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 19/164998. Claims 1-4 are currently pending in this application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FURUKAWA (JP 2010270882A) in view of TADAHIRO (JP 2002021982A).
Regarding Claim 1, FURUKAWA teaches A idler pulley comprising: a pulley comprising an outer cylinder portion (17) to be in contact with a belt, a boss portion (16) that is concentrically positioned on an inner side of the outer cylinder portion, and a connecting portion that connects a central part in a width direction of the outer cylinder portion and a central part in a width direction of the boss portion; a base to be a rotating shaft of the pulley; a bearing positioned between the pulley and the base; and a pair of dust covers provided on both side surfaces of the bearing, wherein the pair of dust covers cover both the side surfaces of the bearing, an outer side of the boss portion, and an end part in the width direction of the boss portion,
FURUKAWA does not teach and the boss portion comprises a recessed annular groove on an outer peripheral surface of the boss portion.
TADAHIRO teaches the boss portion (1a) comprises a recessed annular groove (51) on an outer peripheral surface of the boss portion (1a)(Figs. 1, 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to change the pulley in FURUKAWA to have the groove in the boss portion as in TADAHIRO to help protect the bearing from debris.
Regarding Claim 2, FURUKAWA as modified teaches wherein the end part in the width direction of the boss portion (TADAHIRO 1a) is formed outside a bottom surface of the annular groove (TADAHIRO 51).
Regarding Claims 3 and 4, FURUKAWA as modified teaches wherein the bearing (10) is a rolling bearing comprising: an outer ring (12), an inner ring (13), a plurality of rolling elements separately held between the outer ring and the inner ring (Fig. 1), and a pair of contact seals (14) supported by one of the outer ring and the inner ring, in elastic contact with the other of the outer ring and the inner ring, and covering openings on both sides of a space between the outer ring (12) and the inner ring (13).
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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