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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 9/12/2024 and 1/9/2025 are being considered.
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 1, 2, 5-11, 13, 14, 16, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fritze (WO2004086906A1)
Regarding claim 1, Fritze discloses an apparatus for bending brush fibers extending from a backing strip comprising:
a rotating shaft (rollers of Item 7) having a curved circumferential outer surface along which the backing strip of a brush (Item 3) travels to dispose the fibers (Item 1) extending from said backing strip outwards; and
an energy delivery head (Items 8, 4 and 5), positioned along said backing strip when traveling along said shaft, bends said fibers in which energy delivered by said head deforms said fibers, when being bent by said head, to retain at least a portion of said fibers bent at an angle with respect to a longitudinal dimension of the backing strip, wherein said portion for each of said fibers starts at a location between the backing strip and an end or tip of the fiber, and extends to the end or tip of the fiber (page 3 starting with “in the bristle carrier”).
Regarding claim 2, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said head has a portion configured to bend and delivery energy to heat each of said fibers as the fiber contacts at least said portion of said head when traveling by said head, responsive to rotation of said shaft, to retain the fiber deformed bent at said angle (Pages 3-4).
Regarding claim 5, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said energy delivered by said head is heat energy (Page 3 discusses the bristles passing through a heated liquid).
Regarding claim 6, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said shaft has an axis of rotation, said head has a surface with a front edge parallel to said axis of rotation, and at least said front edge of said head bends and heats each of said fibers as the fiber passes by said head to retain the fiber deformed bent at said angle (best shown in Figure 1 and 2).
Regarding claim 7, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 6 wherein said front edge of said head is spaced by a gap from said outer surface of said shaft along which said brush travels, and said angle is at least in accordance with a size of said gap (gap filled by item 17).
Regarding claim 8, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said fibers of said brush extend at least substantially upright from said backing strip prior to be bent at said angle to form said brush into an angled brush (Figure 2).
Regarding claim 9, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said brush is delivered to said shaft in a first direction and after traveling along said shaft exits said shaft in a second direction (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 10, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said head is movable between a down position adjacent said shaft to enable bending of fibers and an up position away from said shaft (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 11, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said angle is at or between 10 and 80 degrees (Figure 2 shows about 45), with respect to a longitudinal dimension along which the backing strip extends when horizontally disposed, in accordance with one or more of a size of a gap between the outer surface of the rotating shaft and said head, and a radial position of said head about an axis of rotation of said shaft (gap formed by item 17 to make the bristles a predetermined shape).
Regarding claim 13, Fritze discloses a method for bending brush fibers extending from a backing strip comprising steps of: rotating a shaft (Item 7) having a curved circumferential outer surface along which the backing strip (Item 3) of a brush travels to dispose the fibers (Item 1) extending from said backing strip outwards; bending said fibers as said backing strip travels along said outer surface of said shaft (by Item 8); and delivering energy by a head to said fibers while said bending step is being carried out by said head to retain at least a portion of said fibers bent at an angle with respect to a longitudinal dimension of said backing strip (Item 21 and 5).
Regarding claim 14, Fritze discloses a brush comprising: a plurality of synthetic fibers (Item 1 is discussed being plastic); a backing strip (Item 3) having a surface from which each of said plurality of fibers extends a length to an end or tip of the fiber; and each of said fibers being deformed bent, by energy delivered via a head as said head bends said fibers with travel of said backing strip passing by said head (Items 21, 8 and 5), at an angle along a region of the fiber located at a location between said backing strip and the end or tip of the fiber, to bend at an angle from said region to the end or tip of the fiber, in which said angle is with respect to a longitudinal dimension of said backing strip (Figure 2).
Regarding claim 16, Fritze discloses the brush according to Claim 14 wherein said angle is at or between 10 and 80 degrees with respect to said longitudinal dimension of the backing strip (Figure 2 shows roughly 45 degrees).
Regarding claim 18, Fritze discloses the brush according to Claim 14 wherein said backing strip is flexible along at least said longitudinal dimension (Figure 2).
Regarding claim 19, Fritze discloses the brush according to Claim 14 wherein a same one of said angle is provided along each of said fibers (all bristles are subject to the same heat and deformation).
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 3, 4, 12, 15 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fritze (WO2004086906A1) in view of Edwards (US 2002/0033234).
Regarding claim 3, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 . Fritze fails to explicitly disclose wherein said backing strip wraps at least partially along said curved circumferential outer surface of said shaft while travelling along said shaft .
Edwards teaches a brush making apparatus wherein said backing strip (Item 74) is moved around on a belt (Item 54) as a means for transportation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to simply substitute the brush type of Fritze to be a strip brush instead of a brush head (for items such as a tooth brush). Both brush types are known in the art and are effectively used for different scenarios. As discussed in Paragraph 13 of Edwards, regardless of the brush assembly types, both lead to the predictable result of using heat to modify the shape of the bristle to the predetermined form.
Regarding claim 4 and 15, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 . Fritze fails to explicitly disclose wherein said energy delivered by said head is ultrasonic energy.
Edwards teaches a brush making apparatus wherein said energy delivered by said head is ultrasonic energy (Paragraph 36). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to simply substitute the heating means of Fritze for the ultrasonic means as taught by Edwards. Both are capable of properly heating a bristle to the plastic deformation range. As such the predictable result of the bristle being heated by either heat source.
Regarding claim 12, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 . Fritze fails to explicitly disclose wherein said backing strip is flexible along at least said longitudinal dimension to enable said backing strip to travel along said outer surface of said shaft.
Edwards teaches a brush making apparatus wherein said backing strip (Item 74) is moved around on a belt (Item 54) as a means for transportation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to simply substitute the brush type of Fritze to be a strip brush instead of a brush head (for items such as a tooth brush). Both brush types are known in the art and are effectively used for different scenarios. As discussed in Paragraph 13 of Edwards, regardless of the brush assembly types, both lead to the predictable result of using heat to modify the shape of the bristle to the predetermined form.
Regarding claim 21 and 22, Fritze discloses the apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said brush is delivered to said shaft in a first direction to enable said backing strip to following curvature of said curved circumferential outer surface of said rotating shaft so that said fibers extending from said backing strip pass by said energy delivery head positioned to bend and delivery energy to deform said fibers, and then said brush exits said shaft in a second direction with said at least a portion of said fibers extending from said backing strip of said brush bent at said angle (Figure 1).
Fritze fails to explicitly disclose the backing strip is capable of curving.
Edwards teaches a brush making apparatus wherein said backing strip (Item 74) is moved around on a belt (Item 54) as a means for transportation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to simply substitute the brush type of Fritze to be a strip brush instead of a brush head (for items such as a tooth brush). Both brush types are known in the art and are effectively used for different scenarios. As discussed in Paragraph 13 of Edwards, regardless of the brush assembly types, both lead to the predictable result of using heat to modify the shape of the bristle to the predetermined form.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fritze (WO2004086906A1).
Regarding claim 17, Fritze discloses the brush according to Claim 14 wherein said angle is 20 degrees with respect to said longitudinal dimension of the backing strip.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the predetermined angle to be any angle including 20 degrees. Such a modification is viewed as a change in shape, which has been held to be of routine by one skilled in the art (see MPEP 2144.04). Further in the instant application there is no criticality to the claimed angle.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fritze (WO2004086906A1) in view of Rueb (US 5,033,797).
Regarding claim 20, Fritze discloses the brush according to Claim 14. Fritze fails to explicitly disclose wherein said backing strip has a width, and said plurality of fibers extend from said surface grouped in rows of different ones of said fibers that at least substantially extend along said width of said backing strip, and every two different ones of said rows are spaced from each other along said longitudinal dimension of said backing strip (Fritz shows representative 2 dimensional drawing of the brush).
Reub teaches a brush wherein said backing strip has a width, and said plurality of fibers extend from said surface grouped in rows of different ones of said fibers that at least substantially extend along said width of said backing strip, and every two different ones of said rows are spaced from each other along said longitudinal dimension of said backing strip (Figure 6, 7, 10 and 11). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the brush of Fritze to have the plurality of rows as taught by Reub. Modifying the number of bristles would increase the ability for the brush to be able to apply an abrasive force.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TOM R RODGERS whose telephone number is (313)446-4849. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8AM-5PM EST.
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/TOM RODGERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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