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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 18-20, 22-25 and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ray (USPN 1297594) in view of Parzynski (USPN 11459736).
Regarding claim 18, Ray discloses a landside (element B, figure 2) for use with a plow, the landside comprising: a landside body including a diverting face, a rear face opposite from the diverting face, and an underside connecting the diverting face and the rear face (Landside B forms a similar plate structure as applicants).
Ray shows one example of an old and well known landside structure (however any number of other known landside structures could be used as a suitable base reference). Ray is lacking wear-protection.
First, it is old and well known in the art that landsides experience wear and it is further known to provide protection to landsides to limit wear during use. For example, William (WO 82/04375) providers ceramic plates within a landside to limit wear, Jones (USPN 1972192) provides hardfacing to the bottom edge of a landside to limit wear during operation, and Alston (USPN 1243378) provides a shoe (7) attached to the bottom of a landside to protect the landside. Therefore, the general idea of protecting a landside from damage and wear is considered old and well known in the art and therefore it would be obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Ray with some form of wear protection to the landside for the purpose of extending the life of the earth contacting element.
The problem to be solved is not considered to be limited to landsides, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that protecting an earth contacting element extends across a variety of different art classes and one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably review all possibilities of protecting earth engaging elements for a solution to the problem of protecting the landside of Ray from damage and wear.
Parzynski discloses an earth engaging element that experiences wear during operation and teaches the use of a plurality wear-protection mounts formed in a bottom underside of the element (Figure 3 shows a bottom earth engaging surface with a plurality of apertures 116/117 formed in the bottom surface); and a plurality of wear-protection pins (216), each of the wear-protection pins being mounted in a respective one of the wear-protection mounts (As seen for example figure 4).
Parzynski further discloses the use of the invention for many different machines to include farming (Column 7 lines 30-35).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the bottom of the earth engaging landside of Ray with a plurality of wear-protection elements as taught by Parzynski for the purpose of providing wear resistance to the earth engaging element.
Regarding claim 19, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection mounts are designed as bores (Parzynski bores 116/117); and the wear-protection mounts do not intersect either the diverting face or the rear face (The bores are on the bottom edge and in-between faces of the earth engaging blade).
Regarding claim 20, Ray further discloses wherein: the landside body includes a shoulder adjacent the underside such that the underside is at least partially formed by the shoulder (Figure 2 shows that the rear end of the landside forms a shoulder at the bottom surface).
Regarding claim 22, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins are disposed along a longitudinal extent of the landside body (Parzynski figure 3).
Regarding claim 23, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins are arranged in at least one row extending along a longitudinal extent of the landside body (Parzynski figure 3).
Regarding claim 24, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins are arranged in a plurality of rows extending along the longitudinal extent of the landside body (Parzynski figure 3), and a row spacing (S2) is provided between adjacent rows.
Regarding claim 25, the combination discloses wherein: at least one of the wear-protection mounts is aligned perpendicular to the underside (Parzynski figure 4).
Regarding claim 27, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins each include a shank end and an opposing head surface; and wherein the head surface of at least one of the wear-protection pins has a convex curvature (Parzynski figure 4 shows the pin with a cylindrical body shank end and a head surface at the end with a convex shape).
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ray (USPN 1297594) in view of Parzynski (USPN 11459736) in further view of Betek (DE 2011053098 A1).
Regarding claim 21, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins each include a shank (Parzynski, cylindrical portion of pins 216); the wear-protection mounts each include a shank mount configured to at least partially match one of the shanks (The bores match the shank as seen in figure 4); each shank is completely received in a respective one of the shank mounts (As seen in figure 4); and each shank is at least partially held in the respective one of the shank mounts by a brazed connection (Column 7 lines 5-10 discloses other methods such as brazing).
The combination discloses different means to attach the pins but is lacking soldering.
Betek discloses wear protection for a earth working machine with pins (41.3) within apertures (figure 5) and teaches ways to firmly bond the pins within the apertures to include soldering (page 4 ¶3 or provided translation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the combination by soldering the pins into place as taught by Betek as a known method of securing wear elements into apertures.
Claim(s) 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ray (USPN 1297594) in view of Parzynski (USPN 11459736) in further view of Stephenson (USPN 3529677).
Regarding claim 26, the combination discloses perpendicular angles in relationship to the underside surface and is therefore, lacking an angled mount.
Stephenson discloses a blade insert on the bottom of a blade and teaches angling the insert in relationship to the bottom surface (Figures 1 and 3, Column 3 lines 3-21).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the combination by angling the pins in relationship to the operational direction as taught by Stephenson for the purpose of better securing and supporting the insert during operation.
Claim(s) 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ray (USPN 1297594) in view of Parzynski (USPN 11459736) in further view of Congdon (USPN 11499298).
Regarding claim 28, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins each include a shank end and an opposing head surface; (Parzynski figure 4 shows the pin with a cylindrical body shank end and a rounded head.
The combination is lacking a chamfer.
Condon discloses a wear pin for an earth engaging tool and teaches a similar pin (Figure 9) with a chamfered end (166).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the combination by chamfering the ends of the pins as taught by Condon for the purpose of guiding the end of the pin into its aperture during assembly.
Claim(s) 37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ray (USPN 1297594) in view of Parzynski (USPN 11459736) in further view of Manway (USPN 6854527).
Regarding claim 37, the combination discloses wherein: at least one of the wear protection pins is made of carbide (Parzynski Column 6 lines 50-55).
The combination is lacking the specific material of tungsten carbide.
Manway discloses a similar pin wear member (18) and teaches the use of tungsten carbide (Column 5 lines 50-55).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the combination by using tungsten carbide as taught by Manway as a known material for pin like wear inserts.
Claim(s) 18-20, 22-23, 25-26, 30-31, 34 and 36-37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ray (USPN 1297594) in view of McSweeney (USPN 6003617).
Regarding claim 18, Ray discloses a landside (element B, figure 2) for use with a plow, the landside comprising: a landside body including a diverting face, a rear face opposite from the diverting face, and an underside connecting the diverting face and the rear face (Landside B forms a similar plate structure as applicants).
Ray shows one example of an old and well known landside structure (however any number of other known landside structures could be used as a suitable base reference). Ray is lacking wear-protection.
First, it is old and well known in the art that landsides experience wear and it is further known to provide protection to landsides to limit wear during use. For example, William (WO 82/04375) providers ceramic plates within a landside to limit wear, Jones (USPN 1972192) provides hardfacing to the bottom edge of a landside to limit wear during operation, and Alston (USPN 1243378) provides a shoe (7) attached to the bottom of a landside to protect the landside. Therefore, the general idea of protecting a landside from damage and wear is considered old and well known in the art and therefore it would be obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Ray with some form of wear protection to the landside for the purpose of extending the life of the earth contacting element.
The problem to be solved is not considered to be limited to landsides, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that protecting an earth contacting element extends across a variety of different art classes and one of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably review all possibilities of protecting earth engaging elements for a solution to the problem of protecting the landside of Ray from damage and wear.
McSweeney discloses an earth engaging element (Figure 1) that experiences wear during operation and teaches the use of a plurality wear-protection mounts formed in a bottom underside of the element (Figures 11 shows a bottom earth engaging surface with a plurality of apertures 235 formed in the bottom surface); and a plurality of wear-protection pins (figure 12 as an example), each of the wear-protection pins being mounted in a respective one of the wear-protection mounts (235 receives pin portion 226 for example).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the bottom of the earth engaging landside of Ray with a plurality of wear-protection elements as taught by McSweeney for the purpose of providing wear resistance to the earth engaging element.
Regarding claim 19, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection mounts are designed as bores (McSweeney 235); and the wear-protection mounts do not intersect either the diverting face or the rear face (The bores are centered).
Regarding claim 20, Ray further discloses wherein: the landside body includes a shoulder adjacent the underside such that the underside is at least partially formed by the shoulder (Figure 2 shows that the rear end of the landside forms a shoulder at the bottom surface).
Regarding claim 22, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins are disposed along a longitudinal extent of the landside body (As seen in figure 13 of McSweeney for example).
Regarding claim 23, the combination discloses wherein: the wear-protection pins are arranged in at least one row extending along a longitudinal extent of the landside body (As seen in figure 13 of McSweeney for example).
Regarding claim 25, the combination discloses wherein: at least one of the wear-protection mounts is aligned perpendicular to the underside (As seen in figure 18 of McSweeney for example).
Regarding claim 26, the combination discloses wherein: at least one of the wear-protection mounts is aligned at a non-perpendicular angle to the underside (As seen in figure 21 of McSweeney for example).
Regarding claim 30, the combination discloses wherein: at least one of the wear-protection pins includes a shank (McSweeney 226) having a shank end and an opposing head (228) adjoining the shank, the head having a head surface, wherein the head has a larger outer circumference than the shank (As seen in figure 14 for example).
Regarding claim 31, the combination discloses wherein: at least one of the wear-protection mounts includes a head mount (McSweeney channel 234 for example) configured to at least partially match the head, wherein the head is at least partially received in the head mount.
Regarding claim 34, the combination discloses wherein: the head of at least one of the wear-protection pins has a central longitudinal head axis offset from a central longitudinal shank axis of the shank of the one of the wear- protection pins (McSweeney, As seen in figure 21 for example).
Regarding claim 36, the combination discloses wherein: the head of at least one of the wear-protection pins includes a plurality of lateral head surfaces forming a rectangular head (Figure 14).
Regarding claim 37, the combination discloses wherein: at least one of the wear protection pins is made of tungsten carbide (McSweeney abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 29, 32-33, and 35 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Congdon (USPN 11499298)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM J BEHRENS whose telephone number is (303)297-4336. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-2pm MST.
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/ADAM J BEHRENS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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