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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claim 5 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 28 April 2026.
Status
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to the application papers filed on 22 November 2022.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 5 is/are withdrawn from consideration.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 22 November 20122, 8 May 2023, 23 June 2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has/have been considered.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1 is/are objected to because of the following informality(ies):
(A) At last line: “close the sealing part” is suggested to be: close to the sealing part. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 2-3, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
(A) Regarding Claim 2:
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the other side" in line(s) 1 and 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Therefore, the claim is unclear as to whether or not applicant(s) is/are further limiting a claim limitation or introducing a new claim limitation.
(B) Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected due to inheriting the deficiency(ies) raised with regard to claim 2.
(C) Regarding Claim 4:
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the other side" in line(s) 1 and 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Therefore, the claim is unclear as to whether or not applicant(s) is/are further limiting a claim limitation or introducing a new claim limitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. JP 2022-172566 to Tamaki (hereinafter “TAMAKI”).
(A) Regarding Claim 1:
TAMAKI discloses:
A welding torch, comprising:
a cylindrical tip body (2, Fig. 1) extending in an axis line direction;
an orifice member (3) which is arranged on a radially outer side of the tip body and between which and the tip body a first ring-like space (34) is formed;
a cylindrical nozzle (4) arranged on a radially outer side of the orifice member with an interposition of a second ring-like space (43) and having an edge on one side in the axis line direction, wherein the tip body has a first emission hole (24) via which an inner space of the tip body communicates with the first ring-like space, and the orifice member has a second emission hole (35) via which the first ring-like space communicates with the second ring-like space, and
wherein the second ring-like space is substantially closed by a sealing part (32) on another side in the axis line direction, and an outlet opening (not numbered, see hole 35 and flow arrow to determine outlet is facing the interior of the nozzle 4) of the second emission hole is arranged close to the sealing part.
(B) Regarding Claim 2:
TAMAKI further discloses:
the sealing part (32, Fig. 1) is formed by forming a large radius part on an edge on the other side in the axis line direction of the orifice member (3), and by having an outer periphery of the large radius part contacted with or arranged close to an inner peripheral surface of the nozzle (4).
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, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAMAKI, as applied to claim 1 above.
(A) Regarding Claim 4:
TAMAKI teaches:
on the other side in the axis line direction of the orifice member (3, Fig. 1), a cylindrical insulator (6) externally fit to the tip body (2) is arranged, and an inner periphery of an edge on the other side in the axis direction of the nozzle is coupled to an outer periphery of the insulator by screw means (51).
However, the difference between TAMAKI and the claimed invention is that TAMAKI does not explicitly teach coupling by a metric fine screw.
The Applicant has not disclosed any unexpected results to suggest that the screw means being metric fine screw provides an advantage, solves a stated problem, or is used for a particular purpose beyond the fact that the metric fine screw allows for a coupling between two components. Furthermore, it appears that the welding torch of TAMAKI would perform equally well with the metric fine screw because the nozzle would be securely coupled to the insulator. Therefore, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to form the screw means as a metric fine screw thread to obtain the claimed invention and thereby achieve the predictable result of forming a coupling between the nozzle to the insulator.
Cited Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20150273615 to Cooper et al. teaches an orifice member having a large radius part with a tapered surface adjacent the emission hole. US 20150273615 to Nishimura and US 4914271 to Delzenne et al. teach a welding torch with first and second emission holes. US 4529863 to Lebel teaches an outlet of the emission hole extending through the large radius part of an orifice member.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3 is/are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
(A) Regarding Claim(s) 3:
Claim(s) 3 is/are deemed novel and nonobvious over the cited art due to the inclusion of the limitation “the outlet opening of the second emission hole is arranged on the tapered surface” which, in combination with the other requirements of the claim(s), is neither taught nor suggested by the cited prior art as a whole, either alone or in combination. Specifically, the cited art teaches tapered surfaces (e.g. Cooper et al. cited above), but the outlet is located away from the tapered surface; or, an outlet through the large radius part (e.g. Lebel cited above), but the large radius part does not have a tapered surface.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAYLA M MCCAFFREY whose telephone number is (571)272-3438. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday (excluding Wednesday) 10AM - 2 PM EST.
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KAYLA M. MCCAFFREY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3745
/Kayla McCaffrey/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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