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 .
This is the first office action for application number 19/149,042, CONTAINER RACK LATCH SYSTEM, filed on July 17, 2025.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: "454" in Fig. 10. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chinese Publication CN107564181 to Jin et al., hereinafter, Jin. Jin discloses a container rack latch system (Figs. 1-15), comprising: a first gate (3, 4, & 5) at a proximal end of the system and a second gate (9, 10, & 11) spaced from the proximal end of the system, the gates configured to operate in an extended orientation wherein the gates are adapted to prevent transfer of a container positioned on a container supporting surface away from between the extended gates (see Fig. 5, the gates are configured to operate in an extended position and prevents the transfer of a container positioned on the bottom container support surface away from the gates), and the gates further configured to operate in a retracted orientation wherein the gates are adapted to permit transfer of the container positioned on the container supporting surface away from the rack or further into the rack and beyond the gates; wherein the gates are configured to rotate between the retracted orientation and the extended orientation, the gates linked together by a shaft (8); and further comprising a force transfer structure (6 & 7, Fig. 2) on the gate; the force transfer structure spaced from a rotational axis of the rotatable shaft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, and 6-13 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.
Claims 14-19 and 21 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the limitations of a container rack latch system having a shaft passing through an opening in a first end support and passing through an opening in a second end support spaced from the first end support, included in independent claim 14 and in combination with the other elements recited in the claim, which is not found in the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. patent No. 12,564,148 to Koniski et al. directed to a container transfer system that positions containers in a rack that can included one or more movable and separated gates. U.S. Patent No. 10,863,647 to Escamilla et al. is directed to a mechanism for servicing a sled installed in a server including a grip bar, and four-bar linkage. U.S. Patent No. 4,543,026 to Halonen et al. is directed to a pick-up means for roller pallets that run on rails and stop to prevent discharge of the pallets on the tracks.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANITA M KING whose telephone number is (571)272-6817. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-4:00pm.
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/ANITA M KING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3632 September 30, 2026
