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
The amendment filed on 06/22/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejection - 35 U.S.C. 112(b)
1. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
2. Claims 1, 2, 7, 9-11 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
(1) In claim 1, lines 4-5, “a first side and a second side” is vague. The phrase should read --a first side and a second side thereof--. Line 3 of claim 11 should be amended accordingly.
(2) In claim 2, line 3, “an arc welding tool” should read --the arc welding tool--since it refers to the one previously. Note line 6 of claim 1. Line 2 of claim 7 should be amended accordingly.
Claim Rejection - 35 U.S.C. 103
1. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
2. Claims 1, 9, 10 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tarrerias et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0163128, hereinafter “Tarrerias”) in view of Ehrsam (U.S. Patent No. 2,335,497), CN 20894622 (cited in the 05/05/2023 IDS with English translation provided in the 03/23/2026 PTO-892) and Zollikon et al. (U.S. Patent No 3,555,240, hereinafter “Zollikon”).
Regarding claim 1, Tarrerias discloses a method of manufacturing a knife blade (1) comprising:
preparation of a blade preform (2) of a first material (e.g., “stainless steel”, see paragraph [0034], line 10) to have a shape of a knife blade (1), the blade preform (2) having a rough edge (4) extending between a first side and a second side of thereof (see Fig.2),
arranging the blade preform (2) such that the rough edge (4) faces a welding tool (see Fig.3),
depositing a second material (5, e.g., a mixture of powders including a titanium carbide and stainless steel, see paragraph [0035], lines 7-15) which is harder than the first material (see paragraph [0015], lines 1-3) on the rough edge (4) of the blade preform (2) by feeding the powders directly onto the first material provided to the rough edge (4) of the blade preform (2), and
sharpening the deposited second material (6, see Fig.4) to prepare a knife blade (see Fig.5) with a sharp edge (7) substantially as claimed except Tarrerias fails to mention the blade preform (2) is prepared by separating it from a sheet of the first material by cutting loose the blade preform (2) from the sheet by stamping, Tarrerias’ depositing step is by means of “laser beam welding” rather than “arc welding”, and the second material (5) is not of a rod type filled with welding powder or granulate.
Ehrsam shows a method of manufacturing a knife blade by preparing a blade preform (62, see Fig.4) formed by separating the blade preform (62) from a sheet (61) of material (see Fig.1) by cutting loose the blade preform (62) from the sheet (61) by stamping (see page 1, right column, lines 4-7 and 14-17, and page 2, right column, lines 34-47).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to modify Tarrerias by preparing the blade preform (2) from stamping a sheet material for the advantages of massive production without entailing excessive waste material as taught by Ehrsam (see page 2, right column, lines 36-40).
CN ‘220 shows two ways, namely “laser cladding” and “argon arc welding” (see paragraph [0022], lines 1-2 of the English translation), for depositing a harder material onto a blade (1) for hardening a cutting/blade edge of the blade (1).
To further modify Tarrerias by using a well-known and commercially available welding method such as the “arc welding” of CN ‘220 for the predictable result of hardening the cutting edge of Tarrerias’ blade would have been obvious to one skilled in the art.
Zollikon shows welding powder contained in a rod (see the abstract, lines 1-5) which comprises a sheath (30) for protecting a filling material of a welding powder (31) contained in the rod.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to further modify Tarrerias by having welding powder contained in a rod and protected by a sheath of the rod for the advantage of against environment moisture as taught by Zollikon (see the abstract, lines 5-6).
Regarding claim 9, Tarrerias’ blade preform(2)with the deposited second material (5) is heat treated before said sharpening (see paragraph [0023]).
Regarding claim 10, CN ‘220 teaches attaching a handle (3) to a section (e.g., a connector, see paragraph [0008], lines 2-3 of the English translation) of the blade preform (1) for allowing a user to manipulate the blade during cutting. In view of this teaching, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to further modify Tarrerias by including the step of attaching a handle to the blade perform for the advantage set forth.
Regarding claim 16, Tarrerias’ rough edge (4) extends entirely underneath the second material (6, see Fig.2 and 4).
3. Claims 2 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tarrerias et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0163128, hereinafter “Tarrerias”) in view of Ehrsam (U.S. Patent No. 2,335,497), CN 20894622 (cited in the 05/05/2023 IDS with English translation provided in the 03/23/2026 PTO-892) and Zollikon et al. (U.S. Patent No 3,555,240) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Matus et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0238511, hereinafter “Matus”).
Regarding claims 2 and 7, Tarrerias’ method of as modified above shows all the claimed limitations except for the claimed details of the arc welding.
Matus’ admitted prior art (see Fig.1) shows an arc welding creating an arc (12) between a workpiece (14) to be weld and an arc welding tool (16,18), and the arc welding comprising feeding shielding gas (20) from an orifice of the arc welding tool (16,18) towards the workpiece (14) to isolate a location of the workpiece (14) where the arc welding is implemented from surroundings by the shielding gas (20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to further modify Tarrerias by using a well-known arc welding method such as Matus’ admitted prior art for the predictable result of depositing a material onto a workpiece.
4. Claims 11 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tarrerias et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0163128, hereinafter “Tarrerias”) in view of CN 20894622 (cited in the 05/05/2023 IDS with English translation provided in the 03/23/2026 PTO-892) and Zollikon et al. (U.S. Patent No 3,555,240, hereinafter “Zollikon”).
Regarding claim 11, Tarrerias discloses a method of manufacturing a knife blade (1) comprising:
preparation of a blade preform (2) of a first material (e.g., “stainless steel”, see paragraph [0034], line 10), the blade preform (2) having a rough edge (4) extending between a first side and a second side of thereof (see Fig.2),
arranging the blade preform (2) such that the rough edge (4) faces a welding tool (see Fig.3),
depositing a second material (5, e.g., a mixture or powders including a titanium carbide and stainless steel, see paragraph [0035], lines 7-15) which is harder than the first material (see paragraph [0015], lines 1-3) on the rough edge (4) of the blade preform (2) by feeding the powders to the rough edge (4) of the blade preform (2),
sharpening the deposited second material (6, see Fig.4) to prepare a knife blade with a sharp edge (7, see Fig.5) substantially as claimed except Tarrerias’ depositing step is by means of “laser beam welding” rather than “arc welding”, the second material (5) is not of a rod type filled with welding powder or granulate, and it lacks the step of attaching a handle.
CN ‘220 shows two ways, namely “laser cladding” and “argon arc welding” (see paragraph [0022], lines 1-2 of the English translation), for depositing a harder material onto a blade (1) for hardening a cutting/blade edge of the blade (1).
To modify Tarrerias by using a well-known and commercially available welding method such as the “arc welding” of CN ‘220 for the predictable result of hardening the cutting edge of Tarrerias’ blade would have been obvious to one skilled in the art.
Zollikon shows welding powder contained in a rod (see the abstract, lines 1-5) which comprises a sheath (30) for protecting a filling material of a welding powder (31) contained in the rod.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to further modify Tarrerias by having welding powder contained in a rod and protected by a sheath of the rod for the advantage of against environment moisture as taught by Zollikon (see the abstract, lines 5-6).
CN ‘220 teaches attaching a handle (3) to a section (e.g., a connector, see paragraph [0008], lines 2-3 of the English translation) of the blade preform (2) by introducing/inserting the section into a slot of the handle.
In view of this teaching, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to further modify Tarrerias by including the step of attaching a handle to the blade perform for the advantage set forth.
Regarding claim 17, Tarrerias’ rough edge (4) extends entirely underneath the second material (6, see Fig.2 and 4).
Prior Art Citation
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent No. 8,505,414 shows applying a hard material (367, see Fig.6) onto an edge (201) of a steel strip (200) to form a hardened layer (202) on the edge (210), and sharpening the hardened material to form a cutting edge (271, see Fig.9).
Remarks
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claims 1 and 11 have been considered but are moot in light of the above new ground(s) of rejection. Their dependent claims have not been argued individually, and accordingly they stand or fall with independent claims 1 and 11.
Action Made Final
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Point of Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HWEI-SIU PAYER whose telephone number is (571)272-4511. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday -Friday from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Boyer Ashley, can be reached at telephone number 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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/HWEI-SIU C PAYER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3724
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