Office Action 3: Notice of Allowance (2026-01-07)

CLAIMS:
Listing of Claims:

1\. (Currently Amended) A crash cushion apparatus comprising:
a rail assembly including:a plurality of anchor plates longitudinally spaced apart from each other; and
a rail extending longitudinally on the anchor plates;
a plurality of collapsible bays supported on the rail, at least some of the plurality of collapsible bays including:a divider slidably entrained on the rail and longitudinally spaced from a divider of an adjacent one of the plurality of collapsible bays;
and a plurality of side panels linking the dividers of the plurality of collapsible bays together,
each of the plurality of collapsible bays forming a space;
a plurality of crushable tubes oriented longitudinally in the spaces formed by the plurality of collapsible bays and extending between sequentially adjacent ones of the plurality of dividers, the plurality of dividers entraining the plurality of crushable tubes in the longitudinal orientation without the plurality of crushable tubes being fixed to the plurality of dividers,
the plurality of dividers being configured to be driven rearward along the rail and crush the plurality of crushable tubes to collapse the collapsible bays; and
a brace positioned in the space formed by one of the plurality of collapsible bays and configured to transfer lateral impact loads between opposing sides of the crash cushion apparatus,
wherein the brace extends to opposing side panels of the plurality of side panels,and wherein the brace includes end brackets configured to nest on the opposing side panels.
each end bracket includinq a vertically-extendinq section, an upper section extendinq diaqonally upward from the vertically\-extendinq section, and a lower section extendinq diagonally downward from the vertically-extending section.
2\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 1, wherein the brace is positioned in a forward-most collapsible bay of the plurality of collapsible bays.SVG {EMBED HERE} 0.385.90

3\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 2, wherein the forward-most collapsible bay includes at least six of the plurality of crushable tubes.

4\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 3, wherein the forward-most collapsible bay includes eight of the plurality of crushable tubes.

5\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 4, wherein some of the crushable tubes in the forward-most collapsible bay are upper crushable tubes and some of the crushable tubes in the forward-most collapsible bay are lower crushable tubes.

6\. (Previously Canceled).

7\. (Previously Canceled).

8\. (Previously Presented) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 1, wherein the brace is configured to slide relative to the opposing side panels in a longitudinal direction of the crash cushion apparatus.

9\. (Previously Presented) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 1, wherein the brace includes structure configured to anchor a fastener thereto for securing the brace to the opposing side panels.

10\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 1, wherein the brace is a hollow, cylindrical tube.

11\. (Currently Amended) A crash cushion apparatus comprising:
a rail assembly including:a plurality of anchor plates longitudinally spaced apart from each other; and
a rail extending longitudinally on the plurality of anchor plates;
a plurality of collapsible bays supported on the rail, at least some of the plurality of collapsible bays including:a divider slidably entrained on the rail and longitudinally spaced from a divider of an adjacent one of the plurality of collapsible bays;
and a plurality of side panels linking the dividers of the plurality of collapsible bays together,
each of the plurality of collapsible bays forming a space, one of the plurality of collapsible bays being a forward-most collapsible bay and one of the plurality of collapsible bays being a rearmost collapsible bay; a plurality of crushable tubes oriented longitudinally in the spaces formed by the plurality of collapsible bays and extending between sequentially adjacent ones of the plurality of dividers, the plurality of dividers entraining the plurality of crushable tubes in the longitudinal orientation without the plurality of crushable tubes being fixed to the plurality of dividers,
the plurality of dividers being configured to be driven rearward along the rail and crush the plurality of crushable tubes to collapse the collapsible bays,
the collapsible bay immediately aft of the forward-most collapsible bay having zero crushable tubes; and
a brace positioned in the space formed by one of the plurality of collapsible bays and configured to transfer lateral impact loads between opposing sides of the crash cushion apparatus,
wherein the brace extends to opposing side panels of the plurality of side panels,and wherein the brace includes end brackets configured to nest on the opposing side panels.Application Serial No. 18/488,433 Response dated December 30, 2025 Docket No. 58320-US-CIP1 Reply to Office Action of November 26, 2025 each end bracket includinq a vertically\-extendinq section, an upper section extendinq diagonally upward from the vertically-extending section, and a lower section extendinq diagonally downward from the vertically-extending section.

12\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 11, wherein the forward-most collapsible bay includes at least six of the plurality of crushable tubes.

13\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 12, wherein the forward-most collapsible bay includes eight of the plurality of crushable tubes.

14\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 11, wherein the forward-most collapsible bay includes at least three upper crushable tubes and three lower crushable tubes of the plurality of crushable tubes.

15\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 11, wherein the forward-most collapsible bay includes four upper crushable tubes and four lower crushable tubes of the plurality of crushable tubes.

16\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 11, wherein the forward-most collapsible bay and the rearmost collapsible bay each include eight crushable tubes of the plurality of crushable tubes.

17\. (Original) The crash cushion apparatus of claim 11, wherein some of the collapsible bays between the forward-most collapsible bay and rearmost collapsible bay include inclusively between four and six crushable tubes of the plurality of crushable tubes.

18\. (Canceled).

19\. (Currently Amended) The crash cushion apparatus of claim SVG {EMBED HERE} 0.1530.273 18\]\], wherein the brace is positioned in a forward-most collapsible bay of the plurality of collapsible bays.
Application Serial No. 18/488,433 Response dated December 30, 2025 Docket No. 58320-US-CIP1 Reply to Office Action of November 26, 2025

20\. (Currently Amended) A crash cushion apparatus comprising:
a rail assembly including:a plurality of anchor plates longitudinally spaced apart from each other; and
a rail extending longitudinally on the plurality of anchor plates;
a plurality of collapsible bays supported on the rail, at least some of the plurality of collapsible bays including:a divider slidably entrained on the rail and longitudinally spaced from a divider of an adjacent one of the plurality of collapsible bays;
and a plurality of side panels linking the dividers of the plurality of collapsible bays together,
each of the plurality of collapsible bays forming a space, one of the plurality of collapsible bays being a forward-most collapsible bay and one of the plurality of collapsible bays being a rearmost collapsible bay; and a plurality of crushable tubes oriented longitudinally in the spaces formed by the plurality of collapsible bays and extending between sequentially adjacent ones of the plurality of dividers, the plurality of dividers entraining the plurality of crushable tubes in the longitudinal orientation without the plurality of crushable tubes being fixed to the plurality of dividers,
the plurality of dividers being configured to be driven rearward along the rail and crush the plurality of crushable tubes to sequentially collapse the collapsible bays,
the forward-most collapsible bay including at least six crushable tubes of the plurality of crushable tubes, and
the collapsible bay immediately aft of the forward-most collapsible bay having zero crushable tubes; and
a brace positioned in the space formed by the forward-most collapsible bay and configured to transfer lateral impact loads between opposing sides of the crash cushion apparatus,
wherein the brace extends to opposing side panels of the plurality of side panels,and
SVG {EMBED HERE} 0.1875.887
wherein the brace includes end brackets configured to nest on the opposing side panels1 each end bracket includinq a vertically-extending section, an upper section extendinq diaqonally upward from the vertically-extendinq section, and a lower section extendinq diaqonally downward from the vertically\-extendinq section.

21\. (Canceled).

22\. (Canceled).

OFFICE ACTION:
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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5, 8-17, 19, and 20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Examiner finds Applicant's arguments as to allowability presented in the Remarks submitted 12/30/2025 to be persuasive and, therefore, adopts them as the basis for the finding of allowability.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee.  Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion

APPLICANT REBUTTAL: Application Serial No. 18/488,433
Response dated December 30, 2025
Remarks:
Status of Claims
Claims 1-5 and 8-22 were previously pending with claims 1, 11, and 20 being independent. Claims 1, 11, 19, and 20 are presently amended. Claims 18, 21, and 22 have been canceled. Therefore, claims 1-5, 8-17, 19, and 20 are pending with claims 1, 11, and 20 being independent.
Office Action
In the final Office Action dated November 26, 2025 (hereinafter "Office Action"), the Examiner indicated claims 21 and 22 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claims 1, 11, and 20 have been amended to include the features of claim 21 (or claim 22). That is, claims 1, 11, and 20 now recite, among other features, each end bracket includes a vertically-extending section, an upper section extending diagonally upward from the vertically-extending section, and a lower section extending diagonally downward from the vertically-extending section. Claim 18 has been canceled. Claim 19 has been amended to be dependent from claim 11.
The remaining claims not specifically discussed herein depend, either directly or indirectly, from claims 1, 11, and 20. In view of this amendment and the remarks herein, Applicant respectfully submits claims 1-5, 8-17, 19, and 20 are in allowable condition and requests a corresponding Notice of Allowance. In the event of further questions, the Examiner is urged to call the undersigned. Any fee which might be due in connection with this application should be applied against our Deposit Account No. 19-0522.
Respectfully submitted,