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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Specification
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc.
In this case “disclosed” should be removed.
Claim Objections
Claims 16, 17 are objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claims 13, 14. When two claims in an application are duplicates, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thedford (5094064), in view of Minnich et al (2015/0135672).
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Thedford teaches the claimed invention, except as noted:
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“(7) Copley et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,515,437 discloses that the entrance of air into the duct structure is in a rear wall thereof. A major problem associated with the duct design illustrated in the Copley et al. patent is the location of the air nozzle. Locating the air nozzle relatively high on the duct structure, as shown in the Copley et al. patent, significantly reduces the drawing effect within a suction area in which cotton will be initially entrained for movement toward the air nozzle. Thus, locating the air nozzle relatively high in the duct structure significantly increases the susceptibility of the duct to plugging with cotton.”
“(11) As shown in FIG. 3, the generally vertical duct section 36 has a generally rectangular walled configuration. The outlet 56 of the air jet 52 extends substantially the full width of the duct section 36 to enhance the flow of air and cotton therethrough. Air from a blower or fan (not shown) mounted on the harvester frame is distributed to each air nozzle through large supply conduits or lines 58.”
A cotton flow accelerator for a cotton stripper, the airflow accelerator comprising:
an air source (blower or fan, taught above);
a nozzle having an inlet configured to receive an airflow from the air source and an outlet configured to direct airflow pushing cotton away from a cross auger (nozzle 50; “positive airflow” at outlet 56, the intended use is taught above, except the auger is not shown/taught); and
one or more ducts (duct assembly 30) coupling the nozzle to the air source to form an air path therethrough (fig 1, ref 38),
wherein the nozzle is coupled adjacent to the cross auger and directs the airflow to define a positive airflow at the cross auger (already addressed above).
Minnich teaches in fig 3, par. 34, a secondary circulation system provide airflow 114 to the cross-conveyor / auger (32).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the duct of Thedford with the teachings of Minnich, with a reasonable expectation of success since it would assist in conveying denser product.
2. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle comprises a curved portion that forms one or more of: a generally J-shaped body; and/or a generally L-shaped body (taught in the combination, see Thedford, fig 3).
3. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle comprises one or more of: an outlet configured to direct airflow from a front of the cross auger and tangential to a bottom of the cross auger; an outlet configured to direct airflow at an angle relative to a bottom of the cross auger; and/or an outlet configured to introduce airflow at an exit of the cross auger (taught in the combination, to one skilled, the tangential arrangement, i.e. as shown/taught in Thedford, fig 3, can be at the bottom in the combination, so the outlet is either at the exit / past the combination auger, or at the bottom of the auger).
4. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, wherein the one or more ducts comprises an angled tube configured to connect in a plurality of different arrangements having different orientations relative to the cross auger (taught in the combination, see Thedford, fig 3, ref 58).
5. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, further comprising a guard coupled adjacent to the nozzle (bottom portion of the combination duct housing the combination auger).
6. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, wherein the air source comprises:
a fan configured to supply air to a plurality of air pathways through different ducts of the one or more ducts (taught in the combination, already addressed in re Thedford, claim 1; similarly, Minnich includes a fan, par. 18),
wherein the fan is configured to supply air to generate an additional airflow (discussed above, combination teaches a primary, i.e. Thedford, creates suction at the combination auger, and secondary at the cross-auger, taught by Minnich),
wherein the additional airflow is a negative airflow downstream of the cross auger, wherein the fan comprises a plurality of rotors coupled to the different ducts (suction discussed above; fan obviously includes rotors).
7. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, wherein the air source comprises a plurality of fans configured to supply air to a plurality of air pathways through different ducts of the one or more ducts (taught in the combination, see fig 3, ref 42, Minnich).
8. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle is configured to direct the airflow to define a positive airflow at the cross auger, whereby cotton is pushed out of an exit of the cross auger and into a cotton stripper lower transition duct (intended use is obvious in view of the combination, such stripper can be in the section 36, fig 3, in Thedford).
9. The cotton flow accelerator according to claim 1, wherein the airflow is split into primary and secondary airflow paths comprising a negative airflow path operable to pull cotton through the cotton flow accelerator, and an additional positive airflow path operable to push the cotton through the cotton flow accelerator (already addressed, see in re cl. 6, 8).
The following are already addressed above, unless otherwise noted:
10. A harvester vehicle comprising: a header system that includes a crop header component, wherein the crop header components comprises a cotton stripper header (taught in the combination, see Thedford, fig 1, harvester header 22) including a cross auger; and an air system comprising an air source and operably coupled to, and in communication with, the header system, the air system further comprising a cotton flow accelerator comprising: a nozzle having an inlet configured to receive air from the air source and an outlet configured to direct airflow relative to a cross auger, and one or more ducts coupling the nozzle to the air source to form an air path therethrough, wherein the nozzle is coupled adjacent to the cross auger and directs the airflow to define a positive airflow at the cross auger (see in re cl. 1).
11. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the nozzle of the cotton flow accelerator comprises one or more of: a curved portion that forms a generally J-shaped body; and/or a curved portion that forms a generally L-shaped body (cl. 2).
12. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the nozzle of the cotton flow accelerator comprises one or more of: an outlet configured to direct airflow from a front of the cross auger and tangential to a bottom of the cross auger; an outlet configured to direct airflow at an angle relative to a bottom of the cross auger; and/or an outlet configured to introduce airflow at an exit of the cross auger (cl. 3).
13. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the air source comprises a plurality of fans configured to supply air to a plurality of air pathways through different ducts of the one or more ducts (cl. 7).
14. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the nozzle is configured to direct the airflow to define a positive airflow at the cross auger, whereby cotton is pushed out of an exit of the cross auger and into a cotton stripper lower transition duct (cl. 8).
15. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the air source comprises: a fan configured to supply air to a plurality of air pathways through different ducts of the one or more ducts, wherein the fan is configured to supply air to generate an additional airflow, wherein the additional airflow is a negative airflow downstream of the cross auger, wherein the fan comprises a plurality of rotors coupled to the different ducts (cl. 6).
16. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the air source comprises a plurality of fans configured to supply air to a plurality of air pathways through different ducts of the one or more ducts (duplicate claim, see cl. 13).
17. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the nozzle is configured to direct the airflow to define a positive airflow at the cross auger, whereby cotton is pushed out of an exit of the cross auger and into a cotton stripper lower transition duct (duplicate claim, see cl. 14).
18. The harvester vehicle of claim 10, wherein the airflow is split into primary and secondary airflow paths comprising a negative airflow path operable to pull cotton through the cotton flow accelerator, and an additional positive airflow path operable to push the cotton through the cotton flow accelerator (cl. 9).
The following method steps are already addressed in view the apparatus above, unless otherwise noted:
19. A method for configuring a cotton flow accelerator in a cotton stripper, the method comprising: configuring a nozzle to provide a positive airflow at a cotton inlet, wherein the nozzle comprises a curved portion to direct the positive airflow; coupling the nozzle to a cross auger of the cotton stripper and to an air source; and operating the nozzle to apply a pushing force at a header exit using the positive airflow (cl. 1, 10)
.
20. A method for configuring a cotton flow accelerator in a cotton stripper according to claim 19, further comprising: coupling the cross auger of the cotton stripper to a negative airflow path operable to additionally pull cotton from the header exit using the negative airflow path (cl. 9).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form 892.
Wigdahl (6272821) teaches cotton stripper on the deflector wall (106), although the stripper is not claimed positively and particularly.
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/ARPAD FABIAN-KOVACS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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