DETAILED ACTION
This is a first action on the merits of application 19075547.
Claims 1-7 are pending.
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) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai JP 2022136696, and further in view of Kasahara 2004106777.
Claim 1, Kawai discloses an outboard motor [propulsor] (10) for a watercraft, an upper case (case 21, cover 73) supported by the hull (hull 12) of the watercraft, a propulsion motor (electric motor 37) housed within the upper case, a lower case (drive shaft case 23, gear case 24) rotatably supported within the upper case about a rotational axis; a propeller (propeller 36) supported by the lower case and rotating about a propeller shaft driven by the propulsion motor; a planetary reduction mechanism (reduction unit 38) provided in the drive force transmission path from the propulsion motor to the propeller to reduce the rotation of the propulsion motor; a steering motor (steering motor 64) housed in the upper case, a steering reduction mechanism (worm gear 67) provided in the steering force transmission path from the steering motor to the lower case to reduce the rotation of the steering motor, wherein the lower case has a cylindrical rotating portion (drive shaft case 23) centered on a rotation axis, The lower case is supported by the upper case via an upper bearing (bearing 52) and a lower bearing (bearing 52) arranged on the outer periphery of the rotating portion. The steering reduction mechanism has a ring gear (worm wheel 66) coupled to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating portion between the upper bearing and the lower bearing. [0026-0056, see Figures 1-7]. He does not disclose that the planetary reduction mechanism is arranged on the inner circumference of the rotating portion. Kasahara discloses [0016-0020, Figures 1-4] a propulsion device for an aquatic vehicle, it is conventionally known technology to arrange a planetary reduction mechanism on the inner circumference of a rotating part, see "rotating body 5". Thus, it 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 to have modified Kawai with Kasahara with a known technology for facilitating braking to slow down a vessel.
Claim 2, Kawai discloses the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, he does not disclose wherein the turning portion includes an enlarged diameter portion arranged above the upper bearing, a diameter of the turning portion being enlarged at the enlarged diameter portion, and the planetary deceleration mechanism is arranged on an inner circumference of the enlarged diameter portion. Since the diameter of the planetary reduction mechanism (reduction unit 38) is larger than the diameter of the rotating part (drive shaft case 23) (see Figure 3), it 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 to configure the rotating member to have an enlarged portion expanding above the upper bearing, and to position the planetary reduction mechanism on the inner circumference of the enlarged portion to facilitate speed reduction.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai JP 2022136696, and further in view of Kasahara 2004106777 and Mihara JP 2022144364.
Claim 3, Kawai and Kasahara disclose the aforementioned limitations of claim 1, They do not disclose a refrigerant supply mechanism configured to supply a refrigerant to the planetary deceleration mechanism, wherein the refrigerant supply mechanism is arranged lower than the enlarged diameter portion and provided on an inner circumference of the turning portion. Mihara discloses [0031-0085, Figures 1-5] a propulsion device for a watercraft equipped with a cooling medium supply mechanism (screw blade 92) arranged on the inner circumference of the rotating portion (rotation axis 22). Since cooling the gear is an obvious task it 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 to have modified the references to arrange a cooling medium supply mechanism on the inner circumference of the rotating part (drive shaft case 23) in the invention, placing the cooling medium supply mechanism below the enlarged portion and configuring it to supply cooling medium to the planetary reduction mechanism is of ordinary skill via a mere change in location.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7 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.
Conclusion
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/JOVON E HAYES/Examiner, Art Unit 3615
