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 § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 3, 5-8, 10, 12-15, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fisher (US 2006/0000228) in view of Mellum (US 5,333,678) and Yamada (US 2020/0101819).
As to claim 1, Fisher teaches a cooling arrangement for a vehicle cabin (paragraph 3), and thus is capable of use with a cabin of an underground work machine, the cooling arrangement comprising:
one or more blowers 91 to generate an air flow;
first and second evaporators 15/23 arranged in separate coolant circuits to providing cooling to an air flow passing through each evaporator; wherein
the evaporators 15/23 can cool the air flows either independently of each other or simultaneously with each other (paragraph 26).
Fisher does not explicitly teach a structure having an air inlet, air outlet, and interior, wherein the interior contains the first and second evaporators and one or more heat exchangers configured to receive a third coolant in the manner as claimed. However, Mellum teaches that it is known to use an additional circuit to cool an engine and provide airflow heating via heat exchanger 60 that is arranged serially in an airflow with two evaporators 48/70 of separate circuits (Fig. 4A). Furthermore, Yamada teaches that it is known to provide a structure with an inlet/outlet and an interior that contains such serially arranged heat exchangers (Fig. 1). In light of these teachings it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify Fisher to incorporate a third heat exchanger arranged serially in an airflow direction in a common enclosure with the two evaporators 15/23 in the manner as claimed because it would provide the capability to provide a direct stream for conditioning as well as to heat the vehicle cabin and maintain user comfort during cold ambient conditions.
As to claims 3 and 5, the modified apparatus includes a first evaporator arranged downstream of a second evaporator and an additional heat exchanger arranged downstream of each of the evaporators (Mellum, Fig. 4A).
As to claims 6-7, Fisher teaches a first compressor 10 powered by an internal combustion engine 12 and a second compressor 27 powered by an electrical energy source 25.
As to claims 8, 10, and 12-14, the claims are anticipated by Fisher for the same reasons as discussed in the rejections above.
As to claims 15 and 17-20, the modified apparatus of Fisher includes most of the claimed limitations as discussed in the rejections above, and also discloses a truck (which is capable of utilization as an underground work machine) inherently having a main frame and a cabin supported by the main frame (Fisher; Fig. 3; paragraph 19).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 7-8, filed 7/24/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. 102 & 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Mellum (US 5,333,678) and Yamada (US 2020/0101819) as discussed above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN BRADFORD whose telephone number is (571)270-5199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 - 4:00 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jerry-Daryl Fletcher can be reached at (571)270-5054. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN BRADFORD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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