DETAILED ACTION
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 is the first action on the merits for application filed on 19/116,063. Claims 1-3 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/16/2025, 09/02/2025, 12/08/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The terms “upstream end”; “downstream end” do not have any special definition in the specification. Accordingly, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, these terms are given their ordinary meaning, namely as indicating a relatively higher and lower end.
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) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MAEDA (WO 2020129364 A1) in view of KATAYAMA (WO 2023/054351)
Claim 1: MAEDA discloses a transmission device (FIG.2) comprising:
a transmission mechanism (1; Fig.2); and
a gear case (2) that accommodates the transmission mechanism (1),
wherein the transmission mechanism includes an input gear (21),
a counter gear (22, 23) having a rotation axis parallel to a rotation axis of the input gear (21),
a ring gear (20) having a rotation axis parallel to the rotation axis of the input gear (21),
a differential case (e.g. shell holds differential gear 15 and shaft 3) fixed to the ring gear (20),
a differential mechanism (15, 3) disposed inside the differential case (as shown in Fig.2 gears and shaft 3 are disposed inside differential case),
an input gear bearing (8a) rotatably supporting the input gear (21),
a counter gear bearing (8b) rotatably supporting the counter gear (22, 23), and
a differential case bearing (8c) rotatably supporting the differential case (e.g. shell holds differential gear 15 and shaft 3),
wherein the counter gear (22, 23) includes a first gear (22) that meshes with the input gear (21), and
a second gear (23) that has an outer diameter smaller than an outer diameter of the first gear (22) (as shown in Fig.2), is disposed concentrically with the first gear (22), and meshes with the ring gear (20),
wherein the rotation axis of the counter gear (23, 22) is located above the rotation axis of the input gear (21) and the rotation axis of the ring gear (20)(see Fig.2),
wherein the gear case (2) includes a lower guide (30) that faces the ring gear from radially outside at a position lower than the rotation axis of the ring gear and faces the first gear from radially outside at a position lower than the rotation axis of the first gear (see Fig.3, ¶[0020]-[0021] lower guide 30 is below the counter shaft axis and on inner bottom of the casing, which is radially outside of all the gears, the gear 22 is arranged on shaft 5 which is disposed above it and inward, thus the guide faces it from radially outside and below).
MAEDA does not disclose a catch tank disposed at a position overlapping the input gear from above, a main guide that sends oil scraped up by the ring gear to the catch tank when the ring gear rotates in a first direction, and a reverse guide that sends the oil scraped up by the first gear after scraped up by the ring gear to the catch tank when the ring gear rotates in a second direction opposite to the first direction, wherein the reverse guide is disposed at a position overlapping the first gear in an axial direction of the counter gear, and wherein the first gear is a helical gear twisted so that the oil is sent toward the reverse guide when the first gear rotates in the second direction.
KATAYAMA teaches a drive device (1; Fig.3) having a catch tank (7) disposed at a position overlapping (partially overlap, see fig.3) an input gear (31) from above (see Fig.3), a main guide (73/77) that sends oil scraped up by a ring gear (51) to the catch tank (7) when the ring gear (51) rotates in a first direction (¶[0031], [0045][0046]), and a reverse guide (65,61) that sends the oil scraped up by the first gear (41) after scraped up by the ring gear (51) to the catch tank (7) when the ring gear rotates in a second direction opposite to the first direction (¶[0034]; [0049]), wherein the reverse guide (65,61) is disposed at a position overlapping the first gear (41) in an axial direction of the counter gear (41,42) (see Fig.6,8), and wherein a first gear (41) so that the oil is sent toward the reverse guide (61, 65) when the first gear (41) rotates in the second direction.
KATAYAMA does not disclose a first gear is helical gear; however, KATAYAMA teaches differential input (51) is helical gear (see ¶[0052])
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify first gear with helical teeth as taught by KATAYAMA and add catch tank (7-KATAYAMA); reverse guide (61, 65- KATAYAMA) in the transmission device of MAEDA for oil directionality, reducing oil leakage and waste, efficiently lubricating transmission components.
Claim 2: MAEDA as modified by KATAYAMA discloses the transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the gear case (2- MAEDA) includes a first case (2a- MAEDA) and a second case (2b- MAEDA) sandwiching the transmission mechanism (3- MAEDA) in an axial direction of the input gear (21- MAEDA), wherein the reverse guide (61,65-KATAYAMA) is a rib protruding from an inner face of the second case (2b- MAEDA) in the axial direction of the input gear (21- MAEDA), and has a guide face (surface of 61- KATAYAMA) on which the oil flows toward the catch tank (7- KATAYAMA), and wherein a width, of the guide face, orthogonal to a flow direction of the oil increases toward the catch tank (KATAYAMA: as shown in Fig.6 circumferential guide 61 widening as it extends upward toward catch tank area).
Claim 3: MAEDA as modified by KATAYAMA discloses the transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the reverse guide (61,65- KATAYAMA) has an upstream end (see annotated Fig below ) and a downstream end (see annotated Fig below) in an oil flow direction, and wherein the upstream end is disposed at a position higher than the downstream end (see annotated Fig 8 below).
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Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
HOSONO (CN105650255) discloses gear system with reverse guide.
ICHIKAWA (US 20190257406 A1) discloses lubricating device
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lillian T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-5404. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm.
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/ERNESTO A SUAREZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3655
/LILLIAN T NGUYEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3655A