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 .
Drawings
The subject matter of this application admits of illustration by a drawing to facilitate understanding of the invention. Applicant is required to furnish a drawing under 37 CFR 1.81(c). No new matter may be introduced in the required drawing. 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).
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.
Claim 7-9 and 19 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 7 recites the limitation "the guide recesses" in its dependency on claim 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 8-9 are being rejected for being dependent on a rejected claim.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the two stop surfaces" in its dependency on claim 14. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-6, 10-18 and 20 are allowed.
The closest prior art that was found is US 20220205260 A1 (FARESIN et al.)/ WO 2020201858 A1 (FARESIN et al.).
Regarding Claim 1 FARESIN et al. discloses A turnbuckle (Figure 1 clamp 1) for bracing frame formwork elements (Figure 8 formwork panels 50 and 60), comprising a first clamping device (Figure 1 first body 10) having a crossmember (Figure 1 elongated element 11) and a first clamping jaw (Figure 1 jaw 12), the crossmember (Figure 1 element 11) having a toothed portion (Figure 3 element 15) with a row of track teeth (Figure 2 element 19) arranged one behind the other and running in parallel with one another, and comprising a second clamping device (Figure 4 element 20 ) having a second clamping jaw (Figure 1 element 22 ) and a guide device (Figure 1 elements 27a and 27b), the second clamping device (20) being movable in a clamping direction along the crossmember (11) toward the first clamping jaw (12), and having a wedge (31) which, guided by the guide device (27a,27b), is movable along a wedge-driving direction and can be brought into engagement with at least one of the track teeth (19) in order to fix the two clamping devices (10,20) with respect to one another in a bracing position, characterized in that the guide device (27a,27b) but fails to disclose a cross brace which can move transversely to the wedge-driving direction between an unlocking position and a locking position, the cross brace being designed and arranged such that in the locking position, the cross brace limits a stroke of the wedge in a direction orthogonal to the toothed portion such that in the bracing position, the wedge can be brought into engagement with the at least one track tooth , and the cross brace enabling a greater stroke of the wedge in the unlocking position.
It would not have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify FARESIN to include the transversely sliding cross brace because doing so would destroy the intended principle of operation and core architecture of the FARESIN reference. IN FARESIN, the wedge (31) features internal slots (32) that directly slides into engagement with the tooth-shaped protrusions (19). FARESIN entire locking mechanism fundamentally relies on the operator inserting the wedge into the seats (27a,27b) and hammering it by forcing it into the seats. If one were to modify FARESIN to include the claimed cross brace acting as a transversely sliding ceiling to limit the orthogonal stroke of an independent wedge, it would require completely obliterating FARESIN’s integral slotted wedge and reconstructing the seats to accommodate separate two-part gating system therefore it would it would be improper to combine view with any source under 35 U.S.C 103.
Claims 2-6, 10-18 and 20 are dependent on claim 1 therefore would be allowed.
Claim 7-9 and 19 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALMUTASIM HEZAM AIYASH whose telephone number is (571)272-6104. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30AM-5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/A.H.A./Examiner, Art Unit 3678
/AMBER R ANDERSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3678
Prosecution Insights