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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 February 11, 2026 has been entered.
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 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 208946220 (cited in the 05/05/2023 IDS with English translation in the PTO-892 enclosed with this instant Office action) in view of Julien (U.S. Patent No. 6,293,020) and Zollikon et al. (U.S. Patent No. 3,555,240, hereinafter “Zollikon”).
Regarding claim 1, CN ‘220 discloses a method of manufacturing a knife blade (see Fig.2) comprising:
preparation of a blade preform (1) of a first material (e.g., stainless steel, see paragraph [0008], line 2 of the English translation) to have a shape of a knife blade (see Figs.1-2),
depositing a second material (5, e.g., a metal-ceramic powder metallurgy fusion layer) which is harder than the first material (see paragraph [0023], line 3 of the English translation) on an edge (4) of the blade preform (1, see paragraph [0008], lines 4-5 of the English translation) by arc welding (see paragraph [0008], line 8 of the English translation) by feeding powder directly onto the first material to provide the edge (4) of the blade preform (1), and
sharpening the deposited second material to prepare a knife blade with a sharp edge (see paragraph [0013], lines 4-5 of the English translation) substantially as claimed except CN ‘220 does not explicitly mention the blade preform (1) is prepared by separating the blade preform (1) from a sheet of the first material, and it fails to show the metal-ceramic powder is contained in a rod to be fed onto the first material during arc welding.
Julien shows a blade preform (350, see Fig.30) prepared by separating the blade preform (350) from a sheet of material (352).
To modify CN ‘220 by preparing the blade preform (1) by means of a well-known technique such as Julien’s separating the blade preform from a sheet of material 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 against environment moisture.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify CN ‘220 by having the metal-ceramic powder contained in a rod and protected by a sheath of the rod as taught by Zollikon for the advantage set forth.
Regarding claim 10, CN ‘220 further shows a handle (3) attached to a section (e.g., a connector, see paragraph [0008], lines 2-3 of the English translation) of the blade preform (1) with the deposited second material (5, see Fig.2).
3. Claims 2 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 208946220 (cited in the 05/05/2023 IDS with English translation in the PTO-892 enclosed with this instant Office action) in view of Julien (U.S. Patent No. 6,293,020) and Zollikon et al. (U.S. Patent No. 3,555,240) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of the admitted prior art of Matus et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0238511, hereinafter “Matus”).
Regarding claims 2 and 7, the method of CN ‘220 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 CN ‘220 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. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 208946220 (cited in the 05/05/2023 IDS with English translation in the PTO-892 enclosed with this instant Office action) in view of Julien (U.S. Patent No. 6,293,020) and Zollikon et al. (U.S. Patent No. 3,555,240) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of the admitted prior art of Tarrerias (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0163128).
Regarding claim 9, the method of CN ‘220 as modified above shows all the claimed limitations except for the heat treating step.
Tarrerias teaches it is desirable to heat treating a blade preform (2) with a harder material (5) deposited thereon before sharpening the harder material (5) to prepare a knife blade with a sharp edge (see paragraph [0023]) to harden the blade.
In view of Tarrerias’ teaching, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify CN ‘220 by including the step of heat treating prior to sharpening for the advantage set forth.
5. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 208946220 (cited in the 05/05/2023 IDS with English translation in the PTO-892 enclosed with this instant Office action) in view of Zollikon et al. (U.S. Patent No. 3,555,240, hereinafter “Zollikon”).
Regarding claim 11, CN ‘220 discloses a method of manufacturing a knife blade (see Fig.2) comprising:
preparation of a blade preform (1) of a first material (e.g., stainless steel, see paragraph [0008], line 2 of the English translation),
depositing a second material (5, e.g., a metal-ceramic powder metallurgy fusion layer) which is harder than the first material (see paragraph [0023], line 3 of the English translation) on an edge (4) of the blade preform (1, see paragraph [0008], lines 4-5 of the English translation) by arc welding (see paragraph [0008], line 8 of the English translation) by feeding powder to the edge (4) of the blade preform (1),
sharpening the deposited second material to prepare a knife blade with a sharp edge (see paragraph [0013], lines 4-5 of the English translation); and
attaching a handle (3) to a section (e.g., a connector, see paragraph [0008], lines 2-3) of the blade preform (1) with the deposited second material (5) by introducing the section into a slot of the handle (e.g., “inserted” into the handle) substantially as claimed except CN ‘220 fails to show the metal-ceramic powder is contained in a rod to be fed to the edge (4) of the blade preform (1) during arc welding.
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 against environment moisture (see the abstract, lines 5-7).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify CN ‘220 by having the metal-ceramic powder contained in a rod and protected by a sheath of the rod as taught by Zollikon for the advantage set forth.
Remarks
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 2, 7 and 9-11 have been considered but are moot in light of the above new ground(s) of rejection.
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 6:00 AM to 2:00 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