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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the sectional views in figures 2 and 3 should be shaded with hatching instead of solid shading which hinders legibility, as described in 37 C.F.R 1.84(h)(3) and (m). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) 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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: in paragraph [0080], line 5, it appears “outer race features of the actuator” should be --outer race features of the piston--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: in the last line of claim 20, it appears “actuator” should be --piston--. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Line 1 of claim 20 claims “A method for assembling a piston assembly into a differential system”, however the body of the claim appears to only claim steps of forming the piston assembly, and not assembling anything into a differential system.
In claim 20, line 9, “outer race features of the actuator” does not accurately claim the disclosed invention because the actuator has inner race features, but not outer race features. It appears “actuator” should be --piston--.
In the last three lines of claim 20, it is not clear what action or actions are comprised by the step of “forming a piston bearing actuator”, particularly since the previously claimed steps describe forming the piston bearing actuator. The last three lines of claim 20 claim the disclosure of paragraph [0082]; however, [0082] does not appear to describe a method step, but rather “(a)fter 418, 412 finishes forming” appears to disclose that the piston bearing actuator system has been formed upon completion of sub-step 418 (the forming steps 414, 416, and 418 that comprise 412 are finished after 418 ends), which ends the “ASSEMBLE THE PISTON BEARING ACTUATOR” step 412 (“After 418, 412 ends and method 400 continues.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 3-16, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mueller, U. S. Patent 4,644,823.
Mueller shows in figure 1 a differential lock assembly.
The differential lock assembly comprises a differential (within and including the differential housing 3).
The differential lock assembly comprises a friction pack 14.
A piston bearing actuator system comprises a piston 18’ (col. 3, lines 3-6), a bearing 18, and an actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 abutting the friction pack 14, where the piston 18’ is an outer race for the bearing 18 and the actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 (portion 18”, specifically) is an inner race for the bearing 18.
(claim 1)
There is a plurality of bearings 18 between the actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 and the piston 18’.
(claim 3)
The bearings 18 are shown in figure 1 to be ball bearings.
(claim 4)
A differential cage 3 for the differential comprises a drum, on the left side of figure 1, and a plurality of locking features 15 of the friction pack 14 are rigidly coupled to the drum (“outer lamellae 15 are non-rotatably held in axial grooves of the differential housing 3”, col. 2, lines 60-62).
(claim 5)
A side gear 9 for the differential is rigidly coupled to a hub, extending axially to the left in figure 1, and a plurality of disks 13 of the friction pack 14 are rigidly coupled to the hub (col. 2, lines 56-60). The friction pack 14 is a disk pack (“lamellae package”) and selectively couples the side gear 9 to a differential housing 3.
(claim 6)
The side gear 9 comprises the hub, as described in column 2, lines 56-57 and figure 1.
(claim 7)
The piston 18’ is hollow with an opening that surrounds the actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 (portion 18”, specifically).
(claim 8)
The actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 is hollow, and a shaft 6 extends through a volume of the actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 formed by the inner circumference of the portion 18”.
(claim 9)
The volume of the actuator within portion 18” has a constant diameter.
(claim 10)
The piston 18’ comprises a land, the land extending in an axial direction, toward the right in figure 1 to hydraulic ring 22, from a surface of the piston 18’.
(claim 11)
The actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 includes a land 20 extending radially outward from the actuator.
(claim 12)
A first surface, extending from the point 26 generally radially outward, and a second surface, around the outer circumference of 20, are contiguous. The first surface and second surface are outer surfaces. The first surface curves radially outward toward the second surface, the second surface curving radially around the land 20.
(claim 13)
The friction pack 14 is arranged between a differential housing 3 (left-most cap/wall) for the differential and the piston 18’.
(claim 14)
Mueller shows in figure 1 an axle assembly.
The axle assembly comprises a first housing 1.
The axle assembly comprises a first axle shaft 5 and a second axle shaft 6.
A differential lock assembly includes a differential (within and including the differential housing 3), a lock 14, and a piston bearing actuator system.
The piston bearing actuator system comprises a piston 18’, a bearing 18, and an actuator 18”/19/20/21/16. The piston bearing actuator system abuts and selectively closes the lock 14, where the piston 18’ is an outer race for the bearing 18 and the actuator 18”/19/20/21/16 (portion 18”, specifically) is an inner race for the bearing 18. The lock 14 selectively couples the first axle shaft 5 (along with gear 9 splined thereto) to the differential.
(claim 15)
The differential includes a second housing 3 that supports a plurality of side gears 9 and 10 and differential pinion gear 11 therein, and the lock 14 includes a plurality of locking features 15 rigidly coupled to the second housing 3, and the lock 14 selectively couples a first side gear 9 to the second housing 3.
(claim 16)
The piston bearing actuator system is hydraulically actuated (“acted upon with pressure liquid…” col. 3, lines 5-20).
(claim 18)
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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mueller in view of Kobayashi, U. S. Patent 5,133,696.
Mueller discloses a differential lock assembly as discussed in the rejection of claim 1 above, but does not disclose a pin that reduces rotation of the piston.
Kobayashi shows in figure 9 a differential lock assembly similar to that of Mueller, including a differential (with gears 9c and 9e, etc.), a friction pack 40, and a piston bearing actuator system with a piston 40g that acts on the friction pack 40 through a bearing 32.
A pin 37b reduces rotation of the piston.
(claim 2)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a pin in Mueller to reduce the rotation of the piston in view of Kobayashi so that for the hydraulic system in which the piston is used, “centrifugal force of the oil is not generated in the chamber 40h. Thus, the actuating pressure of the oil of the clutch 40 is accurately controlled, thereby improving control accuracy of the clutch 40." (Kobayashi col. 6, lines 20-29)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17 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.
Claim 20, as best understood, would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: no reference nor combination of references was found which teaches a method for assembling a piston assembly into a differential system including securing an actuator, positioning the actuator for installing a bearing system, assembling and fitting the bearing system to the inner race features of the actuator, securing the bearing system in place, and positioning a piston with outer race features around the actuator, wherein the method further includes guiding the outer race features around the bearing system, and fitting the outer race features around the bearing system, as required by claim 20. Sutowski, U. S. Patent 3,337,937, discloses a method for assembling a bearing assembly. The method includes securing an inner race 15, analogous to the actuator, in a support 25 with centering pin 28, positioned so raceway 16 is open for installing and fitting of bearing system 19. The bearing system 19 is installed around the inner race 15, fitted to the inner race feature 16, and secured in place by inclined shoulder 27B on a support collar 27 (fig. 1). An outer race 20, analogous to the piston, is positioned around the inner race 15, and positioned so outer raceway 21 is open for installing and fitting of the bearing system (fig. 2). The method further includes guiding the outer race feature(s) 21 around the bearing system 19 by the punch 29, fitting the outer race feature(s) 21 around the bearing system 19 (fig. 3). The outer race 20 is enabled to be guided around the bearing system by the inclusion of a gap 23 (fig. 4) formed by a split in the outer race 20 so that it is not continuous, making the necessary structure of outer race 20 unsuitable for the function of a hydraulic piston, as in Mueller.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U. S. Patent 2,995,809 (Riedel) August 1961 - an auxiliary inner race 24 is secured in a jig 10, then bearing balls 23-33 are assembled around and fitted into the auxiliary inner race 24. A cage 15/18 of the jig secures the bearing balls in place, then an outer race 25 is positioned around the race 24 so that outer raceway 36 is open for installing and fitting of the balls. The outer race 25 with raceway 36 is guided and fitted around the balls 23-33. The result is a bearing assemblage that receives a shaft machined as in inner race.
GB 1224034 (Balmforth) March 1971 - "comprises a multidisc friction clutch having inner and outer plates 28, 30, splined respectively to a collar 29, fast on a half-shaft 23, and a sleeve 31, connected by a dog coupling 32 to the bevel differential cage 20, and engaged by hydraulic operation of a spring released two-part annular piston 33, 36, the hydraulic fluid being supplied via a line 25 and duct 24 to the inner piston part 36 which is secured against rotation by pins 37 and carriers, via a thrust bearing 35, the outer piston part 33 which directly engages the clutch plates 28, 30 and supports around its periphery the piston (i.e. clutch) release springs 34."
U. S. Patent 4,679,463 (Ozaki et al.) July 1987 - the actuator includes a land extending radially outward. Includes an axial thrust bearing, without inner and outer races.
DE 3642503 (Lommerzheim) June 1988 - appears to show a piston with an axially extending land, and an actuator with a radially extending land. Includes an axial thrust bearing without inner and outer races.
DE 41 34 421 (Hagin et al.) April 1993 - "The construction of the locking device described above with reference to the drawing makes it possible that the inner and outer sleeves 25 , 26 together with all installed and attached parts including the pressure ring 23 , the ring cylinder 21 and the annular piston 22 and associated bearings 50 , 51 , 56 and At least parts of the pressure medium supply organs can be preassembled to form a complete structural unit which can be inserted into the outer housing 1 of the compensating differential as a cartridge - possibly also for retrofitting conventional differentials."
U. S. Patent Application Publication 2025/0121683 (Kwasniewski et al.) April 2025 - for a clutch associated with a differential, having a piston 142 and an actuator (collar) 28: "[0082] In the configuration shown in FIGS. 3-6, the bearing assembly 144 extends between the inner piston side 192 of the piston 142 and the outer collar side 128 of the clutch collar 28."
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHERRY LYNN ESTREMSKY whose telephone number is (571)272-7090. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-4:30pm.
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SLE
/SHERRY L ESTREMSKY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655