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. 19/339898, filed on 09/25/2025. Claims 1-15 are still pending in the application.
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, 3-5, 8-10, 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP 2465805 to Ando (henceforth referred to as Ando).
Regarding claims 1, 3-5, 8-10, 12-15, Ando discloses elevator system comprising:
at least one elevator car (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 4) that is configured for traveling in a hoistway (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 1) along a longitudinal direction between a plurality of landings;
at least one tension member (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 14, 15, 16) for supporting and driving the at least one elevator car; and
a guiding structure comprising:
at least two guide rails (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 2, 3) provided in the hoistway for guiding the movement of the elevator car and/or of a counterweight (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 5) in the hoistway; and
at least one guide rail bracket (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 29) extending along a transverse direction between two of the at least two guide rails for coupling two guide rails with each other;
wherein the at least one guiderail bracket comprises a recess (i.e. Mark up of Fig. 3 and described in paragraph 0027: “central portion of the cross beam portion 29b is bent so as to protrude toward the counterweight 5”) that allows the at least one tension member to pass the at least one guide rail bracket by extending through the recess (i.e. Fig. 3, diverting pulleys, ref. 17 and 19, and driving sheaves, ref. 11 and 13, are shown in the recess of ref. 29; not shown but tension members, ref. 14, 15, respectively, would vertically run through the recess of ref. 29 between the diverting pulleys and the driving sheaves).
Wherein the at least one guide rail bracket comprises:
a first lateral leg (i.e. Fig. 3, upper ref. 29a) that is attached to a first guide rail (i.e. Fig. 3, upper ref. 3) of the at least two guide rails;
a second lateral leg (i.e. Fig. 3, lower ref. 29a) that is attached to a second guide rail (i.e. Fig. 3, lower ref. 3) and
a central leg (i.e. Fig. 3, ref. 29b) that extends between the first and second lateral legs; and
wherein the central leg extends in particular basically perpendicularly to the first and second guide rail.
Wherein the central leg comprises:
a first leg portion (i.e. Mark up of Fig. 3) coupled to the first lateral leg;
a second leg portion (i.e. Mark up of Fig. 3) coupled to the second lateral leg; and
a recess portion (i.e. Mark up of Fig. 3) that is arranged between the first and second leg portions and that is set back with respect to the first and second leg portions for forming the recess between the first and second leg portions.
Wherein the recess portion is set back from the at least one elevator car towards an adjacent sidewall of the hoistway (i.e. Fig. 3, recess of ref. 29 set back towards the hoistway wall on the left side).
Wherein the first and second lateral legs extend basically perpendicularly to the central leg (i.e. Fig. 4, ref. 29a is perpendicular to 29b).
Further comprising a plurality of guide rail brackets that are arranged and spaced apart from each other along the longitudinal direction (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 2, 3);
wherein the guide rail brackets are in particular spaced apart from each other at distances.
Further comprising at least one counterweight (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 5) that is attached to the at least one tension member (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 14, 15, 16) for moving concurrently with the at least one elevator car in the opposite direction.
Wherein the guiding structure is a counterweight guiding structure (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 3) in which the at least two guide rails are counterweight guide rails that are configured for guiding the movement of the counterweight along the hoistway.
Further comprising: a bed plate (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 30) extending between the at least two guide rails; and
an elevator machine (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 8, 9) arranged on the bed plate and comprising at least one coupling portion (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 11, 13, respectively) for coupling the elevator machine with the at least one tension member (i.e. Fig. 1, ref. 14, 15);
wherein the elevator machine is positioned on the bed plate with the at least one tension member being coupled to the at least one coupling portion of the elevator machine (i.e. paragraph 0014: “first driving machine 8 and a second driving machine 9 that generate driving forces that move the car 4 and the counterweight vertically are mounted to upper end portions of the respective counterweight guide rails 3 by means of a base 30”) such that the at least one tension member extends through the recess of the at least one guide rail bracket.
Method of installing an elevator machine in an elevator system according to claim 1; wherein the method includes
arranging the elevator machine on a bed plate (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 30) extending between the at least two guide rails (i.e. Fig. 2, ref. 3); and
coupling the at least one tension member to the elevator machine so that the at least one tension member extends through the recess of the at least one guide rail bracket (i.e. Fig. 3, driving sheaves, ref. 11 and 13, are shown in the recess of ref. 29; not shown but tension members, ref. 14, 15, respectively, would vertically run through the recess of ref. 29 between the diverting pulleys and the driving sheaves).
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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 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 2465805 to Ando in view of CN 116873701 to Yang et al (henceforth referred to as Yang).
Regarding claim 2 and 7, Ando does not specifically teach the rail bracket is formed of folded sheet metal. However, folded sheet metal is not novel to the invention. Yang teaches a method of manufacturing a guide rail bracket (i.e. Title) comprising folded sheet metal (i.e. Machine Translation page 3, second paragraph: “punching machine is selected to punch the two ends of the steel plate… the two ends of the steel material are punched and formed… which can ensure the verticality of the right angle bending…”) wherein at least one of first and second leg portions (i.e. Fig. 4, left and right ref. 12) comprises at least one folded portion (i.e. “right angle bending”) extending along the transverse direction:
wherein each of the first and second leg portions comprises in particular a first folded portion that is formed at a top portion (i.e. Fig. 3, upper ref. 13) that is formed at a top portion of the central leg and a second folded portion (i.e. Fig. 3, lower ref. 13) that is formed at an opposing bottom portion of the central leg, respectively. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing art of the claimed invention to use folded sheet metal as taught in Yang to manufacture the guide rail bracket as taught in Ando because forming a bracket out of solid folded sheet metal will avoid weak points associated with welding or connection fasteners and there would have been reasonable expectation of success.
Claim(s) 6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 2465805 to Ando.
Regarding claim 6 and 11, Ando does not specifically teach the recess is set back by a distance of 25-30mm nor teach guide rail brackets are spaced apart at a distance range of 1500-3180mm. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before he effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a set back by a distance of 25-30mm and a spaced distance between 1500-3180mm between brackets to accommodate the spatial constraints of the hoistway 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN 116161508 to Du et al teaches a mounting method of a hoistway with a recessed middle portion;
US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0020453 to Medeiros et al teaches a guide rail bracket;
US Patent No. 10,384,912 to Watanabe teaches a guide rail bracket with a machine mount;
US Patent No. 6,481,538 to Blackaby et al teaches a guide rail bracket with a machine mount;
US Patent No. 10,457,523 to Fauconnet et al teaches a guide rail bracket with a machine mount;
US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0360818 to Cheng teaches a guide rail bracket with a machine mount;
US Patent No. 1,702,783 to Kiesling teaches a guide rail bracket with a machine mount.
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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