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 .
Status of the Claims
Claim 1 has been amended. Claim 2 is cancelled. Claims 3, 4, 7, and 9 are as previously presented. Claims 5-6 and 8 are as originally presented. As such, claims 1, and 3-9 are pending and considered below.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 01/20/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments/Remarks
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection responds to substantive amendments to independent claim 1 requiring further delineation of prior art references.
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 3 or 9 be found allowable, claim 9 or 3 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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.
(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, 3, 5-7, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Laffey US 20150090741 A1.
In regards to claim 1, Laffey discloses press pump including a press head (actuator 12), a toothed sleeve (reservoir cap 22) and a cylinder (lower part of piston housing 26), said toothed sleeve being connected to said cylinder (refer to fig. 11), a piston rod (lower portion of actuator 12 cooperating with piston shaft 14) being connected below said press head (see exploded view in fig. 2), a piston (piston member 18) being mounted on said piston rod (para. 0076 and fig. 2), a portion of said piston rod including said piston extending into interior of said cylinder (refer to fig. 11);
wherein, a lateral circumferential wall of said press head cooperates with a lateral circumferential wall of said toothed sleeve to form a reset mechanism containing cavity (inner walls of actuator 12 and reservoir cap 22 which includes left and right inner walls 70A, 70B; refer to figs. 11 and 14),
in which an elastic reset mechanism is contained (spring 20), said elastic reset mechanism is supported between said press head and said toothed sleeve (refer to fig. 11), and is provided around said piston rod (refer to the annotated figure below),
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and
wherein said elastic reset mechanism includes at least two elastic strips (refer to the annotated figure below),
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which are provided so that each elastic strip is located in close proximity to said piston rod (refer to fig. 11); when said elastic reset mechanism is pressed to deform, in case that said elastic reset mechanism is not twisted or deflected (wherein deflection is inherent to deformation), each elastic strip is elastically deformed in their respective deformation plane (refer to fig. 16), and in case that said elastic reset mechanism is not twisted or deflected, said elastic strips are always free of contacting with inner wall of said reset mechanism containing cavity, at least prior to when said press head is pressed to its lower dead center of a pressing stroke (refer to the annotated figure below),
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and in case twist or deflection occurs to said elastic reset mechanism (deflection is inherent to deformation), said elastic strips can contact with said inner wall before said press head reaching the lower dead center of the pressing stroke (para. 0074), and the contact between said elastic strips and said inner wall applies a push force on the elastic strips, said push force pushes the elastic strips to a position in close abutment with the piston rod, to automatically correct said elastic strips (para. 0074). It is the examiners position that, in the case as described in para. 0074, that inner walls 70A and 70B are configured to provide a normal force (reactive push force) upon sufficient deformation of the elastic strips, thus automatically correction said elastic strips. Furthermore, such is advantageously described by Laffey, which prevents disadvantageous bulging resulting in a decrease of the springs biasing force (para. 0074).
In regards to claim 3, in addition to the limitations of claim 1, Laffey further discloses wherein said elastic reset mechanism further includes:
an upper supporting ring (upper support member 50A), to which upper ends of said elastic strips are connected (refer to fig. 17A),
said upper supporting ring being supported on or connected to said press head (para. 0068); and/or
a lower supporting ring (lower support member 50B), to which lower ends of said elastic strips are connected (refer to fig. 17A), said lower supporting ring being supported on or connected to said toothed sleeve (para. 0068).
In regards to claim 5, in addition to the limitations of claim 3, Laffey further discloses wherein said upper supporting ring is rotatable with respect to said press head; and/or said lower supporting ring is rotatable with respect to said toothed sleeve (paras. 0066 and 0068, wherein the lower support sing to rotatable via rotational force applies to the upper support ring and fig. 9, wherein reservoir cap 22 does not lock the lower support ring in place).
In regards to claim 6, in addition to the limitations of claim 3, Laffey further discloses wherein a first mating portion is formed on said upper supporting ring (protrusion 78A) and/or said lower supporting ring, and a second mating portion is formed on said piston rod (chaplet 18), when said elastic reset mechanism is assembled together with said press head and said piston rod, said first mating portion and said second mating portion cooperate with each other, forming a synchronous structure (please refer to fig. 7).
In regards to claim 7, in addition to the limitations of claim 6, Laffey further discloses wherein one of said first mating portion or said second mating portion is a notch (notch 42A), and the other of said first mating portion (protrusion 78A) or said second mating portion is a rib extending axially along said piston rod.
In regards to claim 9, in addition to the limitations of claim 1, Laffey discloses wherein said elastic reset mechanism further includes:
an upper supporting ring (upper support member 50A), to which upper ends of said elastic strips are connected (refer to fig. 17A),
said upper supporting ring being supported on or connected to said press head (para. 0068); and/or
a lower supporting ring (lower support member 50B), to which lower ends of said elastic strips are connected (refer to fig. 17A), said lower supporting ring being supported on or connected to said toothed sleeve (para. 0068).
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laffey US 20150090741 A1.
In regards to claim 4, in addition to the limitations of claim 3, Laffey discloses, in an alternate embodiment, wherein the elastic reset mechanism includes two said elastic strip, wherein a connecting line between pivot points on said upper supporting ring of such two said elastic strips extends through a center of said upper supporting ring; and/or a connecting line between pivot points on said lower supporting ring of such two said elastic strips extends through a center of said lower supporting ring (please refer to the annotated figure below).
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It would have been prima facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to replace the spring (820) with that of spring (220). Laffey teaches the springs are similar (para. 0090), and thus interchangeable with the structure previously set forth.
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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER STEVEN PARISI whose telephone number is (571)270-5490. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00 - 5:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Angwin can be reached at (571) 270-3735. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER S. PARISI/Examiner, Art Unit 3754
/DAVID P ANGWIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3754