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 § 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.
Claims 1-3 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.
Claim 1 recites “a filler wire” and then “a filler is melted and solidified.” It is unclear if the “filler wire” is the same “filler” that is melted and solidified. For examination, it will be interpreted as –the filler wire is melted and solidified--.
Claim 1 recites “a contact part” where the filler wire is supplied to and then later recites “a front surface and a back surface of a part being welded.” It is unclear if the contact part is the same as the “part being welded.” For examination, the limitation will be interpreted as – a front surface and a back surface of the contact part being welded--.
Claim 3 recites “a contact part” that is being irradiated and then later recites “a part being welded.” It is unclear if the contact part is the same as the “part being welded.” For examination, the limitation will be interpreted as – a shielding gas injector that shields the contact part being welded--.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakamura (US 20130078031 A1) in view of Fukushima (JP 2016052680 A) and Nakai (US 20050000951 A1).
Claim 1. Nakamura discloses a laser welding method (laser welding, abstract) for Si-containing steel sheets (steel plate contains Si, par. 27) in which,
a tail end of a preceding steel sheet and a leading end of a succeeding steel sheet are placed in contact with each other on a line entry side (side surface of two steel sheets are butted together and welded, Fig. 1, par. 139), and
while a filler wire is supplied to a contact part, laser is applied and a filler is melted and solidified to weld the Si-containing steel sheets together (hybrid laser welder with a filler wire is used to weld, par. 24; where the filler wire is supplied to the weld portion, Fig. 1),
wherein a shielding gas containing a He gas or an Ar gas and further containing at least one type selected from a CO2 gas and an N2 gas by 10 vol% or higher and 30 vol% or lower in total (5% to 25% CO2 gas is mixed with Ar gas or He gas and is used to shield the weld, par. 176) is injected to a front surface (shielding gas is applied to the welding portion, which is part of a surface, par. 176) and
Nakamura does not disclose when Si-containing steel sheets are passed through a continuous processing line and a back surface of a part being welded to achieve hardness of welded metal HV0.2 of 350 or lower and that the gas percentage is in vol %.
Fukushima discloses a laser welding method of steel plates wherein the steel plates are on a continuous steel sheet production line and joined by butt welding (par. 2), wherein Ar or He shielding gas are applied on a top surface and bottom surface of the weld (side gas G2 and back gas G3, Fig. 5, par. 23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Fukushima and process the steel sheets on a production line and apply shield gas to the top and bottom surface of the welding portion. Doing so would have the benefit of welding a continuous lines of steel sheet in a high production process (par. 2, Fukushima) and apply gas onto the top and bottom surface of the weld to prevent oxidation of the molten weld metal (par. 3, Fukushima).
Nakamura in view of Fukushima does not explicitly disclose that the gas mixture is in vol %.
Nakai discloses a laser welding steel sheets wherein the shielding gas is Ar gas mixed with a vol % of CO2 (par. 113).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Nakamura in view of Fukushima to have used vol % in determining the amount of CO2 to mix with Ar or He gas as disclosed by Nakai.
The resulting combination of prior art will read on the claimed resulting hardness of the welded metal because the combined prior art reads on all the limitation of the method claim.
Claim 2. Nakamura in view of Fukushima in view of Nakai discloses the laser welding method for Si-containing steel sheets according to claim 1, wherein the filler wire is a wire that contains 0.5 mass % or lower Si (flux-cored wire has a composition of Si that is 1.5% or less, claim 4).
Claim 3. Nakamura discloses a laser welding apparatus (laser welding, abstract) for Si-containing steel sheets (steel plate contains Si, par. 27), comprising:
a laser irradiation unit that irradiates a contact part of Si-containing steel sheets with laser emitted from a laser oscillator (hybrid laser welder with a filler wire is used to weld, par. 24);
a
wherein the 2 gas and an N2 gas by 10 vol% or higher and vol% or lower in total (5% to 25% CO2 gas is mixed with Ar gas or He gas and is used to shield the weld, par. 176).
Nakamura does not explicitly disclose a filler wire supply device, a shielding gas injector, a control unit that controls the laser irradiation unit, filler wire supply device, and shielding gas injector, or that the shielding gas is supplied to the back surface of the contact part.
Fukushima discloses a laser welding method of steel plates wherein the steel plates are on a continuous steel sheet production line, a filler wire supply device 5 (Fig. 5) supplies a wire for welding (par. 22), multiple shielding gas injectors (par. 23, Fig. 5), a control unit 6 to control the different components (par. 21), and the multiple shielding gas injectors apply gas to the top and bottom surface of the weld (side gas G2 and back gas G3, Fig. 5, par. 23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Fukushima and process the steel sheets on a production line and apply shield gas to the top and bottom surface of the welding portion. Doing so would have the benefit of controlling the welding process using a control unit and preventing oxidation of the molten weld metal (par. 3, Fukushima).
Nakamura in view of Fukushima does not explicitly disclose that the gas mixture is in vol %.
Nakai discloses a laser welding steel sheets wherein the shielding gas is Ar gas mixed with a vol % of CO2 (par. 113).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Nakamura in view of Fukushima to have used vol % in determining the amount of CO2 to mix with Ar or He gas as disclosed by Nakai.
The resulting combination of prior art will read on the claimed resulting hardness of the welded metal because the combined prior art reads on all the limitation of the method claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIMPSON A CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5.
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/SIMPSON A CHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/ELIZABETH M KERR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761