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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 July 9th, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-6 remain pending in the application. Claim 1 is currently amended. Applicant's amendments to the claims have overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 previously set forth in the Final Office Action mailed March 11th, 2026.
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 1-2 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai (US 4,416,427) in view of Tsutsumi (JP 2006129794 A).
PNG
media_image1.png
648
660
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Figure 1. Annotated Figure 1 from Kawai
Regarding Claim 1, Kawai, Figures 1-5 and annotated Figure 1 above, teaches a spool 29 of a fishing spinning reel, the spool 29 comprising:
a spool body 29’ comprising an insertion hole 30’ through which a spool shaft 30 is inserted;
a thread 31’ inside the spool body 29’ and concentric with the insertion hole 30’ as viewed in an axial direction of the insertion hole 30’; and
a sound generator 180 separate from the spool body 29’,
wherein the sound generator 180 comprises:
an inner peripheral wall 6’’ in which a screwed thread 6’ screwed into the thread 31’ is concentric with the insertion hole 30’;
an outer peripheral wall 18’ disposed at an interval on a radially outer side of the inner peripheral wall 6’’ and in which a ratchet groove 17 for sound generation is concentric with the insertion hole 30’;
a bottom wall 18’’ connecting and continuous with the inner peripheral wall 6’’ and the outer peripheral wall 18’; and
a recess 180’ surrounded by the inner peripheral wall 6’’, the outer peripheral wall 18’, and the bottom wall 18’’.
Kawai teaches all the elements of the fishing spinning reel except for a U-shaped spring with a contact portion that is separately U-shaped and contacts the ratchet groove.
However, Tsutsumi, Figures 1-5, teaches a U-shaped spring 23 with a contact portion 22 that is separately U-shaped and contacts the ratchet groove 21 (See Tsutsumi, Fig. 2-3, Para. 0018-0021).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Kawai with a U-shaped spring with a contact portion that is separately U-shaped and contacts the ratchet groove, as taught by Tsutsumi, for the purpose of increasing device usability over a wide range of fishing line diameters while using the same components (i.e., “making it easy to eliminate thread breakage due to excessive tension when using thin threads, and poor sound generation due to insufficient tension when using thick threads…. since the biasing force can be easily changed, even if the same holding part 25 is attached to reels of different sizes, the optimal damping of the sound-producing mechanism can be easily obtained, and the holding part 25 can be used as a common part,” (See Tsutsumi, Para. 0026).
Regarding Claim 2, Kawai in view of Tsutsumi are advanced above.
Kawai further teaches wherein the spool body 29’ comprises a bearing 7 that supports the spool shaft 30, and
the bearing 7, the sound generator 180, and an outer diameter portion of the spool body 29’ are disposed in order from a central axis of the insertion hole 30’ toward a radially outer side 29’’ of the spool 29.
Regarding Claim 5, Kawai in view of Tsutsumi are advanced above.
Kawai further teaches wherein the sound generator 180 is detachable from the spool body 29’ by screwing the screwed thread 6’ with respect to the thread 31’ (the sound generator 180 is located around the bearing 7 and the bearing 7 is held in place by screwing 31’ and 6’ together; See Kawai, Col. 3, Ln. 47-48).
Regarding Claim 6, Kawai in view of Tsutsumi are advanced above.
Kawai further teaches wherein the thread 31’ is a male thread, and the screwed thread 6’ is a female thread (See Figure 1 above).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai (US 4,416,427) in view of Tsutsumi (JP 2006129794 A), as applied to claims 1-2 and 5-6 above, and further in view of Ikuta (US 7,878,438).
Regarding Claim 3, Kawai in view of Tsutsumi are advanced above.
Kawai in view of Tsutsumi teach all the elements of the spool except for the sound generator being formed of resin.
However, Ikuta, Figures 1-15, teaches wherein the sound generator 8 is formed of resin (See Ikuta, Col. 7, Ln. 23-27, Col. 8, Ln. 47-50).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Kawai in view of Tsutsumi with a sound generator formed of resin, as taught by Ikuta, for the purpose of cost reduction (See Ikuta, Col. 3, Ln. 49-51).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai (US 4,416,427) in view of Tsutsumi (JP 2006129794 A) and Ikuta (US 7,878,438), as applied to claims 1-3 and 5-6 above, and further in view of Sabtu (US 2014/0263791).
Regarding Claim 4, Kawai in view of Tsutsumi and Ikuta are advanced above.
Kawai in view of Tsutsumi and Ikuta teach all the elements of the spool except for the resin being a fiber-reinforced resin containing fibers.
However, Sabtu, teaches wherein the resin is a fiber-reinforced resin containing fibers (glass fiber reinforced polyamide resin; See Sabtu, Para. 0050, Ln. 3-6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Kawai in view of Tsutsumi and Ikuta with a fiber-reinforced resin, as taught by Sabtu, for the purpose of increasing stiffness of the resin (See Sabtu, Para. 0050, Ln. 3-6).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see Pg. 4-5, filed July 9th, 2026, have been fully considered.
Regarding the rejection of Claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103, Applicant has amended the claim. The amendments are sufficient to overcome the previously set forth rejection. Therefore, this rejection has been withdrawn. However, a new ground of rejection has been set forth under 35 U.S.C. 103 based on the amended claim.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Kawai in view of Tsutsumi are utilized in the current rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 (See Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 above).
Regarding the rejections of Claims 2-6, the claims are dependents of rejected claim 1 and Applicant has provided no additional arguments. Therefore, these claims are also rejected based on the new ground of rejection presented above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Such references include disclosures illustrating configurations which satisfy the limitation “a U-shaped spring with a contact portion that is separately U-shaped and contacts the ratchet groove,” (Claim 1, Ln. 16-17) by featuring a U-shaped elastic member with a U-shaped protrusion which contacts an alternating concave-convex wall to produce a clicking sound when the wall and the elastic member rotate relative to each other.
JP 2004105097 A, previously cited on IDS submitted March 15th, 2024
See Figures 1-7
JP 2005073670 A, previously cited on form PTO-892 mailed on September 15th, 2025
See Figures 1-3
JP 2000106801 A, previously cited on form PTO-892 mailed on March 11th, 2026
See Figures 1-5 and 8-9
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIFFANY DOMONIQUE JEFFERSON whose telephone number is 571-272-0403. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10:30am-7:30pm ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Victoria Augustine can be reached at 313-446-4858. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/T.D.J./Examiner, Art Unit 3654
/Victoria P Augustine/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3654
Prosecution Insights