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 drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the "chain belts" (claim 4) and the "chain belt guide" (claim 8) must be shown or the features canceled from the claims. It is noted that the disclosure provides no description as to size, location or what type of element is this. For example, sprockets or pulleys are well known in the art of chains drives as providing alignment and guidance for a chain. No new matter should be entered.
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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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
Claims 1, 3, 4, 5 are 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 1: The recitation "a passive belt joined to mutually separated belts in a lower exposed end of the drive chain" is indefinite. The disclosure provides a single passive belt (130) is going to two mutually separated chains (120, 120). Nowhere is shown or discloses a single belt joint to "mutually separated belts". For purposes of compacting prosecution the recitation has been interpreted as --a passive belt joined to the mutually separated chains
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the back door" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Dependency from claim 1 was presumed for purposes of compacting prosecution.
Claim 4 recites the limitations "the bulkhead plate" and "the passive cover" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. And, claim 1 limits drive chain (120, 120) to include mutually separated chains (120, 120). With respect to claim 4, line 2 is the limitation "a plurality of chain belts" additional structure of drive chain (120, 120)?
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the gear" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Is this referring back to "gear belt" in claim 1?
Claim 7 is rejected by virtue of depending from claim 1.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4 & 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeno (US 4,431,360) in view of Cox (US 3,937,338).
With respect to claims 1 & 6, Maeno discloses a horizontal loading and unloading structure of cargo vehicles, comprising:
a base plate 57;
a drive chain configured to include mutually separated chains 10, 10, 10, a portion of which is always exposed to an upper part and at least another portion of which is always exposed (FIG. 2) to a lower part on a base plate;
a passive belt 8 joined via fastening means 11 to mutually separated belt {chains] in a lower exposed end of a drive chain, a portion of which is always exposed to a lower part and at least another portion of which is always exposed (FIG. 2) to an upper part, surrounding a base plate together with a drive chain, and configured to have a shorter length than a drive chain;
a drive shaft 13 joined to a gear belt 10, 10, 10 of a drive chain at a first stage of a base plate, transmitting a driving force in a first direction to an upper part of a drive chain during a loading process, or transmitting a driving force in a second direction to a lower part of a drive chain during an unloading process;
a passive rolls closely joined to a passive belt at a second stage of a base plate and passively operated in accordance with a movement of a passive belt; and
a driver 6 providing a driving force in a first direction or in a second direction to a drive shaft.
Maeno discloses axially aligned rollers 15 and sprockets 16 at a second stage of a base plate. Maeno does not explicitly disclose a passive shaft.
Cox discloses a passive shaft (C5/L10-11: "rolls 60, 60' are supported on a common shaft"). Cox's passive shaft is closely joined to a passive belt 51at a second stage of a base plate and passively operated in accordance with a movement of a passive belt and is disposed outside a loading space of a cargo vehicle, and is exposed outward of a loading space regardless of whether a back door is opened or closed. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Maeno to include a passive shaft, as taught by Cox, which allows belt-type horizontal loading and unloading vehicles to transport heavy loads in the nature of 40,000 pounds.
With respect to claim 2, Maeno discloses a back door 3 that maximizes a loading space by exposing at least a portion of a passive shaft outward of a rear surface of the loading space and coming into contact with a specific point of the base plate to form the loading space.
With respect to claim 4, Maeno discloses that a drive chain is configured to include a plurality of chain belts 10, 10, 10 each engaged with a sprocket 14, e.g. gear, is operated while at least a portion is always exposed to an upper part of a base plate during a process of providing a driving force in a first direction or in a second direction, and fixedly joins a bulkhead plate to an upper exposed portion connected to a passive cover.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeno in view of Cox and further in view of Brown (US 6,186,732) which discloses a chain belt guide 134 disposed along a movement path of a drive chain 130 in a lower part of a base plate, and internally accommodating a drive chain belt to prevent sagging of a drive chain. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Maeno to include a chain belt guide, as taught by Brown, which allows a fewer number, albeit sturdier, chains to be used for horizontal loading and unloading of a cargo vehicle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 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. Dependency from claim 2 was presumed for purposes of allowability.
Claim 5 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.
Double Patenting
Claims 1-8 provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-8 of copending Application No. 18/962,614 (see USPGPUB 20260145606). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because
Claims of instant application
Claims of copending application 18/962,614
Claim 1: drive chain 120, 120 a portion of which is always exposed to an upper part and at least another portion of which is always exposed to a lower part on the base plate.
Claims a drive chain belt where at least a portion of which is always exposed to an upper part on the base plate; drive chain belt is configured to have a length of 80% to 120% of a length of the drive chain belt.
Claim 1: passive belt joined to mutually separated belts in a lower exposed end of the drive chain, the belt having a shorter length than the drive chain.
Claims passive cover joined to both ends of the drive chain belt in a planar configuration... configured to have a length of 80% to 120% of a length of the drive chain belt.
Claims 2-8.
Recites identical limitations.
As shown above the difference between the claimed invention of the instant application and the '614 copending application is the presence of the limitation the belt length to 80% to 120% of a length of the drive chain belt. The scope of '614 application's s for the belt length (80% to 120%) completely encompasses the limitation in the '230 application ("shorter length"). Claiming a passive loop that is "shorter" is an obvious, predictable subset of a generic "80% to 120%" length range. Interchanging the terms "passive belt" and "passive cover" is a linguistic difference that does not affect the meets and bounds of the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY W ADAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-8101. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri, 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Saul Rodriguez can be reached at (571)272-7097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY W ADAMS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3652
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