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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/26/2023, 4/14/2025, and 11/11/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hada (US10300543B2) in view of Hayashi (JP2003048129A) with citations made to attached machine translations.
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Fig. 1 of Hada
Regarding claim 1, Hada teaches a machine tool that machines a workpiece (W) using a tool (1),
the machine tool comprising:
a saddle (10) configured to move relative to a bed (2) in a first direction (Y-axis saddle 10);
a table (9) configured to move relative to the saddle (10) in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction (Col. 4 lines 25-35 X-axis saddle 9; the X-axis saddle 9 is equipped to freely move in the X-axis direction (direction perpendicular to plane of page of FIG. 1) at an upper side of the bed 2. The Y-axis saddle 10 is equipped to freely move in the Y-axis direction (left/right direction in FIG. 1) at an upper side of the X-axis saddle 9).
Hada is silent on a first clamp member configured to be fixed to the bed and the table and thereby fix a relative position between the bed and the table.
Hayashi teaches a first clamp ([0032] clamp 7) member configured to be fixed to the bed (1) and the table (2) and thereby fix a relative position between the bed (1) and the table (2).
Hada and Hayashi are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of machining tools. It would have been obvious to have modified the bed and table of Hada to incorporate the teachings of Hayashi to have a clamp to fixed to the bed and the table in order to be able to fix the components together firmly with high accuracy, ensuring reliable surface contact (Hayashi [0022]).
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hada (US10300543B2) and Hayashi (JP2003048129A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Matsuyama (JP2011140093A) with citations made to attached machine translations.
Regarding claim 2, Hada and Hayashi teach the machine tool according to claim 1, and Hada teaches wherein the machine tool (1) is a wire electrical discharge machine (Col. 4 lines 10-20 a wire electric discharge machine) that machines the workpiece (W) by generating an electrical discharge at an electrode gap between a wire electrode (16) and the workpiece (W) in a working fluid (Col. 4 lines 30-40 W serving as a workpiece is placed is installed inside of the work pan 11, and is filled with working fluid),
the machine tool further comprising:
a UV-axis saddle (5) configured to move relative to a column (3) disposed so as to stand on the bed (2), in a third direction (Col. 4 lines 40-45 V-axis saddle 5 is equipped to freely move in the V-axis direction (Y-axis direction))
a UV-axis table (6) configured to move relative to the UV-axis saddle (7) in a fourth direction orthogonal (Col. 4 lines 40-45 U-axis saddle 6 is mounted to freely move in the U-axis direction (Col. 4 lines 30-40 X-axis direction)) to the third direction (Col. 4 lines 30-40 Y-axis direction);
a quill (7) configured to move relative to the UV-axis table (6) in a fifth direction Z-axis saddle 7 is mounted to freely move in the Z-axis direction (Col. 4 lines 45-50 up/down direction in FIG. 1)) orthogonal to the first direction (Col. 4 lines 30-40 Y axis direction) and to the second direction (Col. 4 lines 30-40 X axis direction).
Hada is silent on a second clamp member configured to be fixed to the column and the UV-axis table and thereby fix a relative position between the column and the UV-axis table; and
a third clamp member configured to be fixed to the second clamp member and the quill and thereby fix a relative position of the quill with respect to the second clamp member.
Matsuyama teaches a second clamp member ([0017] 8) configured to be fixed to the column (10b) and the UV-axis table (53) and thereby fix a relative position between the column (10b) and the UV-axis table (53); and
a third clamp member ([0017] 9) configured to be fixed to the second clamp member (8) and the quill (63) and thereby fix a relative position of the quill ([0024] 63) with respect to the second clamp member (8).
Hada, Hayashi, and Matsuyama are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of machining tools. It would have been obvious to have modified the column and UV-axis table as taught by the combination of Hada and Hayashi to incorporate the teachings of Matsuyama to have a second clamp to fix the column and UV-axis table and to have modified the quill taught by the combination of Hada and Hayashi to incorporate the teachings of Matsuyama to have a third clamp fixed to the second clamp, that is fixed to the quill in order to allow moveable portions to remain movable when the fixing portion is not engaged and to allow the fixing portions or clamps to remain attached to the moveable portions such that they are not lost (Matsuyama [0008]).
Regarding claim 3, Hada, Hayashi, and Matsuyama teach the machine tool according to claim 2, and Hada teaches the first direction (Col. 4 lines 30-40 Y-axis saddle 10) and the third direction (Col. 4 lines 40-45 V-axis saddle 5 is equipped to freely move in the V-axis direction (Y-axis direction)) are a same direction,
and the second direction (Col. 4 lines 30-40 X-axis saddle 9 is equipped to freely move in the X-axis direction) and the fourth direction (Col. 4 lines 40-45 U-axis saddle 6 is mounted to freely move in the U-axis direction (Col. 4 lines 30-40 X-axis direction)) are a same direction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABIGAIL RHUE whose telephone number is (571)272-4615. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10-6.
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/ABIGAIL H RHUE/Examiner, Art Unit 3761 1/28/2026
/VY T NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761