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. DETAILED ACTION This is a Non-final Office Action for application number 1 8 / 572,467 SPRING CARRIER filed on 12/20/2023 . Claims 1 6 - 35 are pending. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement submitted on 4/11/2024, 2/27/2025, 7/23/2025, 9/29/2025, 10/15/2025, 11/14/2025 and 2/3/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner. 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 16 -18 , 2 2-2 8 , 31 , 32 and 3 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a ) (1) as being anticipated by United States Patent No. 7,845,056 to Chevallier . With regards to claim 16, t he patent to Chevallier teaches a spring carrier for receiving, retaining, and discharging of a coil spring in a manufacturing assembly process, the spring carrier having an elongate hollow body (10) defining an inner cavity (12) configured to receive the coil spring (13) ; an opening at a first proximal end of the hollow body for insertion of the coil spring into the inner cavity and extraction of the coil spring from the inner cavity; the hollow body including a second distal end opposite to the first proximal end; and at least one deflectable member (14) located proximate to the first proximal end of the hollow body and including a retaining portion which is configured to retain the coil spring when the coil spring is located within the inner cavity, wherein the at least one deflectable member is movable between a first unbiased position, whereby the retaining portion extends into the inner cavity to retain the coil spring within the inner cavity, and a second biased position, whereby the retaining portion is disposed outwardly to allow the coil spring to be extracted from the inner cavity through the opening. With regards to claim 17, Chevallier teaches wherein the at least one deflectable member extends substantially parallel to a central axis of the hollow body in the first unbiased position. (See Figure 2) With regards to claim 18, Chevallier teaches wherein the at least one deflectable member includes an actuation feature (24) for engagement with an actuator to deflect the at least one deflectable member from the first unbiased position to the second biased position. With regards to claim 22, Chevallier teaches wherein the at least one deflectable member (14) includes an actuation feature for engagement with an actuator to deflect the at least one deflectable member from the first unbiased position (See Figure 4) to the second biased position (See Figure 2) . With regards to claim 23, Chevallier teaches wherein the hollow body includes a flange (10B) at the first proximal end of the hollow body and extending radially outwardly from the hollow body. With regards to claim 24, Chevallier teaches wherein the flange extends uninterrupted around the perimeter of the hollow body. (See Figure 6) With regards to claim s 25 and 27 , Chevallier teaches , wherein the hollow body includes a flared region (at 10 3 ) between the first proximal end and the second distal end such that the cross- sectional area of the inner cavity differs along an axial direction of the hollow body. (See Figure 2) With regards to claim s 26 and 28 , Chevallier teaches wherein the at least one deflectable member (14) is disposed at the flared region of the hollow body. With regards to claim 31, all of the limitations have been shown above including an elongate hollow body defining an inner cavity configured to receive a coil spring; an opening at a first proximal end of the hollow body for insertion of the coil spring into the inner cavity and extraction of the coil spring from the inner cavity; the hollow body including a second distal end opposite to the first proximal end; and at least one deflectable member located proximate to the first proximal end of the hollow body and including a retaining portion which is configured to retain the coil spring when the coil spring is located within the inner cavity, wherein the deflectable member is movable between a first unbiased position, whereby the retaining portion extends into the inner cavity to retain the coil spring within the inner cavity, and a second biased position, whereby the retaining portion is disposed outwardly to allow the coil spring to be extracted from the inner cavity through the opening; and an actuator configured for engagement with the at least one deflectable member and operable to move the at least one deflectable member from the first unbiased position to the second biased position. With regards to claim 32, Chevallier teaches wherein the actuator (24) comprises a hollow elongate rod configured to be inserted into the opening at the first proximal end of the hollow body to cause the at least one deflectable member to be moved from the first unbiased position to the second biased position. With regards to claim 35, Chevallier teaches the method steps of having an elongate hollow body defining an inner cavity, an opening at a first proximal end of the hollow body, a second distal end opposite to the first proximal end, and at least one deflectable member located proximate to the first proximal end of the hollow body and including a retaining portion, the method comprising: moving the at least one deflectable member from a first position whereby the retaining portion extends into the inner cavity, to a second position whereby the retaining portion extends outwardly, inserting the coil spring into the inner cavity through the opening at the first proximal end of the hollow body, and moving the at least one deflectable member from the second position to the first position such that the retaining portion extends into the inner cavity to retain the coil spring within the inner cavity. (See Figures 4 and 2) Allowable Subject Matter Claim s 19 - 2 1 , 29 , 30 , 33 and 3 4 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. With regards to claim 19, the prior art does not teach wherein the actuation feature comprises a contact surface disposed at an acute angle with respect to the central axis of the hollow body when the at least one deflectable member is in the first unbiased position. With regards to claim 21, the prior art does not teach wherein the retaining portion comprises at least one projecting region extending inwardly from the at least one deflectable member into the inner cavity when the at least one deflectable member is in the first unbiased position. With regards to claim 29, the prior art does not teach wherein the hollow body comprises one or more protrusions extending inwardly at least partially across a second opening at the second distal end of the hollow body. With regards to claim 30, the prior art does not teach at least one window in at least one of a side wall of the hollow body or the at least one deflectable member to allow the coil spring located within the spring carrier to be visible from outside the spring carrier through the at least one window. With regards to claim 33, the prior art does not teach wherein the actuator comprises a feed bore extending therethrough for alignment with the inner cavity of the hollow body such that the coil spring can be inserted into the inner cavity or extracted from the inner cavity through the feed bore when the actuator is engaged with the spring carrier. With regards to claim 34, the prior art does not teach wherein the actuator comprises a feed bore extending therethrough for alignment with the inner cavity of the hollow body such that the coil spring can be inserted into the inner cavity or extracted from the inner cavity through the feed bore when the actuator is engaged with the spring carrier. Cited References PN 4,636,026 to Cooney et al. teaches a tubular device PN 4,897,043 to Giringer et al. teaches a spring device PN 2018/0172099 to Bernert et al. teaches a spring device Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Amy J. Sterling at telephone number 571-272-6823 or to Supervisor Jonathan Liu at 571-272-8227 if the examiner cannot be reached. The examiner can normally be reached (Mon-Fri 8am-5:00pm). The fax machine number for the Technology center is 571-273-8300 (formal amendments), informal amendments or communications 571-273-6823. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Technology Center receptionist at 571-272-3600. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /AMY J. STERLING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631 TIME \@ "M/d/yy" 2/20/26