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 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) 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application No. US 2002/0110406 to Coles in view of U.S. Patent No. 4,646,504 to Britvec.
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Coles discloses a truss of cuboid structure (figs 5-7) with longitudinal edges (truss bars) and cross bars between the truss bars (perpendicular bars), the truss bars including open ends which connect fork and pin connections which are connecting portions having a sleeve (fig. 1&2: 44) in the truss bar, the sleeve having internal threads (48) into which a threaded bar (42) of the connecting portion (10) is inserted, the threaded bar defines a pin head or a fork head (12, 14 or also 54) and the connecting portion. However, a securing portion, being a nut which is coaxial with both threaded bar and sleeve, like a lock nut, and located between opposing portions of the threaded bar and the sleeve is not disclosed. Britvec discloses a truss structure fastening and locking system (column 1, lines 5-15) and having a threaded sleeve (fig. 1: 14) and locking bar (9) secured together and including a co axial lock nut (10, 11) which locks the bar with the sleeve to secure any movement of the bar. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Coles by using such a locking system as disclosed by Britvec in order to create a stronger connection with more precise positioning.
Regarding claim 2, a thread pitch is not explicitly disclosed by Coles. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Coles by using a particular thread pitch, as the thread shown in figure 1 appears to be fine as it is relatively thin and a fine thread pitch of 1.3 to 1.7 mm would make for a more secure fitting with less wobble from the forked or pin portion.
Regarding claim 3, a securing portion including a nut screwed into the threaded rod outside the sleeve is not disclosed. Britvec discloses such a structure as recited in the rejection of claim 1. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Coles by using such a locking nut to further make the structure of Coles more rigid.
Regarding claim 4, the sleeve is pinned to the truss bar (as seen in figs. 3 and 4 [0036]).
Regarding claim 5, the sleeves include projecting ends (flats 52, and sides fig. 2, pressed together as a friction fit in figs. 3 and 4).
Regarding claim 6, the sleeves and threaded rods are steel [0041].
Regarding claim 7, Coles in view of Britvec disclose the nut (Britvec 10, 11) is a locking nut.
Regarding claims 8 and 9, Coles discloses the basic claim structure of the instant application but does not disclose specific dimensions of threads. Applicant fails to show criticality for specifically claimed dimensions, therefore it would have been an obvious design choice to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the thread length to use the dimensions such as specified in these claims as an obvious design choice as a deeper thread would better secure the connecting portions to the sleeves.
Regarding claim 10, the fork and pin connections create at least two trusses (figs. 5-7).
Regarding claim 11, different lengths of connecting portions ae not disclosed. Britvec discloses such a connection (fig 7: see various sizes of connections) resulting in a circular, radially, shaped truss. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Coles by using such an orientation in order to create a larger number of designs and structures.
Regarding claim 12, scaffold is disclosed [0008] by Coles.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/4/26 have been fully considered. The Applicants arguments regarding the embodiment of claim 13 is convincing and examined above. Regarding the Applicants arguments of Coles in view of Apostolopoulos, this is mute as the claim amendments of 5/4/26 have necessitated the new action above which does not include Apostolopoulos.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Basil Katcheves whose telephone number is (571)272-6846. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 8:00 am to 6:30pm EST.
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/BASIL S KATCHEVES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3633
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