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 § 102 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 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. Claim s FILLIN "Insert the claim numbers which are under rejection." \d "[ 1 ]" 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 FILLIN "Insert either \“(a)(1)\” or \“(a)(2)\” or both. If paragraph (a)(2) of 35 U.S.C. 102 is applicable, use form paragraph 7.15.01.aia, 7.15.02.aia or 7.15.03.aia where applicable." \d "[ 2 ]" (a)(1) as being FILLIN "Insert either—clearly anticipated—or—anticipated—with an explanation at the end of the paragraph." \d "[ 3 ]" anticipated by FILLIN "Insert the prior art relied upon." \d "[ 4 ]" Yamazaki (JP 2011183454 A) . Regarding Claim 1, Yamazaki teaches (Figure 6) a welding gun (spot welding gun 1b) . The welding gun comprises a fixed electrode (second electrode chip 10) fixed to an arm (rotation arm 8). The moveable electrode (first electrode chip 3 a ) is held by a holding member (rotation restricting member 19) separate from the arm , and th e pressure driver (air cylinder 2a) including rod portion (piston rod 2b) is fixed to the holding member. The pressure driver applies pressure to a welding target that is sandwiched between the moveable electrode and fixed electrode by linearly advancing or retracting the rod portion . The holding member is attached to a guide machine (guide portion 20) , which guides the holding member along an axis that is parallel to that of the rod portion using a guide rod (guide rod 20a). With regards to Claim 2, Yamazaki teaches a welding gun according to claim 1, where an electrode holding member is bent such that an axis of the moveable electrode is disposed to be inclined to the axis of the fixed electrode (Modified Fig 6 below ) . T he indicated inclined axes indicated below are two of a plurality of axes of the moveable electrode . 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 FILLIN "Insert the claim numbers which are under rejection." \d "[ 1 ]" 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FILLIN "Insert the prior art relied upon." \d "[ 2 ]" Yamakazi in further view of Marek ( U S 2003/02 2 2055A1 ) . Regarding claims 3 and 4 , Yamazaki teaches all of the elements of the current invention as stated above except the guide mechanism being a ball spline. Marek teaches a welding gun (abstract) which includes ([0025] and Fig 1) a linear guide that has a stiff and non-bending design. This design may use a roller bearing as a linear guide, that includes a guide rail (27), and guide rail or guide grooves for bearing balls (30) and a guide carriage (28) , where the guide carriage has a bead chain, which allows linear movement on the guide rail with little friction. It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yamazaki to incorporate the teachings of Marek t o provide a welding gun with a ball spline guide mechanism . This modification would make the guide mechanism, including the guide rod, a ball spline guide mechanism that runs parallel to the rod portion of the pressure driver , doing so would maintain rigidity of movement while also reducing friction between sliding parts. (Marek Claim 1 and 2) . Claims FILLIN "Pluralize claim, if necessary, and then insert the claim number(s) which is/are under rejection." \d "[ 1 ]" 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FILLIN "Insert the prior art reference(s) relied upon for the obviousness rejection." \d "[ 2 ]" Yamakazi and Marek as applied to claim s FILLIN "Pluralize claim, if necessary, and then insert the claim number(s) which is/are under rejection." \d "[ 3 ]" 3 and 4 above, and further in view of FILLIN "Insert the additional prior art reference(s) relied upon for the obviousness rejection." \d "[ 4 ]" Lu (Chinese Publication no. CN 10577923 A) . Re garding claims 5 and 6, Yamakazi and Marek t each all of the elements of the current invention as stated above except that the pressure driver, guide mechanism, and arm are fixed to a support member disposed on each of both sides of the rod portion across the axis of the rod portion, where the support member is fixed to an attachment member that attaches the welding gun to a robot arm. Lu teaches a welding clamp body (Fig 1, 2 and 4) where the pressure driver (tong driver 3), guide mechanism (slide rail 5), and arm (moveable arm connection device 6) are fixed to a support member (side plates 11 and 12) disposed on each of both sides of the rod portion across the axis of the rod portion. Lu further teaches th at a support member is fixed to an attachment that attaches the welding gun to a robot arm (Abstract). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yamakazi and Marek to incorporate the teachings of Lu to provide a welding gun where the support ing plates enclose the pressure driver, the guide mechanism, and the arm , on opposing sides of the rod portion ; where the support member provides a manner of connecting the welding gun to a robotic arm. This modification would provide the benefit of being able to connect a multitude of structures to the welding gun and arm in a variety of ways that increases the available working conditions and positions of the welding gun ( Lu [0009] ) . Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Takano (GB 2225972 A) teaches a r esistance we lding a pparatus that includes two electrodes affixed to a pair of gun arms in a confronting relation. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT HUNTER HEMMINGS whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)467-0070 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday - Friday 8:00-5:00 . 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Ned Landrum can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-5567 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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