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
Claims 3, 4, 5, and 7 objected to because of the following informalities: each of these claims recites “downstream side dust sending section”. It is believed that these should read “downstream side of a dust sending section”, wherein “of a” is added into claim 3 and “downstream side of the dust sending section”, wherein “of the” is added into claims 4, 5, and 7.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 and 3-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoshitake (2013063022), hereinafter Yoshitake.
Regarding claim 1, Yoshitake discloses a combine (combine harvester, fig. 1, [0002]), comprising:
a reaping section (4, fig. 1, [0017]) configured to reap a planted crop in a field (4, fig. 1, [0017]); and
a threshing device (5, fig. 1, [0017]) configured to thresh a crop from the reaping section (5, fig. 1, [0017]), and wherein;
the threshing device comprises:
a threshing chamber (50, fig. 1, [0019]) to be fed with a crop from the reaping sections (fig. 1, [0019]);
a threshing cylinder (52, fig. 1, [0020]) rotatability provided in the threshing chamber and configured to thresh the crop fed into the threshing chamber (fig. 1 and 4-5, 0020-0021);
a top plate covering the threshing chamber from above (55, fig. 1 and 4-5, [0025]); and
a plurality of dust-sending valves (56a and 56b, fig. 4 and 5, [0026-0027]) provided on an inner side of the top plate and arranged in a direction along a rotation axis of the threshing cylinder and configured to guide a threshing target toward a rear of the threshing chamber (fig. 5), each of the plurality of dust-sending valves comprises;
a first dust-sending member (56a, fig. 5, [0026-0027 and 0029-0030]) provided in an upper portion of the threshing chamber in a state of extending in a left-right direction of the threshing chamber and in a state wherein a sending angle is changeable by swinging (fig. 5, [0026-0027 and 0029-0030]); and
a second dust-sending member (56b, fig. 5, [0026-0030]) provided in an upper portion of the threshing chamber and fixed to a position located on an upstream side in a rotation direction of the threshing cylinder with respect to the first dust-sending member such that a sending angle is not changeable (fig. 5, [0026-0030]); and
a portion of the top plate facing the second dust-sending member has an arc shape as viewed in a direction along the rotation axis (fig. 4-5,[0027]).
Regarding claim 3, Yoshitake further discloses wherein;
a side portion of the top plate on a downstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder is formed in a state of inclining downward and outward to a lateral side of the threshing chamber, and
the first dust-sending member comprises a downstream side dust-sending section extending along the side portion at a position on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder (see circled area of 55 and 56a in annotated fig. 5).
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Regarding claim 4, Yoshitake further discloses wherein;
a gap is provided between the side portion and an upper edge portion of the downstream side dust-sending section (see area between 55 and 56a in circled area in annotated fig. 5.2).
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Regarding claim 5, Yoshitake further discloses wherein;
the first dust-sending member (56a, fig. 5, [0026-0027 and 0029-0030]) has a support shaft provided at a position located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder with respect to a center in a left-right direction of the threshing chamber and on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder with respect to the downstream side dust-sending section, and the first dust-sending member is supported in a swingable state with the support shaft as a swing pivot (vertical pivot shaft p1, fig. 5, [0026]).
Regarding claim 6, Yoshitake further discloses wherein;
a protrusion length by which an end portion of the first dust-sending member (56a) on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder protrudes from the top plate toward the threshing cylinder is the same as a protrusion length by which an end portion of the second dust-sending member (56b) on a downstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder protrudes from the top plate (55) toward the threshing cylinder (see annontated fig. 5.3 wherein, L1 the length of the protrusion of the 56a from 55 towards 52 and L2 the length of the protrusion of the 56a from 55 towards 52 are the same).
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Regarding claim 7, Yoshitake further discloses wherein;
the first dust-sending member (56a, fig. 5, [0026-0027 and 0029-0030]) has a support shaft (vertical pivot shaft p1, fig. 5, [0026]) provided at a position located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder with respect to a center in a left-right direction of the threshing chamber (fig. 5) and on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the threshing cylinder with respect to the downstream side dust-sending section (fig. 5), and the first dust-sending member is supported in a swingable state with the support shaft as a swing pivot (fig. 5, [0026]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 2 would be allowable because the closest prior art Yoshitake (2013063022) fails to disclose a notch formed in a lower corner of the first dust-sending member. No prior art was found with such a notch or for a reason to modify Yoshitake to incorporate such a notch.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jennifer A Railey whose telephone number is (571)270-7353. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (8-4).
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/JENNIFER A RAILEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3676
/Nicole Coy/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3672