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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is the first action on the merits for application 19/113282. Claims 1-20 are currently pending in this 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, 8, 9, 11-16, 18, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAMURA (20020/0009813).
Regarding Claim 1, TAMURA teaches A power transmission belt, comprising: a plurality of ribs (3) aligned in parallel with the direction of travel of the power transmission belt, each rib projecting radially inwardly, and each rib comprising: a first side wall; a second side wall generally opposite the first side wall; and a contact surface adjoining a radial inner end of the first side wall to a radial inner end of the second side wall, the contact surface having a width; wherein the material of the plurality of ribs comprises: an elastomer material; and a plurality of reinforcement elements (4) distributed throughout the elastomer material, each reinforcement element having an aspect ratio greater than 1 [0076] such that each reinforcement element has a long axis; wherein the long axis of reinforcement elements is oriented parallel to the first side wall, and the long axis of reinforcement elements oriented parallel to the second side wall [0028] (Figs. 1, 8).
TAMURA does not teach the reinforcement elements located less than 10% of the width of the contact surface from the first side wall and less than 10% of the width of the contact surface from the second side wall.
TAMURA discloses the result effective variable of a reinforcement distance from the side walls as seen in Figs. 1 and 8.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize the parameter as a result effective variable and optimize it to tune belt contact surface flexibility, friction, noise, and durability for a given application. Reinforcement closer to the surface increases belt contact surface stiffness and thus reduces noise, friction, and surface durability.
Regarding Claims 2, 12, TAMURA as modified does not teach wherein the long axis of reinforcement elements located less than 15% of the width of the contact surface from the first side wall is oriented parallel to the first side wall, and the long axis of reinforcement elements located less than 15% of the width of the contact surface from the second side wall is oriented parallel to the second side wall.
TAMURA discloses the result effective variable of a reinforcement distance from the side walls as seen in Figs. 1 and 8.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize the parameter as a result effective variable and optimize it to tune belt contact surface flexibility, friction, noise, and durability for a given application. Reinforcement closer to the surface increases belt contact surface stiffness and thus reduces noise, friction, and surface durability.
Regarding Claims 3, 13, TAMURA as modified does not teach wherein the long axis of reinforcement elements located less than 25% of the width of the contact surface from the first side wall is oriented parallel to the first side wall, and the long axis of reinforcement elements located less than 25% of the width of the contact surface from the second side wall is oriented parallel to the second side wall.
TAMURA discloses the result effective variable of a reinforcement distance from the side walls as seen in Figs. 1 and 8.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize the parameter as a result effective variable and optimize it to tune belt contact surface flexibility, friction, noise, and durability for a given application. Reinforcement closer to the surface increases belt contact surface stiffness and thus reduces noise, friction, and surface durability.
Regarding Claims 4, 14, TAMURA as modified teaches wherein the elastomer material comprises one or more of natural rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), chloroprene rubber (CR), ethylene propylene elastomers, ethylene-elastomer copolymers, hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR), and fluoroelastomers [0070][0071].
Regarding Claims 5, 15, TAMURA as modified teaches wherein the reinforcement elements are chopped fibers or platy fillers [0075].
Regarding Claims 6, 16, TAMURA as modified does not teach wherein the long axis of reinforcement elements located less than 5% of the width of the contact surface from the contact surface is oriented parallel to the contact surface.
TAMURA discloses the result effective variable of a reinforcement distance from the side walls as seen in Figs. 1 and 8.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize the parameter as a result effective variable and optimize it to tune belt contact surface flexibility, friction, noise, and durability for a given application. Reinforcement closer to the surface increases belt contact surface stiffness and thus reduces noise, friction, and surface durability.
Regarding Claim 8, TAMURA as modified teaches wherein the power transmission belt further comprises a plurality of tensile cords aligned in parallel with the direction of travel of the power transmission belt, the plurality of tensile cords located radially outside of the plurality of ribs [0028] (Fig. 1).
Regarding Claims 9, 19, TAMURA as modified teaches wherein the aspect ratio of the reinforcement elements (4) is in the range of from 10 to 250 [0076].
Regarding Claim 11, TAMURA teaches A power transmission belt, comprising: a first side wall; a second side wall generally opposite the first side wall; a backing surface adjoining a radial outer end of the first side wall to a radial outer end of the second side wall, the backing surface having a width; and a contact surface generally opposite the backing surface and adjoining a radial inner end of the first side wall to a radial inner end of the second side wall, the contact surface having a width; wherein the width of the backing surface is greater than the width of the contact surface; and wherein the base material of the belt comprises: an elastomer material; and a plurality of reinforcement elements (4) distributed throughout the elastomer material, each reinforcement element having an aspect ratio greater than 1 such that each reinforcement element has a long axis; wherein the long axis of reinforcement elements is oriented parallel to the first side wall, and the long axis of reinforcement elements is oriented parallel to the second side wall [0028] (Figs. 1, 8).
TAMURA does not teach the reinforcement elements located less than 5% of the width of the contact surface from the first side wall and less than 5% of the width of the contact surface from the second side wall.
TAMURA discloses the result effective variable of a reinforcement distance from the side walls as seen in Figs. 1 and 8.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize the parameter as a result effective variable and optimize it to tune belt contact surface flexibility, friction, noise, and durability for a given application. Reinforcement closer to the surface increases belt contact surface stiffness and thus reduces noise, friction, and surface durability.
Regarding Claim 18, TAMURA as modified teaches wherein the power transmission belt further comprises a plurality of tensile cords (1) aligned in parallel with the direction of travel of the power transmission belt, the plurality of tensile cords located proximate the backing surface (Fig. 1).
Claim(s) 7, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAMURA (20020/0009813) in view of MATSUMURA (4,449,959).
Regarding Claim 7, TAMURA as modified does not teach wherein each rib includes a plurality of notches evenly spaced along the length of the rib, each notch extending into the rib from the contact surface and spanning the width of the rib.
MATSUMURA teaches wherein each rib (11)(12)(13) includes a plurality of notches (26) evenly spaced along the length of the rib, each notch extending into the rib from the contact surface and spanning the width of the rib.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to change the belt in TAMURA to have the notches in MATSUMURA to help improve belt crack resistance.
Regarding Claims 17, TAMURA as modified does not teach wherein each rib includes a plurality of notches evenly spaced along the length of the rib, each notch extending into the rib from the contact surface and spanning the width of the rib.
MATSUMURA teaches wherein each rib (11)(12)(13) includes a plurality of notches (26) evenly spaced along the length of the rib, each notch extending into the rib from the contact surface and spanning the width of the belt.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to change the belt in TAMURA to have the notches in MATSUMURA to help improve belt crack resistance.
Claim(s) 10, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAMURA (20020/0009813) in view of WETZEL (4,415,397).
Regarding Claims 10, 20, TAMURA as modified does not teach wherein the density of reinforcing elements in the region less than 5% of the width of the contact surface from the first side wall and in the region less than 5% of the width of the contact surface from the second side wall is greater than the density of reinforcement elements outside these regions.
WETZEL teaches wherein the density of reinforcing elements (27) in the region less than 5% of the width of the contact surface from the first side wall and in the region less than 5% of the width of the contact surface from the second side wall is greater than the density of reinforcement elements outside these regions (Col. 5 lines 55-0).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to change the belt in TAMURA to have the fiber distribution in WETZEL to help improve belt crack resistance.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENRY Y LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-7018. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5:30 ET.
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HENRY Y. LIU
Examiner
Art Unit 3654
/HENRY Y LIU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654
