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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bausch (US8035018) in view of Riches (US1,227,123).
Regarding claim 1, Bausch (US8035018) discloses the use of a portable drum kit comprising at least one drum having a shell component formed of material (10) having a desired thickness, wherein the material is processed to create a plurality of staves (2) created perpendicular to a length of the material (see figure 2), the angle selected such that the sheet of material may be re- configured into circular form with opposing ends attached to form the shell component (see figure 6).
Bauch does not disclose the use of beveled staves.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the device as disclosed in Bausch to include beveled staves as a matter of design choice.
Regarding claim 2, Bausch disclosed wherein the shell component can be formed of a sheet of plastic material (column 2, line 48)
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Bausch does not disclose the use a CNC machining process.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the device as disclosed in Bausch to use a CNC machining process to create the staves since the use of CNC machines are conventional and well known in the art.
Regarding claims 5 and 6, Bausch does not disclose the use a snare or tom-tom drum.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the device as disclosed in Bausch to use snare and tom-tom drums since the use of these types of drums are conventional and well known in the art.
Bausch does not disclose the use of a foot pedal.
Regarding claims 7 and 8, Riches discloses the use of a bass pedal (22) having a foot support (3) and an adjustable striking bar (18).
Bausch and Riches do not disclose the use of a root support with a textured bottom surface.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the device as disclosed in Bausch to u textured bottom surface since the use of textured bottom surface to prevent sliding is conventional and well known in the art.
Regarding claim 9, Riches further discloses a vertical gear member (page 3, line 60) attached to the adjustable striking bar (18) and configured to control a vertical positioning of the adjustable striking bar.
Regarding claim 10, Riches further discloses a spring-based tension member attached to the adjustable striking bar (18) and configured to control the striking force applied to an associated drum (1).
Claim 11 is 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLY R LOCKETT whose telephone number is (571)272-2067. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei Hammond can be reached at 571-270-7938. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIMBERLY R LOCKETT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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