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 .
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
This non-final action on the merits is in response to the election of invention received by the office on 15 July 2026. Claims 1-10 are pending. Claim 10 is withdrawn as non-elected.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of the invention of group I (claims 1-9) in the reply filed on 15 July 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the alternative method of manufacture suggested by examiner cannot perform certain of the claimed steps of the method. This is not found persuasive because FRP suspension parts formed by methods other than that claimed by applicant are known in the art (see for example U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0056900 to Ulrich Müller). Therefore the article claimed in group II could be arrived at by a different method than that claimed in group I.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent 4,659,071 to Herbert Woltron (‘071 hereafter) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0284855 to Speigel et al. (‘855 hereafter).
Regarding claim 1, ‘071 teaches a method for manufacturing a blade for a vehicle suspension, the blade extending along an elongation axis between a first end and a second end, the blade being elastically deformable between a rest state in which the blade has a curved profile along the elongation axis, and an extension state in which the first and second ends are spaced apart from each other relative to the rest state, the blade being made of a material, the method implementing: - a winding step in which an intermediate element is produced by continuously winding a thermoplastic strip around a support such that the intermediate element has a closed contour delimiting at least one interior space, the strip being wound in an elongation direction of the strip (Figs. 2 and 3, items 9 and 26); - a heating step in which the intermediate element is positioned and then heated in a heating device (C5 L19-C5 L33); - a placement step in which the heated intermediate element is placed in a first part of a shaping mold such that a first end point and a second end point of the intermediate element, taken along an elongation axis of the intermediate element, are spaced apart from each other by a distance equal to that separating the first and second ends of the blade in the rest state (C5 L19-C5 L33); - a thermoforming step in which a second part of the shaping mold is closed on the first part so as to obtain the blade (C5 L19-C5 L33). ‘071 does not teach a thermoplastic.
In the same field of endeavor, manufacture of FRP suspension parts, ‘855 teaches a suspension part made of thermoplastic fiber reinforced materials (paragraph 0051) for the benefit of forming suspension parts with higher intrinsic energy storage. It would have been obvious to one possessed of ordinary skill in the arts at the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of ‘071 with those of ‘855.
Regarding claim 2, ‘071 teaches the method wherein the strip comprises fibers extending in the elongation direction of the strip (C1L9-C1L20). ‘071 does not teach a thermoplastic.
In the same field of endeavor, manufacture of FRP suspension parts, ‘855 teaches a suspension part made of thermoplastic fiber reinforced materials (paragraph 0051) for the benefit of forming suspension parts with higher intrinsic energy storage. It would have been obvious to one possessed of ordinary skill in the arts at the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of ‘071 with those of ‘855.
Regarding claim 3, ‘071 teaches the method wherein, during the winding step, the thermoplastic strip is wound on itself in at least two layers (Fig. 5). ‘071 does not teach a thermoplastic.
In the same field of endeavor, manufacture of FRP suspension parts, ‘855 teaches a suspension part made of thermoplastic fiber reinforced materials (paragraph 0051) for the benefit of forming suspension parts with higher intrinsic energy storage. It would have been obvious to one possessed of ordinary skill in the arts at the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of ‘071 with those of ‘855.
Regarding claim 4, ‘071 teaches the method wherein the at least two layers of the strip are compressed onto each other by a roller and/or are heated (C5 L19-C5 L33). ‘071 does not teach a thermoplastic.
In the same field of endeavor, manufacture of FRP suspension parts, ‘855 teaches a suspension part made of thermoplastic fiber reinforced materials (paragraph 0051) for the benefit of forming suspension parts with higher intrinsic energy storage. It would have been obvious to one possessed of ordinary skill in the arts at the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of ‘071 with those of ‘855.
Regarding claim 5, ‘071 teaches the method wherein, before the heating step, the intermediate element is removed from the support (C5 L19-C5 L33). ‘071 does not teach a thermoplastic.
In the same field of endeavor, manufacture of FRP suspension parts, ‘855 teaches a suspension part made of thermoplastic fiber reinforced materials (paragraph 0051) for the benefit of forming suspension parts with higher intrinsic energy storage. It would have been obvious to one possessed of ordinary skill in the arts at the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of ‘071 with those of ‘855.
Regarding claim 6, ‘071 teaches the method wherein, during the heating step, the first extreme point and the second extreme point of the intermediate element are spaced apart from each other (C5 L19-C5 L33 and Fig 6).
Regarding claim 7, ‘071 does not teach an insert. In the same field of endeavor, manufacture of FRP suspension parts, ‘855 teaches the method further comprising a positioning step, subsequent to the winding step, in which at least one insert is positioned in the interior space of the intermediate element (paragraphs 0085 and 0086) for the benefit of forming suspension parts with higher intrinsic energy storage. It would have been obvious to one possessed of ordinary skill in the arts at the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of ‘071 with those of ‘855.
Regarding claim 8, ‘071 teaches the method wherein a first insert is positioned at the first extreme point, and a second insert is positioned at the second extreme point of the intermediate element (Fig. 3 item 3).
Regarding claim 9, ‘071 teaches the method wherein, during the placement step, the intermediate element is deformed by means of a deformation device (Fig. 6 item 41).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to John P Robitaille whose telephone number is (571)270-7006. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30AM-6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Galen Hauth can be reached at (571) 270-5516. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JPR/Examiner, Art Unit 1743
/GALEN H HAUTH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1743
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