DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 February 23, 2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-7, 9, 17 and 23 have been canceled; claims 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 22 and 24 have been amended.
Claims 8, 10-16, 18-22 and 24-27 remain pending in this application.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “pad-mounted mounted”, which should recite --pad mounted--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the pad mounted alternator must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claims 8, 10-16, 18-22 and 24-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 8 and 22 recite: “wherein the alternator is a pad mounted”. The applicant has not provided a detail and description for the alternator mounting, and therefore the mounting detail is unclear. Paragraph [0033] merely recites: “Preferably, the alternator 34 is a pad mounted alternator such that, for example, the alternator 34 is mounted on the mounting bracket 26 via a mounting pad.”
For examination purposes, “pad mounted” limitation will not be given a patentable weight.
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) 8-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (CN 108661789 A), hereafter Wang, and as evidenced with Delco Remy article “Tech Tip: Alternator Mounting Configurations.”
Regarding claim 8, Wang discloses an internal combustion engine for a vehicle (Abstract), comprising: a crankshaft rotatably mounted on a cylinder block (Fig. 1 depicts crankshaft pulley – 1), with a rotation axis that extends in a vertical plane that distinguishes a first side of the engine and a second side of the engine; a first belt (5) configured to be driven by the crankshaft; an alternator (7) capable to be driven via the first belt; a pump (2) configured to be driven by the first belt; and a primary refrigerating compressor (12) mounted to the cylinder block, where the primary refrigerating compressor is arranged on the first side of the engine, and the alternator and the pump are arranged on the second side of the engine (shown in Fig. 1); wherein the alternator is pad-mounted (as evidenced with Delco Ray), and the pump is mounted, to a first mounting bracket that is separately manufactured from the cylinder block, the first mounting bracket attached to the cylinder block, and an entirety of the first mounting bracket is positioned on the second side of the engine (page 2, English Translation NPL).
Wang doesn’t disclose the alternator directly linked through a first pulley and the first belt to the pump. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the pump of Wang adjacent to the alternator, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70. In this instance both components are linked together with the same belt and indirectly function simultaneously dependent on the pulley they are mounted on, while provided on the same bracket. The applicant did not provide additional reasoning why the specific location of the pump is of importance and it appears that arrangement of Wang would perform equally well.
Regarding claim 10, Wang discloses the engine of claim 8, wherein the alternator and the pump are mounted on the first mounting bracket (page 2, Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, Wang discloses the engine of claim 8, further comprising: a secondary refrigerating compressor (9) capable to be driven via the first belt (Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 12, Wang discloses the engine of claim 11, wherein the secondary refrigerating compressor is mounted to the first mounting bracket which is in turn attached to the cylinder block (Fig. 1, page 2).
Regarding claim 13, Wang discloses the engine of claim 8, wherein the first mounting bracket is formed as a single piece (page 2).
Regarding claim 14, Wang discloses the engine of claim 8, further comprising: a second belt (11); and wherein the primary refrigerating compressor (12) is capable to be driven via the second belt (pg. 4).
Regarding claim 15, Wang discloses the engine of claim 8, wherein the pump (2) is a hydraulic steering pump configured to convey a hydraulic medium for a hydraulic power steering of the vehicle (page 2).
Regarding claim 16, Wang discloses the engine of claim 9, further comprising: a first idler pulley (3) and a second idler pulley (6), each coupled to the first mounting bracket and configured to contact the first belt (Fig. 1, page 2).
Claims 18-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (CN 108661789 A), in view of Huckey (US 9,631,546 B2).
Regarding claims 18-21, Wang is silent to an engine comprising: a second mounting bracket, and a third idler pulley coupled to the second mounting bracket and configured to contact the first belt, and, wherein the third idler pulley is positioned on the first side of the engine. Huckey discloses an engine comprising a compressor (537) coupled to a second mounting bracket (540) on the opposite side from where an alternator (534) and a power steering unit (533) are coupled on a first mounting bracket (541), and an idler pulley (536) mounted on the second bracket (Fig. 5D). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the second bracket and the third pulley of Huckey in the engine of Wang in order to arrange the engine accessories as needed and allow for retrofitting options.
Regarding claim 22, Wang discloses an internal combustion engine for a vehicle, comprising: a crankshaft (Fig. 1 depicts crankshaft pulley – 1) rotatably mounted on a cylinder block, with a rotation axis that extends in a vertical plane that distinguishes a first side of the engine and a second side of the engine (Fig. 1); a primary refrigerating compressor (12) mounted to the cylinder block, and arranged on the first side of the engine; a secondary refrigerating compressor (9) arranged on the second side of the engine (Fig. 1); a first mounting bracket (Fig. 1; page 2); and an alternator (7) mounted to the first mounting bracket, wherein the alternator is pad-mounted (as evidenced with Delco Ray).
Wang discloses an additional idler pully (8) configured to contact the first belt. However Wang does not disclose a second mounting bracket wherein the second mounting bracket is separately manufactured from both the cylinder block and the first mounting bracket; and idler pulley rotatably mounted to the second mounting bracket and configured to contact a first belt. Huckey discloses an engine comprising a compressor (537) coupled to a second mounting bracket (540), separately manufactured from both the cylinder block and the first mounting bracket, on the opposite side from where an alternator (534) and a power steering unit (533) are coupled on a first mounting bracket (541), and an idler pulley (536) mounted on the second bracket (Fig. 5D). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the second bracket and the third pulley of Huckey in the engine of Wang in order to arrange the engine accessories as needed and allow for retrofitting options.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide an additional idler pulley, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8.
Regarding claim 24, Wang discloses the engine of claim 23, wherein the secondary refrigerating compressor is mounted to the first mounting bracket; and wherein an entirety of the first mounting bracket is positioned on the second side of the engine (Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 25, Wang discloses the engine of claim 22, wherein the first belt (5) configured to be driven by the crankshaft; and wherein the secondary refrigerating compressor (9) is configured to be driven by the first belt (Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 26, Wang discloses the engine of claim 22, further comprising: a second belt (11) configured to be driven by the crankshaft; and wherein the primary refrigerating compressor (12) is configured to be driven by the second belt (pg. 4).
Regarding claim 27, Wang discloses a vehicle comprising the engine of claim 8, or the engine of claim 22 (abstract).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 23, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that prior art Wang and Huckey fail to disclose an alternator pad mounted to a bracket on one side of the engine, and a third pulley, guiding the same belt, on a separate bracket, and located on a different side of the engine.
As provided in the rejection, prior art Wang teaches a separate bracket on a side of an engine block wherein an alternator, a compressor, a pump, two idler pulleys and a tensioner are mounted. And, prior art Huckey was applied as a reference that teaches a combination of separate brackets and components distributed on individual brackets. Huckey further teaches a bracket an idler pulley (536) arranged on a separate bracket from the alternator (534), as shown in Fig. 5D. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide an additional idler pulley, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8. In this instance, an additional pulley on the opposite side of the engine block is taught by Huckey, and its purpose is to guide a belt around the engine accessories.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Conclusion
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/TEUTA HOLBROOK/
Examiner
Art Unit 3747
/GEORGE C JIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
Prosecution Insights