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 without traverse of Group 1(a) (claims 1-6, 10) in the reply filed on 03/23/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7-9, 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/23/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/30/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
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 “the first hydraulic cylinder mounted to the tow vehicle, the second hydraulic cylinder mounted to the trailer, and the hydraulic line extending between the tow vehicle and the trailer” as claimed in claim 2 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s).
Therefore, the “wherein a third hydraulic cylinder is mounted to the trailer axle, the third hydraulic cylinder connected to the mover” as claimed in claim 6 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
The drawings do not appear to show a third hydraulic cylinder mounted to the trailer axle and connected to the same mover that is connected to the second hydraulic cylinder as recited in claim 1.
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.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The subject matter of claim 6 which recites “wherein a third hydraulic cylinder is mounted to the trailer axle, the third hydraulic cylinder connected to the mover” does not appear to be discussed in the specification or shown in the drawings. The drawings do not appear to show a third hydraulic cylinder mounted to the trailer axle and connected to the same mover that is connected to the second hydraulic cylinder as recited in claim 1 and the specification does not appear to discuss this feature.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lewus (US 3921746).
Lewus renders obvious:
1. A magnified power generation system for use with a vehicle, the system
comprising: a power generator (Fig. 6) including:
a stator (it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified or recognized that the electrical generator connected to the shaft 222 would have a stator as electric generators a known in the art to have a rotor and stator with coils and magnets to generate electricity, in Col. 8 lines 50-65 discloses an electrical generator); and
a mover (218); and
a mechanical magnification component (180) coupled to the mover and coupled
to a force receiving surface of the vehicle (186 force receiving surface),
wherein the mechanical magnification component receives an input power from
the force receiving surface (Col. 8 lines 50-67, Col. 9 lines 1-23),
wherein the input power includes an input force and an input velocity (Col. 8 lines
50-67, Col. 9 lines 1-23),
wherein the mechanical magnification component magnifies the input velocity to
become a magnified velocity, wherein the mechanical magnification component
transfers the magnified velocity to the power generator and wherein the power
generator translates the magnified velocity into electrical energy (Col. 8 lines 50-67, Col.
9 lines 1-23 discloses an electrical generator driven by shaft 22 which is driven by the
reciprocation of the piston rod of the second hydraulic cylinder which is the magnified
velocity due to its smaller diameter cylinder 212 relative to the larger diameter hydraulic
cylinder 198 that has its piston driven by the movement of the input velocity of the force
receiving surface 10, 186, etc.),
the mechanical magnification component including a first hydraulic cylinder (198,
196) coupled to the force receiving surface (186 moves 196 via the intermediate
connections seen in Fig. 6) and a second hydraulic cylinder (212, 214) connected to the
mover, the first hydraulic cylinder having a first cylinder diameter , the second hydraulic
cylinder having a second cylinder diameter smaller than the first cylinder diameter (see
Fig. 6, cylinder 198 has a smaller diameter than the second cylinder 212),
wherein the first hydraulic cylinder is connected to the second hydraulic cylinder
by a hydraulic line (hydraulic lines 200, 202),
wherein the hydraulic cylinders operate to magnify the input velocity (the different
diameter hydraulic cylinders 198 and 212 magnifies the input velocity due the their
different diameters).
Claim(s) 2-6 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lewus as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Burns et al. (US 2008/0174174), hereinafter ‘Burns’.
Regarding claim 2, Lewus discloses the system of claim 1, and further discloses the system being applied on a vehicle that includes “trucks… trailers” (Col. 1) etc. but does not explicitly disclose: wherein the vehicle includes a tow vehicle and trailer, the first hydraulic cylinder mounted to the tow vehicle, the second hydraulic cylinder mounted to the trailer, and the hydraulic line extending between the tow vehicle and the trailer as claimed in claim 2.
However, Burns discloses a vehicle system with energy regeneration from the axles similar to Lewus and the present application and therefore constitutes analogous art. Burns discloses a towing vehicle and a passive trailer that pulls the connected passive trailer (Paragraph [0020]). Burns also discloses regenerative braking on a passive trailer that is towed by a vehicle and discloses using the stored recovered energy to provide power to trailer loads such as a refrigeration unit (Paragraph [0007]).
Since tow vehicles that tow connected trailers are known in the art, and since rearrangement of parts has been held to be an obvious matter of design choice, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the system of Lewus to have been applied to a tow vehicle including an attached trailer similar to as taught by Burns, and further, using a rearrangement of parts rationale, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the system of Lewus to have mounted the second hydraulic cylinder to the trailer as a matter of design choice because shifting the position of the second hydraulic cylinder and its coupled structures would not have modified the operation of the device. The first cylinder 198 of Lewus would still be driven by the coupling to the axle/suspension of the tow vehicle which supplies fluid via the hydraulic lines 200, 208, and 202, 210 to the second hydraulic cylinder that has been modified to be mounted to the implemented attached trailer, and the entire system retains its originally disclosed function of generating energy through movement of the second hydraulic cylinder’s piston linkage 214 that ultimately drives the generator coupled to 222 (as discussed in Col. 9 lines 1-23 of Lewus).
MPEP2144.04 (VI.) (C.)
C. Rearrangement of Parts [AltContent: rect]
In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950) (Claims to a hydraulic power press which read on the prior art except with regard to the position of the starting switch were held unpatentable because shifting the position of the starting switch would not have modified the operation of the device.); In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553, 188 USPQ 7 (CCPA 1975) (the particular placement of a contact in a conductivity measuring device was held to be an obvious matter of design choice).
The combination of Lewus and Burns further renders obvious:
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the force receiving surface on the tow vehicle is an axle, and wherein the first hydraulic cylinder is mounted to the axle (the Fig. 6 embodiment of Lewus does not have the first hydraulic directly mounted to the axle;
however, Lewus Fig. 1 discloses cylinders 14A-D mounted on axles 12A-D and Lewus Fig. 2 discloses a cylinder 58 is mounted to an axle 68;
since simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results is an exemplary rationale that supports a conclusion of obviousness, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the Fig. 6 system of Lewus to have replaced the first cylinder 198 and its linkages to the axle 186 with a direct coupling of a first hydraulic cylinder 58 to the axle 68 as seen in Fig. 2;
since both hydraulic cylinders perform the same function of being moved by the axle, regardless of being couple directly to the axle or via linkages, the proposed modification would only result the predictable result of a first hydraulic cylinder pumping fluid to a second hydraulic cylinder to ultimately regenerate energy).
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the stator is mounted to the trailer (in light of the modification in light of Burns a rearrangement of parts rationale, the generator which would include a stator is coupled shaft 222 which is adjacent the second hydraulic cylinder 212 which has been modified to be mounted on the implemented trailer in light of Burns as a matter of obvious design choice because moving the second hydraulic cylinder and its coupled structures would not change its function, therefore the generator that includes the generator shaft 222 and an implicit stator would also be mounted to the trailer).
5. The system of claim 5 wherein the trailer includes a refrigeration system, the power generator being electrically connected to the refrigeration system to provide power to the refrigeration system (the implemented passive trailer in light of Burns would include the disclosed refrigeration system that is powered from stored energy from the axles disclosed in Burns claim 15 and Burns paragraph [0007]).
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the trailer includes an axle (Burns, implemented trailer includes an axle 120), and wherein a third hydraulic cylinder is mounted to the trailer axle, the third hydraulic cylinder connected to the mover (Lewus Fig. 1 discloses an embodiment in which a hydraulic cylinder 14A,B,C,D, is coupled to each axle 12A,B,C,D, and all of the hydraulic cylinders supply pressurized fluid to the hydraulic motor 48 which rotates a shaft 52 connected to a generator 54 to generate electricity.
Lewus Fig. 6 and 7 show analogous embodiments and establishes obvious equivalence between the output shaft 222, 248 rotation mechanism of a hydraulic cylinder configuration seen in Fig. 6 and a hydraulic motor configuration seen in Fig. 7, both of the output shaft rotation mechanisms are obvious equivalents because they both perform the same function of rotating the output shaft using pressurized fluid pumped by a hydraulic cylinder that is driven by its engagement with the axle movement.
Since both the hydraulic cylinder configuration rotation and hydraulic motor configuration are obvious equivalents because they both perform the same function of providing rotation to an output shaft that goes to a generator to generate electricity, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the embodiment in Fig. 1 to replace the hydraulic motor 48 that rotates the output shaft 52 that goes to a generator to generate electricity with a hydraulic cylinder configuration as seen in Fig. 6.
In light of these teachings, a third hydraulic cylinder would be hydraulically connected to the mover and mounted on the trailer when applying the teaching of using a hydraulic cylinder coupled to each wheel similar to as seen in Lewus Fig. 1, including the wheels of an implemented trailer. Implementing a hydraulic cylinder coupled to the axle of the wheels of an attached trailer that has been implemented in light of Burns would only yield the predictable result of regenerating energy from when the wheels travel over uneven surfaces such that the hydraulic cylinder piston is caused to move within the hydraulic cylinder to pump fluid to the generator shaft rotation mechanism which would be the hydraulic cylinder embodiment as seen in Fig. 6 of Lewus.).
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the power generator is at least one of a linear generator and a rotary generator (Lewus, 218, 220, 222 in Fig. 6 forms part of a linear generator and Fig. 7 discloses a part of rotary generator 240 both output shafts 222 and248 are connected to an electrical generator, Col. 10 lines 20-31 discloses using an A.C. or D.C. generator).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gresser (US 8874291) discloses a linear power generator with a stator
with coils 8 and a mover 11 using hydraulic cylinders 2 in the same field of application of
power generating suspensions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Dustin T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-0163. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel E. Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 April 17, 2026
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