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 .
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-12 and 14-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guggari (US 6029951) in view of Chehade et al. (US 2009/0200856, hereafter Chehade).
With regards to claim 1, Guggari discloses a method of operating a rig, comprising: maintaining a drum (65) of the rig in a non-rotational state; and rotating the drum by moving a joystick (165). Guggari shows all the limitation of the present invention except, it doesn’t explicitly disclose moving a safety switch to an inactive position to activate a first braking system; and moving the safety switch to an active position to cause the first braking system to stop rotation of the drum. Chehade discloses a drawworks (30) that utilizes a joystick (302). It moves a safety switch to an inactive position to activate a first braking system; and moving the safety switch to an active position to cause the first braking system to stop rotation of the drum (this is done through use of a “dead man’s switch” 81; para 47). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the dead man’s switch of Chehade on the joystick system of Guggari with a reasonable expectation of success. This would be done to allow for only active control of the system with an automatic shut-off upon release, as is inherent with dead man switches.
With regards to claim 2, Chehade discloses unintentionally or intentionally moving the safety switch to the active position (achieved upon release of 81, whether intentional or not).
With regards to claim 3, Chehade discloses, unintentionally moving the safety switch comprises applying an insufficient grip pressure on the joystick or removing manual contact with the joystick (this is inherent in the name “dead man” switch, in which grip is no longer held).
With regards to claim 4, Guggari discloses the drum (65) is maintained in the non-rotational state by using a second braking system (75).
With regards to claim 5, Guggari discloses the joystick (165) is in a neutral position when the drum is in the non-rotational state (para 12).
With regards to claim 6, Guggari discloses moving the joystick comprises moving the joystick away from the neutral position (para 12).
With regards to claim 7, Guggari discloses the activated first braking system (80) holds the drum in the non-rotational state (col. 5:29-col. 7:31).
With regards to claim 8, Guggari discloses activating the first braking system (80) causes a second braking system (75) to change to an inactivated mode (col. 5:29-col. 7:31).
With regards to claim 9, Guggari discloses after stopping the drum, the method further comprises using the first braking system to maintain the drum in the non-rotational state (col. 5:29-col. 7:31).
With regards to claim 10, Guggari discloses activating the second braking system to maintain the drum in the non-rotational state (col. 5:29-col. 7:31).
With regards to claim 11, Guggari discloses moving the joystick to a neutral position while maintaining the drum in the non-rotational state (col. 7:14-30).
With regards to claim 12, Guggari discloses the first braking system comprises an electrical braking system, and the second braking system comprises a mechanical braking system (various brake types are disclosed (col. 3:46-65).
With regards to claim 14, it is inherent in the dead man switch (81) of Chehade that safety switch is biased to the active position using a spring (since this is the nature of a switch the must be held down to be active).
With regards to claim 15, Chehade discloses the safety switch (81) is on the joystick (80).
With regards to claim 16, Chehade discloses moving the safety switch to the inactive position comprises contacting the safety switch while holding the joystick (inherent to a dead man switch).
With regards to claim 17, modified Guggari discloses maintaining contact with the safety switch (as is necessary with a dead man switch) while rotating the drum (by moving the joystick (165 of Guggari).
With regards to claim 18, Guggari discloses rotating the drum retracts or pays out a cable that is attached to a traveling block (90).
With regards to claim 19, Guggari discloses rotating the drum by moving a joystick comprises operating a motor (Fig. 10, “M”) to rotate the drum (30).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guggari in view of Chehade, and further in view of Huang et al. (US 2016/0060082, hereafter Huang).
With regards to claim 13, modified Guggari shows all the limitation of the present invention except, it fails to disclose the second braking system comprises a powered system having a piston and a friction pad coupled to the piston and a biasing mechanism. Huang discloses (Fig. 2; para 26) a powered brake system which uses a biasing spring (160) and a piston (156) to engage a drum 150. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the brake of Huang with the drum of modified Guggari with a reasonable expectation of success. This would be done because the brake of Huang is just one example of many braking systems that may be used on drum winches, which would be mechanical alternatives based on design choice.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 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. The cited prior art all show similar features to those of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL P STEPHENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-7035. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tara Schimpf can be reached at 571-270-7741. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL P STEPHENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676
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