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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Clarke et al. (Pub. No.: US 2011/0316331 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Clarke discloses a retrofittable track link (retrofitting an existing chain of a track driven machine ¶ 8) for an endless crawler track (34, FIG. 1), the retrofittable track link comprising:
a body defining a first side and a second side opposite to the first side (42, 43; FIG. 3),
a leading strap end (First half link 42, FIG. 4), a trailing strap end (Second half link 44, FIG. 4 ¶ 54), and an intermediate portion extending therebetween, the intermediate portion defining a linear profile (Third ramp 71, FIG. 4),
a first surface at the leading strap end and a second surface at the trailing strap end, wherein the first surface being disposed at the first side and the second surface being disposed at the second side (First and second half link connecting at 71 FIG. 4),
the first surface and the second surface being tapered with respect to the linear profile to be indented into the body (ramp 71, FIG. 1), the first surface is configured to be mated with a trailing strap end of a succeeding track link of the endless crawler track at a first overlapping portion of the retrofittable track link with the succeeding track link (coupling first half link and second half links see claim 19), and
the second surface is configured to be mated with a leading strap end of a preceding track link of the endless crawler track at a second overlapping portion of the retrofittable track link with the preceding track link (See claim 19 and FIG. 4).
Regarding claim 7, Clarke discloses a method of manufacturing a retrofittable track link for an endless crawler track, the method comprising:
providing a body defining a first side (First half link 42, FIG. 4), and a second side opposite to the first side (Second half link 44, FIG. 4 ¶ 54);
machining the first side to define a first surface indented into the body to form a leading
strap end of the body (Third ramp 71, FIG. 4); and
machining the second side to define a second surface indented into the body to form a
trailing strap end of the body and an intermediate portion extending between the leading strap end and the trailing strap end, wherein the intermediate portion defines a linear profile (First and second half link connecting at 71 FIG. 4), the first side being machined at a first angle with respect to the linear profile to define the first surface and the second side being machined at a second angle with respect to the linear profile to define the second surface (first and second rail defining an angle from 45 to 53 degrees ¶ 8), the first surface is configured to be mated with a trailing strap end of a succeeding track link of the endless crawler track at a first overlapping portion of the retrofittable track link with the succeeding track link (coupling first half link and second half links see claim 19), and
the second surface is configured to be mated with a leading strap end of a preceding track link of the endless crawler track at a second overlapping portion of the retrofittable track link with the preceding track link (See claim 19 and FIG. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 – 6 and 8 – 10 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TYLER J LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-9727. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abby Flynn can be reached at 571-272-9855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TYLER J LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3663
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