Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on applications filed at European Patent Office (EPO) on October 11, 2021 and July 14, 2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed certified copies of the EPO applications as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
Fig. 1B fails to show the rolling elements 52 arranged between the inner ring 10 and outer ring 20 as recited in claim 1.
The drawings fail to show a disc spring as recited in claim 4.
The drawings a fail to show a housing as recited in claim 5.
The drawings fail to show a safety coupling used wind power station and wind turbine as recited in claim 20.
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 of the detailed description of the invention fails to describe details corresponding to the limitations of claims 4-5, 14 & 17.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 lacks a transitional phrase, thus making the scope of the claim unclear.
Claim 20 attempts to claim a process without setting forth any steps involved in the process. Such an attempt raises an issue of indefiniteness. See MPEP § 2173.05(q).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because it attempts to claim a process without setting forth any steps involved in the process, which is an improper definition of a process. See MPEP § 2173.05(q).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claims 1-3, 5-8 & 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Garik, US2,674,357.
Claims 1 & 18. Garik shows a safety coupling for disengaging from a drive position into a freewheel when an adjustable overload torque is exceeded in the event of an overload, the safety coupling comprising:
a driving flange ((14) rotatable about an axis of rotation and comprising recesses (34) distributed on the circumference of a hole circle, and
a driven coupling part (10) rotatable about the same axis of rotation,
wherein the coupling part comprises switch segments (22), which, in the drive position (see Fig. 1), press detent elements (32) into the recesses under spring (30) force, which cause a connection between the flange and the coupling part for conjoint rotation, and which, when the
overload torque is exceeded (see col. 2, lines 16-17), cause the release of the connection for conjoint rotation with disengagement into the freewheel, wherein each detent element is assigned a switch segment, and the detent element moves from the drive position against the
spring force out of the recess into the freewheel,
wherein the flange is embodied as an inner ring (14) allocated to a bearing (16) or a bearing support,
wherein the coupling part is embodied as an outer ring (10) concentrically allocated to the inner ring, and
wherein rolling elements (16) are arranged between the inner ring and the outer ring. Claim 2. Fig. 2 shows the hole circle is arranged on a flat end face or a shell of the flange (14).
Claim 3. 3. The switch segment is embodied as a spring-loaded detent ball (32) and/or as a plunger (22) distributed on the circumference, which can be pressed positively into the recess (34) arranged on the flange (14) by means of the spring force.
Claim 5. The switch segment (22) is accommodated in a housing (20).
Claims 6 & 7. Wherein Fig. 1 shows the switch segment (22) is arranged perpendicularly to the axis of rotation and pointing outwards.
Claim 8. Wherein Fig. 1 shows the rolling elements are embodied as balls (16).
Claims 14 & 15. Figs. 1 & 2 show the recesses (34) are evenly distributed and are embodied as spherical caps.
Claim 16. The detent elements (32) are embodied as detent balls (32).
Claim 17. The switch elements (22) are embodied as holding devise or detent devices.
Claim 19. Fig. 1 shows the rolling elements (16) are arranged between the outer shell surface of the inner ring (14) and the inner shell surface of the outer ring (10).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garik in view of Fujimura, US 5,875,913. Garik discloses the spring force is providable by a coil spring (30) but does expressly disclose a disc spring. At col. 11, lines 58-62, Fujimura teaches that a coil spring may be substituted by a disc spring in order to provide spring force. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the safety coupling of Garik by substituting a disc spring in place of a coil spring in order to provide spring force as taught by Fujimura.
Claims 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garik in view of MacDonald, US 422,025.
Claim 9. Garik discloses a safety coupling comprising inner and outer rings (14 & 10) and rolling elements (16), but does not expressly disclose either ring including at least one bore or opening through which the rolling elements can be inserted between rings. At Figs. 1-2 and page 1, lines 51-57, MacDonald teaches making a bore in an outer ring (A) in order to insert rolling element (d) between the outer ring and an inner ring (B). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the safety coupling of Garik by making a bore in outer ring (10) in order to insert rolling elements (16) between the outer ring and the inner ring (14) as taught by MacDonald.
Claim 10. At Fig. 2, MacDonald shows the bore is perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
Claims 11-13. At Figs 2 and page 1, lines 54-56, MacDonald discloses that after the rolling element (d) is inserted, the bore is closeable with a plug (e).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Braggins discloses a safety coupling. WO 2023/066431 is a publication of the WIPO equivalent of the instant application which includes an international search report.
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/Greg Binda/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3679