DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 02/28/2025. Claims 1-10 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submitted on 02/28/2025 and 06/16/2025 were filed and are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the Information Disclosure Statement is being considered by the Examiner.
Specification
The following guidelines illustrate the preferred layout for the specification of a utility application. These guidelines are suggested for the applicant’s use.
Arrangement of the Specification
As provided in 37 CFR 1.77(b), the specification of a utility application should include the following sections in order. Each of the lettered items should appear in upper case, without underlining or bold type, as a section heading. If no text follows the section heading, the phrase “Not Applicable” should follow the section heading:
(a) TITLE OF THE INVENTION.
(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS.
(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT.
(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT.
(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A READ-ONLY OPTICAL DISC, AS A TEXT FILE OR AN XML FILE VIA THE PATENT ELECTRONIC SYSTEM.
(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR.
(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.
(1) Field of the Invention.
(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION.
(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S).
(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION.
(k) CLAIM OR CLAIMS (commencing on a separate sheet).
(l) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE (commencing on a separate sheet).
(m) SEQUENCE LISTING. (See MPEP § 2422.03 and 37 CFR 1.821 - 1.825). A “Sequence Listing” is required on paper if the application discloses a nucleotide or amino acid sequence as defined in 37 CFR 1.821(a) and if the required “Sequence Listing” is not submitted as an electronic document either on read-only optical disc or as a text file via the patent electronic system.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The specification lacks the section headings listed above.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 3 and 5-7 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 line 4 reads “the stroke”, --a stroke—is suggested.
Claim 3 line 4 reads “the other”, --another-- is suggested.
Claim 5 line 3 reads “of the wedges”, --of the one of the two wedges-- is suggested.
Claim 6 line 5 reads “the wedge”, --the other one of the two wedge elements-- is suggested.
Claim 7 line 4 reads “on the one wedge”, --on one of the two wedge elements-- is suggested.
Claim 7 line 5 reads “on the other wedge”, --on another one of the two wedge elements-- is suggested.
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.
Claims 8-9 are 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 8 line 3 recites the limitation “the friction surfaces”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 8 line 4 recites the limitation “the longitudinal axis of the screw element”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 line 4 recites the limitation “approximately”. The term “approximately” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
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 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Flarsheim (US 3334526 A) in view of Farsons (US 1316640 A).
Regarding claim 1, Flarsheim discloses a positioning device (see Fig. 1; 10), comprising a housing (16), an actuator (14) mounted for linear movement in the housing, a stop (38) provided on the actuator and a counter-stop (86), which can be fixed in the housing (via 88) and interacts with the stop to limit the stroke length of the actuator (see column 3 lines 59-62, wherein a pair of spaced, vertically aligned posts 84 and 86 are mounted on bearing 26 and extension 22 respectively to provide upper and lower stops or actuators for element 40), wherein an insert opening for the counter-stop is provided on the housing (opening for 86 in 22). Flarsheim fails to disclose the counter-stop has two wedge elements, which can be adjusted relative to one another and can thereby be fixed in the insert opening. However, Farsons teaches a [bolt] (see Fig. 8; 1, 2, 3) has two wedge elements (1, 2 and 3), which can be adjusted relative to one another (see Fig. 1; via 12) and can thereby be fixed in the insert opening (see Fig. 1; opening wherein the bolt is provided). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to modify Flarsheim with the bolt as taught by Farsons, to provide a bolt of simple and inexpensive construction (see page 1 lines 11-13); to provide a bolt which has circumferential expansion that can be rigidly anchored in a recess in which it is placed (see page 1 lines 14-21); to provide a bolt which can be removed for repair and/or replacement; to provide a bolt which can be adjusted to compensate for enlargement of the bolt hole due to repeated impact during operation of the linear actuator; and to eliminate the need for a set screw which can damage the post 86 and require replacement).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: a screw element (Farsons; 12) for the connection of the two wedge elements (Farsons; 1, 2 and 3) is provided.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: a threaded bore (Farsons; threaded bore in 3) is provided on one of the two wedge elements (Farsons; 3) and a through bore (Farsons; through bore in 1, 2) for the screw element (Farsons; 12) on the other one of the two wedge elements (Farsons; 1, 2).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: the threaded bore (Farsons; threaded bore in 3), the through bore (Farsons; through bore in 1, 2) and the screw element (Farsons; 12) are formed so as to share a common longitudinal axis (Farsons; Fig. 1 and 8).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: the threaded bore (Farsons; threaded bore of 3) is arranged on a thicker end of the wedge element (Farsons; 3).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: a screw element holder (Farsons; 1), which is provided with the through bore (Farsons; through bore in 1, 2), is arranged on a thinner end of the wedge element (Farsons; 1, 2).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: a friction surface provided on the one wedge element (Farsons; 5) is formed so as to interact with a friction surface provided on the other wedge element (Farsons; 4).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: the friction surfaces (Farsons; 4, 5) are formed so as to run obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the screw element (Farsons; 12).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: the counter-stop as a whole has an approximately cylindrical outer contour (Farsons; Fig. 8).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of claim 1 elsewhere above would necessarily result in the following limitations: the insert opening is formed as a cylindrical bore (Flarsheim; opening for 86 in 22).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached PTO-892.
US 3319481 A, US 3342097 A, US 20030063949 A1, US 20040156676 A1, US 4605350 A, US 8114077 B2, US 7290478 B2, US 5335583 A, US 3682283 A and US 2004480 A disclose linear actuators with stoppers and bolt anchors and/or wedge locks for various uses.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH BROWN whose telephone number is (313)446-6568. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs: 8:00am - 5:00pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached at 571-357-2384. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JOSEPH BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
