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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-10) in the reply filed on 01/07/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/07/2026.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guender (WO 2016/016310).
Guender discloses:
1. An actuator comprising:
a cylinder (2);
a piston (14) slidably received within the cylinder;
a rod (20) coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder;
a base (4) coupled to the cylinder;
a pump (40) at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port (port connected to 84 or 76);
an electric motor configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base (“A drive unit 42 is provided for driving the pump (Electric motor) also inserted into the inner cylinder tube 4”);
an accumulator (94) including an accumulator cylinder that is enclosed within the cylinder and an accumulator piston (96) slidably received within the accumulator cylinder; and
an accumulator valve (104, 102) enclosed within the cylinder,
wherein the accumulator valve is configured to selectively provide fluid communication between the accumulator and the inlet port (valves 102 and 104 selectively provide fluid communication between the accumulator 94 and an inlet port of pump 40; see annotated Guender Fig. 3’, all limitations are either discussed, annotated, or apparent from the Figures).
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2. The actuator of claim 1, wherein the rod is arranged radially between the accumulator cylinder and the cylinder (see annotated Guender Fig. 3’, all limitations are either discussed, annotated, or apparent from the Figures)..
3. The actuator of claim 1, wherein the accumulator valve is arranged axially between the pump and the accumulator (see annotated Guender Fig. 3’, all limitations are either discussed, annotated, or apparent from the Figures)..
Claim(s) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Blanding et al. (US 11118610), hereinafter ‘Blanding’.
Blanding discloses:
1. An actuator comprising:
a cylinder (332, 70 in Fig. 1, 364 in Fig. 3);
a piston (26) slidably received within the cylinder (piston 26 slides/reciprocates inside cylinder 364 in Fig. 3, cylinder 332, 70 in Fig. 1, the claims do not specify that the piston slides against the cylinder wall);
a rod (22) coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder (see Fig. 1);
a base (sections including portions 60, 50, 40) coupled to the cylinder;
a pump (40) at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port (432 or 434);
an electric motor (50) configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base (see Fig. 1);
an accumulator (36, 364) including an accumulator cylinder (362) that is enclosed within the cylinder and an accumulator piston (351 in Fig. 4, 330 in Fig. 1) slidably received within the accumulator cylinder; and
an accumulator valve (404 in Fig. 4 or 324, 322 in Fig. 1) enclosed within the cylinder,
wherein the accumulator valve is configured to selectively provide fluid communication between the accumulator and the inlet port (valve plate 44, 404, Col. 12 lines 1-3, Col. 12 lines 27-40 discloses valve plate between the inlet and outlet of the pump which makes it positioned between the accumulator 36, 350B and inlet port of the pump that leads to the pump pistons 406).
3. The actuator of claim 1, wherein the accumulator valve is arranged axially between the pump and the accumulator (valve plate 44, 404 is axially between the pump 40 and the accumulator 36, 364).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4-10 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art does not disclose nor render obvious an actuator wherein the accumulator valve is arranged within an accumulator valve plate, wherein the accumulator valve plate includes a spool slidably received within the accumulator valve plate, a piston pilot line, a rod pilot line, a piston port, a rod port, and an accumulator port as claimed in claim 4, in combination with its base claim limitations.
Dependent claims 5-10 are allowable because they depend from allowable claim 4.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hahn et al. (US 2015/0208571) and Staab et al. (US 9562547) discloses an electric hydraulic actuator with an accumulator chamber within the piston/piston rod with an integrated pump
He (US 7434395) discloses an actuator comprising:
a cylinder 112, 24;
a piston 116 slidably received within the cylinder (BRI, this limitation is met by a piston sliding inside a cylinder, not necessarily sliding on the inner wall of the cylinder);
a rod 114 coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder;
a base 18, 14 coupled to the cylinder;
a pump (pump 16 driven by electric motor 12) at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port;
an electric motor 12 configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base;
an accumulator 36 including an accumulator cylinder that is enclosed within the cylinder and an accumulator piston 55 slidably received within the accumulator cylinder; and
an accumulator valve 56, 64 enclosed within the cylinder,
wherein the accumulator valve is configured to selectively provide fluid communication between the accumulator and the inlet port (pump 126 has inlets connected to accumulator chamber 130 via valves 138, 140 which selectively provide fluid communication between the accumulator 128 and an inlet port of the pump 126 depending on the pilot pressure in the fluid control lines of the valves 138 and 140 as seen by the dashed lines in Fig. 10).
Bresie (US 8448432) discloses an electrohydrostatic actuator including a piston that surrounds a fluid chamber
Kasuga et al. (US 11815108) discloses an electro-hydraulic actuator comprising:
a cylinder;
a piston slidably received within the cylinder;
a rod coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder;
a base coupled to the cylinder;
a pump at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port;
an electric motor configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base;
an accumulator including an accumulator cylinder that is enclosed within the cylinder and
an accumulator valve enclosed within the cylinder,
Porter et al. (US 6282893) discloses a self-contained electrohydrostatic actuator with an integrated pump
Tanaka (US 10794404) discloses an accumulator valve 50, that is pilot controlled similar to claims 4-5 but does not disclose the piston accumulator, etc.
Kubacki et al. (US 2025/0146595) discloses a linear actuator having a cylinder;
a piston slidably received within the cylinder;
a rod coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder;
a base coupled to the cylinder;
a pump at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port;
an electric motor configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base;
an accumulator including an accumulator cylinder that is enclosed within the cylinder and an accumulator piston slidably received within the accumulator cylinder; and
an accumulator valve enclosed within the cylinder,
Afshari (US10539134) discloses an actuator comprising:
a cylinder;
a piston slidably received within the cylinder;
a rod coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder;
a base coupled to the cylinder;
a pump at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port;
an electric motor configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base;
an accumulator
Mintgen et al. (US 2008/0289327) Fig. 27 discloses an actuator comprising:
a cylinder 1';
a piston 2' slidably received within the cylinder;
a rod 10 coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder;
a base 8' coupled to the cylinder;
a pump 17 at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port 19, 18;
an electric motor 32 configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base ([0146] discloses motor 32, is part of the base 35);
an accumulator 20 including an accumulator cylinder (outer cylinder) and an accumulator piston 123 slidably received within the accumulator cylinder; and
Franchet et al. (US 2003/0077183) discloses an actuator comprising:
a cylinder 1a;
a piston slidably received within the cylinder;
a rod coupled to the piston and at least partially extending outwardly from the cylinder;
a base coupled to the cylinder;
a pump at least partially received within the base and including an inlet port;
an electric motor configured to drive the pump and at least partially received within the base;
an accumulator including an accumulator cylinder that is enclosed within the cylinder and an accumulator piston slidably received within the accumulator cylinder;
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Dustin T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-0163. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel E. Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 January 22, 2026