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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5,784,934 A to (Izumisawa) in view of US 7,156,187 B1 to (Townsan).
Regarding claim 1, (Izumisawa) provides a powered ratchet tool (Col. 3, lines 45-47: “... the principles of the present invention are generally applicable to a power ratchet wrench driven by an electric motor”) comprising: a housing (fig. 1) including a battery receptacle; a motor (18) disposed within the housing, the motor including an output spindle (42) driven by the motor about a first axis; a battery configured to be coupled to the battery receptacle to power the motor (the feature of the motor, the battery receptacle and the battery as seen here are considered as implicitly disclosed as they are common parts of an electrically driven ratchet); a head (14) pivotably coupled to the housing (fig. 1), the head configured to pivot with
respect to the housing about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis and between a plurality of discrete orientations, the head including a ratchet mechanism (15) driven by the output spindle (42), and an output drive (16) coupled to the ratchet mechanism and configured to rotate about an output drive axis; and a locking mechanism (pin 22 along with sections 60,62) moveable between a first position (fig. 6.), in which the head is locked in one of the plurality of discrete orientations
with respect to the housing, and a second position (fig. 5}, in
which the head freely pivots between the plurality of discrete orientations about the second axis. The pin (22) has first (60) and second (62) sections, each section having external splines (64) that engage internal notches (66) in the openings in both the head and the handle to lock the head in a fixed angular position relative to the handle (Col. 4, lines 1-12; Figs. 2, 3 and 5). In order to adjust the angular position of the head 14 relative to the handle 12, the pin 22 is moved to its unlocked position, the head 14 is pivoted to a selected position and the pin is moved back to its locked position. There is no need to move the head 14 and handle 12 apart prior to pivoting the head. Thus, adjustment of the head 14 is in most instances may be accomplished with one hand by simply sliding the pin 22 to its unlocked position and repositioning the head (Col. 4, lines 47-54; Figs. 1-3, and 5).
(Izumisawa) is silent in regard as to the total angular range of the repositioning of the head; but, it appears that the head is capable of being repositioned from zero degrees to a positive or negative 90 degrees for a total range of 180 degrees.
(Townsan) provides an electric screwdriver having, inter alia, a head (spindle head 18) pivotably coupled to the housing (12), the head configured (18) to pivot with respect to the housing about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis and between a plurality of discrete orientations, and a locking mechanism (rotational locking mechanism 101) moveable between a first position, in which the head (18) is locked in one of the plurality of discrete orientations with respect to the housing, and a second position, in which the head (18) freely pivots between the plurality of discrete orientations about the second axis. The electric screwdriver of (Townsan) utilizes a gearing assembly that transmits input from the motor to the output (spindle shaft 32) via miter gears (48, 52, 62, 64), i.e., bevel gears, and spur gears (58), and (Townsan) teaches that the head (18) is repositionable in a plurality of discrete positions such as positive 15 degree position, a positive 30 degree position, a positive 45 degree position, a positive 75 degree position, a positive 90 degree position, and to a positive 105 degree position (Col. 4, lines 51-63). Therefore, the head of (Townsan) freely pivots between the plurality of discrete orientations about the second axis, wherein the plurality of discrete orientations includes a first orientation and a second orientation offset from the first orientation by 180 degrees (Fig. 3A) or more.
As (Izumisawa) and (Townsan) utilize similar transmissions between the motor and the output shaft of their respective devices, and, as noted above, since it appears that the head of (Izumisawa) is capable of being repositioned from zero degrees to a positive or negative 90 degrees for a total range of 180 degrees and (Townsan) demonstrates that the transmission assembly provides the capacity to pivot the head in a range up to a positive 105 degrees and a negative 105 degrees, i.e., 0 to 210 degrees, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the discrete positioning of the head and locking mechanism relative to the housing of (Izumisawa) such that when in an unlocked position, the head freely pivots between the plurality of discrete orientations about the second axis, wherein the plurality of discrete orientations includes a first orientation and a second orientation offset from the first orientation by 180 degrees, as taught by (Townsan).
Regarding claim 6, in (Izumisawa) as modified in view of (Townsan), (Izumisawa) provides a gear assembly including: an input shaft (42) driven by the output spindle of the motor; an input gear (82) coupled for co-rotation with the input shaft (42); an idler gear (84) configured to engage the input gear to rotate about the second axis; an output gear (86) configured to engage the idler gear (84); and an output shaft (not labeled) coupled for co-rotation with the output gear (86) such that the output shaft rotates about a third axis coaxial with the first axis to drive the ratchet mechanism (15) to rotate the output drive (drive shaft 16) about the output drive axis.
Regarding claim 8, (Izumisawa) as modified in view of (Townsan), in (Izumisawa) the input gear, the idler gear, and the output gear are bevel gears.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-13 and 15-20 are allowed.
Claims 2-5 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if claims 2 and 7 are rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: regarding claim 2 – that the locking mechanism includes a collar disposed around the housing; and, regarding claim 7 – that the input gear is slidable along the input shaft and coupled to the locking mechanism, and wherein movement of the locking mechanism from the first position to the second position moves the input gear out of engagement with the idler gear, together in combination with the rest of the limitations in the independent and any intervening claim, has neither been disclosed nor suggested by the prior art of record considered as a whole, alone, or in combination.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: Regarding claims 9-13, 15 and 16, claim 10 has been amended to incorporate the previously indicates allowable limitations from original claim 14. Claims 9, 11-13, 15 and 16 depend upon claim 10 and are in condition for allowance. Claims 17-20 are in condition for allowance as previously indicated in the non-final office action.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Response to Arguments
Regarding the claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant has amended claims 2 and 13 to resolve the inconsistency with claim 1. The rejections have been withdrawn.
Regarding the previous indication of the allowabilty of the limitations of original claim 9, upon further review and consideration of the prior art, the examiner has rejected amended claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over (Izumisawa) in view of (Townsan).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David B. Thomas whose telephone number is (571) 272-4497. The examiner’s e-mail address is: dave.thomas@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 11:30-7:30.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Posigian can be reached on (. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/David B. Thomas/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/DBT/