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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/13/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Upon consideration of the amended specification and claims, all previous objections to the disclosure are hereby withdrawn. Upon consideration of the amended Claim 12, the previous rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) of Claims 16-19 is hereby withdrawn, but the amended claim language has introduced a new 112(a) rejection, which is discussed below. Additionally, a new claim objection has been introduced in Claim 15.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-7 of the Remarks filed 02/13/2026, with respect to the amended Claim 12 no longer being unpatentable over the combination of Okrah and Marshall under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of newly-found prior art.
Regarding Applicant’s argument on page 7 that Okrah does not disclose the claimed arrangement of cams and cam follower, Examiner notes that this was acknowledged in the previous Office actions and that Okrah was modified by Marshall to cure this deficiency. Further, regarding Applicant’s argument on page 7 that Marshall does not teach the central aperture and the spring-loaded pilot disposed in the aperture, Examiner notes that Marshall is not relied upon to teach these features, so the argument is moot.
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informality: in line 2, “the rolling” should read “the rolling assembly”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 32 and 33 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.
Regarding Claims 32 and 33, the preamble of each claim recites “The turret-head assembly of claim 11,” but Claim 11 has been canceled. For examination purposes, these claims will be interpreted as being dependent upon Claim 12.
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 12, 15, 20-22, and 32-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okrah et al., hereinafter Okrah (WO 2023/034584), in view of Guest (US 4,221,105) and Marshall et al., hereinafter Marshall (US 7,905,130).
Regarding Claim 12, Okrah discloses (Figures 3A-B, 7A-B, and 11A) a turret-head assembly (turret-head assembly 300) for forming an article (article 200, see Figure 2A), the turret-head assembly comprising: a top plate (assembly of top plate 302 and base plate 304); a base plate (front housing 308) having a generally central aperture (central opening 342) configured to receive an open end of the article therethrough ([0053] lns 2-4), the base plate being coupled to the top plate via a plurality of alignment pins (alignment pins 314); a pilot (pilot 382) disposed within the aperture in the base plate, the pilot including a step (clearly seen in figure) configured to contact and apply an axial load to the open end of the article ([0054] lns 6-7, [0069] lns 12-13: open end 202 pushes against pilot 382, therefore pilot 382 is applying an axial load to open end 202); and a rolling assembly slidably coupled to the base plate, the rolling assembly including a plurality of roller arms (pivot arms 318), each of the plurality of roller arms having a roller (rollers 322) coupled thereto, each of the plurality of roller arms configured such that the rollers are configured to move radially with respect to a turret-head assembly axis extending generally through the center of the turret-head assembly between the top plate and the base plate ([0009] lns 11-12).
Okrah does not disclose that the pilot is spring-loaded. In the same field of endeavor, Guest teaches (Figure 6) an assembly for forming an article comprising a rolling assembly including a plurality of roller arms (spindles 22/24) each having a roller (rollers 21/23) coupled thereto, and a spring-loaded pilot (forming throat 14 with presser block 16 and spring 17; col. 2 lns 62-63), the pilot including a step (see Annotated Figure 6 below) configured to contact and apply an axial load to an open end of the article (col. 3 lns 3-7: downward motion of throat member 14 produces an axial force on the open end of the article via the step on presser block 16 indicated in the annotated figure below). As this is a known configuration for a pilot in a forming assembly for forming an open end of a beverage container, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the pilot in the turret-head assembly disclosed by Okrah such that it is spring-loaded, as taught by Guest, in order to apply the axial load to the open end of the article.
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Guest Annotated Figure 6
Further regarding Claim 12, Okrah discloses that the radial movement of the rolling assembly may be actuated by a cam actuator configuration ([0051] lns 9-11), but does not disclose details of that configuration. Okrah also does not disclose a housing extending from a first side of the top plate in a first direction. In the same field of endeavor, Marshall teaches (Figures 5-8) a turret-head assembly (threading head 50) for forming an article (can 10), the turret-head assembly comprising: a top plate (see Annotated Figure 5 below); a housing (cylindrical body 60) extending from a first side of the top plate in a first direction, the housing including a plurality of cams (outer and inner threading roll cams 62 and 64) rigidly attached thereto (col. 4 lns 52-58); and a rolling assembly slidably coupled to the base plate, the rolling assembly including a plurality of roller arms (see Annotated Figure 5 below), each of the plurality of roller arms having a roller (threading rollers 52 and 54) coupled thereto, each of the plurality of roller arms further including a cam follower (rollers 63 and 65; the roller arms are operatively coupled to rollers 63/65 via connections with support assemblies 76 and 78) configured to engage a respective one of the plurality of cams (col. 4 ln 67 - col. 5 ln 1) such that the rollers are configured to move radially with respect to a turret-head assembly axis extending generally through the center of the turret-head assembly (col. 5 lns 5-15). As this is a known configuration for a cam actuator which actuates radial movement of the roller arms in a turret-head assembly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the turret-head assembly disclosed by Okrah and modified by Guest such that it comprises a housing extending from a first side of the top plate in a first direction, the housing including a plurality of cams rigidly attached thereto, and such that each of the plurality of roller arms further includes a cam follower configured to engage a respective one of the plurality of cams, as taught by Marshall, in order to perform the same function of allowing the rollers to move radially with respect to the turret-head assembly axis.
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Marshall Annotated Figure 5
Examiner note: when the combination of Okrah and Marshall is made, a housing with cams such as cylindrical housing 60 with cams 62/64 of Marshall is added to the turret-head assembly 300 of Okrah, extending from a first, i.e. bottom, side of base plate 304, and the pivot arms 318 are engaged with the cams via cam followers such as rollers 63/65 of Marshall to actuate the radial movement of the pivot arms 318.
Regarding Claim 15, Okrah discloses (Figure 11A) the pilot (pilot 382) is slidably coupled for axial movement relative to the rolling assembly ([0069] lns 12-13).
Regarding Claim 20, Okrah discloses (Figures 3A-B) the plurality of roller arms includes a plurality of outer roller arms (pivot arms 318) having respective outer rollers (rollers 322) coupled thereto ([0061] lns 13-16: the plurality of pivot arms 318 with rollers 322 is located on the outer side of the article being formed, and thus is considered to be a plurality of outer rolling arms with outer rollers).
Regarding Claim 21, Okrah does not disclose that each outer roller includes more than one rolling surface separated by a recess. Marshall teaches (Figures 4a/c and 5) an outer roller (threading roller 54) including more than one rolling surface (threads 59) for contacting the article (can 10), the more than one rolling surface being separated by a recess (clearly seen in Figure 4c). Marshall also teaches that the number of threads is chosen such that sufficient threading of the article will be achieved (col. 4 lns 38-40), i.e. the number of roller surfaces on the outer rollers is determined based on the desired shape of the article. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the turret-head assembly disclosed by Okrah and modified by Guest such that each of the plurality of outer rollers includes more than one roller surface for contacting the article, the more than one rolling surface being separated by a recess, as taught by Marshall, for applications in which the desired shape of the formed article would be more easily achieved by a plurality of rolling surfaces.
Regarding Claim 22, Okrah discloses at least one cam follower positioned opposite a second side of the top plate ([0055] lns 1-5: a cam-follower arrangement is used to move the article towards the turret-head assembly, and thus must be located on an opposite side of base plate 304 from the top side, i.e. the second side).
Regarding Claim 32, Okrah discloses the radial movement of the rollers corresponds with axial movement of the rolling assembly ([0009] ln 13: the rollers of the rolling assembly are coupled to the pivot plate, which moves axially, therefore the rolling assembly also moves axially).
Regarding Claim 33, Okrah discloses the radial movement of the rollers is independent of axial movement of the rolling assembly ([0051] lns 9-10: radial movement of the rollers is actuated by an external mechanism, not by axial movement of the roller assembly).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-19 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding Claim 16, prior art fails to teach, alone or in combination, a turret-head assembly for forming an article, the turret-head assembly comprising a base plate having a generally central aperture configured to receive an open end of the article therethrough, a spring-loaded pilot disposed within the aperture in the base plate, the pilot including a step configured to contact and apply an axial load to the open end of the article, and a rolling assembly including a plurality of roller arms, each of the plurality of roller arms having a roller coupled thereto, wherein the plurality of roller arms includes at least one outer roller arm having an outer roller coupled thereto and an inner roller arm having an inner roller coupled thereto, together with the other limitations of the claim. Referring to the prior art of record, Okrah as modified by Guest comprises a spring-loaded pilot, but does not have an inner roller arm with an inner roller coupled thereto. Marshall does have an inner roller arm with an inner roller coupled thereto, but does not have a spring-loaded pilot. Because the spring-loaded pilot of the modified Okrah is solid (i.e. not hollow), it cannot be easily modified to receive an inner roller arm therethrough, and one skilled in the art would not be motivated to do so without the use of impermissible hindsight of the Applicant’s disclosure. Claim 16 is therefore allowable.
Claims 17-19 would be allowed by virtue of their dependence upon Claim 16.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERESA A GUTHRIE whose telephone number is (571)270-5042. The examiner can normally be reached M/Tu/Th, 10-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Templeton can be reached on (571) 270-1477. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TERESA A GUTHRIE/Examiner, Art Unit 3725
/Christopher L Templeton/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3725