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 .
The amendment dated 16 March has been entered. The rejections set forth in the Non-Final rejection dated 30 June 2025 have been overcome.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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) 21, 22, 24, 25, 39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN110318751 in view of GB2068041.
CN110318751 described the cutting assembly for a longwall mining machine comprising: a housing 21 configured to be coupled to an end of a pivotable support arm 1/11 drum supported for rotation relative to the housing about an axis of rotation; a gear drive 4/5/6 at least partially supported by and positioned within the housing, the gear drive including at least one planetary gear 5 transmitting torque to the drum three motors 22 (fig 6) at least partially supported by and positioned within the housing, each of the three motors oriented parallel to the axis of rotation and laterally offset from the axis of rotation, each of the three motors generating torque to drive the drum via the gear drive.
CN110318751 lacks explicit disclosure of the cutting bits. GB2068041—in the same field of endeavor—described cutting assembly for longwall mining machine with cutting bits 25. One of ordinary skill would have understood that the bits would have bene advantageous to effectively cut coal and therefore would have found it obvious to have modified CN110318751 to have bits as claimed.
Regarding claim 22: “ motor unit 2” is illustrated located at rear side in fig 2.
Regarding claim 24: see fig 4 and 5 and accompanying translated text1
Regarding claim 25: CN110318751 describes multiple planetary stages and therefore differs from the claimed invention in the four-stage transmission. Examiner finds that duplication of parts-in this case transmission stages-is prima facie obvious absent any new and unexpected results. ALTERNATIVELY, design of transmission gears including number of transmission stages would have been an obvious design consideration, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have found four stages to be obvious based on torque and/or speed requirements.
Regarding claim 39: CN110318751 abstract2 suggests the each motor engaged with the sun gear.
Claim(s) 27, 29, 31, 32, 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN110318751 in view of STALKER US3290096
CN110318751 described the cutting assembly for a mining machine comprising: a housing 21 configured to be coupled to an end of a pivotable support arm 1/11 drum supported for rotation relative to the housing about an axis of rotation; a gear drive 4/5/6 at least partially supported by and positioned within the housing, the gear drive including a plurality of planetary gear stages transmitting torque to the drum; three motors 22 (fig 6) at least partially supported by and positioned within the housing, each of the three motors oriented parallel to the axis of rotation and laterally offset from the axis of rotation, each of the three motors generating torque to drive the drum via the gear drive.
The invention of claim 27 differs from CN110318751 in the features of the cutting bits and ring spacer.
CN110318751 lacks explicit disclosure of the cutting bits. STALKER—in the same field of endeavor—described cutting assembly for mining machine with cutting bits 17. One of ordinary skill would have understood that the bits would have bene advantageous to effectively cut coal and therefore would have found it obvious to have modified CN110318751 to have bits as claimed.
Regarding the ring spacer: Examiner finds that the prior art includes each element claimed, albeit no in a single reference. As STALKER shows a spacer ring in similar drum as early as 1963, one of ordinary skill in the art could have combined the features using known techniques and the results would have been predictable (KSR A). Therefore the combination recited in claim 27 is unpatentable.
Regarding claim 29: STALKER shows the spacer coupled to the ring gear 68. Modification of CN110318751 to have the spacer would result in at least one ring gear directly coupled to the spacer and inherently result in the remaining ring gears at least indirectly coupled to the spacer.
Regarding claim 31: CN110318751 described two stages (abstract)
Regarding claim 32: CN110318751 describes multiple planetary stages but lacks the at least a four-stage transmission. Examiner finds that duplication of parts-in this case transmission stages-is prima facie obvious absent any new and unexpected results. ALTERNATIVELY, design of transmission gears including number of transmission stages would have been an obvious design consideration, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have found four stages to be obvious based on torque requirements.
Regarding claim 40: CN110318751 abstract suggests the each motor engaged with the sun gear.
Claim(s) 33, 34, 36, 37, 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN110318751 in view of DE3829225.
CN110318751 described the cutting assembly for a longwall mining system comprising: support arm 1/11 having first and second ends (left and right in fig 2) the first end supported for pivoting (one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood “rocker” means pivoting axis normal to the mine face) forward surface (bottom fig 2) and rear surface; housing 21; drum supported for rotation relative to the housing about an axis of rotation; a gear drive 4/5/6 at least partially supported by and positioned within the housing, the gear drive including at least one planetary gear stages transmitting torque to the drum; three motors 22 (fig 6) at least partially supported by and positioned within the housing, each of the three motors oriented parallel to the axis of rotation and laterally offset from the axis of rotation, each of the three motors generating torque to drive the drum via the gear drive.
Claim 33 differs from CN110318751 in the drum extending around a portion of the housing and the bits.
CN110318751 lacks explicit disclosure of the cutting bits. DE3829225—in the same field of endeavor—illustrated cutting assembly for mining machine with cutting bits (figure 1 between drum and coal). One of ordinary skill would have understood that the bits would have bene advantageous to effectively cut coal and therefore would have found it obvious to have modified CN110318751 to have bits as claimed.
Regarding the drum extending around a portion of the housing: DE3829225 also illustrated a drum 3 extending around a portion of the gear housing.
Examiner finds that the prior art includes each element claimed, albeit no in a single reference. As DE3829225 shows a drum surrounding a gear housing as early as 1990, one of ordinary skill in the art could have combined the features using known techniques and the results would have been predictable (KSR A). Therefore the combination recited in claim 33 is unpatentable.
Regarding claim 34: CN110318751 described the motors adjacent a rear side of the housing and as DE3829225 suggests the drum adjacent the forward side of the housing, modification of CN110318751 to have the drum both extending around and adjacent the forward side of the housing is unpatentable by the same KSR A rationale.
Regarding claim 36: CN110318751 described (e.g. abstract) the first and second gear stages as claimed.
Regarding claim 37: CN110318751 described the arm at least partially hollow, as evidence by #7 and 8 in fig 2.
Regarding claim 38: CN110318751 abstract suggests the each motor engaged with the sun gear.
Claim(s) 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN110318751 in view of GB2068041 as applied to claim 21 above, and further in view of KELLEY US3721135. CN110318751 -as modified-lacks the compound gear with first and second portions of claim 26. KELLEY described the use of such a compound gear in a planetary gear stage. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have further modified CN110318751 to have the compound gear as claimed, in order to simplify the system with fewer discrete parts.
Claim(s) 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN110318751 in view of STALKER US3290096 as applied to claim 27 above, and further in view of KELLEY US3721135. CN110318751 -as modified-lacks the compound gear with first and second portions of claim 26. KELLEY described the use of such a compound gear in a planetary gear stage. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to have further modified CN110318751 to have the compound gear as claimed, in order to simplify the system with fewer discrete parts..
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Janine M KRECK whose telephone number is (571)272-7042. The examiner can normally be reached telework: M-F 0600-1530 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole Coy can be reached at 5712725405. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Janine M Kreck/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3672
1 primary gear 4, as shown in FIG. 5, form a first level speed-reducing torque-increasing part, the primary gear 4 of the central rotating shaft and a plurality of planet gears arranged in planetary 5 meshing transmission, pattern as shown in FIG. 4, form a secondary speed-reducing torque-increasing part
2 output shaft of the motor in the motor unit are synchronously engaged with a primary gear in the gear-box, form a first level speed-reducing torque-increasing part, the central rotating shaft of the primary gear
Prosecution Insights