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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Welter et al (US 2004/0168439)
Welter et al discloses an insulating device for a brake actuating linkage, with a cylindrical insulating or damping bushing which comprises an inner cylinder sleeve (16), an outer cylinder sleeve (15) coaxially surrounding the inner cylinder sleeve (16) so as to form an annular gap (unnumbered gap, see Fig 2), and an elastic element (24) which fills the annular gap and is fixedly connected to the inner cylinder sleeve (16) and the outer cylinder sleeve (15), with a brake-pedal-side linkage section (13) and a brake-valve-side linkage section (12), the brake-pedal-side linkage section (13) and the brake-valve-side linkage section (12) engaging the insulating bushing along their cylinder axis on opposite sides such that the elastic element (24) is sheared reversibly under the action of an increasing actuating pressure applied to the brake- pedal-side linkage section (13) and the brake-valve-side linkage section 12) by parallel displacement of the inner cylinder sleeve (16) and the outer cylinder sleeve (15) in relation to each other until a mechanical end stop limiting the parallel displacement is reached (see Fig 3).
Re claim 2, the brake-valve-side linkage section (12) comprises a plunger (30) which is received in a form-fitting manner by the inner cylinder sleeve (16), and the inner cylinder sleeve (16) has a protrusion (20) which projects beyond the elastic element (24) and on which an actuating element (49) surrounding the plunger (30) is supported under the action of the actuating pressure applied to the brake-pedal-side linkage section (30) and the brake-valve-side linkage section (12).
Re claim 3, the plunger (30) is an integral component of the brake-valve-side linkage section (12).
Re claim 4, the actuating element (49) is a threaded nut screwed onto an external thread of the plunger (30).
Re claim 5, the plunger (30) is mounted longitudinally displaceably along the cylinder axis within the inner cylinder sleeve (16).
Re claim 11, the elastic element (24) includes vibration- damping rubber compound (see ¶20).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VICKY A JOHNSON whose telephone number is (571)272-7106. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday.
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/VICKY A JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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