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 § 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 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 and 15 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 9 recites “…standing...” and “…the two axes HX1 and HX2 can be inclined at an angle if necessary…” in parathesis, it is unclear whether they are part of the claim or not.
Claim 9 recites “…sports equipment, generators or anything that needs driving force…”
It is unclear what “anything” means, it does not limit the claim and it is open ended limitation.
Claim 9 recites “…of the guide and/or pulleys or their substitute…” it is unclear what included in the term “their substitute” and what it means and referring to. The term “substitute” is open ended term.
Claim 9 recites “…a return spring, or its equivalent…” it is unclear what the term equivalent is referring to and what does it encompass or include.
Claim 9 recites “…drive wheels, propellers, etc…” the term “etc” is open ended term and its unclear what’s included in the limitation.
Claim 10 recite “the clutch is preferred” not clear whether the claim requires the clutch or not, using the word preferred.
Claim 11 recites “… its equivalent…” it is unclear what the term equivalent is referring to and what does it encompass or include.
Claim 13 recites “…wherein slides the support and/or attaches to the lever to increase or decrease its length, and accordingly, the torque increases by increasing its length…”. It is unclear which length the applicant is referring to. How a torque can increases by increasing its length ? torque does not have length to increase.
Claim 14 recites “…the other levers are added in even numbers to the right and left of the gear in one of the embodiments of mechanism…” it is unclear what limitations and what the one of the embodiments encompass in the claim.
Claim 15 recites “… wherein the levers and clutches are coupled to the shaft…” it is unclear what the shaft is referring to. Is it the Thrust shaft or rotation shaft mentioned in claim 9 ?.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 9-12 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Park [US Pub # 2002/0105161].
Regarding claim 9: Park disclose a vehicle propulsion mechanism comprising: a chassis; levers; pedals; clutches and/or freewheels; gears and/or pulleys (20, 30, 60, 70); rotation shafts (11, 12); thrust shafts (21, 80 see fig 6a) of the levers which convert the reciprocating thrust movement into a rotation movement of the various land vehicles, marine vehicles, gliders, sports equipment, generators or anything that needs driving force (see fig 9), by the muscular effort of the legs of at least one user in a vertical (standing) position and/or a user in a horizontal sitting position or even completely lying on their back or stomach in order to push the levers (see fig 9, pedals 250 of the levers 40) up and down and/or push forward which bounce back and forth less than half a turn around a horizontal axis (HX) and/or two vertical axes parallel and symmetrical (VX1 and VX2) (the two axes*HX1 and HX2* can be inclined at an angle if necessary) where the levers (40, 40) are coupled to the clutches (C1, C1) and/or the freewheels, and in operation, they are maintained in thrust stroke by at least one of the shafts (21) associated with the gears (20, 30, 60, 70) of the guide and/or pulleys or their substitute, but in the return stroke by means of a return spring, or its equivalent having no grip (the opposite pedaling force cause the pedal to return to its initial position), which results in a continuous rotational movement in one direction (by one way clutches C1), wherein the driving force is directed to the gearbox, drive wheels, propellers, etc., via chains, gears (gears 82, 90 20, 30, 60 and 70), shafts or belts, depending on the manufacturing needs of the vehicle.
Regarding claim 10: Park wherein due to its silence, its strength and its high torque endurance, the clutch (C1) is preferred to the freewheel to operate the mechanism, wherein it consists of a set of solid steel cams and a solid steel wheel (1) in the middle of which there is a toothed hole through which the clutch (C1) is coupled to one of rotation shafts (21, 41, 41) and a cage with cam compartment around the steel wheel (see fig 7) and a solid steel toothed collar through which the clutch is coupled to the lever (40).
Regarding claim 11: Park wherein the levers and the clutches (C1, C1) are connected to the two rotation shafts (41, 41) which rotate around the two parallel and symmetrical vertical axes (VX1 and VX2) where the user pushes the right lever (40) sideways with his right leg and the left lever (4) with his left leg forward then it rebounds by means of a return spring or its equivalent.
Regarding claim 12: Park wherein the users who push the two levers (40, 40) connected with the clutch (C1) and the rotation shafts (41, 41, 21) which pivot around the two parallel vertical axes and symmetrical (HX1 and HX2) sharing pedals coupled to two push shafts connected to the push shaft supports through a ball joint in one of the mechanism embodiments for the gathering of the driving forces.
Regarding claim 16: Park wherein the levers (40, 40) are attached and fixed jointly with the clutches (C1, C1) on one or more of the shafts of even number.
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 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park [US Pub # 2002/0105161] in Staehlin [US Pub # 2018/0148130].
Regarding claim 13: Park does not explicitly show wherein slides the support and/or attaches to the lever to increase or decrease its length, and accordingly, the torque increases by increasing its length, thus increasing the driving force and reducing the effort of the users and vice versa. However Staehlin shows wherein slides (64, 64) the support and/or attaches to the lever (10,11) to increase or decrease its length (see fig 1), and accordingly, the torque increases by increasing its length (increasing the length of the lever result in increase of torque), thus increasing the driving force and reducing the effort of the users and vice versa.
It would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date to adjust the length of the pedal to adjust for torque applied of the wheels.
Regarding claim 14: Park shows wherein the mechanism with a horizontal axis (HX) which pivots around itself in reciprocating movement using levers coupled to the clutches and to the shaft where the gear is between a pair among them and the other levers are added in even numbers to the right and left of the gear in one of the embodiments of mechanism for bringing together the driving forces. Park does not explicitly shows six levers coupled to the clutches. However using multiple levers such as six levers is matter of design choice and design consideration. Having multiple levers allow multiple simultaneous inputs by the user
Regarding claim 15: Park shows wherein the levers and clutches (C1, C1) are coupled to the shaft (21) which rotates around the horizontal axis (HX) and are opposed, parallel
Park does not explicitly show that levers of variable lengths. the two longest levers of them closer to the pinion on its sides and their pedals at the rear and therefore the shortest pedals are at the front, the user in front pushes the two shortest levers and the last pushes the longest of them in one of the ways of realizing the mechanism for collecting the driving forces. However Staelin show that levers (10, 11) of variable lengths. the two longest levers of them closer to the pinion (32, 32) on its sides and their pedals at the rear and therefore the shortest pedals (64, 64) are at the front, the user in front pushes the two shortest levers and the last pushes the longest of them in one of the ways of realizing the mechanism for collecting the driving forces.
It would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date to adjust the length of the pedal to adjust for torque applied of the wheels.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. For example [US Pub # 2019/0113086] shows levers (150, 185, see fig 3) with clutches (110) and (220) and gears (215, 220, 225).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZAKARIA ELAHMADI whose telephone number is (571)270-5324. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10-6 EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached on 571-270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZAKARIA ELAHMADI/
Examiner, Art Unit 3618