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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 25, 2025 has been entered.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andreas Stihl (DE 900 493), herein referred to as Stihl, in view of Edgerton et al (US Patent 5,092,044), herein referred to as Edgerton, Osborne (US Patent 6,186,136) and JP 57-166627.
Regarding claim 9, Stihl discloses a ring saw (fig. 1), comprising:
a ring saw blade (1);
a tool holder housing (4), wherein the tool holder (4) has a guide roller (e.g., 30, 35) that guides the ring saw blade (1) in a cutting plane (i.e., the plane defined by the flat disc shape of ring saw blade 1; see figs. 3-5);
wherein the tool holder has a receiving space (i.e., the interior space within tool holder 4; see figs. 4 and 5) in which the ring saw blade (1) is disposed (figs. 1, 4 and 5);
a motor (17);
a driving wheel (22), wherein the ring saw blade (110) is drivable in the cutting plane (fig. 2) by the driving wheel (22) and wherein the driving wheel (22) is coupled to the motor (via gears 19, 20);
the guide roller (30, 35) which is disposed on a side of the cutting plane (i.e., left-hand side of figs. 4 and 5), wherein the ring saw blade (1) is guidable by the guide roller (30, 35) from the side (figs. 4 and 5), and wherein the guide roller (30, 35) has a cylindrical rolling element (i.e., the outer peripheral surface thereof) for engagement of the ring saw blade (e.g., see fig. 4; translation para. 0012, lines 7-10); and wherein the guide roller (30, 35) is disposed upstream of the receiving space (the guide rollers are disposed within the receiving space).
• Stihl fails to disclose a water flushing system which reduces wear of the guide roller and its cylindrical rolling element from a sludge formed in the receiving space caused by the ring saw blade during a sawing operation, wherein water is fed in within the receiving space of the tool holder adjoining the guide roller by the water flushing system, and wherein an outlet of the water flushing system is directed at a surface of the cylindrical rolling element that faces away from the receiving space, wherein the guide roller and its cylindrical rolling element are disposed upstream of the receiving space in a direction of flow of water of the water flushing system such that still clean water of the water flushing system flows around the cylindrical rolling element of the guide roller such that entry of the sludge is reduced in a mechanically stressed region of the cylindrical rolling element that is in contact with the guide groove of the ring saw blade and such that the still clean water flows over the surface of the cylindrical rolling element that faces away from the receiving space and around at least one section of the cylindrical rolling element before the still clear water comes into contact with the sludge formed in the receiving space caused by the ring saw blade during the sawing operation.
However, the following references provide teaching pertinent to these limitations: A. Edgerton (US Patent 5,092,044) teaches it is known in the art of water flushing systems for portable sawing machines to provide a water flushing system that includes an outlet (50) directed at a surface of a cylindrical rolling element of a guide roller (nose sprocket 36) that faces away from the receiving space (at the nose of the guide bar), wherein the guide roller is disposed upstream of the receiving space in a direction of flow of water of the water flushing system (nose sprocket 36 is positioned within the receiving space and extends therethrough) such that the water of the water flushing system flows over the surface of the cylindrical rolling element that faces away from the receiving space before the water comes into contact with dust in the receiving space caused by the ring saw blade during a sawing operation (col. 4, line 33 – col. 5, line 11). The teaching of Edgerton suggests the use of water as the fluid in the flushing system and positioning the nozzle directly at the side of the guide roller facing away from the respective tool element being guided. B. Osborne (US Patent 6,186,136) teaches it is known in the art of water flushing systems for portable sawing machines to include a main water flushing system (slot 24 and internal channels 17 in guide bar 14) delivering water to saw blade support means (i.e., guide bar 14). Osborne also teaches an auxiliary water flushing system (additional nozzle 30 on end of tube 32 extending through slot 34; col. 3, lines 38-47) is provided to deliver water to a guiding and driving element (i.e., drive sprocket 16) for the saw blade within the tool holder to help remove further debris from the saw blade before the saw blade engages the guiding and driving element within the power head (fig. 2). Moreover, Osborne teaches the tool holder includes a receiving space (i.e., the open space within power head (12) that encloses the base of guide bar (14), drive sprocket (16) and portion of saw blade (20) presently located therein. The guide roller (16) being upstream of the receiving space in a direction of the flow of water flushing system (fig. 2). The teaching of Osborne suggests it is known in the art of portable sawing machines to provide an outlet for a water flushing system in the receiving space of a tool support member (i.e., a tool holder portion of the saw device). C. JP 57-166627 teaches it is known in the art of blade guiding assemblies for saw blades to provide a lubricating fluid nozzle (cutting oil nozzle 67) configured to direct lubricating fluid (e.g., cutting oil) at a surface of a cylindrical rolling element (59) that faces away from the receiving space (annotated fig. 2 – the path of the cutting oil from the nozzle depicted by dashed arrow). JP 57-166627 states on page 2, lines 33-38, “[c]hips [removed] from material cutting are dropped by the cutting oil that flows down through the cutting oil nozzle 67 and flows into the guide device … in case of the … complete guide device, it is possible to prevent the material O chips from being caught in a part of the backup roller. By doing so, the rotation of the roller is smoothed.” The teaching of JP 57-166627 suggests it is known to position an outlet of a lubricating liquid flushing system to direct flushing and cooling liquid at a surface of the cylindrical rolling element of the guide roller facing away from the receiving space so the lubricating liquid flows over the surface of the cylindrical rolling element before the lubricating liquid comes into contact with debris in the receiving space during a sawing operation.
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It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify the ring saw of Stihl with the teaching of Edgerton, Osborne, and JP 57-166627 such that a water flushing system which reduces wear of the guide roller and its cylindrical rolling element from a sludge formed in the receiving space caused by the ring saw blade during a sawing operation, wherein water is fed in within the receiving space of the tool holder adjoining the guide roller by the water flushing system, and wherein an outlet of the water flushing system is directed at a surface of the cylindrical rolling element that faces away from the receiving space, wherein the guide roller and its cylindrical rolling element are disposed upstream of the receiving space in a direction of flow of water of the water flushing system such that still clean water of the water flushing system flows around the cylindrical rolling element of the guide roller such that entry of the sludge is reduced in a mechanically stressed region of the cylindrical rolling element that is in contact with the guide groove of the ring saw blade and such that the still clean water flows over the surface of the cylindrical rolling element that faces away from the receiving space and around at least one section of the cylindrical rolling element before the still clear water comes into contact with the sludge formed in the receiving space caused by the ring saw blade during the sawing operation in order to prevent dust and debris from the sawing operation from getting stuck in the guide roller, thereby reducing any potential rolling resistance between the guide roller and the ring saw blade due to the build of dust and debris in the tool holder.
Claims 12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Stihl (DE 900 493), Edgerton (US Patent 5,092,044), Osborne (US Patent 6,186,136) and JP 57-166627 in further view of Johansson (US Patent 4,352,241).
Regarding claim 12, Stihl discloses the cylindrical rolling element (30, 35) extends from a thickened portion (24) of tool holder (4). The modified ring saw of Stihl substantially disclosed above fails to disclose the cylindrical rolling element is disposed in a pot which is sealed off from a machine housing and which has an opening facing the receiving space. However, Johansson teaches it is known in the art of ring saws to provide a guide roller (10 6) with a cylindrical rolling element is disposed in a pot (blade holder 104 and cover 4 of Johansson is formed with humps shaped to closely conform to guide rollers 106) which is sealed off from a machine housing (fig. 8) and which has an opening (through which guide rollers 106 project to engage ring saw blade 110) facing the receiving space (Johansson, fig. 8). It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention to modify the ring saw of Stihl with the teaching of Johansson such that the cylindrical rolling element is disposed in a pot which is sealed off from a machine housing and which has an opening facing the receiving space in order to facilitate the use of larger guide rollers within the tool holder of the ring saw.
Regarding claim 15, the modified ring saw of Stihl substantially disclosed above includes the outlet is disposed within the pot (as taught by JP 57-166627).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stihl (DE 900 493), Edgerton (US Patent 5,092,044), Osborne (US Patent 6,186,136) and JP 57-166627 in further view of Dravta (US Publication 2015/0183027), Yasumi et al (JP 59030645), herein referred to as Yasumi, and Englesberg et al (US Patent 3,420,184), herein referred to as Englesberg.
Regarding claim 16, the modified ring saw of Stihl substantially disclosed above fails to include the water flushing system has a channel with has a helical portion that extends around an axis of rotation of the guide roller. However, the teaching of the following references is pertinent to the aforementioned limitation: A. Dravta teaches it is known in the art of lubricating and cooling guide rollers (e.g., guide roller 1, depicted in fig. 6A) to provide a water flushing system (para. 0042) with a channel (12), wherein the channel (12) has a helical portion (para. 0041, lines 9-14) that extends around an axis of rotation of a guide roller (1). In the embodiment of fig. 7, Dravta teaches, “the respective bearing journal 13 is made as a component of the roller core 10 and projects into the bearing mount 3 in which it is surrounded by an outer plain bearing 14. The channel 15 in the bearing mount 3 in the latter has dimensions such that it surrounds the outer plain bearing 14 on the face side so that the coolant can flow in between the plain bearing 14 and the bearing mount 3. This inflowing coolant, which is preferably water, thus contributes to the lubrication of the plain bearing 14” (para. 0044, lines 1-10) [emphasis added]. B. Yasumi teaches it is known in the art of water flushing systems for rotary power tools that water can either be fed into a chamber (44) in the tool holder which then enters through a single hole (28) in a rotary body (e.g., figs. 1-3) after being scooped by curved plate (38), or alternatively, water can be forcibly pressed through chamber (44) via helical screw element (52) into hole (28) into rotary body (18). Yasumi teaches helical screw element (52) forms a groove extending around a rotational axis of rotary body (18), as shown in fig. 5. C. Englesberg teaches it is known in the art of water flushing systems to provide a rotary body (21) that rotates about a rotational axis (annotated fig. 1) within bearing (18), wherein a helical groove (18) is formed in rotary body (21) that extends around of rotary body (21). Englesberg teaches water is pumped through bearing (18) to nozzles (46) that direct water to a back side rotary disc (22).
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It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill int eh art before the effective filing of the invention to modify the ring saw of Stihl substantially disclosed above with the teaching of Dravta, Yasumi and Englesberg, such that the water flushing system of Stihl includes additional cooling and lubrication channels for the guide rollers, wherein the channels include a helical portion extending around an axis of rotation of the guide roller in order to effectively cool the surface of the guide roller (Dravta, para. 0043) and to effectively lubricate the internal rotational bearing surfaces of the guide roller (Dravta, para. 0044, lines 1-10). Moreover, the aforementioned modification would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art because the rotary action of the helical groove and axial positioning of the associated nozzles proximate to the side of the guide roller facing away from the receiving space (as suggested by Englesberg) eliminates any concerns regarding contamination as with conventional bearing lubrication (Dravta, para. 0044, lines 13-16) and allows a direct feed of the water to a specific location on the guide roller. Thus, the aforementioned modification would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention because one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective function and the combination would have yielded predictable results.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jetten (US Patent 3,086,567) discloses a sawing machine with a ring saw blade (5) and a plurality of chain-style guide elements (11).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL ALLEN DAVIES whose telephone number is (571)270-1511. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday; 9am-5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Boyer Ashley can be reached at (571)272-4502. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMUEL A DAVIES/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724 February 7, 2026
/BOYER D ASHLEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724