumble-Basket-Sand-Blaster-Automatic-Drum_1600371562460.html) with priority date of August 11, 2022 (oldest review date), hereinafter referred to as Kafan.
Regarding claim 1, Moses discloses:
a compressed air source (Fig 6: 9),
an abrasive media source (6), and
a tub (8), comprising:
a rotating area (42) within the tub that is configured to contain one or more parts requiring surface finishing (Col 3, line 15-16),
a blast head (64) connected with the compressed air source by an air inlet tube and with the abrasive media source and configured for accelerated delivery of the abrasive media (64 is supplied by 70 connected to 96 and 64 is connected to 6);
a motor (Fig 6: 34) mounted outside of the tub that is configured to drive rotation of the rotating basket (Col 2, line 59-64: 34 rotates 30);
a bearing shaft (30) connected with the motor at a first end and with the rotating basket at a second end (30 is attached to the rotatable area at one end and the motor 34 at the other),
the bearing shaft being operable to transfer rotational force from the motor to the rotating basket (Col 2, line 59-64:); and
a linkage assembly (32 and 38) having at least one seal (38) configured to isolate the motor from the abrasive media source within the tub (Col 2, line 67-68).
However, Moses is silent as to:
a rotating basket within the tub that is configured to contain one or more parts requiring surface finishing;
a hinged connection configured to allow angular adjustment of the blast head into a desired angular position relative to the rotating basket and maintain the blast head in the desired angular position.
From the same field of endeavor, Kafan teaches:
a rotating basket (Fig as seen below: Basket) within the tub that is configured to contain one or more parts requiring surface finishing (Application section (page 5 of pdf): small part finishing);
a hinged connection (Fig 2: 78) configured to allow angular adjustment of the blast head into a desired angular position relative to the rotating basket and maintain the blast head in the desired angular position (This limitation is an intended use recitation. The applicant is reminded that a recitation with respect to the manner which a claimed apparatus is intended to be does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the structural limitations of the claims, as is the case here. While features of an apparatus may be recited either structurally or functionally, the claims are directed to an apparatus must be distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than function; The hinge of Kafan will teach this limitation, even if not specifically recited).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the rotating carousel area of Moses to be the tumble blast basket as taught by Kafan to allow of batch loads of accessories to be cleaned (Page 3 of pdf) and to have modified the blast heads of Moses to be attached by the hinge of Kafan to allow for switching the blasters to automatic to manual (Page 4 of pdf feature 1).
Regarding claim 4, Moses as modified by Kafan in the rejection of claim 1, where Moses teaches
a basket adapter (Fig 2: 40 and 52) connected with the second end of the bearing shaft and with the rotating basket (40 and 52 connects to the end of shaft 30).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 are 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.
Regarding claim 2, the claim recites “wherein the hinged connection is supported by the air inlet tube” and is considered allowable subject matter. The closest prior art is Kafan in the rejection of claim 1. The hinge connection is not supported by the air inlet tube and by the tub. There was not prior art found to teach the limitation.
Claim 3 depends for claim 2, therefore contains the allowable subject matter of claim 2.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Frederick et al. US 5676588 discloses a similar basket and shaft sealing as applicants.
Fuchs US 3086278 discloses a similar hose structure as to applicants.
Schnetzer US 3041787 discloses a similar hub attachment as to applicants.
Cyclone Manufacture “Tumble Blast Cabinet” and YT page dated June 25, 2019 discloses a similarly functioning sand bast structure as applicants.
Empire Airblast “Manual Blast Cabinet”, YT page, Part Page dated August 29, 2016 discloses a similarly functioning sand bast structure as applicants.
Gimbel Automation “Automatic Tumble Basket and stand” and Instagram dated August 1, 2023 discloses a similarly functioning sand bast structure as applicants.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Andrew J Marien whose telephone number is (469)295-9159. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am- 6:00 pm CST, Monday through Friday.
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/Andrew J Marien/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745