DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Species I (directed to figures 1-5 and claims 1-8) in the reply filed on July 10, 2026 is acknowledged. Because Applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 9-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species II (directed to figures 6-14), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 10, 2026.
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 following claimed limitations (see below) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). The claimed limitations not shown are:
“a support frame” (see claim 6 line 4)
No new matter should be entered.
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 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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wijning et al. (US Patent 12,515,924 B2) in view of Maeno (JP 2008/110825 A).
Regarding claim 1, Wijning et al. (Wijning from here on) discloses a heavy lift crane (see figures 1-22, especially figures 18-22) comprising:
A crane (101, see figures 1-22, especially figures 18-22) comprising:
a crane body (102, 103, and 104, see figures 18-19);
an undulating body (105, see figures 18-19) including an undulating body fulcrum (considered the boom fulcrum pivotable about boom pivot axis 116, see figures 18-19) supported on the crane body to be rotatable in an undulation direction (considered the pivotal direction of the boom 105 about boom pivot axis 116) about a rotation center axis (116, see figures 18-19) extending horizontally (see figures 18-19);
a backstop (134, see figures 18-19), having a first end portion (considered the leftmost end of 134) and a second end portion (considered the rightmost end of 134), and interposed between the undulating body and the crane body (see figures 18-19) in a state where the undulating body rises from the crane body to support the undulating body from behind (see figures 18-19); and
an assistance structure (108, see figures 18-19, or restraining member) configured to assist the backstop in supporting the undulating body (see figures 18-19).
Wijning does not explicitly disclose the backstop being expandable.
Maeno discloses a lifting load calculation and overload prevention device (see figures 1-3, especially figures 2-3) comprising a backstop (20) further comprising an outer cylinder (21, see figure 2), an inner cylinder (22, see figure 2) and a spring (23, see figure 2) disposed between the inner cylinder and outer cylinder (see figure 2), and with the inner cylinder inserted to the outer cylinder (see figure 2). Maeno further discloses that the backstop (20) is disposed between a slewing frame (3, see figures 1-2) of the crane and a boom (4, see figures 1-2) of the crane (see figures 1-3). Maeno teaches that the backstop provides a spring force (or backstop reaction force) on the boom when the boom rotates backward (see paragraph 0009 of provided machine translation).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the crane of Wijning by substituting the backstop (with inner cylinder, outer cylinder, and spring between the cylinders) as taught by Maeno for the backstop of Wijning, to provide a spring force (or backstop reaction force) on the boom when the boom rotates backward as taught by Wijning, as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results, and/or to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 2, with the modification of Wijning in view of Maeno above, the backstop includes an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder inserted to the outer cylinder (as taught by Maeno), is expandable between a maximum length (the spring’s most expanded state) and a minimum length (considered the spring’s most contracted state), and is interposed between the crane body and the undulating body in a rising state where the undulating body rises from the crane body to support the undulating body from behind (see figures 18-19 of Wijning) while applying forward bias force to the undulating body (as the spring of the backstop as taught by Maeno applies a spring forward biasing force), and the assistance structure includes a restraining member (108 of Wijning, see figures 18-19) configured to be interposed between the crane body and the undulating body and receive a load of the undulating body (see figures 18-19 of Wijning) to restrain the undulating body from falling backward when the undulating body is in the rising state and the backstop has a predetermined restrained length (considered a length of the backstop as taught by Maeno when the spring has a partially contracted length) between the maximum length and the minimum length.
Regarding claim 3, with the modification of Wijning in view of Maeno above, the backstop further includes a spring member (23, see figure 2, as taught by Maeno) disposed to be interposed between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder (see figure 2 of Maeno) and configured to be contractive between a maximum spring length (the spring’s most expanded state) and a minimum spring length (considered the spring’s most contracted state), and is interposed between the undulating body and the crane body to support the undulating body from behind (see figures 18-19 of Wijning) while applying forward bias force to the undulating body (as the spring of the backstop as taught by Maeno applies a spring forward biasing force) when the undulating body is in the rising state and the spring member is contracted from the maximum spring length, and the restraining member is interposed between the crane body and the undulating body (see figures 18-19 of Wijning) and receives the load of the undulating body to restrain the undulating body from falling backward when the undulating body is in the rising state and the backstop has the restrained length (considered a length of the backstop as taught by Maeno when the spring has a partially contracted length) with the spring member is contracted to a length between the maximum spring length and the minimum spring length.
Regarding claim 4, Wijning as modified by Maeno further shows the restraining member (108, see figures 18-22, of Wijning) is disposed to be interposed between the crane body and the undulating body at a position (see figures 18-20) between the backstop and the undulating body fulcrum (see figures 18-20 of Wijning) in a direction parallel to the rotation center axis (as shown in figures 18-22 of Wijning, the restraining member 108 is shown to a lateral side of 110 in a direction parallel to the rotation center axis 116).
Regarding claim 5, Wijning as modified by Maeno further shows the restraining member (108, see figures 18-22, of Wijning) includes a restraining member proximal end portion (the right end portion of 108 in contact with boom 105, see figures 18-22 of Wijning) supported on the undulating body and a restraining member distal end portion (the left end portion of 108 in contact with boom 105, see figures 18-22 of Wijning) opposite to the restraining member proximal end portion, and is disposed to project from the undulating body (see figures 18-22 of Wijning), the crane body includes a restraining member receiving portion (considered 110 as shown in figures 20-22 of Wijning) configured to receive the restraining member distal end portion, and the restraining member (108, see figures 18-22, of Wijning) receives the load of the undulating body with the restraining member distal end portion being in contact with the restraining member receiving portion (see figures 18-22 of Wijning) when the undulating body is in the rising state and the spring member has the restrained length.
Regarding claim 6, Wijning as modified by Maeno further shows the crane body (102, 103, and 104, see figures 18-19) includes a slewing frame (102 and 103, see column 29 lines 57-61, and see figures 18-22, of Wijning) and a support frame (104) disposed in a front end portion of the slewing frame (see figures 18-19, at least partially as at least a part of the support frame 104 is disposed in a front end portion of 102 and 103) and including an undulating body backing portion (considered the portion of boom 105 pivotal connected about boom pivot axis 116, see figures 18-22 of Wijning) rotatably supporting the undulating body fulcrum, and the restraining member receiving portion (considered 110 as shown in figures 20-22 of Wijning) is disposed on the support frame (see figures 18-22 of Wijning).
Regarding claim 7, Wijning as modified by Maeno further shows a mast (see annotated figure below, and figures 18-19, of Wijning) including a mast proximal end portion (see annotated figure below, and figures 18-19, of Wijning) rotatably supported (as the mast is rotatably supported by slewing about vertical rotation axis 115, see column 29 lines 57-61, and see figures 18-19, of Wijning) on the crane body at a position behind the undulating body (see figures 18-19 of Wijning), the mast supporting the undulating body from behind (see figures 18-19 of Wijning), wherein the crane body includes a slewing frame (102, 103 and 104, see column 29 lines 57-61, and see figures 18-22, of Wijning), the slewing frame includes a mast backing portion (see annotated figure below and figures 18-19, of Wijning) rotatably supporting the mast proximal end portion (as the mast is rotatably supported by slewing about vertical rotation axis 115, see column 29 lines 57-61, and see figures 18-19, of Wijning), and the restraining member receiving portion (considered 110 as shown in figures 20-22 of Wijning) is disposed on the mast backing portion (indirectly as the restraining member receiving portion is disposed on the mast proximal end portion, and the mast proximal end portion is disposed on the mast backing portion, see annotated figure below and figures 18-19, of Wijning).
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Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wijning et al. (US Patent 12,515,924 B2) in view of Maeno (JP 2008/110825 A) as applied to claims 1-7 above, and further in view of Pech et al. (US Publication 2010/0276385 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Wijning as modified by Maeno further shows the undulating body includes at least an undulating body lower member (see annotated figure below, and figures 18-19, of Wijning) including the undulating body fulcrum (see annotated figure below, and figures 18-19, of Wijning), and the restraining member proximal end portion is supported on the undulating body lower member in a portion closer to the undulating body fulcrum than a longitudinal center portion of the undulating body lower member (see annotated figure below, and figures 18-19, of Wijning).
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Neither Wijning nor Maeno explicitly disclose the undulating body is dividable into a plurality of members.
Pech et al. (Pech from here on) discloses crane with a boom raising assist structure (see figure 1) comprising an undulating body (22, see figure 1) and teaches of the undulating body (22) constructed by connecting multiple boom sections together (see paragraph 0039).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the crane of Wijning as modified by Maeno by dividing the undulating body (i.e. boom) of Wijning as modified by Maeno into a plurality of members, to construct an undulating body (i.e. boom) by connecting multiple boom sections together as taught by Pech, to provide an adjustable length undulating body (i.e. boom) to the crane of Wijning as modified by Maeno to adjust the operational range of the crane of Wijning as modified by Maeno for different hoisting jobs, and/or to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUAN J CAMPOS, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-5229. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert W. Hodge can be reached on phone number (571)272-2097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JJC/
/ROBERT W HODGE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3654
