DETAILED ACTION
This is the First Office Action in response to the above identified patent
application filed on August 22, 2024.
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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because Fig. 2 (and Fig. 1) fails to illustrate the second pinion (25) meshing with the second gear (30), as described in the specification and claims. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “said first pinion, said first gear, and said third gear being coplanar” (claims 7 and 15) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). Note, Figure 4 illustrates said first pinion, said first gear, and said third gear being in different planes. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claims 10-17 are 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 10, lines 4-5, the limitation “said third gear” lacks proper antecedent basis.
Claim 10, lines 6-7, the limitation “said fourth pinon” lacks proper antecedent basis.
Claim 10, line 9, the limitation “said third pinion” lacks proper antecedent basis.
Claim 10, the order in which the gears and pinions are introduced is not consecutive, making the claim awkward and difficult to follow. For example, claim 10 introduces a “third gear” on line 4, then introduces a “second gear” on line 11, and then a “first gear” on line 16. It is suggested that the claims be constructed by introducing the gears and pinions in a consecutive order, making the claim clear.
Claim 10, last line, the term “the invention” should be removed because it has not been determined if the disclosed device is inventive.
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) 1-6 and 8-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (CN 219257615) in view of Wu (CN 104787225).
Zhang teaches a compact reduction assembly, comprising: a first pinion (mounted on 7) upon a first shaft (7), said first pinion having a diameter and a perimeter, said first pinion having a plurality of teeth radially extending and spaced along its perimeter; a first gear (9) upon a second shaft (8) and a second pinion (6) inwardly from said first gear upon said second shaft, said first gear having a diameter and a perimeter and a plurality of teeth radially extending and spaced along its perimeter, said second pinion having a diameter and a perimeter and a plurality of teeth radially extending and spaced along its perimeter; a second gear (meshing with 6) upon a third shaft (10) and a third pinion (11) inwardly from said second gear upon said third shaft, said second gear having a diameter and a perimeter and a plurality of teeth radially extending and spaced along its perimeter, said third pinion having a diameter and a perimeter and a plurality of teeth radially extending and spaced along its perimeter; a continuous chain (12) enmeshing with said third pinion; a fourth pinion (17) on a third shaft (21), said fourth pinion having a diameter and a perimeter and a plurality of teeth radially extending and spaced along its perimeter, and said fourth pinion enmeshing with said continuous chain opposite said third pinion; and wherein power input to said first shaft increases to said fourth shaft during usage of the invention.
Zhang does not teach a third gear on the third shaft and having a diameter and a perimeter and a plurality of teeth radially extending and spaced along its perimeter, wherein the forth pinion is positioned inward from the third gear
However, providing a third gear on the driven (third) shaft would have been obvious to one in the art for driving an output member, such as a wheel. For example, Wu teaches a transmission arrangement having an output shaft (17), the output shaft having a pinion (forth pinion 13) and an output gear (third gear 1,101), wherein the pinion is positioned inward from the output gear, the output gear configured to drive a bicycle wheel. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed device to provide the third shaft of Zhang with an output gear (third gear) and a pinion (forth pinion), the forth pinion positioned inward from the third gear, as taught by Wu, motivation being to transmit a driving torque from the transmission to a driven component at a predetermined operating speed.
Zhang does not specifically teach the power input to the first shaft (input shaft) is increased at least twentyfold to the fourth shaft (output shaft). However, it was notoriously known in the art to configure a transmission with gears/pinions having a predetermined diameters, to provide a desired speed/power ratio between the input saft and the output shaft for performing a particular operation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed device to size the gear/pinions of Zhang so as to produce at least a twentyfold increase of power from the input shaft to the output shaft, motivation being to perform a predetermined operation.
Claim 2: Zhang teaches said first shaft, said second shaft, said third shaft, and said fourth shaft being mutually parallel.
Claims 3 and 13: Zhang teaches said first pinion, said first gear, and said second gear have a triangular arrangement. Specifically, a triangle can be drawn (Fig. 1) between then first pinion, the first gear, and the second gear.
Claims 4 and 14: Zhang teaches said third gear locating below (the term “below” is a relative term based on the orientation of the transmission) and away from said second gear.
Claims 5 and 11: Zhang teaches said first pinion enmeshing with said first gear; and said second pinion enmeshing with said second gear.
Claims 6 and 12: Zhang modified by Wu teaches said first gear being concentric with said second pinion; said second gear being concentric with said third pinon; and said third gear being concentric with said fourth pinion.
With respect to claims 8-9, Zhang does not teach the claimed component sizes. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to form each component with the claimed component sizes, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 15-17 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.
Claims 18-19 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art does not teach the transmission assembly of claim 1, including said first pinion, said first gear, and said third gear being coplanar as defined in claims 7 and 15-19.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Note the transmission for WO2009039723 and CN 216111983 having gears and pinions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM C JOYCE whose telephone number is (571)272-7107. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached at 571-270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WILLIAM C JOYCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618