DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Budzich 2,880,042.
Budzich discloses, regarding claim 1, a method of assembling a piston 11/16 having a shaft 11 and of a hydraulic pump (see Fig. 2), the method comprising: inserting a shaft 11 of the piston 11/16 through an aperture 19 of the shoe 18 such that it extends through the shoe 18 until a piston head 16 of the piston 11/16 is seated in the shoe 18 (see col. 2, lines 26-30); Re claim 2, comprising inserting a plug 23 into the shoe 18 such that the piston head 16 is held between the shoe 18 and the plug 23; Re claim 3, comprising installing a piston sleeve 13 onto the shaft 11 of the piston; Re claim 4, comprising installing a fixing 12/14 into the piston 11/16 and piston sleeve 13 to secure the piston 11/16 and piston sleeve 13 together; Re claim 5, wherein the piston sleeve 13 is a first piston sleeve and the method comprises: removing the fixing 12/14 from the piston and first piston sleeve; removing the first piston sleeve 13 from the shaft 11 of the piston; and installing a second piston sleeve 13 onto the shaft of the piston (this can clearly be the case, as element 13 is referred to as a “wear sleeve” by Budzich – thus, upon becoming worn down, sleeve 13 would be replaced to maintain pump efficiency); Re claim 6, wherein the second piston sleeve 13 is of a greater cross section than the first piston sleeve 13 (this would clearly be the case as the worn down sleeve 13 would have a smaller cross section than a new replacement sleeve).
Budzich discloses, regarding claim 7, a method of disassembling a piston 11/16 and shoe 18 of a hydraulic pump, the method comprising: passing a shaft 11 of the piston 11/16 through an aperture 19 of the shoe 18 to thereby decouple a piston head 16 of the piston 11/16 from the shoe 18 (this can clearly be the case, see col. 2, lines 26-30).
Budzich discloses, regarding claims 8 and 15, a hydraulic pump comprising: a piston 11/16 and shoe 18 assembly for a hydraulic pump (see Fig. 2), the assembly comprising: a piston 11/16 comprising a piston shaft 11 and a piston head 16; and a shoe 18 comprising an aperture 19, wherein the piston shaft 11 is sized such that it can pass through the shoe aperture 19 and the piston head 16 is sized such that it cannot pass through the shoe aperture 19 (see col. 2, lines 26-30); Re claim 9, comprising a plug 23 at least partially located within the shoe 18 and arranged to hold the piston head 16 in the shoe 18; Re claim 10, comprising: a piston sleeve 13 along the piston shaft 11; Re claim 11, comprising a fixing 12/14 arranged to secure the piston sleeve 13 to the piston shaft 11; Re claim 12, wherein the piston 11/16 comprises a piston inner passageway 28 and the plug 23 comprises a plug inner passageway (clearly shown in Fig. 1), the piston inner passageway 28 and plug inner passageway arranged in fluid communication (clearly shown in Fig. 1); Re claim 13, wherein the plug inner passageway comprises an enlarged opening for receiving fluid communication from the piston inner passageway 28 (clearly shown in Fig. 1); Re claim 14, wherein the piston head 16 comprises a spherical portion, the piston shaft 11 has a circular cross-section and the shoe aperture 19 is of circular cross-section, and wherein the diameter of the spherical portion of the piston head 16 is greater than the diameter of the piston shaft 11 and the shoe aperture 19 has a diameter that is greater than the diameter of the piston shaft 11 and smaller than the diameter of the piston head 16 (clearly shown in Fig. 1; see col. 2, lines 26-30).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Peter J Bertheaud whose telephone number is (571)272-3476. The examiner can normally be reached 9am - 5pm M-F.
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PJB
/PETER J BERTHEAUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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