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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the end cover disposed adjacent ot the bearing (claim 1), and the a plurality of flexible oil retainers and plurality of limiting structures (claim 10) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. Examiner notes that the claim limitation in claim 1 could be amended to read “the end cover configured to be disposed at one side adjacent to a bearing”, but claim 10 should likely be canceled as such subject matter cannot be added to the drawings without at least some amount of new matter.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: “one side” in line 10 should read “the one side” as this limitation is previously recited in line 5. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the other end” in line 3 should read “an other end” as this limitation has not previously been recited. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities: “hollow-out portion” in line 1 should read “hollowed-out portion. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the other end” in line 3 should read “an other end” as this limitation has not previously been recited. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 9 is 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.
Claim 9 recites the limitation “a cross section of the flexible oil retainer is in a multi-point sealing type”. This limitation is indefinite as it is unclear how exactly the multi-point sealing type is a shape for the cross-section (e.g. is the flexible oil retainer a multi-point sealing type element, does the cross-section of the flexible oil retainer comprise a multi-point shape, etc.?). Appropriate clarification and correction is required. For examination purposes Examiner assumes Applicant intended to claim “a cross section of the flexible oil retainer comprises a multi-point shape”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 and 8-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 117231744.
With regard to claim 1, CN ‘744 discloses a sealing system (as seen in Figs. 1), comprising: an end cover (120) sleeved over a main shaft (600, as seen in Fig. 1); an annular support (110) sleeved over the main shaft (as seen in Fig. 1) and connected to the end cover (as seen in Fig. 1), wherein a dust-proof seal mounting structure (610 or 500) is disposed on one side of the annular support (i.e. the left-side in Fig. 1) away from the end cover (as seen in Fig. 1), an oil chamber (i.e. the chamber that 400 is in and connected to 130) is formed between the annular support and the main shaft (as seen in Fig. 1), and an oil guide hole (130) in communication with the oil chamber is provided in the annular support (as seen in Fig. 1); the end cover is disposed at one side adjacent to a bearing (as seen in Fig. 1); and an oil seal mounting groove (the groove receiving 200) is formed between the end cover and the annular support (as seen in Fig. 1), and an opening of the oil seal mounting groove faces the main shaft (as seen in Fig. 1); an oil seal (200) disposed in the oil seal mounting groove and abutting against the main shaft (as seen in Fig. 1); a dust-proof seal (300) disposed at the dust-proof seal mounting structure and abutting against the main shaft (as seen in Fig. 1); a pressing plate (500, considered a plate as it is annular is overall a plate shape and/or has plate shaped portions) pressing the dust-proof seal onto the dust-proof seal mounting structure (as seen in Fig. 1); and a flexible oil retainer (400) sleeved over the main shaft and positioned in the oil chamber (as seen in Fig. 1), wherein a limiting structure (i.e. the groove receiving 400) is disposed on the main shaft (as seen in Fig. 1), and the limiting structure is configured to limit movement of the flexible oil retainer (as seen in Fig. 1 due to its structure contacting 400).
With regard to claim 8, CN ‘744 discloses that the limiting structure is an annular limiting groove (as seen in Fig. 1) provided on the main shaft (as seen in Fig. 1), both sides of the flexible oil retainer adjacent to the main shaft are provided with flexible interference structures (i.e. the projections as seen in Fig. 2), and the flexible oil retainer is in an interference fit with the annular limiting groove through the flexible interference structures (as seen in Fig. 1).
With regard to claim 9, CN ‘744 discloses that a cross section of the flexible oil retainer is in a multi-point sealing type (as seen in Figs. 1-2 and in light of the above 112(b) rejection of this claim).
With regard to claim 10, CN ‘744 discloses that a plurality of flexible oil retainers and a plurality of limiting structures are provided (as seen in Fig. 1), and the plurality of limiting structures are disposed in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of flexible oil retainers (as seen in Fig. 1).
With regard to claim 11, CN ‘744 discloses that an inner ring portion of the dust-proof seal extends away from the end cover (i.e. as seen in Fig. 1 as it has length in the axial direction an inner ring portion thereof is considered to extend axially away from such).
With regard to claim 12, CN ‘744 discloses that the oil seal comprises: a rubber body (i.e. the main body thereof, as disclosed on page 3, fifth to last paragraph of the Examiner provided machine translation as being rubber) having a cross section (as seen in Fig. 3) comprising a shoulder (211), a waist (213) and a lip (214) connected in sequence (as seen in Fig. 3), an elastic opening being formed between an inner side of the shoulder and the waist (as seen in Fig. 3), wherein a rubber hardness of one side of the shoulder away from the lip is greater than a rubber hardness of one side of the shoulder adjacent to the lip, a rubber hardness of the waist and a rubber hardness of the lip (as disclosed on page 3, fifth to last paragraph of the Examiner provided machine translation), and a metal support structure (215) is disposed in the shoulder at one side of the shoulder away from the lip (as seen in Fig. 3); and an interference elastic member (220) disposed along the elastic opening and configured to provide an elastic support force to the lip (as disclosed on page 4, etc. of the machine translation).
With regard to claim 13, CN ‘744 discloses that the interference elastic member uses a leaf spring (as seen in Fig. 3), and one end of the leaf spring is embedded into one end of the waist adjacent to the lip (as seen in Fig. 3), while the other end of the leaf spring is embedded into the shoulder (as seen in Fig. 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 are 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.
Examiner’s Recommendations
Examiner recommends incorporating the subject matter of claim 2 into claim 1, and upon doing such and correcting the above 112(b), claim objections, and drawing objections in the manner suggested by Examiner the claims would appear likely to be in condition for allowance.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and provide additional examples of similar shaft sealing systems including plural seal elements and oil recovery portions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS L FOSTER whose telephone number is (571)270-5354. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kristina Fulton can be reached at (571) 272-7376. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NICHOLAS L FOSTER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675