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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 28 July 2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: in claim 12, line 5, the word “of” should be added before the word “said”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1-7 and 21-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Frota de Souza et al. (US 7,959,387).
Regarding claim 1, Frota de Souza et al. discloses a tool-clamping chuck 200 for clamping tools 14 for performing work, the tools each having a tool shank 14a, the tool-clamping chuck comprising: a sleeve portion 12a/202 having an open free end (opening connected to threaded bore at the bottom of the chuck, see figure 2), said sleeve portion forming a tool-holding fixture 12d for frictionally locking fixing of the tool shank of the tool for performing work in a press fit by shrink-fitting; and said sleeve portion including an inner sleeve 12a and an outer sleeve 202, said inner sleeve and said outer sleeve extending over an entire axial length of said tool-holding fixture (see figure 2), said outer sleeve receiving said inner sleeve in an operationally ready state, said inner sleeve having a conical outer circumferential surface 12e at said tool-holding fixture, and said outer sleeve having a complementary, conical inner circumferential surface 204 at said tool-holding fixture, and said outer sleeve being joined to said inner sleeve without play by a press fit (shrink fit) extending entirely along said axial length of said tool-holding fixture; said inner sleeve and said outer sleeve both being actively and substantially involved in producing the press fit holding the tool shank (the outer sleeve compresses the inner sleeve after the shrink fit); and said tool-holding fixture being formed directly and jointly by said inner sleeve and said outer sleeve without an attachment screwed into said sleeve portion (the inner sleeve and outer sleeve do not include an attachment screwed into the sleeve portion, see figure 2).
Regarding claim 2, Frota de Souza et al. discloses wherein said sleeve portion 12a/202 is composed of an electrically conductive material (the outer portion may be made of steel, see column 2, lines 63-64), and said inner sleeve is composed of an electrically conductive material (the inner sleeve and outer sleeve may be made of the same material, see column 3, lines 19-20).
Regarding claim 3, Frota de Souza et al. discloses wherein said outer sleeve 202 is also connected to said inner sleeve 12a by a press fit whenever the tool-clamping chuck is at room temperature and not clamping any tool shank (the outer sleeve must be heated to remove it from the inner sleeve, see column 3, lines 47-50).
Regarding claim 4, Frota de Souza et al. discloses wherein said outer sleeve 202 is configured, after thermal expansion of said outer sleeve and insertion of the tool shank 14a to be clamped as intended into said inner sleeve 12a, to be prevented from shrinking as said outer sleeve cools again and thereby substantially contributes to producing the press fit holding the tool shank (the outer sleeve is provided with a pre-determined amount of interference with the inner sleeve dependent on the amount of heat applied to the sleeve, see column 3, lines 40-47).
Regarding claim 5, Frota de Souza et al. discloses wherein said inner sleeve 12a is configured to be under tension in a cold state and to open by deformation during thermal expansion of said outer sleeve 202 (see column 1, lines 28-31).
Regarding claim 6, Frota de Souza et al. discloses wherein said inner sleeve 12a and said outer sleeve 202 are composed of different materials (see column 3, lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 7, Frota de Souza et al. discloses which further comprises a clamping chuck basic body 12 forming a coupling (using the threads in the threaded bore) to a machine tool, said inner sleeve 12a being a non-releasable or integral part of said clamping chuck basic body (see figure 2).
Regarding claim 21, Frota de Souza et al. discloses a tool-clamping chuck 200 for clamping tools 14 for performing work, the tools each having a tool shank 14a, the tool-clamping chuck comprising: a sleeve portion 12a/202 forming a tool-holding fixture 12d for clamping or shrink-fitting a tool shank of the tool for performing work, said sleeve portion including an inner sleeve 12a and an outer sleeve 202, said inner sleeve and said outer sleeve extending over an entire axial length of said tool-holding fixture (see figure 2), said outer sleeve receiving said inner sleeve in an operationally ready state without play (see column 3, lines 40-44), said inner sleeve having a conical outer circumferential surface 12e at said tool-holding fixture, said outer sleeve having a complementary, conical inner circumferential surface 204 at said tool-holding fixture, and said outer sleeve being joined to said inner sleeve by a press fit extending entirely along said-axial length of said tool-holding fixture (see figure 2); said inner and outer sleeves both being actively and substantially involved in producing said press fit holding the tool shank (the outer sleeve compresses the inner sleeve after the shrink fit); and said tool-holding fixture being formed directly and jointly by said inner sleeve and said outer sleeve without an attachment screwed into said sleeve portion (the inner sleeve and outer sleeve do not include an attachment screwed into the sleeve portion, see figure 2).
Regarding claim 22, Frota de Souza et al. discloses at least one tool-clamping chuck 200 according to claim 1; and a shank tool 14a coordinated with said at least one tool-clamping chuck with regard to a shank nominal diameter of said shank tool 14 (see column 1, lines 28-29).
Regarding claim 23, Frota de Souza et al. discloses wherein said tool-holding fixture 12d is configured for preventing rotating and axial pulling out and slipping of the tool shank 14a (see column 1, lines 60-67).
Regarding claim 24, Frota de Souza et al. discloses wherein said tool-holding fixture 12d is configured for preventing rotating and axial pulling out and slipping of the tool shank 14a (see column 1, lines 60-67).
Regarding claim 25, Frota de Souza et al. discloses which further comprises a clamping chuck basic body 12, said outer sleeve 202 being axially supported on said clamping chuck basic body by an axial support 12f located axially behind a tool-holding region 12d.
Regarding claim 26, Frota de Souza et al. discloses which further comprises a clamping chuck basic body 12, said outer sleeve 202 being axially supported on said clamping chuck basic body by an axial support 12f located axially behind a tool-holding region 12d.
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 of this title, 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 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frota de Souza et al. (US 7,959,387), as evidenced by Schulz “History of High Speed Machining”.
Regarding claim 20, Frota de Souza et al. discloses the chuck may be used in severe operation conditions requiring increased torque transmission.
Frota de Souza et al. does not explicitly disclose a method for “carrying out high-speed cutting or milling at a cutting speed of more than 800 m/min or at a cutting speed of more than 1100 m/min.” However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination device to have a cutting speed between 800 m/min and infinity because adjustment of cutting speed is recognized in the art to impact cutting quality, heat transfer within the system, and equipment life span with a reasonable expectation of success. Such modifications involve the mere optimization of a variable within a working range to yield predictable results which fail to distinguish the invention over the prior art (see MPEP 2144.04). As evidenced by Schulz (“History of High Speed Machining”), numerous cutting methods are performed with different materials of cutting tools having a cutting speed of 800 m/min or more (figure below) and resulting in improved surface qualities and minimal heat transfer (pg. 12). Further, Applicant has not disclosed any criticality on the specified dimension (on page 2 of disclosure, the cutting speed may be more than 800m/min or even more than 1100m/min).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 12 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) 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.
Retzbach (DE 10 2021 110 743 A1) discloses a tool-clamping shrink fit chuck.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC ANDREW GATES whose telephone number is (571)272-5498. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 9-6, Alt Fr 9-5.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sunil Singh, can be reached on 571-272-3460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIC A. GATES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3722 24 August 2026
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