Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of a rotor shaft assembly (Group I) in the reply filed on March 11, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 28-34 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on March 11, 2026.
Priority
The status of the nonprovisional parent application (whether patented or abandoned) needs to be included in the cross reference to related applications at the start of the specification. If a parent application has become a patent, the expression “now Patent No. _____” should follow the filing date of the parent application. If a parent application has become abandoned, the expression “now abandoned” should follow the filing date of the parent application.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, a rotor laminate stack connected to the hollow motor shaft with radial pretension in a force locking manner, with the rotor laminate stack including a plurality of rotor laminates, wherein viewed in cross-section the three circumferentially distributed support portions are in frictional contact with the rotor laminate stack, and with three spring portions spaced from an inner circumferential face of the rotor laminate stack(see claim 16) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because the detailed description of the invention fails to describe details corresponding to the following claim limitations:
Claim 16: a rotor laminate stack connected to the hollow motor shaft with radial pretension in a force locking manner, with the rotor laminate stack including a plurality of rotor laminates, wherein viewed in cross-section the three circumferentially distributed support portions are in frictional contact with the rotor laminate stack, and with three spring portions spaced from an inner circumferential face of the rotor laminate stack
Claim 26: the spring portions are configured such that they are substantially subject to compressive stresses in a mounted condition.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 16-27 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. There is no support for the following claim limitations in the application as originally filed.
Claims 16-27: a rotor shaft assembly
Claim 16: at least one of the first journal element and the second journal element comprises a sleeve-shaped connecting portion with an annular connecting face, wherein the annular connecting face is welded in butt joint to an end face of the shaft tube, wherein an outer face of the connecting portion continuously merges into an outer face of the shaft tube at least in circumferential sections of the support portions.
Claims 17 & 20: all limitations therein.
Claim 21: a rotor where one joint element has splines and another has no splines.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Weinmeister, US 11,056,940 discloses a rotor shaft assembly 1 comprising a shaft tube 2.1 with connection portions and spring portion 40, the shaft tube welded (col. 7, line 62) to a journal element 2.2; and a laminate stack 20.
Choi discloses a rotor shaft assembly comprising a shaft tube 20 with connection portions 23 and spring portion 22, 22a; and a laminate stack 30.
Corengia discloses a rotor shaft assembly comprising a shaft tube 2 with connection portions and spring portion 25; and a laminate stack 7.
Denk a discloses a rotor shaft assembly comprising a shaft 4 and two journal elements 42, 44.
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/Greg Binda/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3679