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 § 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP H04-002728.
Regarding claim 1, ‘728 discloses a cutting tool rest/turret comprising: a plurality of tool holding portions (9, 10, 20) that each hold a tool (T); and a base (3) provided with the plurality of tool holding portions, the base being operable to move each of the tool holding portions between a plurality of positions including a tool change position for changing the tool and a workpiece processing position for processing a workpiece (figures 1 and 2), wherein each of the tool holding portions has a clamping mechanism portion that is operated between a clamping state and an unclamping state when supplied with a hydraulic pressure, the clamping state being a state in which the tool is clamped, the unclamping state being a state in which the tool is unclamped, and a valve that controls the hydraulic pressure to be supplied to the clamping mechanism portion (see page 4, second to last paragraph through page 5, 2nd paragraph of the English machine translation provided by applicant 3/17/23), the cutting tool rest further comprising an actuator (60) that operates the valve of the tool holding portion positioned at the tool change position when connected to the tool holding portion positioned at the tool change position (figure 2 and page 4 of the English translation).
Regarding claim 2, ‘728 discloses wherein the base (3) is pivotable with respect to a first axis (O), and the plurality of tool holding portions (9, 10, 20) are provided side by side at the base in a peripheral direction of the first axis (figure 2).
Regarding claim 3, ‘728 discloses a second axis (i.e. the axis of hydraulic pump mechanism 65) (figure 3) thus the valve has a valve element (65) that extends with respect to a second axis parallel to the first axis (O) and that switches a hydraulic pressure path when moved reciprocally in an axis direction of the second axis, and the actuator has a piston (61)that is disposed to face the valve of the tool holding portion positioned at the tool change position in the axis direction of the second axis and that is capable of pushing and advancing the valve element in one direction along the axis direction of the second axis (figures 2 and 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 5 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.
Conclusion
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/SARA ADDISU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3722 11/28/25