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 § 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 11-13 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 11 recites “the first end” and “the first pivot arm” which lack antecedent basis. The Examiner suggests amendment claim 11 to be dependent upon claim 2.
Claims not listed above are rejected as being dependent upon a rejected claim.
For further examination purposes, the scope of the claims are read in light of the suggested Examiner amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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(s) 1-2, 14 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110915847 in view of Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825).
CN 11091584 discloses a household food processing device (figs. 1-7; reference paragraphs are relative to the English translation), comprising:
a housing (figs. 1-7);
a pair of rollers comprising a first roller 21 that is rotatable about a stationary axis
and a second roller 22 rotatable about a second axis wherein the pair of rollers define a gap 201
therebetween and a size of the gap defines a dough thickness, and wherein the size of the gap is
adjustable by moving the second axis of the second roller 22 via adjustment device 5 (figs. 1-7; [0007]-[0009], [0020], [0032]-[0038]).
However, CN 110915847 does not disclose a biasing mechanism or a clutch mechanism.
Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food) sheets 8 (abstract; figs. 1-2; col. 1, line 5, to col. 3, line 26) comprising:
a housing 1;
a pair of rollers comprising a first roller 5 that is rotatable about a stationary axis
and a second roller 6 rotatable about a second axis wherein the pair of rollers define a gap 6a
therebetween and a size of the gap defines a dough thickness, and wherein the size of the gap is
adjustable by moving the second axis of the second roller 6 via pivotable bridge 10 (fig. 1; col. 2, lines 57-60); and
a biasing mechanism having a first end 13 and a second end 14, wherein the first end 13 of
the biasing mechanism couples to a portion of the second roller or a component 10 coupled to the
second roller 6 and the second end 14 of the biasing mechanism couples to the housing 1, and wherein the biasing mechanism biases the second roller 6 towards the first roller 5 (fig. 1; col. 1, lines 63-68; col. 2, line 57, to col. 3, line 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to modify the device of CN 110915847 with a biasing mechanism, as recited by Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration for the device for sheeting material.
Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) discloses a sheeting device for producing material sheets (figs. 1-5) comprising:
a pair of rollers 69 comprising a first roller 69 and a second roller 69; and
a clutch mechanism (including clutch member 78) configured to disengage at least one of the first roller or the second roller to stop rotation thereof (figs. 1-5; p 4, lines 12-55).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device with a clutch mechanism, as recited by Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration for the device capable disengaging a roller.
As to claim 2, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) further discloses the device further comprising a first pivot arm 10 having a first end and a second end (fig. 1), wherein the first end of the first pivot arm operably couples to the second roller 6 (fig. 1), and the second end of the first pivot arm 10 defines a pivot point (i.e., around shaft 11) about which the first pivot arm 10 and the second roller 6 pivot (fig. 1; col. 2, lines 57-60).
As to claim 14, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) further discloses that it is known in the prior art for the biasing mechanism to be a spring which provides a biasing force to press the roller (rolls) toward each other such that force within a predetermined range is provided to the rollers regardless of a size of a gap between the rollers (col. 1, lines 5-54; a continuous spring force (force within a predetermined range) is provided to bias the rollers; such force would be provided regardless of the gap size). Thus, it would have been further obvious to modify the biasing mechanism providing a biasing force to the second roller with a spring because such a modification is known in the art and would provide an alternative configuration for the biasing mechanism known to be operable in the art.
As to claims 18-19, CN 110915847 further discloses the device:
(Claim 18) wherein the household food processing device is adapted to be mounted as an attachment to a stand mixer (fig. 6), the stand mixer having a drive outlet attachment hub (fig. 6; [0041], connecting shaft 8 is connected to an external driving device (i.e., to a drive outlet attachment hub of the stand mixer for connecting to the shaft 8); and
(Claim 19) further comprising an input hub (as shown in fig. 1-2, 5-6, the shaft 8 and the left end cover 14 both define an input hub) configured for attachment with the drive outlet attachment hub and wherein the input hub is configured to support the household food processing device (fig. 6).
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110915847 in view of Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560), Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) and Ouellette (US 5,498,433).
This is an alternative rejection of claim 1 for the alternative language in claim 1, wherein the first end of the biasing mechanism couples to a portion of the second roller.
CN 11091584 discloses a household food processing device (figs. 1-7), comprising:
a housing (figs. 1-7);
a pair of rollers comprising a first roller 21 that is rotatable about a stationary axis
and a second roller 22 rotatable about a second axis wherein the pair of rollers define a gap 201
therebetween and a size of the gap defines a dough thickness, and wherein the size of the gap is
adjustable by moving the second axis of the second roller 22 via adjustment device 5 (figs. 1-7; [0007]-[0009], [0020], [0032]-[0038]).
However, CN 110915847 does not disclose a biasing mechanism or a clutch mechanism.
Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food) sheets 8 (abstract; figs. 1-2; col. 1, line 5, to col. 3, line 26) comprising:
a housing 1;
a pair of rollers comprising a first roller 5 that is rotatable about a stationary axis
and a second roller 6 rotatable about a second axis wherein the pair of rollers define a gap 6a
therebetween and a size of the gap defines a dough thickness, and wherein the size of the gap is
adjustable by moving the second axis of the second roller 6 via pivotable bridge 10 (fig. 1; col. 2, lines 57-60); and
a biasing mechanism having a first end 13 and a second end 14, wherein the first end 13 of
the biasing mechanism couples to a portion of the second roller or a component 10 coupled to the
second roller 6 and the second end 14 of the biasing mechanism couples to the housing 1, and wherein the biasing mechanism biases the second roller 6 towards the first roller 5 (fig. 1; col. 1, lines 63-68; col. 2, line 57, to col. 3, line 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to modify the device of CN 110915847 with a biasing mechanism, as recited by Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration for the device for sheeting material.
Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) discloses a sheeting device for producing material sheets (figs. 1-5) comprising:
a pair of rollers 69 comprising a first roller 69 and a second roller 69; and
a clutch mechanism (including clutch member 78) configured to disengage at least one of the first roller or the second roller to stop rotation thereof (figs. 1-5; p 4, lines 12-55).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device with a clutch mechanism, as recited by Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration for the device capable disengaging a roller.
Ouellette (US 5,498,433) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food) sheets comprising:
a first roller 60 and a second roller 50; and
a biasing mechanism having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of
the biasing mechanism couples to a portion of the second roller, and wherein
the biasing mechanism 70 biases the second roller 50 towards the first roller 60, wherein a first end of the biasing mechanism couples to a portion of the second roller (fig. 1; col. 1, line 65, to col. 4, line 54; force-applying elements 70 bias roll 50 toward roll 60; as shown in fig. 1, a first end of the biasing mechanism 70 couples to a component 30 coupled to the second roller 50; alternatively, the force may be applied to the roll itself (e.g., the first end would be coupled to a portion of the roll), the roll bearers (e.g., the first end would be coupled to a portion of the roll), the support frame or any other structure which transmits the force so as to move roll 50 toward roll 60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device wherein the first end of the biasing mechanism couples to a portion of the second roller, as disclosed by Ouellette (US 5,498,433), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative biasing configuration known to be operable in the art.
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110915847 in view of Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) as applied to claims 1-2, 14 and 18-19 above, and further in view of Ouellette (US 5,498,433).
CN 110915847, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) do not disclose the limitations of claims 3-4.
Ouellette (US 5,498,433) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food) sheets comprising:
a first roller 60 and a second roller 50; and
a biasing mechanism 70 having a first end and a second end (fig. 1), wherein the first end of
the biasing mechanism 70 couples to a component 30 coupled to the second roller 50 (fig. 1), and wherein the biasing mechanism biases the second roller 50 towards the first roller 60, (fig. 1; col. 1, line 65, to col. 4, line 54; force-applying elements 70 bias roll 50 toward roll 60; as shown in fig. 1, a first end of the biasing mechanism 70 couples to a component 30 coupled to the second roller 50);
further comprising a first pivot arm 30 (fig. 1; one of the arms 30),
(Claim 3) wherein the component 30 coupled to the second roller 50 is a second pivot arm (fig. 1; the other of the arms 30), wherein the first end of the biasing mechanism 70 couples to the second pivot arm 30 (fig. 1; col. 2, line 53, to col. 4, line 38)); and
(Claim 4) wherein the second pivot arm 30 operably couples to the second roller 50 at a receiving portion (fig. 1), wherein the second pivot arm 30 and the second roller 50 rotate about a pivot point 38 spaced from the receiving portion (fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device with a second pivot arm, as disclosed by Ouellette (US 5,498,433), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration for mounting a second roller known to be operable in the art.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110915847 in view of Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) as applied to claims 1-2, 14 and 18-19 above, and further in view of Le Gal (US 2015/0352613).
CN 110915847, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) do not disclose the limitations of claim 5.
Le Gal (US 2015/0352613) a sheeting device for producing material sheets comprising:
a first roller 112 and a second roller 122, wherein when a force greater than a predetermined force is applied to at least one of the first roller or the second roller, the rotation of at least one of the rollers is stopped (fig. 2; [0097]]; if clogging occurs which creates a pressure (force) on the rollers greater than a predetermined pressure, the rotation of the rollers is stopped).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device wherein the rotation of at least one of the rollers is stopped when a force greater than a predetermined force is applied to at least one of the first roller or the second roller, as disclosed by Le Gal (US 2015/0352613), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration capable of addressing clogging problems. As mentioned above, Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) discloses that stopping roller rotation occurs by the clutch mechanism disengaging the roller.
Claim(s) 6-7, 10-13 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 110915847 in view of Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) as applied to claims 1-2, 14 and 18-19 above, and further in view of Longanesi (US 1,521,455).
As to claims 6-7, CN 110915847, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) do not disclose the limitations of claims 6-7.
Longanesi (US 1,521,455) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food; puff paste) sheets (p. 1, lines 2-9) comprising:
a first roller 2 and a second roller 3;
(Claim 6) a pinion gear 5 operably coupled to the second roller 3;
(Claim 7) wherein the pinion gear 5 is mounted to an axle of the second roller 3 (figs. 1-3; p. 1, lines 41-45; pinion 5 for operating (i.e., rotating) roller 3; figs. 1-2 show the pinion 5 mounted to an axile of the roller 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device with a pinion gear, as recited by Longanesi (US 1,521,455) because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration capable of operating the second roller.
As to claim 10, CN 110915847, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) do not disclose the limitations of claim 10.
Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) further discloses an adjustable stop 17 cooperating with the first pivoting arm 10 for maintaining the rollers 5, 6 at a given minimal distance (i.e., a minimum size of the gap)(fig. 1; col. 3, lines 5-9).
Longanesi (US 1,521,455) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food; puff paste) sheets (p. 1, lines 2-9) comprising:
a first roller 2 and a second roller 3, wherein the second roller 3 is mounted on a pivot arm 13; and
an adjustable stop cooperating with the pivot arm 13 for adjusting the opening (i.e., gap) between the rollers 2, 3, wherein the adjustable stop includes:
a dial (i.e., hand wheel) 21 operable by a user and wherein the dial 21 is coupled to a cam 14 for defining a minimum size of the gap (figs. 1-6; p. 1, lines 29-108; hand wheel (dial) 21 is rotatable to rotate the cam 14; as shown in figs. 3-6, the cam 14 includes an eccentric surface; as shown in figs. 3-6, the size of the opening (gap) between the rollers 2, 3 is adjusted (including adjusted to a minimum (smallest) size) depending upon which portion of the eccentric surface of cam 14 abuts the pivot arm 13 (i.e., stops the pivoting of the pivot arm 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device the adjustable stop with an adjustable stop, as disclosed by Longanesi (US 1,521,455), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration known to be operable in the art for defining a size of the gap.
As to claims 11-13, CN 110915847, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) do not disclose the limitations of claims 11-13.
Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) further discloses an adjustable stop 17 cooperating with the first pivoting arm 10 for maintaining the rollers 5, 6 at a given minimal distance (i.e., a minimum size of the gap)(fig. 1; col. 3, lines 5-9).
Longanesi (US 1,521,455) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food; puff paste) sheets (p. 1, lines 2-9) comprising:
a first roller 2 and a second roller 3, wherein the second roller 3 is mounted on a pivot arm 13; and
an adjustable stop cooperating with the pivot arm 13 for adjusting the opening (i.e., gap) between the rollers 2, 3, wherein the adjustable stop includes:
(Claim 11) an indexing mechanism 14 and wherein a first end 15 of the pivot arm 13 is operably coupled to the indexing mechanism 14 and moveable between a first position defining a gap having a first size and a second position defining a gap having a second size;
(Claim 12) a user interface 21 configured to provide input to the indexing mechanism 14; and
(Claim 13) wherein the user interface is a dial (hand wheel) 21 configured to provide mechanical input to the indexing mechanism 14 (figs. 1-6; p. 1, lines 29-108; as shown in figs. 1-6, the pivot arm 13 is operably coupled to the cam (indexing mechanism) 14 and movable between a first position defining a gap having a first size and a second position defining a gap having a second size; a hand wheel (user interface, dial) 21 is rotatable to rotate (to provide mechanical input to) the cam (indexing mechanism) 14; as shown in figs. 3-6, the cam 14 includes an eccentric surface; as shown in figs. 3-6, the size of the opening (gap) between the rollers 2, 3 is adjusted (including adjusted to the first size or the second size) depending upon which portion of the eccentric surface of cam 14 abuts the pivot arm 13 (i.e., stops the pivoting of the pivot arm 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device the adjustable stop with an adjustable stop, as disclosed by Longanesi (US 1,521,455), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration known to be operable in the art for defining a size of the gap.
As to claim 20, CN 110915847, Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) and Bowen et al. (US 1,555,825) do not disclose the limitations of claim 19.
Van Den Berg (US 5,120,560) further discloses an adjustable stop 17 cooperating with the first pivoting arm 10 for maintaining the rollers 5, 6 at a given minimal distance (i.e., a minimum size of the gap)(fig. 1; col. 3, lines 5-9).
Longanesi (US 1,521,455) discloses a sheeting device for producing dough (food; puff paste) sheets (p. 1, lines 2-9) comprising:
a first roller 2 and a second roller 3, wherein the second roller 3 is mounted on a pivot arm 13; and
an adjustable stop cooperating with the pivot arm 13 for adjusting the opening (i.e., gap) between the rollers 2, 3, wherein the adjustable stop includes:
an indexing mechanism with a rotatable cam 14, wherein a position of the cam defines a minimum size of the gap (figs. 1-6; p. 1, lines 29-108; hand wheel 21 is rotatable to rotate the cam 14 (to change the position of cam); as shown in figs. 3-6, the cam 14 includes an eccentric surface; as shown in figs. 3-6, the size of the opening (gap) between the rollers 2, 3 is adjusted (including adjusted to a minimum (smallest) size) depending upon which portion of the eccentric surface of cam 14 abuts the pivot arm 13 (i.e., stops the pivoting of the pivot arm 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to further modify the device the adjustable stop with an adjustable stop, as disclosed by Longanesi (US 1,521,455), because such a modification is known in the material sheeting art and would provide an alternative configuration known to be operable in the art for defining a size of the gap.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-9 and 15-17 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: the prior art of record does not teach or reasonably suggest:
the household food processing device, as recited by claims 8-9, particularly further comprising a second gear and wherein the pinion gear is moveable along a body of the second gear to change the size of the gap; OR
the household food processing device, as recited by claims 15-17, particularly wherein the clutch mechanism includes a switch, a biasing member, and a pawl, wherein the pawl is selectively coupled to an outer ring of a planetary gear assembly and the switch is coupled to the pawl by the biasing
member.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH S LEYSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5061. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sam Xiao Zhao can be reached at 5712705343. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.S.L/Examiner, Art Unit 1744
/XIAO S ZHAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1744
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