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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-9 are pending in the application.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 30 April 2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN202420950082.5 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 2 and 4-6 are objected to because of the following informalities: Appropriate correction is required.
Re Claim 2: Lines 5-7 of claim 2 should be amended as follows:
--the main pressing block is matched with the main locking block; the toggle buckle drives the main pressing block to move forward and backward when the toggle buckle rotates relative to the main sliding seat;--
Re Claim 4: Line 4 of claim 4 recites “the stop column passes through the tension rope”. This appears to be misdescriptive and/or inaccurate. As is clearly shown in Fig. 8, it is the tension rope (601) that passes through the stop column (602), not vice versa, as is recited in the claim.
For examination purposes, for this Office Action only, the Examiner will interpret the first paragraph of claim 4 as follows:
--4. The telescopic pipe assembly according to claim 3, wherein the interlocking mechanism comprises a tension rope and a stop column, one end of the tension rope is connected to the main sliding seat and the other end of the tension rope is connected to the secondary pressing block; the tension rope passes through the stop column and the stop column cooperates with the toggle buckle to cause the secondary pressing block to move up and down so as to push the secondary locking block to abut against or release the third pipe fitting;--
Clarification and correction are required.
Re Claims 5-6: These claims are considered indefinite because of their dependency from indefinite claim 4.
Examiner notes that any prior art rejections made in this Office Action are made in view of the claims, as best understood by the Examiner, in view of the above indefiniteness rejections.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by She (US Patent Application Publication 2025/0320956).
Re Claim 1: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly that can be quickly locked, comprising a first pipe fitting (1), a second pipe fitting (2), and a third pipe fitting (3) that are sequentially connected and are capable of moving relative to each other in an axial direction;
wherein the second pipe fitting (2) is provided with a main locking mechanism (41; Fig. 2) that limits a relative movement between the second pipe fitting (2) and first pipe fitting (1), and a secondary locking mechanism (43) that limits a relative movement between the second pipe fitting (2) and the third pipe fitting (3);
the main locking mechanism (41) and the secondary locking mechanism (43) are respectively connected to an interlocking mechanism (42; Fig. 4), the interlocking mechanism (42) causes the secondary locking mechanism (43) to limit the relative movement between the second pipe fitting and the third pipe fitting when the main locking mechanism (41) limits the relative movement between the second pipe fitting and the first pipe fitting.
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Re Claim 2, as best understood by the Examiner: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein the second pipe fitting (2) comprises a main sliding seat (411; Fig. 5) sleeved on the first pipe fitting (1); the main locking mechanism (41) comprises a toggle buckle (locking member 412 in combination with first regulating part 414) rotatably connected to the main sliding seat, a main pressing block (415) and a main locking block (413) accommodated in the main sliding seat;
the main pressing block (415) is matched with the main locking block (413); the toggle buckle (412, 414) drives the main pressing block (415) to move forward and backward when the toggle buckle (412) rotates relative to the main sliding seat (411);
forward and backward movements of the main pressing block drive the main locking block to move left and right so as to abut against or release the first pipe fitting.
Re Claim 3: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein the second pipe fitting (2) comprises a secondary sliding seat (431; Fig. 6) sleeved on the third pipe fitting (3); the secondary locking mechanism (43) comprises a secondary pressing block (432; Fig. 6) and a secondary locking block (433) accommodated in the secondary sliding seat; the secondary locking block (433) is matched with the secondary pressing block (432);
when the main locking mechanism (41) locks or releases the first pipe fitting (1), the interlocking mechanism (42) causes the secondary pressing block (432) to move up and down; up and down movements of the secondary pressing block drive the secondary locking block (433) to abut against or release the third pipe fitting (3).
Re Claim 4, as best understood by the Examiner: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein the interlocking mechanism (42) comprises a tension rope (421) and a stop column (416; Fig. 5), one end of the tension rope (421) is connected to the main sliding seat (411) and the other end of the tension rope is connected to the secondary pressing block (432); the tension rope (421) passes through (at the opening in the second connecting part 4163; Fig. 10) the stop column (416) and the stop column (416) cooperates (via second adjusting member 415) with the toggle buckle (412) to cause the secondary pressing block (432; Fig. 6) to move up and down so as to push the secondary locking block (433) to abut against or release the third pipe fitting (3);
the toggle buckle releases the stop column and causes the secondary pressing block to move upward when the main locking block is driven to move and abut against the first pipe fitting by the toggle buckle; the secondary locking block is pushed to abut against the third pipe fitting when the secondary pressing block moves upward;
the toggle buckle abuts against the stop column and causes the secondary pressing block to move down when the main locking block is driven to move and release the first pipe fitting by the toggle buckle; the secondary locking block is pushed to release the third pipe fitting when the secondary pressing block moves down.
Re Claim 5: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein the secondary sliding seat (431) is provided with an elastic member (423; Fig. 11) below (for example, relative to a frame of reference that is inverted compared to that shown in Fig. 11; see inverted Fig. 11 below); Examiner notes that no particular frame of reference has been previously defined in the claim) the secondary pressing block (432), an elastic compression of the elastic member (423) causes the secondary pressing block (432) to move upward (in the frame of reference shown in inverted Fig. 11 below).
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Re Claim 6: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein the secondary locking block (433; Fig. 6) is rotatably connected to the secondary sliding seat (431) and at least partially wounds around (at the concave portion opposite from the fourth adjusting member 4732 in Fig. 6) an outside of the third pipe fitting (3), the secondary locking block (433) rotates toward the third pipe fitting (3) and abuts against the third pipe fitting when the secondary pressing block (432) moves upward.
Re Claim 7: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein the first pipe fitting (1) comprises two pipe bodies (1, 1; see Figs. 1-3) at left and right sides of the first pipe fitting; there are two main locking blocks (specifically, at locking sleeves 44, 44 of pressing member 413; Fig. 5); the two main locking blocks are respectively provided at left and right sides of the main pressing block and respectively abut against or release the two pipe bodies (1, 1) when the main pressing block (415) moves forward and backward.
Re Claim 8: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein the main locking block comprises a surrounding part (44; Fig. 5) that is provided around an outside the first pipe fitting (1).
Re Claim 9: She discloses a telescopic pipe assembly, wherein one side of the main pressing block (415) opposite to the toggle buckle (412) is provided with an avoidance groove (at 4151; Fig. 10), and one side of the toggle buckle (412, 414) opposite to the main pressing block is provided with an avoidance strip (at 4141); when the toggle buckle (412) rotates relative to the main sliding seat (411), the avoidance strip (4141) is caused to move into or out of the avoidance groove (4151);
the toggle buckle (412, 414) abuts against the main pressing block (415) so as to cause the main pressing block to move backwards when the avoidance strip (4141) is moved away from the avoidance groove (4151); the main pressing block (415) drives the main locking block (413) to move and abut against the first pipe fitting (1) when the main pressing block moves backwards;
the toggle buckle (412, 414) releases the main pressing block (415) so as to cause the main pressing block to move forward when the avoidance strip is moved into the avoidance groove; the main locking block (413) is driven to move and release the first pipe fitting (1) when the main pressing block moves forward.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW R MCMAHON whose telephone number is (571)270-3067. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber Anderson can be reached at (571) 270-5281. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW R MCMAHON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3678
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