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
The following claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, lines 2-3: “front surface and rear” should be corrected to - -a front surface and a rear- -;
Claim 1, line 3: insert semicolon after “surface”;
Claim 1, line 7: “of electrical” should be corrected to - -of the electrical- -;
Claim 1, lines 9-10: “faceplate” should be corrected to - -faceplate member- -;
Claim 1, line 9: “yoke” should be corrected to - -yoke member- -;
Claim 2, line 1: “faceplate” should be corrected to - -faceplate member- -;
Claim 13, line 2: “faceplate” should be corrected to - -faceplate member- -;
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-7, 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gagne (US 2015/0001361).
Regarding claim 1: Gagne teaches an electrical wallbox mounting apparatus (Fig. 4a), comprising an electrical device insert 13 that includes a flange portion 10 having a front surface and a rear surface; a yoke member 6 having an aperture to receive the electrical device insert 13 (see Figs. 4a-4b), the aperture at least partially surrounded by a flange portion (at 10; Fig. 4a); a faceplate member 15 having a front surface, a rear surface and an aperture (see Fig. 4a) to accommodate passage of the electrical device insert 13 (see Figs. 4a-4b); and a plurality of biasing members 27 disposed between the yoke flange (at 6; Fig. 4a) and the rear surface of the faceplate member 15 (see Fig. 4e for biasing members 27 located between the yoke member 6 and faceplate member 15), the biasing members 27 to bias the faceplate member 15 away from the yoke member 6 such that the front surface of the faceplate member is substantially flush with the front surface of the electrical device insert 13 (see Figs. 4c-4e).
Regarding claim 2: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 1 and further teaches wherein the faceplate member 11 further comprises at least one ledge (at 27; Fig. 4e) projecting inward from the aperture (see Fig. 4e), the at least one ledge to provide a contact surface for at least a portion of the rear surface of the electrical device insert 13 (see Fig. 4e).
Regarding claim 3: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 2 and further teaches wherein the plurality of biasing members 27 comprise a plurality of biasing members (Figs. 3c-3d) physically coupled to the faceplate member 15 (see Figs. 4c-4e).
Regarding claim 4: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 3 and further teaches wherein the plurality biasing members 27 comprise a plurality of resilient fingers extending from the rear surface of the faceplate member (see Fig. 4e).
Regarding claim 5: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 1 and further teaches further comprising: a spacer member 10 positionable between the yoke member 6 and the faceplate member 15 (see Fig. 4e).
Regarding claim 6: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 5 and further teaches wherein the plurality of biasing members 27 comprise a plurality of biasing members (e.g. biasing members are comprised of multiple sections and can be interpreted as plurality of biasing members of the plurality of biasing members; see Figs. 3c-3d and 4e) physically coupled to the spacer member 10.
Regarding claim 7: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 6 and further teaches further comprising: an adapter member 3 positionable between the spacer member 10 and the rear surface of the faceplate member 15 (see Fig. 4e for adapter located between portions of the spacer and faceplate member in an up-down direction).
Regarding claim 10: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 1 and further teaches wherein the faceplate member 15 comprises a planar faceplate member having a peripheral wall portion extending from the rear surface of the faceplate member (see Figs. 4a-4e).
Regarding claim 11: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 10 and further teaches wherein the faceplate member 15 further comprises a peripheral wall portion extending about the perimeter of the aperture from the rear surface of the faceplate member (see Fig. 4a).
Regarding claim 12: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 11 and further teaches wherein the flange portion (at 10; Fig. 4a) of the electrical device insert 13 comprises a rectangular flange (see Fig. 4a).
Regarding claim 13: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 11 and further teaches wherein the aperture formed in the faceplate member comprises a rectangular aperture to accommodate the rectangular flange portion of the electrical device insert (see Fig. 4b).
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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gagne (US 2015/0001361), in view of Baldwin (US 9,312,670).
Regarding claim 9: Gagne teaches all the limitations of claim 1.
Gagne does not explicitly teach wherein the plurality of biasing members comprise a plurality of compressible foam biasing members.
Baldwin teaches a plurality of biasing members 58, 72, 76, 80 comprise a plurality of compressible foam biasing members (Col. 6, lines 1-14).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be able to modify the invention with the plurality of biasing members comprise a plurality of compressible foam biasing members as taught by Baldwin into the electrical wallbox mounting apparatus of Gagne in order to achieve the advantage of providing seals to all accessible and separate components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see PTO-892 for pertinent prior art, the following references being of closest relevance:
Arthur (US 4,340,795) teaches an adapter for an electrical device comprising a face place and biasing members;
Byrne (US 2021/0281029) teaches an electrical power unit comprising a face plate, yoke and electrical inserts that are located within a base member;
Qian (US 12,010,804) teaches a power receptacle comprising an electrical device insert, faceplate member, and yoke member assembled in an overlapping manner;
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OSCAR C JIMENEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-0272. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jessica Han can be reached at (571) 272-2078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OSCAR C JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
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