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 § 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 11-12, 15, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by DeFant et al. (US 11,629,010).
Under a different description of DeFant than offered in the previous office action, DeFant shows a holder for a guard assembly with guard members 129 in a conveyor system with a plurality of rollers 103 rotatably disposed between a pair of side frames 109. The holder includes a base wall W, a first arm A1 extending from a first/lower side of the base wall W, and a second arm A2 extending from a second/upper side of the base wall. A rotatable element 131 is coupled to the first arm A1 by an axle 147 (see the annotated figure below). The rotatable element 131 is configured to engage with an adjacent roller 103 of the conveyor system. The rotatable element rotates about an axis 147 upon engagement with the adjacent roller of the conveyor system.
The rotatable element 131 comprises a cylinder extending along a length of the adjacent roller of the plurality of rollers 103.
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At least one support rib R extends between the first arm A1 and the second arm A2.
Another rotatable element 131 coupled to the second arm A2 of the holder.
As described above, DeFant shows all the structure required by claims 11-12 and 17.
In regard to the remarks of the applicant’s representative, it is noted that while claim 11 as amended corresponds to original claim 14, and that while claim 14 was originally indicated as being allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, upon reconsideration, DeFant shows all the structure now required by original claim 14, currently amended claim 11, based upon the above interpretation of DeFant. As the rejection above described reinterpreting of DeFant arguably constitutes a new grounds of rejection, this action will not be made final.
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.
Claims 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DeFant.
In regard to the limitations regarding the size of the cylinders defining the rotatable elements, specifically that the cylinders have a diameter of the cylinder is in a range between 30 mm to 100 mm and a length between 50 mm to 3000 mm, it should be noted that these ranges encompass a variety of shapes of a cylinder, including cylinders that have a length that is up to 10 times the diameter and cylinders that have a length that is ½ the diameter of the cylinder. As illustrated, the cylinders of the rotatable elements 131 have lengths greater that are around half the diameters of the elements that would be within the above ranges. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to form the rotatable elements 131 with diameters between 30 mm to 100 mm and lengths between 50 mm to 3000 mm in order to use them with conveyor rollers of conventional sizes.
As the applicant’s representative made no remarks concerning this rejection, it will not be further discussed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5 and 7-10 are allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK A DEUBLE whose telephone number is (571)272-6912. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday flex schedule.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford can be reached at 571-272-6911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK A DEUBLE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651