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 .
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, the following limitation must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
“the annular-shaped stator core comprising stators in a pair”, in claim 1
“a rotor provided between the stators to rotate about center of the hole” in claim 1,
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maruyama (US 2021/0091647 A1) in view of Klassen (US 2019/0288580 A1).
RE claim 1, Maruyama teaches an installation structure (Fig.1) of a stator core 31 for an axial gap motor 20 (¶ 30 and Fig.1), the installation structure comprising:
an annular-shaped stator core 31 comprising a teeth portion 81 split into pieces Fig.5 and ¶ 34) combined into an annular shape with a hole at a center part (see Fig.2); and
an annular-shaped stator plate 26 comprising an outer circumference wall part 73 and an inner circumference wall part 71 at an outer circumference edge and an inner circumference edge respectively (Fig.3),
the annular-shaped stator core comprising stators in a pair (Fig.1) mounted between the outer circumference wall part 73 and the inner circumference wall part 71 of the stator plate, with a rotor 40 provided between the stators 31 to rotate about center of the hole, wherein
the annular-shaped stator core 31 is formed by arc-shaped split stator teeth 81 comprising an outer circumference surface and an inner circumference surface, and
each of the arc-shaped split stator teeth 81 is mounted to the stator plate 26.
Maruyama does not teach the outer circumference surface and the inner circumference surface provided with tapered portions with which gaps of separation respectively from the outer circumference wall part and the inner circumference wall part of the stator plate widen toward the rotor.
Klassen teaches an outer circumference surface and an inner circumference surface provided with tapered portions 111B, 112B (respectively, see Figs.13, 15 and Fig.17) with which gaps of separation respectively from the outer circumference wall part (W1) (see annotated Fig.15 below) and the inner circumference wall part (W2) of the stator plate 101 widen toward the rotor wherein with each of the tapered portions 212B, 211B engaged to an engagement member 321, 322 (Fig.6) fixed to the stator plate 101 (Fig.6), doing so provide a bearing portion with precise relative axial location of the stator and to maintain an airgap between stator and rotor (¶ 111).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Maruyama by having the outer circumference surface and the inner circumference surface provided with tapered portions with which gaps of separation respectively from the outer circumference wall part and the inner circumference wall part of the stator plate widen toward the rotor, as taught by Klassen, for the same reasons as discussed above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 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.
RE claim 2/1, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, an engagement structure of the arc-shaped split stator teeth using the engagement member is achieved with a fastening member that is in direct or indirect contact with the tapered portions of the arc-shaped split stator teeth, while being fastened to the stator plate.
Claims 3 and 4 are allowable for their dependency on claim 2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at (571) 270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THOMAS TRUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834