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 § 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.
Claims 1-4, 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by KR ‘017 (KR 101186017 B1).
Regarding claim 1, KR shows an eccentric cam action door closer as claimed, including a housing (111) with an inner chamber (111b); a cam shaft (12) rotatably supported in the housing, the cam shaft being equipped with an eccentric cam (123) rotating simultaneously with the cam shaft; a valve assembly (135) being slidable disposed in the inner chamber and located at a left side of the eccentric cam; and a piston pressing assembly (13) being slidably disposed in the inner chamber and located at a right side of the eccentric cam; wherein the piston pressing assembly is equipped at an end thereof close to the eccentric cam with a first roller (134) and a second roller (134), the eccentric cam is provided on an outer peripheral surface thereof with a first closing arc recess (123aa) and a second closing arc recess (123aa) for closing positioning, and a first opening arc recess (123ab or 123ac) and a second opening arc recess (123ab or 123ac) for opening positioning; in a closed state, the first roller is embedded in the first closing arc recess (fig. 8) and the second roller is embedded in the second closing arc recess (fig. 8); in a clockwise fully opened state, the first roller is embedded in the first opening arc recess (e.g., fig. 12); in a counterclockwise fully opened state, the second roller is embedded in the second opening arc recess (i.e., cam 123 in a mirrored position of fig. 12).
As to claim 2, the first roller and the second roller are configured to be consistently abutted against the outer peripheral surface of the eccentric cam regardless of a rotational position of the eccentric cam, so as to prevent the eccentric cam from a gap with respect to the first roller and the second roller (both rollers under biasing of the spring, to contact the eccentric cam peripheral surface).
As to claim 3, the piston pressing assembly is provided with a spring member (14) for pushing the first and second rollers to be consistently flexibly abutted against the outer peripheral surface of the eccentric cam.
As to claim 4, the piston pressing assembly further comprises a pressing piston (13) slidingly disposed in the inner chamber; an end of the spring member is abutted against the housing; another end of the spring member is inserted in the pressing piston and abutted against the pressing piston (figs. 7-8); at the same time the pressing piston is equipped with an end thereof close to the eccentric cam with two fixed pins (134b) disposed apart; the first and second rollers are rotationally installed on the two fixed pins respectively.
As to claim 6, the valve assembly (135) partitions the inner chamber into a first oil channel (1113) and a second oil channel, which are located at two sides of the valve assembly respectively; the valve assembly is adapted to control communication between the first oil channel and the second oil channel; at the same time the piston pressing assembly (13) is provided with a third channel third oil channel (1111) communicating with the second oil channel.
As to claim 8, the housing is equipped with a first bushing (126) correspondingly to a front end of the cam shaft; the housing is equipped with a positionally limiting installation seat (113) correspondingly to a rear end of the cam shaft, and at the same time the positionally limiting installation seat is equipped with a second bushing (125); midpoints of the first bushing and the second bushing are located on a same axis; the cam shaft is inserted in the first bushing and the second bushing (figs. 3 and 11).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR ‘017.
KR discloses the claimed invention but for an inner spring. The examiner, however, takes Official Notice that door closers having an outer spring sleeved on an inner spring to provide closing force is well known and common in the art (e.g., cited references US 2013/0081227 A1; US 5,709,009; US 3,474,485). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the single spring of KR ‘017 with an inner spring, to enhance the closing force of the door closer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached PTO-892.
Related prior art:
US 2020/0308890 A1 (YU) shows a door closer having a valve assembly at one side of the eccentric cam, to compensate the pressure difference to overcome the damage of the internal components of the door closer.
US 2005/0177975 A1 (Wang) shows a door closer where the eccentric cam shaft has two closing arc recesses and two opening arc recesses, a piston including two rollers, respective engaging the closing arc recesses in a closed stated and the opening arc recesses in an opening state.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUCK MAH whose telephone number is (571)272-7059. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00-3:00.
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/CHUCK Y MAH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3677 CM
February 7, 2026