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 § 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.
Claims 1-2 and 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho (KR 20180111353 with machine translation) in view of Pill (KR 101278083 with machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Ho teaches a battery-type automatic grease gun (item 10, figure 1) comprising:
a driving unit (item 12, figure 1) including a motor (item 12a, figure 4) and a gear (item 12c-2, figure 4), and configured to provide a piston motion to a piston (item 12b-2, figure 4);
a distribution unit (item 13, figures 1-4) extending from the driving unit, and into which the piston is inserted to receive the piston motion (see figure 4);
a grease container assembly (item 11, figure 1) coupled to the distribution unit, and configured to accommodate grease; and
a grease nipple (item 14, figure 4).
Ho does not explicitly teach a plurality of discharge ports in the form of a spray unit along with a grease nipple connected to the distribution unit.
Pill teaches a manual grease gun (item 100, figure 1) comprising a distribution unit (items 21, 30, 50, 51, figure 1) that includes a central supply pipe (item 30, figure 1) that receives grease from a grease pump (item 20, figure 1), wherein the supply pipe ends in multiple discharge nozzles (items 50, 51, figure 1) with multiple discharge ports for directing the pumped grease to multiple locations (paragraphs [0046-0047], [0052], [0068], [0073]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the invention of Ho as taught by Pill in order to provide a grease gun with multiple discharge nozzle and/or spray tips in order to dispense the grease at multiple locations either simultaneously or selectively through the use of a switching unit as taught by Pill. The nozzle of Pill teaches multiple apertures from a single structure and thus enables spray-like application of grease that is being pumped though the pumping unit.
Regarding claim 2, Ho teaches that the driving unit (item 12, figure 1) includes a breaker operation signal connector (through operation mode control module 15b, figure configured to operate the grease gun in a 'breaker operation mode' when a breaker operation signal is connected, and cancel grease injection when the breaker operation signal is disconnected (paragraphs [0061-0063]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have configured the control module of Ho such that it only operates the grease gun when certain operation parameters are met and disable the operation of the grease gun when other parameters are not met.
Regarding claim 4, Ho teaches that the distribution unit includes a check-type air vent (paragraphs [0068], [0161]) configured to allow air inside the grease container assembly to be discharged to an outside (figure 4), and formed in a direction perpendicular to the piston.
Regarding claim 5, Ho teaches that the grease container assembly is compatible with a 'grease-refillable cartridge' or a 'bulk cartridge' (paragraph [0155]), the 'grease-refillable cartridge' has a transparent or translucent structure (paragraph [0044]) that is refillable a plurality of times (paragraph [0023]), includes upper and lower blocking covers, and includes a cartridge air vent configured to prevent the grease from being filled further when the grease is refilled by a predetermined amount or more at a position adjacent to the upper blocking cover, and the grease container assembly includes a follower having a double seal structure (paragraph [0032]) so as to enable use of grease cartridges having different structures (paragraph [0017]).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Pill, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Prest et al. (“Prest” hereinafter) (US PG PUB 2009/0255760).
Regarding claim 3, Ho teaches that the grease container assembly of the grease gun is formed of a transparent or translucent material (paragraph [0044]). Ho does not explicitly teach that the grease container assembly includes a holder to which a magnet is attached.
Prest teaches a manual grease gun (item 100, figure 2) with an attachment mechanism (item 108, figure 1A) comprising a magnet (item 110, figure 1A) such that the grease gun can be held by the attachment mechanism and magnetically affixed to a metal surface (see figures 2-5, paragraphs [0022-0026]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the invention of Ho as taught by Prest to provide a magnetic attachment mechanism to the grease container assembly and/or the entire grease gun assembly to provide magnetic means of attachment configurations for various purposes. Doing so only involves a routine skill in the art and use of magnets for attachment purposes is old and well-known in the art.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Pill, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Alekseyev et al. (“Alekseyev” hereinafter) (US PG PUB 2015/0069083).
Regarding claim 6, Ho teaches the battery-type automatic grease gun as discussed in claim 1 above but does not explicitly teach that it comprises a grease flowmeter, which automatically stops the grease gun if a discharge is performed by a preset capacity or more when a user sets a predetermined discharge capacity.
Alekseyev teaches an automatic grease gun (item 100, figure 1) comprising a controller mechanism (item 202, figure 2) which allows as user to input a desired grease amount to be dispensed and shuts down the grease dispensing operation once the desired amount of grease has been dispensed (paragraph [0047]). The grease gun achieves such functionality via use of a sensor (paragraph [0028]), a motor (item 130, figure 1), processors (item 202, figure 2), and a display screen (item 204, figure 6) for a user input.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the invention of Ho as taught by Alekseyev to modify the controller module of Ho such that it comprises an ability to monitor and measure an amount of grease dispensed related to a user input and shut down the operation of the grease gun when such dispensing amount is met or more than required amount is dispensed. Doing so only involves a routine skill in the art and use of processors for process control is well-known in the art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The following documents disclose subject matter related to automatic grease guns with a battery and a driving mechanism: US PN 4,257,540, US PN, US PN 5,188,259, US PN 6,135,327, US PN 6,290,106, US PN 7,032,713, US PG PUB 2006/0091161, US PG PUB 2009/0184138, US PG PUB 2013/0087583, US PG PUB 2014/0291354, US PG PUB 2015/0060496, US PG PUB 2015/0114991, US PG PUB 2017/0098945; and
The following documents disclose subject matter related to manual grease dispensing guns: US PN 2,694,508, US PN 2,844,287, US PN 3,286,887, US PN 3,391,829.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VISHAL J PANCHOLI whose telephone number is (571)272-9324. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday (9 am - 7 pm).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Paul Durand can be reached at 571-272-4459. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Vishal Pancholi/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754
Prosecution Insights