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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I: claims 1-9 in the reply filed on 07/22/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 10-30 are withdrawn.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The abstract is objected to because it recites in line 1, “The present invention related to” which is implied and should be deleted. Further line 5, “The present invention further discloses”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “32” has been used to designate both a housing and a chain roller. Furthermore 32 as a “housing” cannot be found in the figures.
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. 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.
Claim 5 is 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 5 recites, “wherein the housing comprises spaced apart locking plates forming said first part of the housing and that comprises the first support axle supporting the chain roller with sprockets”. It is unclear what “that” is referring to, the housing in general or the locking plates.
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, 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abraham (US 3805728, previously cited).
For claim 1, Abraham teaches tensioner (abstract and figs.) comprises a chain roller (3) with sprockets (3, see figs. 1-3) supported on a first support axle (main axel about which 3 rotates) within a housing (outer housing, frame 2), wherein
a first part of the housing is arranged to accommodate the anchor chain (see figs.) connected to the anchor (description) and running around the chain roller (see figs.) and a second part of the housing has an attachment for an anchor line that can run to a floating structure on a surface of water (frame 2 attaches to a structure, thus has an attachment, could be attached in this manner to a line, these details are not part of the structure of the tensioner alone), said first and second parts of the housing are facing in opposite directions (fig. 2), characterized in that
a locking pawl (23) is placed within the housing (see fig. 2) and supported on a second support axle (see fig. 1 about 6) in the first part of the housing (see figs.), wherein the locking pawl (23) is engageable with a chain link of the anchor chain prior to the anchor chain leaving the chain roller (see fig. 1, engagement of 23 and 4a), and the locking pawl is arranged to force the chain link against one of the sprockets (fig. 1) on the chain roller for locking the anchor chain (description), said sprocket being a sprocket on the chain roller facing the second part of the housing (see figs.).
Abraham is silent about a spring-loaded locking pawl.
It would have been an obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made as substitution of functional equivalent to substitute hydraulic locking pawl of Abraham with a spring loaded locking pawl to lock the chain in place and since a simple substitution of one known element for another would obtain predictable results. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 1739, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395, 1396 (2007).
For claim 4, Abraham further teaches wherein the locking pawl (40) is a single spring-loaded (single actuator 41, as modified in claim 1 above to spring) locking pawl that automatically locks on every second chain link that passes the sprocket of the chain roller (see fig. 1 engages every second chain).
For claim 5, Abraham further teaches wherein the housing (see fig. 2, element 2) comprises spaced apart locking plates (side plates 7) forming said first part of the housing and that comprises the first support axle (about 3, see fig. 2) supporting the chain roller (3, 4) with sprockets (as best understood housing to supports all elements) and the second support axle (6) supporting said locking pawl (see fig. 2), and the locking plates (7) are joined together to form said second part of the housing (end of 2 fig. 2) and that comprises the attachment (the attachment of 2 to the main structure of the boat is an attachment) for the anchor line (can attach to an anchor line, the line is not positively recited by the claims).
For claim 6, Abraham is silent about wherein said first support axle for the chain roller is placed vertically above the second support axle for the locking pawl.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to make the first axle vertically above the second, in order to effectively lock the chain and since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
For claim 7, Abraham further teaches wherein said chain roller (3) comprises a central groove (see central groove in fig. 2) for accommodating a wire (has enough space to house a wire, the wire is not positively required by the claim).
For claim 8, Abraham further teaches wherein said first and second parts of the housing are facing in opposite horizontal directions (7, see fig. 2), and wherein an entrance in the first part of the housing for the anchor chain from the anchor and the attachment for the anchor line in the second part of the housing are linearly opposite (see fig. 1-2, chain and where 2 attaches to structure are on opposite sides of the housing 2).
For claim 9, Abraham further teaches wherein said locking pawl (40) is connected to an actuator (41), providing said spring force (as modified in claim 1 above to replace hydraulics with spring force), and wherein the actuator is releasable to allow the locking pawl out of engagement with the sprocket on the chain roller (see figs. 3-7, release of actuator via 36, 19 and release of 23 from the chain).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 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.
Abraham fails to teach skids allowing the seabed tensioner to slide along a seabed. It would not have been obvious to add skids to Abraham since Abraham is from a windlass anchor chain of an offshore drilling vessel fixedly attached thereto.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The prior art of record is noted as it pertains to chains and chain tensioners for watercraft.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAGDALENA TOPOLSKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3568. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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, Joshua Huson can be reached at 5712705301. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MAGDALENA TOPOLSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3642
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