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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Line 6 should read, “at least one receptacle coupled to the body by a support;”. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 3-6, 11, 14, 20-21, 23, 25, 27-28 and 30-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Winter (GB 2473741) in view of Nam (KR 101067711).
Regarding claims 1, 3, 4 and 6, Winter discloses a cutting device capable of use in a pipe preservation system comprising a body 3, a fitting guide 11 attached to the body, wherein the fitting guide is coupled to a bar 5. At least one receptacle 21 is coupled to the body by a support 19. A cutting blade 23 is disposed within the at least one receptacle, and is positioned adjacent a side of the body. At least one support structure 15/17 is configured to maintain the body at a distance from the pipe being cut, wherein the at least one support structure is coupled to the bar. Winter does not disclose the claimed cutting lever attached to the receptacle.
Nam discloses a similar cutting device, wherein the cutting receptacle (see Fig. 5, the receptacle being the unlabeled part which houses cutting blade 632a) has a cutting lever 633 attached thereto. The cutting lever is moveable between two positions (see Figs. 6 & 7), a vertical position and a horizontal position which correspond to a cutting position (Fig. 7) and a retracted position (Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the device of Winter by incorporating the cutting lever of Nam, in order to allow for setup without contacting the workpiece or to selectively disengage the cutter if desired. The modified apparatus would result in the cutting blade being in the retracted position when the cutting lever is parallel to the body (see the lever of Nam being perpendicular to the receptacle in the retracted position/Fig. 6, which would correspond to the lever being perpendicular to the receptacle/parallel to the body 3 in Fig. 1 of Winter) and the cutting blade in the cutting blade being in the cutting position when the lever is perpendicular to the body (see the lever of Nam being parallel to the receptacle in the cutting position/Fig. 7, which would correspond to the lever being parallel to the receptacle/perpendicular to the body 3 in Fig. 1 of Winter).
Regarding claim 5, Winter discloses the cutting blade being arranged at an angle in the cutting position relative to the longitudinal surface of a pipe, (see e.g. Fig. 3). Neither Winter nor Nam explicitly disclose the particular angle at which the blade lies.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to provide the cutting blade with an angle of less than 30˚ relative to the surface of the pipe, depending on the material of the pipe being machined, and the desired angle left on the workpiece. See MPEP 2144.05, II, A.
Regarding claim 11, neither Winter nor Nam explicitly disclose a setting means for securing the fitting guide to a desired position on the bar. However, Examiner takes Official Notice that if desired, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to provide a screw/pin/rivet/key to the interface between the fitting guide(s) 11 and bar 5 to lock the rotational position in place. The concept of selectively locking two pieces rotationally is well known in the art.
Regarding claim 14, Winter discloses at least one pressure mechanism 29 between the receptacle and the body configured to maintain the cutting blade in contact with the pipe.
Regarding claim 20, Winter discloses the cutting blade being attached to the receptacle by one or more screws (Page 8, Lines 16-22).
Regarding claim 21, Winter discloses a cutting blade receptacle lock 31 (i.e. a lock to maintain the cutting blade receptacle in place).
Regarding claim 23, Winter discloses the positioning of the cutting device being a function of the length and thickness of the pipe (Page 12, Line 9 to Page 13, Line 9).
Regarding claim 25, Winter discloses the receptacle comprising at least one template for positioning the cutting blade at a desired angle, the at least one template comprising a triangular shape (see Figs. 1 & 2, the template being the unlabeled body inserted in the receptacle under the cutting blade 23, said template having a triangular notch cut into the bottom thereof, visible in Figs. 1 & 2).
Regarding claim 27, Winter discloses at least one support shim (see e.g. Figs. 1 and 2, the support shim being unlabeled but under the cutting blade 23 inside the receptacle 21) positioned adjacent the cutting blade.
Regarding claim 28, neither Winter nor Nam explicitly disclose the sharpening angle of the blade with respect to the angle of chamfer of a collar of the pipe. However, as Winter discloses the angular dimensions being adjusted to suit the required cutting operation (Page 13, Lines 7-9), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to set the angle of sharpening of the cutting blade to be greater than or equal to an angle of chamfer on the workpiece depending on the desired/required cutting operation being carried out.
Regarding claims 30 and 31, neither Winter nor Nam explicitly disclose the sharpening and/or lead angle of the cutting blade, however, Figures 2 and 3 show these angles respectively.
Accordingly, as the cutting blade is disclosed as having a small sharpening angle (Fig. 2) and a relatively larger lead angle (Fig. 3), it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to optimize the sharpening and lead angles of the cutting blade to be greater than or equal to 15˚ and less than or equal to 35˚ and from 30˚ to 90˚ respectively, in order to successfully cut the workpiece depending on the material and the desired strength of the cutting edge (e.g. a very small sharpening angle results in a fragile cutting edge, while too large results in a blunt cutting blade). See MPEP 2144.05, II, A.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16 and 19 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.
Conclusion
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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/Alan Snyder/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3722