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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 10 and 11 claim a material being a “main component” of the material. The claims are indefinite because it is unclear how much of the material (what percentage) must be made of the claimed metal to be considered a main component. For purposes of examination the term will be interpreted to mean the material is intentionally in the mixture of materials/alloy.
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 – 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2023117926A to Ishisaki (hereinafter Ishisaki) in view of CN 208548780 U to Ji et al. (hereinafter Ji), CN204127638U to Teng et al., and CN108019519A to Wu (hereinafter Wu).
Regarding claim 1, Ishisaki discloses a drive unit 1 for an electrically assisted bicycle (pg. 5, paragraph 6 “various types of bicycles”), the drive unit comprising:
An electric motor 41;
A housing 10 to accommodate the electric motor;
A rotatable shaft 21 rotatably supported by the housing and partially exposed to an outside of the housing (see shaft extending through housing in Fig. 2); and
A ring-shaped dust seal 60 between the rotatable shaft and the housing to prevent entrance of dust from outside the housing into an inside the housing; wherein
An inner circumferential portion of the dust seal is in slidable contact with the rotatable shaft (see Fig. 3 where 60 and 21 contact);
An outer circumferential portion of the dust seal is in contact with an inner circumferential portion of an opening of the housing to allow the rotatable shaft to extend therethrough (see Fig. 3 where 60 and 10 contact);
An outer end 11A, in a rotational axis direction of the rotatable shaft, of the inner circumferential portion of the opening of the housing includes a chamfered portion 11B having a diameter increasing towards an outside of the opening (see Fig. 3, chamfer 11B increases in diameter); and
The dust seal does not protrude outwards in the rotation axis direction, of an outermost portion of the opening in the rotation axis direction.
Ishisaki does not disclose the housing and the rotatable shaft include metal materials different from each other (Ishisaki is silent regarding the material of both); nor
The dust seal includes a first lip covering the chamfered portion.
Ji teaches it is known in the art to use a magnesium alloy (see translation, pg. 3, second paragraph after Specific Implementation Methods).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was effectively filed to have an electric motor housing made of magnesium alloy for the purposes of providing a housing made out of a known acceptable material for electric motor housings.
Teng discloses it is known in the art to use materials such as carbon steel and alloy steel for electric motor shafts (see first sentence in “Background Technology” section).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was effectively filed to have an electric motor shaft made of carbon steel and/or steel alloy for the purposes of using a suitable material to make the housing.
Examiner notes using the known materials in the above modifications results in the housing and shaft being made of different metal materials as claimed in claim 1.
Wu discloses a waterproof sealing ring (first paragraph of “invention content” portion discloses seal also keeps out dust) including a first lip 1 covering a chamfered portion (see Fig. 2, which shows lip 1 on a chamfered portion of a housing)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was effectively filed to have modified Ishisaki by modifying the seal seating in the housing and exchanging the seal of Ishisaki for the seal of Wu for the purpose of using a seal capable of preventing the intrusion of foreign material including dust and water (see “invention content” paragraph).
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Regarding claim 2, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses wherein the first lip (Wu element 1) of the dust seal (see Fig. 1, no element number for overall seal of Wu) extends away from the rotational shaft (lips 1 and 2 are outer peripheral lips, therefore they engage the housing and not the shaft) and outwards in the rotation axis direction (Fig. 2 of Wu shows lip 1 facing outwards from the center of the housing).
Regarding claim 3, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses wherein the inner circumferential portion of the opening (not labeled, see Wu Fig. 2 housing) includes a groove (Wu, Fig. 2, see annotated drawing above) extending in a circumferential direction of the opening; and the outer circumferential portion of the dust seal includes a second lip (see Wu Fig. 2, element 2) fitted into the groove.
Regarding claim 4, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses the opening (Wu, left side of unlabeled housing shown in Fig. 2) includes a protrusion (Wu, Fig. 2, see annotated figure above) defining an outer wall of the groove in the rotation axis direction; and
The chamfered portion is provided at the protrusion (See annotated figure above)
Regarding claim 5, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses wherein the second lip (Wu, Fig. 2, element 2) of the dust seal is snap-fit into the groove (this is product by process, however, Wu also teaches this. The seal, as shown in Wu, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, is larger than the opening it is seated in, therefore it must be snap-fit into the opening).
Regarding claim 6, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses wherein the first lip (Wu, element 1) and the second lip (Wu, element 2) of the dust seal secure the protrusion (see annotated Wu drawing above) therebetween by an elastic force thereof (See Fig. 2 of Wu. It shows an interference between the unlabeled housing and the lips 1 and 2 showing that they would be exerting an elastic force on both sides of the protrusion).
Regarding claim 7, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses wherein the dust seal is press-fit into the opening (Press-fit is product by process, however, Wu also teaches it. see Wu, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, it shows both an overlap between the outer and inner surfaces the seal is contacting showing that even once inserted it is exerting an elastic force on the housing/inner rotating body and that the opening has a diameter smaller than the seal meaning the seal must be press-fit into place.)
Regarding claim 8, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses where the inner circumferential portion of the dust seal (Wu, Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, side of seal containing elements 3 – 6) includes a seal lip (Wu, Fig. 3, element 5) in slidable contact with the rotatable shaft (Ishikawa, shaft 21).
Regarding claim 9, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses wherein the inner circumferential portion of the dust seal (see Wu, Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, side of seal containing elements 3 – 6) further includes a dust lip (Wu, Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, element 3) in slidable contact with the rotatable shaft (Ishisaki, shaft 21) and located outward of the seal lip (Wu, Fig. 3, element 5) in the rotation axis direction.
Regarding claim 10, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses the housing includes a metal material including magnesium as a main component (as modified by Ji in claim 1).
Regarding claim 11, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses wherein the rotatable shaft includes a metal material including iron as a main component (as modified by Teng in claim 1, Teng teaches a shaft made of steel/steel alloy. The primary material of steel is iron.)
Regarding claim 12, Ishisaki, as modified, further discloses an electrically assisted bicycle (Ishisaki, pg. 5, paragraph 6 “various types of bicycles”) comprising, the drive unit of claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOGAN M KRAFT whose telephone number is (571)270-5065. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 9-6; 1st Fri off; 2nd Fri 9-5.
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/LOGAN M KRAFT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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