The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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(s) 1-4, 6, 9-18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dunlap (US 3951096; cited by Applicant) in view of Coller et al (US 2019/0271255). Dunlap (US 3951096; cited by Applicant). With respect to claims 1, 14 and 20, Dunlap discloses the claimed marine propulsion system with a first strut 26 and second strut 26 extending from a proximal end to a distal end, each of the struts having a leading portion 186, an interior belt void 32, a trailing portion 188, a nose portion 246, a middle portion with sprocket 166, a shaft 150, a bearing 156, a belt 52 and a thermal circuit with oil plug 202 (Figure 6) and heat transfer fluid. With respect to claims 2-4, 6, 9-12, 15-16, 18, 20, note Dunlap, Figures 1, 3, 6-8, 11. With respect to claim 17, note Dunlap, screws 194 to allow removal. Dunlap does not disclose a cooling circuit channel in an anti-ventilation plate. Coller et al teach a closed circuit cooling channel in an anti-ventilation plate (inside plate 101; Figure 5). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the device of Dunlap with an anti-ventilation plate closed cooling system with a cooling channel as taught by Coller et al with a high likelihood of success for improved reliability and durability via increased cooling. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, it is noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have years of experience and advanced degrees. Such a person would have been familiar with various outboard motor cooling systems and would have found the combination to have been obvious.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dunlap (US 3951096; cited by Applicant) in view of Coller et al (US 2019/0271255), applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Pignata (US 5435763; cited by Applicant). Dunlap does not disclose the uniform space between the struts. Pignata teaches uniform space between struts (20; Figure 1). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the device of Dunlap with a uniform space between the struts as taught by Pignata with a high likelihood of success for ease of manufacture and assembly. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, it is noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have years of experience and advanced degrees. Such a person would have been familiar with various outboard motor systems and would have found the combination to have been obvious.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dunlap (US 3951096; cited by Applicant) in view of Coller et al (US 2019/0271255). Dunlap does not disclose the thermal circuit in the leading edge. It would have been an obvious choice of engineering design to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the device of Dunlap with the thermal circuit being in the leading edge with a high likelihood of success for improved cooling. The combination combines known features to achieve predictable results. Further, it is noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have years of experience and advanced degrees. Such a person would have been familiar with various outboard motor systems and would have found the combination to have been obvious.
Claims 5 and 19 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 made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Stojkov et al (WO 91/19643) show a cooling system (including channel 43).
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STEPHEN AVILA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3617
/STEPHEN P AVILA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615
