DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Britton (5,669,213).
Britton discloses the claimed invention including a first blade 37 and a second blade 38, wherein the first blade is driven by a first shaft assembly 53, wherein the second blade is driven by a second shaft assembly 54, wherein the first and second blade assemblies are reciprocally driven by a cam shaft 71, wherein the first shaft assembly defines a first moment of inertia (inherently disclosed), wherein the second shaft assembly defines a second moment of inertia (inherently disclosed). Britton doesn’t show the first and second moments of inertia are within 5% of one another. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have modified the device of Britton by providing the first and second moments of inertia are within 5% of one another for optimum balance of the blades, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum value or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105USPQ 233.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 and 19-20 are allowed.
Claims 16-18 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art fails to teach a the first link, the second link, the first shaft, and the second shaft each define a center of mass, and wherein the centers of mass of the first link, the second link, the first shaft, and the second shaft all lie within 1 centimeter (cm) of a center of mass axis as set forth in claim 1; a skid plate releasably coupled to one of the first or second blades, wherein the skid plate is selected from a plurality of skid plates each defining a different height as set forth in claim 19.
Itoh et al. (2016/0249527) teaches a first blade 3, and skid plate 17 attached to the post. However, Itoh et al. fails to teach the above limitations.
Aiyama (5,493,784) teaches a first and second blades 10-11, and skid plate A-B. However, Aiyama fails to teach the above limitations.
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/OMAR FLORES SANCHEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3724
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