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 19/145128. 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, 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKANO (5,073,147) in view of CORBET (WO 2008/012591).
Regarding Claim 1, TAKANO teaches A continuously variable transmission comprising: a housing (230); a drive pulley (202) positioned in the housing and mounted on the drive shaft (206); a driven pulley (204) positioned in the housing and mounted on the driven shaft (208); a belt (B) mounted on and connecting the drive pulley and the driven pulley; each of the drive pulley and the driven pulley comprising: a first pulley half (212)(274) that is axially fixed along the respective shaft and is configured to rotate as the respective shaft rotates, the first pulley half having a first conical shaped interior surface; and a second pulley half (242)(276) that is movable along the respective shaft and is configured to rotate as the respective shaft rotates, the second pulley half having a second conical shaped interior surface that faces the first conical shaped interior surface of the first pulley half; and a compliant mechanism actuation assembly abutting one of the second pulley halves, the compliant mechanism actuation assembly is configured to move the second pulley half axially along its respective shaft to adjust an axial distance between the second pulley half and its respective first pulley half thereby adjusting an effective diameter of the belt.
TAKANO does not teach the housing having openings in opposing sides thereof for receiving a drive shaft and a driven shaft.
CORBET teaches the housing (Figs. 1a, 1b) having openings in opposing sides thereof for receiving a drive shaft (3) and a driven shaft (5).
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 transmission in TAKANO so it has the housing in CORBET so the transmission shafts are held in their desired locations.
Regarding Claim 2, TAKANO teaches further comprising a spring (290) abutting the other of the second pulley halves (276), the spring (290) is configured to move the second pulley half axially along its respective shaft (208) in response to the compliant mechanism assembly moving the one of the second pulley halves to adjust an axial distance between the other second pulley half and its respective first pulley half (274) thereby further adjusting the effective diameter of the belt (B)(Fig. 4).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKANO (5,073,147) in view of CORBET (WO 2008/012591) and further in view of CHO (2012/0040788).
Regarding Claim 3, TAKANO does not teach wherein the compliant mechanism actuation assembly abuts the one of the second pulley halves via a first thrust bearing and the spring abuts the other of the second pulley halves via a second thrust bearing.
CHO teaches the compliant mechanism actuation assembly (18a, Fig. 4, [0029]) abuts the one of the second pulley halves (14a) via a first thrust bearing (18, Fig. 4, [0029]) and the spring abuts the other of the second pulley halves via a second thrust bearing.
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 transmission in TAKANO as modified so it has the bearing arrangement in CHO so the transmission is durable while reducing friction.
Claim(s) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKANO (5,073,147) in view of CORBET (WO 2008/012591) and further in view of BOMBARDIER (2019/0063582).
Regarding Claim 4, TAKANO does not teach wherein each second pulley half is connected to its respective shaft via a bushing, the bushing comprising a cylindrical shape and a bore therein for receiving the respective shaft, the bore defined by an inner circumferential surface having a cross-sectional profile that conforms to a cross-sectional profile of an exterior circumferential surface of the respective shaft, the bushing having a smooth exterior circumferential surface configured to be received in a central bore of the second pulley half such that the second pulley half is axially movable along the bushing.
BOMBARDIER teaches wherein each second pulley half (104) is connected to its respective shaft (106) via a bushing (128), the bushing comprising a cylindrical shape and a bore (bore of 128, Fig. 6) therein for receiving the respective shaft, the bore defined by an inner circumferential surface having a cross-sectional profile that conforms to a cross-sectional profile of an exterior circumferential surface of the respective shaft, the bushing having a smooth exterior circumferential surface configured to be received in a central bore of the second pulley half (bore of 104, Fig. 6) such that the second pulley half is axially movable along the bushing (128).
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 transmission in TAKANO as modified so it has the bushing arrangement in BOMBARDIER to reduce wear and friction between the pulley and shaft.
Regarding Claim 5, TAKANO as modified teaches wherein the cross- sectional profile of the exterior circumferential surface of each of the drive shaft (Col. 6 lines 25-44) and the driven shaft is splined (96)(Col. 7 lines 40-53)(Fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 6, TAKANO as modified teaches wherein the bushing (128)(Fig. 6)[0076] further comprises a flange configured to limit axial movement of the second pulley half (104)(Fig. 6) along the bushing (128)(Fig. 6)[0076].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-20 are allowed.
The prior art does not teach or suggest a belt for a continuously variable transmission, the belt comprising: a flexible loop having an upper surface and a bottom surface; at least two flexible chordings attached to the bottom surface of the flexible loop, the at least two flexible chordings being substantially aligned with a circumference of the flexible loop and spanning the circumference of the flexible loop; and a plurality of rolling elements attached to each of the at least two flexible chordings, the plurality of rolling elements configured to engage a drive pulley and a driven pulley of the continuously variable transmission and rotate about the respective flexible chording thereby axially sliding the belt along at least one of the drive pulley and the driven pulley in Claim 16.
The prior art does not teach or suggest a continuously variable transmission comprising: a housing having openings in opposing sides thereof for receiving a drive shaft and a driven shaft; a drive pulley positioned in the housing and mounted on the drive shaft; a driven pulley positioned in the housing and mounted on the driven shaft; a belt mounted on and connecting the drive pulley and the driven pulley, the belt comprising: a flexible loop having an upper surface and a bottom surface; at least two flexible chordings attached to the bottom surface of the flexible loop, the at least two flexible chordings being substantially aligned with a circumference of the flexible loop and spanning the circumference of the flexible loop; and a plurality of rolling elements attached to each of the at least two flexible chordings, the plurality of rolling elements configured to engage a drive pulley and a driven pulley of the continuously variable transmission and rotate about the respective flexible chording thereby axially sliding the belt along at least one of the drive pulley and the driven pulley; each of the drive pulley and the driven pulley comprising: a first pulley half that is axially fixed along the respective shaft and is configured to rotate as the respective shaft rotates, the first pulley half having a first conical shaped interior surface; and a second pulley half that is movable along the respective shaft and is configured to rotate as the respective shaft rotates, the second pulley half having a second conical shaped interior surface that faces the first conical shaped interior surface of the first pulley half; a compliant mechanism actuation assembly abutting one of the second pulley halves, the compliant mechanism actuation assembly is configured to move the second pulley half axially along its respective shaft to adjust an axial distance between the second pulley half and its respective first pulley half thereby adjusting an effective diameter of the belt; and a spring abutting the other of the second pulley halves, the spring is configured to move the second pulley half axially along its respective shaft in response to the compliant mechanism assembly moving the one of the second pulley halves to adjust an axial distance between the other second pulley half and its respective first pulley half thereby further adjusting the effective diameter of the belt in Claim 19.
Claims 7-15 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 prior art does not teach or suggest wherein the compliant mechanism actuation assembly comprises: a hollow frame having a plurality of rigid members, each rigid member is connected to its adjacent rigid members via flexure members, one of the rigid members has an elongated portion extending inwardly, the elongated portion has two extended holes therein; two motors in a stacked arrangement, each motor having a motor shaft connected to a threaded rod; a motor rotation-restraining plate secured to the two motors; and a threaded insert located in each of the two extended holes, the threaded inserts configured to receive the threaded rods of the motors such that actuation of the motors rotates the threaded rods within the threaded inserts thereby adjusting a distance between the one of the rigid members and an opposing one of the rigid members with the other elements in Claim 7.
The prior art does not teach or suggest wherein the belt comprises: a flexible loop having an upper surface and a bottom surface; at least one flexible chording attached to the bottom surface of the flexible loop, the at least one flexible chording being substantially aligned with a circumference of the flexible loop and spanning the circumference of the flexible loop; and at least one rolling element attached to the at least one flexible chording, the at least one rolling element configured to engage the drive pulley and the driven pulley and rotate about the at least one flexible chording thereby axially sliding the belt along at least one of the drive pulley and the driven pulley with the other elements in Claim 12.
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
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