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 .
This is the First Office Action on the merits of Application No. 19/044873, filed on 02/04/2022. Claims 1-15 are still pending in the application.
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) 1-6, 9-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2022/053481 to Vandamme in view of US Patent No. 5,199,137 to Edwards (henceforth referred to as Vandamme and Edwards, respectively).
Regarding claims 1-2, 4, 11-13, Vandamme discloses a rope terminal for supporting an elevator suspension rope (i.e. Title) comprises
a body (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 104) of electrically conductive material (i.e. paragraph 0026: “socket body… are made of spheroidal graphite cast iron. Both materials are good electrical conductors”), comprising a wedge house:
a wedge (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 302) configured to be inserted into the wedge house when the rope is wound around the wedge;
wherein the rope terminal comprises at least one grounding member (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 312) configured to create an electrically conductive connection between the body of the rope terminal and an electrically conductive core (i.e. paragraph 0045: “electrical contact is ensured between the tensile member and the wedge 302 as the pins 312 penetrate through the coating down to the tensile members” and paragraph 0011: “tensile members are electrically conducting”) of the rope having an electrically insulating coating (i.e. paragraph 0011: “tensile members are electrically conducting, while the coating is electrically insulating”).
Wherein the at least one grounding member comprises an electrically sharp (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 312) or perforating/penetrating command configured to create the electrically conductive connection between the body of the rope terminal and the electrically conductive core of the rope (i.e. paragraph 0045: “electrical contact is ensured between the tensile member and the wedge 302 as the pins 312 penetrate through the coating down to the tensile members”).
Comprising at least one first or third grounding member with an electrically conductive sharp (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 312), and the body comprises at least one opening for receiving the at least one first grounding member (i.e. not shown but implied in holes to receive crews in paragraph 0025: “for example a simple screw may be introduced in the holding track of the wedge).
Wherein the at least one opening is a threaded hole (i.e. not shown but implied in holes to receive crews in paragraph 0025: “for example a simple screw may be introduced in the holding track of the wedge), and the at least one first grounding member is an electrically conductive screw component.
An elevator comprising a car (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 630); a hoisting machinery (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 636) with a motor and a traction sheave (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 638); one or more suspension ropes (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 606) and a counterweight (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 634);
the car and the counterweight being suspended by said one or more ropes which are guided over the traction sheave for moving the car vertically in the elevator shaft (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 634, 606, 630); wherein
at least one suspension rope is supported by at least one rope terminal (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 640, 642) according to claim 1.
A method for installing an elevator suspension rope having an electrically insulating coating (i.e. paragraph 0011: “tensile members are electrically conducting, while the coating is electrically insulating”), comprising mounting said rope within a rope terminal (i.e. Fig. 6, ref. 640, 642) according to claim 1, and moving the at least one grounding member against the rope to create a rope coating penetrating electrically conductive connection between the body of the rope terminal and an electrically conductive core of the rope core (i.e. paragraph 0045: “electrical contact is ensured between the tensile member and the wedge 302 as the pins 312 penetrate through the coating down to the tensile members”).
Comprising moving an electrically conductive sharp (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 312) or perforating/penetrating command comprised by the at least one grounding member to penetrate the electrically insulating coating of the rope (i.e. paragraph 0045: “electrical contact is ensured between the tensile member and the wedge 302 as the pins 312 penetrate through the coating down to the tensile members”).
comprising winding the rope around a wedge (i.e. Fig. 2) comprised by the at least one grounding member; and moving the rope with the wedge into a wedge housing (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 104) to penetrate the electrically insulating coating of the rope.
Vandamme does not specifically teach a connecting rod fixed to the body for connecting the rope terminal to a machine room or shaft. However, connecting rods are commonly used in the art for fixing terminal ends to machine rooms, shafts, cars or counterweights and are not novel to the invention. For example, Edwards teaches a similar rope terminal (i.e. Fig. 2) comprising a body (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 14) comprising a wedge housing and a wedge (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 52) within a slot in the body wherein the rope terminal further comprises a connecting rod (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 24) fixed to the body for connecting mechanically the rope terminal to the elevator. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the known connecting rod as taught in Edwards with the rope terminal as taught in Vandamme to fixedly mount the rope terminal to the shaft, elevator car, counterweight or machine room and there would have been reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claims 6 and 9, Vandamme does not specifically teach the rope body comprising a rope clip counterpart with holes for receiving at least one third grounding member. However, Edwards also teach the terminal end (i.e. Fig. 2) further comprises at least one conductive rope clip (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 56, 58) with holes for receiving the at least one third grounding member (i.e. not referenced but screws shown going through ref. 56 and 58 in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to us the rope clips as taught in Edwards in the rope terminal as taught in Vandamme to hold and prevent the ropes from exiting the wedged rope terminals and there would have been reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claims 3, 10, and 14, Vandamme Fig. 1 and 3 does not teach the at least one grounding member is integrated into the body of the rope terminal. However, Vandamme Fig. 5 teaches an alternative embodiment in Fig. 5 wherein the grounding members can be also be positioned on the body of the terminal end when cast molding the body (i.e. paragraph 0048: “the series of protrusions 512…. are formed in the cast mold for casting the socket body”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form protrusions on the body during the cast molding the body as taught in Fig. 5 in the rope terminal as taught in Fig. 1 for an integrated assembly to eliminate extra parts and assembly and there would have been reasonable expectation of success.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8, 15 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN 210214482 to Zhang teaches an elevator rope terminal with a clip;
US Patent No. 9,828,216 to Berben et al teaches connector inspection system for elevator ropes;
WO 2015/043146 to Zhu et al teaches a monitoring of steel rope;
ES 2230916 to Ericson et al teaches belt terminal with clamps.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIEM M TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7825. The examiner can normally be reached M 9-5, W-F 10-2.
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/DIEM M TRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3654