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.
Claim(s) 1-5,10,13,16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nothe et al. in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0212277 as evidenced by Amemiya et al. in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0100613 A1.
Nothe et al. discloses an electrode wire (element 1) for electrical discharge machining with a core (element 2) made of Cu-Zn alloy (meeting claim 13) and an alloy layer of copper-zinc(element 4) includes a portion formed primarily from beta prime phase(see paragraph 81) with a zinc proportion of 38-49% by weight (see paragraph 81) with with cracks (see figures 2,3,4 and 6). (Nothe further discloses in paragraph 41 the beta phase and the beta phase prime coexist). Amemiya et al. discloses that a copper zinc alloy with zinc with 40-45% alpha phase and beta phase coexist; therefore the alpha phase is present in the beta prime phase. Regarding claim 2, see paragraphs 34 and 35 of Nothe et al.. Nothe et al. further discloses grains that are wedge shaped (meeting claim 3, see figure 2, which are discontinuously formed (see figure 2) (meeting claim 4), which contain gamma phase (figure 4, reference element 5, see paragraph 85), and cracks between grains (see figure 9 and paragraph 92) are considered to be grains with cracks (meeting claims 10,16,17,18).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9,11,12,14,15,19 and 20 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 prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Japan Patent No. 2004-314,303 discloses that wire electrodes with cracks on the surface have greater surface area permitting more cooling of the wire electrode and permits an improved working rate of at least 15% higher. Kawamoto et al. in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0189327 A1 discloses an electrode wire with a crystal state having alpha phase and beta prime phase (see paragraph 89). Weber in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0027991 A1 discloses in figure 3 alpha plus beta brass grains 8 are completely embedded into the homogenous brass phase 7 of beta grains or beta prime brass. Seong et al. in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0110379 A1 discloses a core wire made of alpha plus beta prime but not the coating layers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Geoffrey S Evans whose telephone number is (571)272-1174. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 am to 2:30 pm. M-F.
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/GEOFFREY S EVANS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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