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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 5 and 6 are objected to because of the following informalities:
(claim 5, lines 1-2) “wherein The conveyer arrangement” should be changed to “wherein the conveyor arrangement”.
(claim 6, line 6) “the cross conveyor” should be changed to “the cross feed conveyor”.
(claim 6, line 6) “the feed conveyor” should be changed to “the final feed conveyor”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 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 –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 9, 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lizotte et al. (US 5,477,926).
As concerns claim 1, Lizotte shows a mobile soil improvement machine having a front and a rear, referring to an intended direction of travel for the machine, said machine comprising: a share (32, 33) that extends transversely to the direction of travel (Fig. 1 & 2); a conveyor arrangement (8) including at least a first screen conveyor (21) and said conveyor arrangement having a conveyor discharge (11, 13), said first screen conveyor having a receiving end (12, 17) in close proximity to the share and extending rearwards and upwards from the receiving end (Fig. 1 & 2), said first screen conveyor defining apertures (spacing between adjacent transverse bars 21) that are sized to allow soil to pass through the apertures under gravity, but to prevent stones from passing through the apertures (col 3, ln 15-36); and a crusher (49, 50) with an inlet (Fig. 1: upper end above crush rollers 49, 50) and a discharge (Fig. 1: lower end below crush rollers 49, 50), said crusher inlet being disposed to receive material from the conveyor discharge (Fig. 1 & 2).
As concerns claim 2, Lizotte shows wherein the discharge of the crusher is above the first screen conveyor (Fig. 1).
As concerns claim 3, Lizotte shows wherein the conveyor arrangement includes a second screen conveyor (37, 38, 39) that defines apertures (42) of a size that allows small stones with a size that is smaller than a predetermined maximum stone size, to pass through the apertures, said apertures being too small to allow stones larger than the predetermined maximum size to pass through the apertures (Fig. 1 & 2; col 4, ln 18-26).
As concerns claim 4, Lizotte shows wherein the second screen conveyor (37, 38, 39) extends rearwards from below a discharge end (13) of the first screen conveyor (8, 21) and said second screen conveyor has a discharge end (Fig. 1 & 2).
As concerns claim 9, Lizotte shows a method of soil improvement with a machine traveling in a travel direction, said method comprising: lifting soil and stones with a share (32, 33) that extends transversely to the direction of travel (Fig. 1 & 2); lifting the soil and stones that has been lifted by the share, by conveying said soil and stones on a first screen conveyor (8, 21) extending rearwards and upwards (Fig. 1 & 2); allowing at least some of the soil to pass through apertures (spacing between adjacent transverse bars 21) in the first screen conveyor under gravity (col 3, ln 15-36); discharging at least some of the stones from a conveyor discharge (11, 13, 42) into an inlet (Fig. 1: upper end above crush rollers 49, 50) of a crusher (49, 50); crushing the stones in the crusher (col 4, ln 63-65); and discharging the crushed stone under gravity (Fig. 1).
As concerns claim 11, Lizotte shows which includes discharging stone conveyed on the first screen conveyor onto a second screen conveyor (37, 38, 39) that extends rearwards and allowing small stones to pass through apertures (42) in the second screen conveyor, while large stones are not allowed to pass through the apertures, and discharging said large stones from the second screen conveyor (Fig. 1 & 2; col 4, ln 18-26).
As concerns claim 12, Lizotte shows which includes conveying the small stones that pass through the apertures in the second screen conveyor to the conveyor discharge, and feeding said small stones to the inlet of the crusher (Fig. 1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lizotte et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Reishus (US 1,906,127).
As concerns claim 5, Lizotte discloses the claimed invention except for wherein the conveyor arrangement includes at least one feed conveyor that is disposed to convey small stones from the first screen conveyor to the conveyor discharge. Reishus teaches wherein a conveyor arrangement includes at least one feed conveyor (41) that is disposed to convey small stones from a first screen conveyor (38) to a conveyor discharge (52). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Lizotte, as taught by Reishus, to include a feed conveyor for the expected benefit of catching and conveying the material that is screened through the first conveyor. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that using a feed conveyor with the first screen conveyor in the conveyor arrangement would have provided predictable results and a reasonable expectation of success. Therefore, the invention as a whole would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since the expected result of this configuration improves versatility/adaptability/efficiency of the mobile soil improvement machine design.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 and 10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not appear to anticipate and/or render obvious:
a) a mobile soil improvement machine having a front and a rear, referring to an intended direction of travel for the machine, said machine comprising: a share that extends transversely to the direction of travel; a conveyor arrangement including at least a first screen conveyor and said conveyor arrangement having a conveyor discharge, said first screen conveyor having a receiving end in close proximity to the share and extending rearwards and upwards from the receiving end, said first screen conveyor defining apertures that are sized to allow soil to pass through the apertures under gravity, but to prevent stones from passing through the apertures; and a crusher with an inlet and a discharge, said crusher inlet being disposed to receive material from the conveyor discharge, wherein the conveyor arrangement includes a second screen conveyor that defines apertures of a size that allows small stones with a size that is smaller than a predetermined maximum stone size, to pass through the apertures, said apertures being too small to allow stones larger than the predetermined maximum size to pass through the apertures, wherein the second screen conveyor extends rearwards from below a discharge end of the first screen conveyor and said second screen conveyor has a discharge end, wherein the conveyor arrangement includes at least one feed conveyor that is disposed to convey small stones from the first screen conveyor to the conveyor discharge, and wherein the conveyor arrangement includes a first feed conveyor disposed below the second screen conveyor and extending rearwards, a cross feed conveyor that extends transversely from below a discharge end of the first feed conveyor, and a final feed conveyor that extends forwards and upwards from below a discharge end of the cross conveyor to a discharge end of the feed conveyor.
b) a method of soil improvement with a machine traveling in a travel direction, said method comprising: lifting soil and stones with a share that extends transversely to the direction of travel; lifting the soil and stones that has been lifted by the share, by conveying said soil and stones on a first screen conveyor extending rearwards and upwards; allowing at least some of the soil to pass through apertures in the first screen conveyor under gravity; discharging at least some of the stones from a conveyor discharge into an inlet of a crusher; crushing the stones in the crusher; and discharging the crushed stone under gravity, and which includes discharging the crushed stone onto the first screen conveyor, and allowing soil contained in the crushed stone to pass through the apertures in the first screen conveyor under gravity.
The prior art of record does not show the claimed layout of the first screen conveyor, the second screen conveyor, the first feed conveyor, the cross feed conveyor and the final feed conveyor of the conveyor arrangement, and the claimed layout of the crusher and the first screen conveyor such that the crushed stone is discharged from the crusher onto the first screen conveyor.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Olynyk (WO 2005/063398) and Hally et al. (US 3,964,719) each show a mobile rock crusher.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW R BUCK whose telephone number is (571)270-3653. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:30-5.
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/MATTHEW R BUCK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3672
