DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 13-21 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 09/11/25.
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(s) 1-7, 9, 11, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shai (WO 2020/152674) in view of Fuerst et al. (11,478,943).
Regarding claims 1 and 4, Shai discloses the invention substantially as claimed including a handle configured to be held by a user; and a head portion 120 comprising at least two cutting assemblies 71-73, which are mounted in parallel, to one another on a frame of the head portion; a first cutting assembly includes a first cylindrical screen 321 and a first blade 150 housed in said first cylindrical screen and a second cutting assembly includes a second cylindrical screen 323 and a second blade 150 housed in said second cylindrical screen; wherein each of said first and second cylindrical screens is rotatable about a respective longitudinal symmetry axis thereof, and wherein the rotation of each of the first and second cylindrical screens is manually effected by translating the head portion along a skin surface which is being shaved with the cylindrical screen contacting said surface so that substantially no sliding, of the first and second cylindrical screens occurs as the head portion is translated against said surface (see Fig. 3A, 5A-B). Shai doesn’t show the head portion changeable relative to the handle during use, a pivoting mechanism wherein a pivoting extends transversely from a first sidewall of the frame to a second sidewall of the frame. However, Fuerst et al. teaches the use of the head portion changeable relative to the handle (see Fig. 1-2), a pivoting mechanism 8 wherein a pivoting extends transversely from a first sidewall of the frame 14 to a second sidewall of the frame for the purpose of swing the head relative to the handle for better shaving. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified the device of Shai by providing the above limitations as taught by Fuerst et al. in order to obtain a device that swing the head relative to the handle for better shaving.
Also, Shai discloses:
Claim 2; wherein the first and second cylindrical screens constitute a perforated cylindrical shell defining an inner volume wherein the first and second blades are accommodated respectively (see Fig. 2 and 3A).
Claim 3; wherein each of the first and second blades is configured for oscillating motion along, or in parallel to, the longitudinal symmetry axis of the respective cylindrical screen (see para. 0048).
Claim 5; wherein the first cutting assembly is essentially identical to second cutting assembly (see Fig. 14).
Claim 6; wherein the first and second blades include curved, sharp crests which extends along a top section of the first and second blades such that the top section is shaped as a half-cylinder with crests extending circumferentially thereon in parallel to one another (see Fig. 2).
Claim 7; wherein the first and second cylindrical screens include holes, wherein when the first and second cylindrical screens are rolled along a skin surface, hairs on the skin surface penetrate into a cavity via the holes and are cut by the first and second blades (see Fig. 3A and 14).
Claim 9; wherein said shaving device is powered by a battery 101 or via a power cord.
Claim 11; wherein holes on the first and second screens are elongated along a length of a loop on which the holes are disposed (see Fig. 2 and 14).
Claim 12; wherein the first and second blades are mounted on a shaft 121 via an elongate hole 154, which extends therethrough along a length thereof, such as to allow for reciprocating motion of the first blade along the shaft back and forth towards and away from a first sidewall of the frame, and the second blade along the shaft back and forth away from and towards a second sidewall of the frame.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shai (WO 2020/152674) in view of Fuerst et al. (11,478,943).
The modified device of Shai discloses the invention substantially as claimed except for rows of holes on the first and second screens are arranged such as to define a helix about a longitudinal symmetry axis of the first and second cylindrical screens respectively. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify the device of Shai by providing a better cutting of the hair, since such modification would have involved a mere change in the shape of a component. A change in shape is generally recognized as being one of numerous configurations a person of ordinary skill in the art would find obvious. See Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148USPQ 459.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR FLORES SANCHEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-4507. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Thursday8:00-4:00 pm.
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/OMAR FLORES SANCHEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3724