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.
Claim 9 is 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 the limitation " the radial portion" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3 and 6-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arnault et al. (US 2022/0294319 A1) in view of Hubert et al. (US 2022/0329135 A1)
RE claim 1, Arnault teaches a grounding brush assembly 20 (Figs.1, 2) comprising: a grounding brush 30 including a support 32 and a plurality of conductive fibers 31 disposed at least partially within the support 32; a brush mounting plate 40 rigidly secured to the support 32 of the brush 31 and including a plurality of centering tabs 46 for centering the support 32 of the brush 31;
Arnault does not teach a plurality of securing means for rigidly securing the centering tabs to the support, the securing means being distinct from the support and from the centering tabs.
Hubert teaches a plurality of securing means (fasteners, adhesives, see ¶ 19) for rigidly securing the tab 18a to the support 12, the securing means (adhesive) being distinct from the support 12 and from the centering tab 18a (Fig.1), doing so provided a connection to secure the support to the housing (¶ 19) such that reliability of the support brush can be improved.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arnault by having a plurality of securing means for rigidly securing the centering tabs to the support, the securing means being distinct from the support and from the centering tabs, as suggested by Hubert, for the same reasons as discussed above.
RE claim 3/1, as discussed above, Hubert teaches the securing means include at least one of glue, an adhesive (see ¶ 19), a weld and a braze.
RE claim 6/1, Arnault in view of Hubert has been discussed above. Arnault further teaches the support 32 of the brush 31 includes a mounting portion 32a and two lateral flanks 32b, 32c extending from the mounting portion 32a and axially gripping the conductive fibers (of brush 31), one of the two lateral flanks 32b, 32c of the support 32 bearing axially against the mounting plate 40 (Fig.4).
RE claim 7/6, Arnault in view of Hubert has been discussed above. Arnault further teaches the centering tabs 46 of the mounting plate 40 are set back axially from the other one of the two lateral flanks of the support 32b, 32c (Fig.4).
RE claim 8/1, Arnault in view of Hubert has been discussed above. Arnault further teaches the mounting plate 40 includes an annular radial portion 41a and the grounding brush 30 bears axially against the annular radial portion 41a of the mounting plate 40.
RE claim 9/8, Arnault in view of Hubert has been discussed above. Arnault further teaches the centering tabs 46 extend from the radial portion 41a of the mounting plate 40.
RE claim 10, Arnault in view of Hubert has been discussed above. Arnault further teaches an electric motor 10 (Fig.1) comprising: a casing 12; a shaft 14; and at least one grounding brush assembly 20 according to claim 1 mounted radially between the casing 12 and the shaft 14, the conductive fibers 31a of the brush of the assembly 20 being in contact with the shaft 14 (Fig.1 and ¶ 63).
RE claim 11, Arnault teaches a grounding brush assembly 20 (Figs.1-4) comprising: a grounding brush 30 including a support 32 and a plurality of conductive fibers 31 disposed within the support 32; a brush mounting plate 40 rigidly secured to the support 32 of the brush 30 and including a plurality of centering tabs 46 for centering the support 32 of the brush 30.
Arnault does not teach a plurality of connectors each rigidly securing a separate one of the centering tabs to the support, the connectors being distinct from the support and from the centering tabs.
Hubert teaches connectors (fasteners, adhesives, see ¶ 19) securing separate centering tabs 18a to the support 12, the connectors (adhesives) being distinct from the support 12 and from the centering tabs 18 (Fig.1 and ¶ 19), such that reliability of the support brush can be improved.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arnault by having a plurality of connectors each rigidly securing a separate one of the centering tabs to the support, the connectors being distinct from the support and from the centering tabs, as taught by Hubert, for the same reasons as discussed above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4 and 5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
RE claim 2/1, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, the securing means are made of an electrically conductive material.
RE claim 4/1, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, each securing means at least partially covers a free end of the associated centering tab and an adjacent area of the support.
RE claim 5/1, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, each securing means is interposed radially between the associated centering tab and the support.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at (571) 270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THOMAS TRUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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