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 .
This is the First Office Action on the merits of Application No. 19/196227, filed on 05/01/2025. Claims 1-15 are still pending in the application.
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 15 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.
Regarding claim 15, the phrase "in particular" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
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) 1-8, 10-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3770100 to Martin (henceforth referred to as Martin).
Regarding claims 1-3, 5-8, 10-15, Martin teaches an elevator sheave liner (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 40), wherein the elevator sheave liner is mounted in a groove (i.e. Fig. 2, indicated at ref. 36, 32) of an elevator sheave (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 30) and has a first end (i.e. Fig. 3, end at ref. 44) and a second end (i.e. Fig. 3, end at ref. 50, 52) opposite to each other, the first end being provided with an engagement portion (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 44) for engagement with an elevator tension member (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 26), the elevator sheave liner comprising:
a first section (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 46) provided on at least one side of the elevator sheave liner and abutting against a surface of the groove (i.e. Fig. 2, surface at ref. 36) after the elevator sheave liner is mounted in place, wherein a first angle (i.e. Fig. 2, angle of ref. 48) is formed between the first section and a longitudinal centerline of the elevator sheave liner.
Wherein the elevator sheave liner further comprises a second section (i.e. Fig. 1, section at ref. 52) connected to the first section and closer to the second end and the longitudinal centerline relative to the first section, and a second angle (i.e. Fig. 3, lower angle of ref. 46 at ref. 53) that is not less than the first angle is formed between the second section and the longitudinal centerline.
Wherein a gap (i.e. Mark up of Fig. 3, gap between ref. 52 and 32) is maintained between the second section and a surface of the groove after the elevator sheave liner is mounted in place, and/or an outer surface of the second section is configured to be a planar surface (i.e. Fig. 3, second section at ref. 52 has a planar surface), an undulating surface and/or an arched surface.
Wherein the second angle ranges from 0.5 x arctan to 90 degrees (i.e. Fig. 3, angle at ref. 52 is less than 90 degrees).
Wherein the elevator sheave liner further comprises a third section provided at the second end and connected to the second section, and a gap (i.e. Mark up of Fig. 3, gap between ref. 52 and 32) is maintained between the third section and a bottom of the groove after the elevator sheave liner is mounted in place.
Wherein the first angle ranges from 2.3 degree to arctan, and/or (in this case “or”) an outer surface of the first section is configured to be a planar surface (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 50 is a planar surface), an undulating surface, and/or (in this case “or”) an arched surface.
Wherein the engagement portion (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 44) is configured to be a concave portion to accommodate the elevator tension member, the concave portion having protruding portions (i.e. Fig 3, ref. 46) on each side thereof, the groove has an assembly portion (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 48), and when the elevator sheave liner is mounted, the protruding portions abut against the assembly portion to cause the elevator sheave liner to be mounted in place in the groove.
Wherein the elevator sheave liner is integrally formed and mounted in the groove, or the elevator sheave liner is configured to comprise two or more combination portions (i.e. Fig. 4, ref. 40A, 40B, 40C, 40D), the combinable portions being mounted in the groove after combination. (i.e. Fig. 4).
Wherein a seam between two adjacent portions of the combinable portions is configured in a shape of a step (i.e. Fig. 4, each seam between ref. 40A, 40B, 40C, 40D can be considered a “step”), an arc, or an oblique line forming an angle of less than 90 degrees and not less than 10 degree with a longitudinal section of the elevator sheave.
Regarding claim 13, Martin teaches An elevator sheave assembly (i.e. Fig. 3), comprising:
an elevator sheave (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 30) configured with one or more grooves along its circumference; and
one or more elevator sheave liners (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 40) according to claim 1, wherein each of the elevator sheave liners is mounted correspondingly to one of the grooves.
Regarding claim 14, Martin teaches An elevator system (i.e. Fig. 1) comprising:
a power device (i.e. paragraph 0001, line 5: “A machine”) configured to provide power; and
an elevator car (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 22) operating between elevator landings under the power; and
an elevator tension member (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 26), and an elevator sheave assembly (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 30) according to claim 12, wherein the elevator sheave is connected to a power output end of the power device (i.e. paragraph 0001, line 5: “A machine causes movement of a traction sheave”), and the elevator tension member is engaged with the engagement portion of the elevator sheave liner and connected to the elevator car to transmit the power of the elevator car.
Wherein the power device includes a traction machine and a winch (i.e. paragraph 0001, line 5: “A machine causes movement of a traction sheave”), and/or the tension member includes a steel belt and a rope (i.e. paragraph 0023: “roping 26 includes… such as round steel ropes or flat belts”).
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Regarding claim 15, Martin teaches elevator system (i.e. Fig. 1) according to claim 1,
wherein the elevator car (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 22) is coupled to the elevator machine (i.e. paragraph 0001, line 5: “A machine causes movement of a traction sheave”) by the at least one tension member (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 26) using a 2:1 roping, wherein the elevator is coupled to the elevator machine in particular using an underslung 2:1 roping, in which a portion of the at least one elevator tension member extends between elevator car pulleys mounted to a bottom of the elevator car; and/or (i.e. in this case, “or”)
wherein the elevator system (i.e. Fig. 1) further comprises a counterweight (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 24) that is coupled to the tat least one elevator tension member (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 26) wherein the counterweight comprises in particular at least one counterweight pulley (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 30 on the left) for mechanically coupling the counterweight to the at least one elevator tension member.
Regarding claims 1-3, 5-8, 10-15, Martin does not specifically teach the value of the first angle being not greater than the coefficient of friction between the sheave liner and the groove. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the value of the first angle being not greater than the coefficient of friction to accommodate traction sheaves with straighter sides since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claim 4, Martin does not specifically teach the gap ranges from 0.1 to 2 millimeters. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a gap of 0.1 to 2mm to accommodate smaller sized pulleys and still have space for the liner to compress in elevator system since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN 218893355 to Ma et al teaches a pulley liner with angled sides and gap;
CN 115367594 to Hu et al teaches a pulley liner;
US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/055696 to Hubbard teaches a pulley liner with angled sides and gap;
EP 3611125 to Hubbard et al teaches a pulley liner with angled sides and a gap;
JP 2011-153003 to Shimizu et al teaches a pulley liner with angled sides.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIEM M TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7825. The examiner can normally be reached M 9-5, W-F 10-2.
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/DIEM M TRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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