DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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 pre-AIA 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 –
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.
Claims 1, 4 and 5 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by U.S. Pat. No. 8,181,771 to Talsma.
With respect to claim 1, Talsma discloses a spiral conveyor comprising:
a drive tower having a vertical axis about which the drive tower is configured to rotate;
a conveyor belt extending in width from a first side to a second side;
a plurality of drive members circumferentially spaced on the drive tower about the vertical axis (see annotated Fig. 1 below):
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each of the drive members having an outer face (see numeral 34 in Fig. 2B and col. 2, line 37) from which a drive ridge (see numeral 28 in Fig. 2B and col. 2, line 35) extends continuously in length from a first end to a second end and radially outward to ridge tops (see col. 2, lines 42-44 and col. 3, lines 8-18);
wherein the distance of the vertical axis from the ridge tops is greater at the first ends of the drive ridges than at the second ends (see ridge heights h1 and h2 at the first end in Fig. 2A and col. 2, lines 45-47), is greater than the height h1 after tapering to zero at the second end, Fig. 4A, and see col. 3, line 16);
wherein each of the drive ridges is configured to engage with the first side of the conveyor belt in positive engagement without slip from the first end to the second end to drive the conveyor belt along a helical path about the vertical axis (col. 3, lines 23-26).
With respect to claim 4, Talsma discloses wherein the exit of the conveyor belt from the helical path is at the second ends of the drive ridges (see Fig. 4B and col. 3, line 15).
With respect to claim 5, Talsma discloses wherein the entrance of the conveyor belt onto the helical path is at the first ends of the drive ridges (see numeral 50 in Fig. 2B and col. 2, lines 59-64).
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Talsma as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Pat. No 9394109 to Talsma, hereinafter identified as “Talsma ‘109”.
With respect to claim 6, Talsma discloses all the claim language but does not disclose wherein the conveyor belt has teeth extending outwardly from the first side edge and wherein the drive ridges have drive faces extending from the outer faces of the drive members to the ridge tops and wherein the drive faces are configured to engage the teeth to drive the conveyor belt along the helical path as the drive tower rotates.
Talsma ‘109 teaches wherein the conveyor belt has teeth extending outwardly from the first side edge (col. 2, lines 33-34) and wherein the drive ridges have drive faces (see numeral 102 in Fig. 10 and col. 7, line 63) extending from the outer faces of the drive members to the ridge tops and wherein the drive faces are configured to engage the teeth to drive the conveyor belt along the helical path as the drive tower rotates (col. 7, lines 1-12). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the disclosure of Talsma with the teachings of Talsma ‘109 to provide the efficient drive arrangement.
With respect to claim 7, Talsma ‘109 discloses wherein the conveyor belt includes a series of belt rows and wherein the drive ridges are configured to engage the first side of the conveyor belt (sic) (see numeral 44 in Fig. 2B and col. 4, lines 64-65).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 3 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESTER RUSHIN, III whose telephone number is (313)446-4905. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4p.
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/LESTER RUSHIN, III/
Examiner
Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651
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