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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Okura et al (US 20170254048).
Regarding claim 1, Okura (FIGs 1-3) discloses “A work machine, comprising:
a lower travel body (11);
an upper slewing body (20) mounted on the lower travel body in a slewable manner;
a work attachment (13a-c) including a boom (13a) attached to the upper slewing body in a raisable and lowerable manner (raises/lowers via 13d);
a hydraulic actuator (13d-f) attached to the work attachment (see FIG 1); and
a manual adjusting valve (30, manually adjusted via 35 and operator lever in paragraph 27) provided in piping (31, 36; functionally within the piping in FIG 2) extending from the upper slewing body to the hydraulic actuator (see FIG 2), wherein
the manual adjusting valve is attached to the boom (assembled with boom in FIG 1 via 31, 13d-f).”
Regarding claim 2, Okura (FIGs 1-3) discloses “wherein
the manual adjusting valve (30) is attached to a side surface or a back surface of the boom (attached to side surface via 31, 13d, back surface via 13e).”
Regarding claim 3, Okura (FIGs 1-3) discloses “wherein
the manual adjusting valve (30) is attached above a work floor (21, located above via 40, of which is directly attached to 21) provided on the upper slewing body in a state where the boom is erected.”
Regarding claim 4, Okura (FIGs 1-3) discloses “wherein
the manual adjusting valve is attached at a height at which a worker who works standing on the work floor can access the manual adjusting valve in a standing position of the worker in a state where the boom is erected (via the lever, understood that the lever can be accessed by a user in the cabin [“a worker who works standing on the work floor” seen as intended use and the height itself is variable]).”
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) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okura.
Regarding claim 6, Okura (FIGs 1-3) discloses “further comprising
dual slewing-purpose hydraulic motors (27) mounted on the upper slewing body (see FIG 2), wherein
the manual adjusting valve is attached to the back surface of the boom (via 31, 13e), and
the piping includes a plurality of back surface-side flexible tubes (FIG 3, upper right 36’s are at “rear” side, pipes seen to be flexible in FIG 6)…
Okura is silent regarding “[a plurality of back surface-side flexible tubes] arranged vertically between side surfaces of the boom in a width direction and on respective sides of the dual slewing-purpose hydraulic motors and extending to a back surface side of the boom.”
It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date, to position the flexible tubes of Okura such that it includes “[a plurality of back surface-side flexible tubes] arranged vertically between side surfaces of the boom in a width direction and on respective sides of the dual slewing-purpose hydraulic motors and extending to a back surface side of the boom”, as Okura already includes the components and connections of the claimed apparatus, and changes in relative positioning or orientation of the piping with the components it is connected thereto to achieve the same expected result would be within routine skill in the art.
Regarding claim 7, Okura (FIGs 1-3) discloses “wherein
the piping includes a plurality of front surface-side flexible tubes (36’s on “front” side in FIGs 3-4)… the front surface side being opposite to the back surface side.”
Okura is silent regarding “[a plurality of front surface-side flexible tubes] extending between the side surfaces of the boom in the width direction to a front surface side of the boom….”
It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date, to position the flexible tubes of Okura such that it includes “[a plurality of front surface-side flexible tubes] extending between the side surfaces of the boom in the width direction to a front surface side of the boom….”, as Okura already includes the components and connections of the claimed apparatus, and changes in relative positioning or orientation of the piping with the components it is connected thereto to achieve the same expected result would be within routine skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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:
Okura is silent regarding “wherein a protective fence is provided at a position adjacent to the boom on the work floor, and the manual adjusting valve is attached at a position higher than the protective fence in a state where the boom is erected.” Instead, Okura has cabin doors 14, the wall of the cabin itself, and a cover 16 for the machine section. As Okura already has features that act as a barrier in areas that would want a barrier, Okura is seen to teach against this claim.
While construction vehicle guardrails are known in the art, it would not be obvious to modify Okura to meet this limitation.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Devices similar to the application are disclosed by Kozui (US 20200362538), Ueda (US 20200354926), Yamamoto (US 20200256034), Fiser et al (US 20200024829), and Murakami et al (US 20150159345).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK C WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)431-0767. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PATRICK C WILLIAMS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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