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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: On page 5, line 24 of the specification “Figure 7” should be changed to –Figure 8--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 2, 6-9, 11 and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (CN 112278785) in view of Fokos (US 4,439,173).
Chen shows a lower carrier roller 5 which supports a belt and a roller brush assembly which includes a brush 6 mounted on a shaft. Not shown is a rhombic grid shape on the surface of the roller 5. However, shown by Fokos is just such a pattern 92 on a roller. To include such a pattern on Chen would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success as such patterns are well known and conventional to use on rollers in order to increase friction forces between a belt and a roller.
Re claim 2, see Figure 6E of Fokos which shows the exact claimed pattern.
Re claim 6, Fokos shows a roller in Figure 6A which includes the exact claimed spindle shape which roller is designed to be used with the pattern shown in Figure 6E and included on Chen’s modified apparatus.
Re claim 7, the materials disclosed in each reference can be considered as hydrophobic as is broadly recited.
Re claim 8, Chen shows a drive 1 for the roller brush 6.
Re claim 9, there is at least one stage.
Re claim 11, see Figure 6E of Fokos.
Re claim 15, as per claim 6 rejection.
Re claim 16, as per claim 7 rejection.
Re claim 17, as per claim 8 rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 10 and 12-14 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R BIDWELL whose telephone number is (571)272-6910. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 to 4.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-6911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES R BIDWELL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651 06/09/2026
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