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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Brooke (US 6,192,990).
Regarding claim 1, Brooke discloses a suspension and control head apparatus for an aerial firefighting bucket, the suspension and control head apparatus comprising (Examiner references the Figure 8 embodiment for the rejection, which combines the base elements of the control head of Figure 7 with a chain and sprocket end. The common elements of the figure 7 and 8 embodiment are highlighted in the explanation of figure 7. As such, figure 7 will be referenced for common elements and figure 8 will be referenced for elements related to the chain sprocket end):
a cable attachment member (Examiner’s Annotated Figure 1);
a housing (Examiner’s Annotated Figure 1) connected to the cable attachment member (Examiner’s Annotated Figure 1), the housing having an exterior face and an interior face (Examiner’s Annotated Figure 1);
an electronic head control system (135) contained in the housing (Figure 7), the electronic head control system for transmitting signals (Column 3, lines 25-30, the control head receives signals through the cable 16);
a drive pulley system (28, 204, 200, 202) mounted to the exterior face of the housing (The pulley system is mounted to the exterior face of the housing through the valve control line), the drive pulley system comprising:
a valve control line (28, 204) with a first end (204) and a second end (Figure 3, depicts the second end of the valve control line connecting to the valve);
an end piece on the first end (Figure 8, the chain 204 includes an end piece that hooks to the sprocket 200);
a drive pulley (Examiner’s Annotated Figure 1, the combination of 200 and pulley base) with a first face and a second face defining a channel there between running along the circumference of the drive pulley (200 and “pulley base” define an interior channel that receives chain 204 therebetween);
a groove on the first face of the drive pulley configured to fit the end piece of the valve control line (The sprocket defines individual recessed grooves that receives pieces of the chain); and
a driver system (115.1, 114, 113) connected to the electronic head control system and the drive pulley system (Column 5, lines 31-36), the driver system for driving the drive pulley system (Column 5, lines 31-40); wherein the valve control line is removably inserted into the groove and the channel (The chain may be removed from the groove and channel, and is as the pulley is rotated) and the valve control line is retractable and extendable from the drive pulley (Rotation of the pulley retracts and extends the valve control line relative to the drive pulley).
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Examiners Annotated Figure 1
Regarding claim 2, Brooke discloses the suspension and control head apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive pulley system further comprises a pulley cover (202) removably mounted to the first face of the drive pulley (Figure 8 and Column 6, lines 20-24; The plate is mounted to the drive pulley, which suggests that the plate may be removed from the pulley).
Regarding claim 5, Brooke discloses the suspension and control head apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driver system further comprises:
a motor (114); a drive shaft (115.1) connected to the motor, the motor driving the drive shaft (Column 5, lines 31-40); a cam surface (205) connected to the drive shaft (Examiner’s Annotated Figure 1, The cam surface is indirectly connected to the shaft through its connection to “pulley base”); and limit switches (Column 6, line 26, positional sensors) disposed in a position relative to the cam surface to enable the cam surface to actuate the limit switches (Figure 7 and 8); wherein the cam surface is configured to actuate the limit switches to limit the extent of rotation of the drive pulley (Column 5, lines 50-64; Column 6, lines 24-26 and Column 7, lines 13-16 and 35-41, The cam surface cooperates with the positional switches to provide for rotation of the pulley between minimum and maximum positions).
Regarding claim 6, Brook discloses the suspension and control head apparatus of claim 1, wherein the end piece is an enlarged cable end stop (The chain is interpreted as an enlarged cable end stop, as it has enlarged openings to stop movement of the cable).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
Claim(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Brooke.
Regarding claim 4, Brooke discloses the suspension and control head apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a pulley shield (27) removably mounted to the exterior face of the housing and configured to shield the drive pulley system (Column 6, lines 1-5 discloses that the housing is a separate element, which therefore may be removed).
Should it be found that the embodiment of Figure 8 does not include the waterproof housing, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the embodiment of Figure 8, with the disclosures of Figure 7, providing the configuration of Figure 8 to include the water proof housing, in order to provide for protection of the components of the control head, as disclosed by Brooke (Column 6, lines 1-5).
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.
Claim(s) 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brooke.
Regarding claim 3, Brooke discloses the suspension and control head apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive pulley system further comprises a pulley guard (202), the pulley guard cooperating with the channel to maintain the valve control line within the channel (Column 6, lines 20-24), but fails to disclose the pulley guard extending from the exterior face of the housing and configured to fit within the channel of the drive pulley.
It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to configure the pulley guard to be positioned to extend from the exterior face of the housing and capable of fitting within the channel of the drive pulley, as Applicant has not disclosed that the configurations is for a particular purpose or solves a stated problem, and it appears the pulley guard would perform equally well, as disclosed in Brooke.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER R. DANDRIDGE whose telephone number is (571)270-1505. The examiner can normally be reached M-T 9am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arthur O. Hall can be reached at (571)270-1814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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CHRISTOPHER R. DANDRIDGE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3752
/CHRISTOPHER R DANDRIDGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752