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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 17-19, 21-22, 24, 26-30, and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Quick (US 4924662 A).
Regarding claim 17, Quick teaches an extractor assembly [32] of waste for an agricultural machine [10], the extractor assembly comprising:
a cleaning chamber (internal chamber of housing [156, 158, and 160], see Col. 4, lines 9-11);
a ventilation and extraction assembly (see Fig. 3) positioned above the cleaning chamber (see Fig. 1), the ventilation and extraction assembly including a housing ([158, 160, 182 and 184], see Col. 4, lines 38-41; cleaning chamber and housing overlap) and a fan [172] installed within the housing (see Fig. 1), the ventilation and extraction assembly being configured to direct crop waste through an extractor hood [168];
at least one deflector ([188]; one on each side) having a flat plate (see body of deflector in Fig. 3) defining a perimeter (see below; outline of body) adapted to be coupled to the extractor hood (see Fig. 3), the at least one deflector further including a fixing plate (sidewall [182] forming a flat, thin piece of material or a plate; deflector is fixed to the plate through pivot shaft [190], see Col. 4, lines 42-45) and a fixing assembly (assembly of arm [192], cam [194], spring [198] and support [200], see Col. 4, lines 44-53; attached to the fixing plate), wherein the at least one deflector is attached to the extractor hood (through fixing plate and fixing assembly, see Fig. 3).
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Regarding claim 18, Quick teaches wherein the at least one deflector [188] is attached to the extractor hood [168] by the fixing plate (sidewall [182] forming a flat, thin piece of material or a plate; deflector is fixed to the plate through pivot shaft [190], see Col. 4, lines 42-45) and the fixing assembly (assembly of arm [192], cam [194], spring [198] and support [200], see Col. 4, lines 44-53; attached to the fixing plate).
Regarding claims 19 and 21, Quick teaches wherein the fixing plate (sidewall [182] forming a flat, thin piece of material or a plate; deflector is fixed to the plate through pivot shaft [190], see Col. 4, lines 42-45) is attached to a front internal surface (see below; attached to the internal surface through [182 and 190]) of the extractor hood [168] and the fixing assembly (assembly of arm [192], cam [194], spring [198] and support [200], see Col. 4, lines 44-53; attached to the fixing plate) is attached to a rear internal surface (see below; attached to the internal surface through support [200]) of the extractor hood.
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Regarding claim 22, Quick teaches a deflector [188] for an extractor assembly [32] of an agricultural machine [10], the deflector comprising:
a flat plate (see Fig. 3) defining a perimeter(see below; outline of body) adapted to be coupled to an extractor hood [168] of the extractor assembly of the agricultural machine;
a fixing plate (sidewall [182] forming a flat, thin piece of material or a plate; deflector is fixed to the plate through pivot shaft [190], see Col. 4, lines 42-45); and
a fixing assembly (assembly of arm [192], cam [194], spring [198] and support [200], see Col. 4, lines 44-53; attached to the fixing plate).
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Regarding claim 24, Quick teaches wherein the perimeter (see above) of the flat plate (see Fig. 3) includes a first perimeter section (see below), a second perimeter section (see below), a third perimeter section (see below), a fourth perimeter section (see below), a fifth perimeter section (see below), and a sixth perimeter section (see below).
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Regarding claim 26, Quick teaches wherein the first perimeter section (see above) comprises a flap (first perimeter section defines an angled body or flap extending from the main body of the deflector, flap connects with the hood).
Regarding claim 27, Quick teaches wherein the second perimeter section (see above), the fourth perimeter section (see above), and the fifth perimeter section (see above) comprise trims (perimeter sections forms a trim through the edge of the perimeter, see above).
Regarding claim 28, Quick teaches wherein the first perimeter section (see above) and the second perimeter section (see above) form a cutout (see below; angled piece of material extending from the body of the deflector to fit into a support bar on the hood) adapted to fit into a support bar (see below) of the extractor hood [168].
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Regarding claim 29, Quick teaches wherein the fourth perimeter section (see above) and the fifth perimeter (see above) section define a curvature (see Fig. 3; curve with the sixth perimeter section, see above, to fit the curvature of the fixing plate [182] and therefore the interior surface of the hood) configured to fit the curvature of an interior surface (see interior surface in Fig. 3) of the extractor hood [168].
Regarding claim 30, Quick teaches wherein the fixing assembly (assembly of arm [192], cam [194], spring [198] and support [200], see Col. 4, lines 44-53; attached to the fixing plate) comprises a central plate ([200]; between the first and second side plates), a first side plate [192], a second side plate [194] and a transverse plate [196] connecting the first side plate and the second side plate (see Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 32, Quick teaches an agricultural machine [10] for harvesting tall and stemmy plants, the agricultural machine including
a chassis [12] mounted on wheels or tracks [14 and 16],
a motor (see Col. 2, lines 21-23), and
an elevator [144] comprising a proximal end and a distal end (see ends in Fig. 1),
the agricultural machine further comprising at least one extractor assembly [32] as defined in claim 1 (see claim 1 above), the at least one extractor assembly being installed relative to at least one of the proximal end or the distal end of the elevator (positioned near the distal end, see Fig. 1).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quick (US 4924662 A) in view of Hansen et al. (US 12201063 B2).
Regarding claim 20, Quick discloses the deflector as applied above, as well as, wherein the fixing plate (sidewall [182] forming a flat, thin piece of material or a plate; deflector is fixed to the plate through pivot shaft [190], see Col. 4, lines 42-45) is attached to a front internal surface (see above; attached to the internal surface through [182 and 190]) of the extractor hood [168] and the fixing assembly (assembly of arm [192], cam [194], spring [198] and support [200], see Col. 4, lines 44-53; attached to the fixing plate) is attached to a rear internal surface (see above; attached to the internal surface through support [200]) of the extractor hood, wherein both the fixing plate and the support of the fixing assembly are integrally formed with the extractor hood (fixing plate [182] and portion of fixing assembly support [200] are integrally formed together to form the hood; see Fig. 3).
But Quick fails to explicitly disclose both the fixing plate and the fixing assembly are welded to the extractor hood.
Hansen et al. discloses a similar extractor assembly [20] of waste for an agricultural machine [10] comprising an extractor hood ([44]; see Col. 3, lines 28-45) formed by welding (extractor assembly is formed through welding, bolts, and nuts; see Col. 7, lines 29-31).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to integrally form the fixing plate and fixing assembly of Quick through welding as taught by Hansen et al. in order to permanently form the extractor hood (see Hansen Col. 7, lines 29-31). Further, welding the fixing plate and the fixing assembly support of Quick to the extractor hood, still allows for the deflector to pivot about the hood (see Quick Col. 4, lines 42-45).
Claim(s) 23 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quick (US 4924662 A).
Regarding claim 23, Quick discloses the deflector as applied above, as well as, wherein the fixing plate (sidewall [182] forming a flat, thin piece of material or a plate; deflector is fixed to the plate through pivot shaft [190], see Col. 4, lines 42-45) defines an angle (see below) in relation to a surface of the deflector [188], but fails to explicitly disclose the angle is 10° to 20°.
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However, Quick discloses that the deflector pivots about the fixing plate (see Col. 4, lines 42-50 and Col. 5, lines 39-46); therefore, the angle between the fixing plate and the surface of the deflector is a result effective variable.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to make the angle be 10° to 20° in order to position the deflector in relation to the fixing plate for deflecting leaves, dirt, and trash away from unharvested cane. It is noted that such a modification would merely constitute routine optimization of a result effective variable and it has been held that “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not invention to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Regarding claim 25, Quick teaches wherein:
the first perimeter section (see above) comprises a rectilinear segment (see above);
the second perimeter section (see above) comprises a rectilinear segment (see above) and forms an internal angle (see below) with the first perimeter section;
the third perimeter section (see above) comprises a rectilinear segment (see above) and forms an internal angle (see below) with the second perimeter section;
the fourth perimeter section comprises a curved segment (curves with the surface of the wall [182] through connection to the sixth perimeter section, see above and Fig. 3) and forms an internal angle (see below) with the third perimeter section;
the fifth perimeter section (see above) comprises a curved segment (curves with the surface of the wall [182] through connection to the sixth perimeter section, see above and Fig. 3) and forms an internal angle (see below) with the fourth perimeter section; and
the sixth perimeter section (see above) comprises a rectilinear segment (see above), forms an internal angle (see below) with the fifth perimeter section and forms an internal angle (see below) with the first perimeter section.
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But Quick fails to explicitly disclose the second perimeter section forms an obtuse internal angle with the first perimeter section; the third perimeter section forms an obtuse internal angle with the second perimeter section; the fourth perimeter section comprises a curved segment and forms an obtuse internal angle with the third perimeter section; the fifth perimeter section comprises a curved segment and forms an obtuse internal angle with the fourth perimeter section; and the sixth perimeter section forms an obtuse internal angle with the fifth perimeter section and forms an acute internal angle with the first perimeter section.
However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to change the angles between the first and second perimeter sections, the second and third perimeter sections, the third and fourth perimeter sections, the fourth and fifth perimeter sections, and the fifth and sixth perimeter sections to be obtuse; and the sixth and first perimeter section’s angle to be acute, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
Claim(s) 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quick (US 4924662 A) in view of Cazenave et al. (US 9456547 B2).
Regarding claim 31, Quick discloses the deflector as applied above, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein the deflector is manufactured from a metallic material, a thermoplastic material or a combination thereof.
Cazenave et al. discloses a similar deflector ([214], see Fig. 9) for an agricultural harvester [20] wherein the deflector is manufactured from a metallic material (see Col. 17, lines 43-45), a thermoplastic material (see Col. 17, lines 43-45) or a combination thereof.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the deflector of Quick to be manufactured from a metallic or thermoplastic material as disclosed by Cazenave et al. in order to inexpensively manufacture the deflector (see Cazenave et al. Col. 17, lines 19-25).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see attached PTO-892 for the full list of references.
Reference US 3482690 A discloses a similar agricultural harvester (see Fig. 1) comprising of an extractor assembly [16 and 17] and a deflector [18].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNNY WEBB whose telephone number is (571)272-3830. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 to 5:30 E.T..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Sebesta can be reached at 571-272-0547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SUNNY D WEBB/Examiner, Art Unit 3671
/CHRISTOPHER J SEBESTA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3671
