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 .
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated as supported by the Description of the Related Art and the Brief Description of the Drawings in the Specification as filed. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claims 1 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wirth, Jr. et al. (US 20030029285, hereinafter ‘Wirth’) in view of Chang (US 20160101538).
Regarding claim 1, Wirth discloses a tool rest positioning device 340 for a wood lathe comprising a base 344 comprising a containing groove along a length direction on a bottom of the base (see e.g. Fig. 23). An operation rod 352 passes through the containing groove along a rotation axis and rotates between a locked position and an unlocked position. A positioning device 342 comprises a pulling member 370 and an abutting assembly 374. A holding member 364 is slidably disposed in the containing groove and arranged on a moving path of the pulling member. At a locked position, the holding member prevents the operation rod from moving away from the containing groove. Wirth does not disclose the positioning device comprising the claimed eccentric member.
Chang discloses a similar locking mechanism for a movable part (in this case tailstock 30) on a wood lathe. In addition to a similar operation rod 31, Chang discloses a positioning device comprising an eccentric member 32, a pulling member 33 and an abutting assembly 35. The eccentric member has an eccentric bore passing therethrough to receive the operation rod, the operation rod passing through the eccentric bore (see e.g. Fig. 10). The pulling member is pivotally disposed on an outer periphery of the eccentric member, the abutting assembly disposed on one end of the pulling member away from the eccentric member (again, see e.g. Fig. 10). At the locked position, the eccentric member drives the pulling member to pull the abutting assembly in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis to abut against a slide rail of a lathe.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to simply substitute the positioning device of Chang into the tool rest of Wirth, in order to make the operation rod much easier to manufacture, while still allowing the tool rest to lock via rotation of the operation rod between a locked and unlocked position.
Regarding claims 7 and 8, Wirth does not disclose the claimed interaction between operation rod and eccentric bore.
Chang discloses the operation rod comprising a first engagement part (key protrusion) arranged along an axis direction of the operation rod, and the eccentric bore comprises a second engagement part (keyway recess) on an inner side of the eccentric bore. The second engagement part and the first engagement part are engaged, such that the eccentric member is prevented from rotating with respect to the operation rod (see e.g. Fig. 10).
As the modified tool rest of claim 1 incorporated the positioning device of Chang, this includes the structure of Chang discussed above.
Claims 2-5 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wirth, Jr. et al. (US 20030029285) in view of Chang (US 20160101538) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Clay (US 6000447).
Regarding claim 2, Wirth discloses the containing groove concavely comprising a slide groove on an inner side of the containing groove (see e.g. Fig. 23). Neither Wirth nor Chang disclose the structure of the holding member as claimed.
Clay discloses a similar sliding tool rest 10 having a similar operation rod 18, positioning device 40 and holding member 12. The holding member comprises an installation part and a holding arm extending from the installation part on one end of the holding member. The installation part is slidably disposed in the slide groove and the holding arm 17 receives the operation rod (see e.g. Figs. 3 & 4).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to provide the holding member of the modified tool rest of claim 1 with an installation part riding in the slide groove as taught by Clay in order to allow the tool rest to slide freely, while having an installation part installed in the slide groove of the tool rest to maintain the parts in correct orientation, without allowing the holding member to fall through the containing groove.
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Wirth discloses the slide groove comprising an inner groove and an outer groove in communication with each other, the inner groove comprising a stop face on two sides of the outer groove respectively. The inner groove has a first width and the outer groove has a second width, wherein the first width is larger than the second width (see Fig. 23, the inner groove housing the slider block 364 and the outer groove housing the locking piston 370). Neither Wirth nor Chang disclose the claimed installation part structure.
As discussed above, Clay discloses the installation part sliding in a similar groove complete with inner and outer portions as in Wirth, comprising a stop block corresponding to the inner groove and a neck segment corresponding to the outer groove and connected with (i.e. integrally structured therewith) the stop block (see Fig. 4).
As the holding member of modified claim 2 contains the installation part of Clay, the installation part’s stop block and neck segment function as claimed, and the stop block abuts against the stop faces.
Regarding claim 5, the modified tool rest of claim 2 has a slide groove with a T-shaped sectional face and the installation part has a sectional face matching the slide groove.
Regarding claim 9, Wirth in view of Chang discloses the pulling member comprising a column part pivotally disposed on an outer periphery of the eccentric member and a thread part (33 of Chang) extending from the column part. The abutting assembly comprises an abutting member (35 of Chang) and a screw member (36 of Chang). The thread part passes through the abutting member to be screwed to the screw member.
Regarding claim 10, Wirth discloses the base comprising an axle bore formed on two opposite sides thereof respectively, the two axle bores being in communication with the containing groove. The operation rod comprises two rotation axle parts disposed opposite to each other, the two rotation axle parts being rotatably disposed in the two axle bores, respectively (see e.g. Fig. 21 which illustrates the near-side axle bore, and Fig. 18, which shows an underside of a base, with the second axle bore having the second rotation axle part disposed therein).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: none of Wirth, Chang or Clay disclose the claimed arrangement of two holding arms with a space formed therebetween extending from two sides of the installation part, said arms each comprising a holding bore, said installation part being disposed in the slide groove (as required in claim 2, from which claim 6 depends). Clay is the nearest configuration to that claimed, with the two arms 17 that support element 15, but the arms do not comprise a holding bore/through hole and are not situated inside the slide groove. Modifying any of the prior art tool rests of record to restructure the installation part to include the two claimed holding bores disposed in the slide groove as claimed would not have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing, absent impermissible hindsight reconstruction of the instant invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Humphreys (US 1670540) discloses elements of or similar to the instant invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alan Snyder whose telephone number is (571)272-4603. The examiner can normally be reached M-R 7:00a - 5:00p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sunil K Singh can be reached at 571-272-3460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Alan Snyder/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3722