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 .
This office action is a response to the election of species filed on 4/24/2026.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species A, claims 1-8 and 12-20, in the reply filed on 4/24/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that examiner has provided no support for the lack of unity of invention. Upon further consideration with applicant’s arguments, examiner agrees with the applicant’s counsel that Species A requires the fusible conductor and Species B requires the fixing means. Even though each Species A and B clearly have different mode of operations functions and effect, Species A and B do not necessarily separate to search and examine the present invention. Therefore, the lack of unit between the Species A and B mailed on 2/26/2026 is hereby withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Re. claim 1: The phrase “wherein the fixing means is placed” as recited in line 9 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means is placed--.
The phrase “wherein the fixing means is put over” as recited in line 10 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means is put over--.
Re. claim 3: The phrase “wherein the fixing means is completely covered” as recited in lines 1-2 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means is completely covered--.
Re. claim 4: The phrase “wherein the fixing means is electrically connected” as recited in lines 1-2 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means is electrically connected--.
Re. claim 5: The phrase “wherein the fixing means has a jacket” as recited in line 1 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means has a jacket--.
Re. claim 6: The phrase “wherein the basic side of the fixing means has an opening” as recited in lines 1-2 appears to be --wherein the basic side of the at least one fixing means has an opening--.
Re. claim 7: The phrase “from the basic side of the fixing means” as recited in lines 2-3 appears to be --from the basic side of the at least one fixing means--.
Re. claim 9: The phrase “from the basic side of the fixing means” as recited in lines 2-3 appears to be --from the basic side of the at least one fixing means--.
Re. claim 12: The phrase “wherein the fixing means are designed” as recited in lines 1-2 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means is designed--.
Re. claim 13: The phrase “wherein the fixing means is designed” as recited in lines 1-2 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means is designed--.
The phrase “the jacket of the fixing means” as recited in line 2 appears to be --the jacket of the at least one fixing means--.
The phrase “protrudes at its free edge on the end side, at least in regions, with respect to the outside of the insulating body” as recited in lines 2-3 appears to be --protrudes at its free edge on an end side, at least in regions, with respect to an outside of the insulating body--.
Re. claim 14: The phrase “wherein the fixing means is connected” as recited in line 2 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means is connected--.
Re. claim 16: The phrase “wherein the fixing means and/or the contact cap has” as recited in lines 1-2 appears to be --wherein the at least one fixing means and/or the contact cap has--.
Re. claim 18: The phrase “placing the fixing means” as recited in line 6 appears to be --placing the at least one fixing means--.
The phrase “arrangement on the fixing means” as recited in lines 7-8 appears to be --arrangement on the at least one fixing means--.
The phrase “fixing of the fusible conductor on the fixing means” as recited in lines 8-9 appears to be --fixing of the fusible conductor on the at least one fixing means--.
The phrase “crimping of the fusible conductor with the fixing means” as recited in line 12 appears to be --crimping of the fusible conductor with the at least one fixing means--.
The phrase “at least regionally on the fixing means” as recited in lines 12-13 appears to be --at least regionally on the at least one fixing means--.
Re. claim 19: The phrase “an opening of the fixing means” as recited in lines 3-4 appears to be --an opening of the at least one fixing means--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lasini et al. (US PAT. 10,290,457).
Lasini et al. teach a fuse (as per claim 1) or a process of making a fuse (as per claim 18) comprising: an insulating body (106) having a cavity (121) as shown in Fig. 2 (col. 4, lines 8-19); a fusible conductor (120, Fig. 2) arranged in the insulating body; and outer contact caps (108, 114, Fig. 1, col. 4, lines 12-16) placed on a front side of the insulating body and electrically connected to the fusible conductor; wherein the fusible conductor is fixed for positionally stable arrangement in the insulating body by means of at least one fixing means (135, 136, Figs. 1-2, col. 4, lines 26-30) assigned to a contact cap (135 or 136); wherein the fixing means is placed on the front side of the insulating body as shown in Figs. 1-2; and wherein the fixing means is put over at least in regions from the assigned contact cap as shown in Figs. 1-2 (see also col. 4,lines 1-36 and col. 5, lines 17-54).
Re. claim 2: At least two fixing means are provided as shown in Fig. 1.
Re. claim 3: The fixing means is completely covered by the assigned contact cap as shown in Fig. 2.
Re. claim 4: The fixing means is electrically connected to the fusible conductor as shown in Fig. 2.
Re. claim 5: The fixing means has a jacket for bearing at least in regions on a sheath surface of the insulating body and/or wherein the fixing means has a basic side (110) for bearing at least in regions on the front side (102) of the insulating body as shown in Figs. 1-2.
Re. claim 6: The basic side of the fixing means has an opening (147, Fig. 2), in particular wherein the opening bounds the cavity of the insulating body and/or opens into the cavity of the insulating body.
Re. claim 7: At least one elongated protrusion projects (155, Fig. 2) into the opening from the basic side of the fixing means for fixing or supporting the fusible conductor.
Re. claim 12: The at least one fixing means is designed to be at least substantially identical in construction to one another as shown in Fig. 1.
Re. claim 13: The at least one fixing means is designed in such a way that the jacket of the fixing means, without a contact cap fitted on it, protrudes at its free edge on the end side, at least in regions, with respect to the outside of the insulating body as shown in Figs. 1-2.
Re. claim 14: The at least one fixing means is connected to the insulating body in a frictionally engaged manner, preferably by the contact cap as shown in Figs. 1-2.
Re. claim 15: The contact cap is connected to the fixing means in a frictional manner.
Re. claim 16: The at least one fixing means consists of an electrically conductive material (such as a wire) in particular metal.
Re. claim 18: Lasini et al. teach a process of making a fuse comprising: providing an insulating body, a fusible conductor, at least one fixing means and outer contact caps; placing the fixing means on the front sides of the insulating body; insertion of the fusible conductor into the insulating body by arrangement on the fixing means and, preferably by frictional and/or material locking, fixing of the fusible conductor on the fixing means so that the fusible conductor is arranged in the insulating body in a positionally stable manner; placing the outer contact caps on the insulating body and at least regionally on the fixing means, so that each fixing means is put over at least regionally from the contact cap as shown in Figs. 1-2 (see also claim 1 as set forth above and col. 4,lines 1-36 and col. 5, lines 17-54).
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 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lasini et al. as applied to claims 1 and 18 above, and further in view of Hu et al. (CN-112768322 A).
Lasini et al. teach all limitations as set forth above, but silent the cavity filled with an extinguishing agent. Hu et al. teach a fuse including a cavity of the fuse main body which is filled with arc extinguishing agent (see abstract). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify a fuse of Lasini et al. by an extinguishing agent filled in the cavity as taught by Hu et al. in order to to improve resistance stability and fuse consistency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-11 and 20 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.
The Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Pineda et al. (US PAT. 10,204,757), and Kim et al. (US PAT. 9,847,202) are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to a fuse.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL D KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-4565. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:00 AM-2:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Hong can be reached at 571-272-0993. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PAUL D KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
Prosecution Insights