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 and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee (KR 2013-0111717).
Claim 1- Lee discloses a dropper seatpost comprising:
an outer tube (100);
an inner tube (200) disposed movably upward and downward in the outer tube, the inner tube having a top end located outside the outer tube (shown best in fig. 1) and a bottom end located inside the outer tube (shown best in fig. 1), the top end of the inner tube having a first oil chamber (241) for storing an oil (pg. 4) and a second oil chamber (231) communicating with the first oil chamber for storing the oil (pg. 4), the inner tube having a fluid chamber (251) between the top and bottom ends for storing a high-pressure fluid (figs. 1 & 3, pg. 4);
a pressure adjustment member (261) disposed movably in the first oil chamber (pg. 4) and driven by an external force (via lever 300) to push the oil stored in the first oil chamber to the second oil chamber (pg. 4); and
a floating piston (240) disposed movably upward and downward between the second oil chamber and the fluid chamber (251) and pushed by the oil stored in the second oil chamber to compress the high-pressure fluid (pp 3-4).
Claim 12- Lee discloses the dropper seatpost as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a fluid pressure cylinder disposed in the inner tube (figs. 3-4) and having a cylinder body (212) provided with the fluid chamber (251) and the floating piston (240) disposed in the cylinder body (pg. 4).
Claim 13- Lee discloses the dropper seatpost as claimed in claim 12, wherein the second oil chamber (231) has an upper oil area communicating with the first oil chamber (241) through a passage (262a/ 260) and a lower oil area axially communicating with the upper oil area (pg. 5) and the fluid chamber (251).
Claim 14- Lee discloses the dropper seatpost as claimed in claim 13, wherein the top end of the inner tube has an oil filling hole (provided by 261) axially communicating with the upper oil area (pg. 5) and closed by a top cover (provided by lever 300).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 and 15-19 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 prior art of record did not show or suggest, either singly or combined, the dropper seat post comprising inter alia a push rod disposed within and between a second oil chamber and fluid pressure cylinder body, wherein the bottom end of the push rod abuts with and pushes a floating piston for compressing a high-pressure fluid; and an adjustment screw hole connected with a threaded portion of the pressure adjustment member.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/T.A./Examiner, Art Unit 3636
/DAVID R DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3636
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