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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Wang nor the other prior art relied upon discloses that the two lead screw nuts respectively threaded with the right-hand thread portion and the left-hand thread portion of the directional lead screw, so as to more relatively away or relatively close in response to that the bidirectional lead screw is rotated. Cheng clearly discloses that two lead screw nuts respectively threaded with the right-hand thread portion and the left-hand thread portion of the directional lead screw (17,19,24 figure 2), so as to more relatively away or relatively close in response to that the bidirectional lead screw is rotated (‘the screw rod drives the second movable block 17 and the fourth movable block 24’ page 5 lines 2-3). The rotation of the screw rod causes the threaded blocks to move relative to one another. The system used to drive the bidirectional screw is not claimed as such the drive used by Cheng is immaterial, bidirectional screw cannot drive itself; it needs a source of torque. In Cheng the torque is provided by the foot pedal and the bevel gears to the screw rod and the rotation of the screw rod controls the raising and lowering of the platform by movement of the threaded movable blocks. For at least the foregoing reasons claims 1-9 stand rejected.
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) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang CN 111268589 A in view of Cheng CN 206188309
Wang discloses a scissor-type telescopic apparatus, comprising:
(Re claim 1) “a base seat” (13 figure 1). “a bidirectional lead screw comprising a right-hand thread portion and a left-hand thread portion, wherein two ends of the bidirectional lead screw are rotatably connected to opposite two sides of the base seat” (19 figure 2). “two lead screw nuts respectively threaded with the right-hand thread portion and the left-hand thread portion of the bidirectional lead screw, so as to move relatively away or relatively close in response to that the bidirectional lead screw is rotated” (17,24 figure 2, abstract)( the screw rod drives the second movable block 17 and the fourth movable block 24’ page 5 lines 2-3). “a first telescopic unit comprising two first scissor arms” (10,4 figure 2). “a telescopic apparatus head respectively hinged with the ends of the two first scissor arms away from the base seat, so as to drive the telescopic apparatus head to move close to or away from the base seat in response to that the telescopic unit is extended or retracted” (1 figure 1).
Wang does not disclose that the ends of the two first scissor arms away from the base seat are both provided with gears, and the two gears are meshed.
Cheng teaches that the ends of the two first scissor arms away from the base seat are both provided with gears, and the two gears are meshed (13, 20 figure 3, abstract).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the system of Li to include that the ends of the two first scissor arms away from the base seat are both provided with gears, and the two gears are meshed because it helps prevent deflection.
(Re claim 2) “the base seat is enclosed to form an accommodation groove, and two opposite side walls of the accommodation groove are provided with shaft holes; the ends of the bidirectional lead screws are rotatably inserted into the shaft holes, and the other two opposite side walls of the accommodation groove are provided with guiding grooves, and two ends of the two lead screw nuts are respectively slidably inserted into the two guiding grooves” (17, 21, 22, 28 figure 1,2).
(Re claim 3) “a second telescopic unit; wherein the second telescopic unit comprises two second scissor arms, and middle parts of the two second scissor arms are hinged to form an X-shaped scissor structure; and two ends of the two second scissor arms close to the base seat are respectively hinged to the two lead screw nuts” (10,4 figure 2).
(Re claim 4) “one, two or more second telescopic units are provided, and the two or more scissor arms of the second telescopic units are hinged in sequence in a telescopic direction of the scissor-type telescopic apparatus; and two ends of the first telescopic unit on one side close to the base seat are respectively hinged with two ends of the second telescopic unit farthest from the base seat on one side away from the base seat” (1, 4, 10 figure 1,2).
(Re claim 5) “one, two or more groups of the first telescopic units and the second telescopic units are provided, and the two or more groups of the first telescopic units and the second telescopic units are provided in parallel and spaced apart” (4,10 figure 1,2).
(Re claim 6) “wherein the lead screw nut further comprises a sliding rod slidably provided in the guiding groove” (22,26 figure 2).
(Re claim 7) “wherein the lead screw nut further comprises a connecting portion, and an end of the second telescopic unit is hinged to the connecting portion or rotatably connected to the sliding rod of the lead screw nut” (4,10,22,26 figure 1,2).
(Re claim 8) “a shape of one end of the telescopic apparatus head away from the base seat is flat or bent” (4,10,1 figure 1,2).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang/Cheng in view of Guglielmi US 2009/0152288.
Wang/Cheng discloses the scissor-type telescopic apparatus according to claim 1.
Wang/Cheng does not disclose An automatic food vending machine, comprising: a machine shell enclosed to form an accommodation chamber and provided with a food delivery port; a food storage rack provided in the accommodation chamber and provided with a plurality of storage spaces; and a food collection assembly comprising a food storage member and a food pushing member, wherein the food storage member is movably provided in the food storage rack, and the food pushing member is movably provided on a periphery side of the food storage rack to push the food in the storage space to the food storage member or the food delivery port.
Guglielmi teaches An automatic vending machine, comprising: a machine shell enclosed to form an accommodation chamber and provided with a delivery port (1,30 figure ). a storage rack provided in the accommodation chamber and provided with a plurality of storage spaces (10 figure 1). a collection assembly comprising a storage member” (26 figure 5-6). a pushing member (23 figure 5,7). “ the storage member is movably provided in the storage rack, and the pushing member is movably provided on a periphery side of the storage rack to push the product in the storage space to the storage member or the delivery port” (20,23,26 figure 7-11). Though Guglielmi is silent with regard to what the products dispensed are, food is very commonly dispensed from vending machines. Gugliemi is silent with regard to what kind of pusher is used, as such it is reasonable to assume that any suitable pusher could be used.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the system of Wang/Cheng to be modified to work as the pusher of a food vending machine as described by Guglielmi because it increases the market for the scissor type telescopic apparatus.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-12 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The present prior art of record does not disclose a heating component, a food delivery box, a food delivery transfer apparatus in combination with the prior claim language.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY R WAGGONER whose telephone number is (571)272-8204. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 5am-330pm.
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TIMOTHY R. WAGGONER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3655 B
/TIMOTHY R WAGGONER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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