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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/22/2026 has been entered.
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, 4, 8-12, 14, and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20080064214 (herein Hyun) in view of Tack (US Patent No. 6,485,271) in view of Takehira et al (US Patent No. 5,906,362).
A machine translation of Hyun was provided with a previous Office Action and is relied upon herein.
Hyun teaches:
limitations from claim 1, a reciprocating compressor (paragraph 1) comprising: a case (10, 10A); a drive motor (see Page 7 of the translation “Inside the sealed container (10), a mechanism unit (20) is built in which a compression mechanism unit that performs a compression action of the refrigerant and a driving mechanism unit that provides a driving force according to the compression action of the refrigerant are mutually coupled”) disposed in the case; a compression mechanism (20) configured to compress a refrigerant by the rotating shaft; a plurality of support members (32) configured to support the compression mechanism; and a plurality of elastic assemblies (see FIG. 2), each of which is disposed between each of the plurality of support members and the case (10A; FIG. 2), wherein the elastic assembly includes: a first mounting member (33) disposed between the support member (32) and the case (10A); a first elastic member (31) disposed between the support member and the first mounting member; and a second elastic member (34) disposed between the first mounting member and the case, wherein a diameter of the first elastic member (31) is greater than a diameter of the second elastic member (34; see FIG. 2), wherein the second elastic member vertically overlaps with an inner area of the first elastic member (see FIG. 2, the second spring 34 is partially within first spring 31); and wherein the first mounting member (33) includes: a mounting portion (33b) including an upper surface on which a lower surface of the first elastic member (31) is mounted, and a lower surface (see FIG. 2) on which an upper surface of the second elastic member (34) is mounted; and wherein the first mounting member (33) includes a first guide member (33a) that extends upward in a central area of the mounting portion and is in contact with an inner surface of the first elastic member (see FIG. 2);
Hyun teaches that the motor (driving mechanism) and the compression mechanism are coupled, but does not explicitly teach a shaft;
However, Tack teaches:
limitations from claim 1, a reciprocating compressor (see prior art FIG. 1) comprising: a case (1); a drive motor (3) disposed in the case; a rotating shaft (5) rotatably connected to the drive motor; a compression mechanism (6) configured to compress a refrigerant by the rotating shaft;
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of compressors at the time the invention to couple the drive and compressor of Hyun using known methods, such as a shaft as taught by Tack, in order to reach an expected result (i.e. the coupling of a drive and driven member).
Hyun teaches a constant diameter elastic member (31, 34), but neither Hyun nor Tack teaches protrusions from the mountings members to contact the elastic members;
Takehira teaches a spring assembly (FIG. 3) including guide members (28) extending through constant diameter elastic members (25); wherein the mounting member includes protrusions (29) extending upward from a mounting portion surface (27) and protruding radially from an outer surface of the guide to directly contact the elastic member (FIG. 3-4; C. 4 Lines 16-33);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of spring supports at the time the invention was filed to utilize known spring support features to position the springs of Hyun, such as the ribs taught by Takehira, in order to further engage and retain the springs on the mountings.
Regarding claim 4:
Hyun teaches wherein the first mounting member (33) further includes: a mounting portion (33b) including an upper surface on which a lower surface of the first elastic member (31) is mounted, and a lower surface (see FIG. 2) on which an upper surface of the second elastic member (34) is mounted as in Claim 1, but does not teach a radial stopper extending from the first mounting member;
Tack teaches:
limitations from claim 4, wherein the first mounting member (30) includes: a mounting portion including an upper surface (top of ring 33) on which a lower surface of the first elastic member (20) is mounted, and a lower surface (bottom of ring 33) on which an upper surface of the second elastic member (20’) is mounted; and an upward stopper (forming chamber 32) that extends upward from a radially outer side of the mounting portion and is radially spaced from an outer surface of the first elastic member (see FIG. 4);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of compressors at the time the invention was filed to provide a radial stopper as part of the spring mechanism of Hyun, as taught by Tack, in order to radially support the springs of the assembly.
Hyun further teaches:
limitations from claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of elastic assemblies includes a second mounting member (11) disposed between the second elastic member (34) and the case (10A), and wherein the second mounting member includes a first flange portion (11a) on which a lower end of the second elastic member is mounted, and a second guide member (11b) that extends upward in a central area of the first flange portion and penetrates the first guide member (see FIG. 2);
limitations from claim 10, wherein the second mounting member (11) includes a convex portion (see bottom of portion 11a in FIG. 2) that is convexly formed on a lower surface of the first flange portion and is in contact with an inner surface of the case (10A; FIG. 2);
limitations from claim 11, wherein an upper end of the second guide member (11b) is disposed below an upper end of the first guide member (33a; see FIG. 2);
limitations from claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of elastic assembly includes a third mounting member (32a-b) disposed between the first elastic member (31) and the support member, wherein the third mounting member includes a second flange portion (32b) on which an upper end of the first elastic member is mounted (see FIG. 2), and a third guide member (32a) that extends downward in a central area of the second flange portion, and wherein the second guide member (11b) vertically overlaps with an inner area of the third guide member (see FIG. 2, wherein the member 32a and the member 11b overlap vertically);
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limitations from claim 14, wherein the first mounting member (33) further includes a downward stopper that extends downward from the radially outer side of the mounting portion and is radially spaced from an outer surface of the second elastic member, and wherein the downward stopper is disposed closer to a central area of the first mounting member than the upward stopper (see annotated FIG. 2 below);
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limitations from claim 15, wherein the first mounting member (33) includes: a downward stopper that extends downward from a radially outer side of the mounting portion and is radially spaced from an outer surface of the second elastic member (see annotated FIG. 2 below);
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limitations from claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of elastic assemblies includes a second mounting member (11) disposed between the second elastic member (34) and the case (10A), and wherein the second mounting member includes a first flange portion (11a) on which a lower end of the second elastic member is mounted, and a second guide member (11b) that extends upward in a central area of the first flange portion and penetrates the first guide member (see FIG. 2);
limitations from claim 17, wherein the second mounting member (11) includes a convex portion (see bottom of portion 11a in FIG. 2) that is convexly formed on a lower surface of the first flange portion and is in contact with an inner surface of the case (10A; FIG. 2);
limitations from claim 18, wherein an upper end of the second guide member (11b) is disposed below an upper end of the first guide member (33a; see FIG. 2);
limitations from claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of elastic assemblies includes a third mounting member (32a-b) disposed between the first elastic member (31) and the support member, wherein the third mounting member includes a second flange portion (32b) on which an upper end of the first elastic member is mounted (see FIG. 2), and a third guide member (32a) that extends downward in a central area of the second flange portion, and wherein the second guide member (11b) vertically overlaps with an inner area of the third guide member (see FIG. 2, wherein the member 32a and the member 11b overlap vertically);
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Takehira further teaches:
limitations from claim 8, wherein the protrusion (29) is formed adjacent to a central area of the first guide member as at least a portion of the protrusion extends upward (see FIG. 3);
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20080064214 (herein Hyun) in view of Tack (US Patent No. 6,485,271) in view of Takehira et al (US Patent No. 5,906,362) as applied to claim 1 above, and in further view of Dreiman (US Patent No. 5,342,179).
Regarding Claim 3:
Hyun does not teach a particular stiffness of the elastic members;
Dreiman teaches that the stiffness of springs used to vertically support a hermetic compressor, are chosen with a stiffness to both laterally support and vertically isolate the mechanism (see C. 1 Lines 6-23);
However, it has been held that a particular parameter must be recognized as a result-effective variable, i.e., a variable which achieves a recognized result, before the determination of the optimum or workable ranges of said variable might be characterized as routine experimentation. In re Antoine, 559 F.2d 618, 195 USPQ 6 (CCPA 1977). See MPEP 2144.05 II(B).
Furthermore, it has been held that “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to choose a stiffness for the elastic members of Hyun relative to one another, as taught by Dreiman, because the stiffness of the springs was recognized as a result-effective variable achieving a particular level of lateral force strength and vibration isolation, and it would have been a matter of routine experimentation to determine the optimum or workable ranges of the spring stiffness to achieve a desired level of damping.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20080064214 (herein Hyun) in view of Tack (US Patent No. 6,485,271) in view of Takehira et al (US Patent No. 5,906,362) as applied to claims 1 and 4 above, and in further view of Schogler et al (US PGPub No. 2021/0363982).
Regarding Claim 5:
Tack teaches a straight walled first stopper (~32) rather than a wall with increasing radius;
Schogler teaches a hermetic compressor (FIG. 1) including spring assembly supports (15-18); wherein the supports include a mounting member (28) with vertically extending bent portion (15, 20), and the bent portion increases in radius as it goes upward (FIG. 3);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of compressors at the time the invention was filed to form the bent portion of the mount of Tack in a flared shape, as taught by Schogler, in order to control the amount of contact the spring incurs with the mount (paragraph 54). The examiner notes that Schogler teaches both straight walled (FIG. 2) and flared walled (FIG. 3) mounts as alternatives.
Claim(s) 13 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20080064214 (herein Hyun) in view of Tack (US Patent No. 6,485,271) in view of Takehira et al (US Patent No. 5,906,362) as applied to claims 1, 9, and 15-16 above, and in further view of Yagi et al (US Patent No. 8,651,831).
Regarding Claims 13 and 20:
Neither Hyun nor Dreiman teaches oil stored in the case and supplied to the spring assemblies;
Yagi teaches a hermetic compressor (10; FIG. 1) including supporting spring assemblies (FIG. 3A-B); and wherein lubricating oil of the compressor is supplied between components of the assemblies (C. 4 Lines 46-55);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of compressors at the time the invention was filed to arrange the spring assemblies of Hyun such that oil from the compressor is provided to the assemblies, as taught by Yagi, in order to both lubricate the moving parts and enhance a damping of the supports (C. 4 Lines 46-55 of Yagi).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see response, filed 01/22/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under Al-Dahhan have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Takehira.
Conclusion
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/CHRISTOPHER S BOBISH/Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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