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.
Claims 1-12 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 1 and 12 recite “left and right”. There is no reference datum from which “left and right” are measured. Claim 1 previously recited “a radial direction”, “an axial direction” and “a circumferential direction”. Introducing another set of directions (left and right) renders the claim indefinite and confusing. Is left and right the same as the circumferential direction?
Claim 5 recites “the first inclined part and the second inclined part form an acute angle about the first bending part as a center, and the second inclined part and the third inclined part form an acute angle about the second bending part as a center”. The limitation is confusing as written. Is the bending part the center (vertex) of the angle? The claim should be rewritten for clarity.
Claim 6 recites “the bearing web…has flexibility”. It is unclear what structure is being imparted by the limitation. For example, does Applicant mean that the bearing web can elastically deform? What material property or structural property is imparted by “has flexibility”? What elements are incapable of flexibility?
Claim 8 recites “high pressure”. It is unclear what pressure values would meet the limitation “high pressure”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Ertas U.S. 2017/0298766 is the closest prior art reference. Although Ertas discloses a similar shape to that of the claims, Ertas does not disclose the elastic support portion includes first and second elastic bodies symmetrical left and right between the bearing base and the bearing pad, and the first and second elastic bodies are bent at least twice in a longitudinal direction, in which longitudinal upper ends of the first and second elastic bodies are structured to meet each other on a lower surface of the bearing pad to come into line contact with the lower surface of the bearing pad, and longitudinal lower ends of the first and second elastic bodies are structured to be moved away from each other and seated on an upper surface of the bearing base.
Conclusion
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/ALAN B WAITS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617