DETAILED ACTION
After review of the prior action and applicants’ arguments, the prior rejection has been withdrawn and a new non-final rejection has been applied as outlined below.
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) 1-4, 15, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van de Pol (US 4,936,495) in view of Bocquet (FR 2,876,879 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 4 and 15, Van de Pol teaches a backpack 10 substantially as claimed, including: a bag portion 12 and shoulder straps 14/16 including a non-elastic portion at each end coupled to a second padded portion 32 (e.g. see Figure 2 showing padding 32 stopping above each end of the shoulder strap). Van de Pol does not disclose the second portion being elastic and having a Poisson’s ration less than that of the first strap portion. Bocquet discloses a person worn carrying strap comprising non elastic inextensible fabric first end portions 8 coupled to an intermediate elastic second portion 9 formed of material having auxetic properties (preferably foam). The auxetic portion expands in width and/or thickness under tension, inherently producing a Poisson’s ration lower than that of the non-elastic end portions (negative or near zero versus positive or ordinary fabric/webbing). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the shoulder straps of Van de Pol by replacing the conventional foam padding with auxetic foam intermediate portion of Bocquet to increase the contact area and reduce local pressure on the shoulder.
Regarding claims 3 and 19, the auxetic foam disclosed by Bocquet produces a Poisson’s ration of less than that of traditional fabrics and under the stretch conditions relative to a shoulder strap. As such, near auxetic behavior would naturally occur within the teaching of expansion under tension.
Claim(s) 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu (US 2007/0145090) in view of Bocquet (FR 2,876,879 A1).
Regarding claims 8, 9, 11, Hsu discloses a backpack substantially as claimed, including a bag portion 1 with a plurality of panels, the plurality of panels including a non-elastic first panel (any of the panels facing away from the user’s back), a padded section panel 3 and shoulder straps 2. Hsu does not disclose anything about the Poisson ratios of the panels or padding. Bocquet teaches the use of auxetic (preferably foam) material 9 in a person-worn, load bearing structure 7 which non elastic portions 8 so that the material expands under tension, increasing contact area and reducing local pressure. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to replace the conventional elastic/foam padding layer of Hsu with the auxetic material of Bocquet to improve the comfort and load distribution of compressive loading from a carried weight.
Regarding claim 10, the auxetic foam disclosed by Bocquet produces a Poisson’s ration of less than that of traditional fabrics and under the stretch conditions relative to a shoulder strap. As such, near auxetic behavior would naturally occur within the teaching of expansion under tension.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu in view of Bocquet, as applied to claim 8, and in further view of Lewine (US 2,936,603).
Regarding claim 14, modified Hsu does not disclose a corrugated fabric and elastic cords as claimed. However, Lewine teaches an alternate means of creating an elastic portion of fabric including a corrugated length of fabric 22/23 with a plurality of elastic cords 27 woven into the fabric. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to make the elastic portion of Van de Pol from a corrugated fabric with elastic cords woven therein to provide a known alternative material that is old and known in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7, 12-13, 16-18 and 20 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 COREY NELSON SKURDAL whose telephone number is (571)272-9588. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-4pm EST.
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/COREY N SKURDAL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3734
