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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on May 27, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This Non-final Rejection is in response to the Amendment dated May 27, 2026 filed in response to the Final Rejection dated January 27, 2026.
Cancelation of claims 2, 4, 11 and 13-15 in the Amendment is acknowledged.
Addition of new claims 21-23 in the Amendment is acknowledged.
The rejection of claims 1, 3 and 6-9 in the previous Office action is withdrawn in view of the amendments to claims 1 and 8.
The rejection of claims 12 and 16-20 in the previous Office action is withdrawn in view of the amendments to claim 12 and arguments in support thereof. However, some of those claims are rejected based upon new grounds necessitated by the claim amendments made to claim 12.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 3 and 6-9 have been fully considered and found persuasive. Accordingly, those rejections are withdrawn as stated above.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 12 and 16-20 have been fully considered and found persuasive. Accordingly, those rejections are withdrawn as stated above. However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection are presented below in view of the amendments made to claim 12.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 12, 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over a U.S. Patent No. 6,834,527 to Hopwood, hereinafter “Hopwood”, in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2009/0223267 A1 by King, hereinafter “King”.
Regarding claim 12, Hopwood discloses a pipe bender (pipe tube bender 100 in Fig. 1; col. 2, line 65) comprising:
a bender head (bender head 120 in Fig. 1; col. 3, line 4) comprising an arcuate rocker, wherein the rocker comprises two parallel sidewalls (sidewalls 124 and 126 in Fig. 4; col. 3, line 7-9) defining an arcuate channel between the sidewalls (arcuate channel 122 in Fig. 4), wherein the sidewalls extend to and define a radially outer threshold of the bender head (see the dotted line annotated to Fig. 4 of Hopwood reproduced below labeled “Outer Threshold”); and
a bending angle stop movably coupled to the arcuate rocker (mechanical stop 150 in Figs. 1-7 is movable coupled to the arcuate rocker of head 120; col. 2, line 66).
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Hopwood does not disclose mechanical stop 150 comprises from claim 1:
a wedge that comprises a sloped surface configured to receive a pipe disposed in the bender head, wherein the sloped surface is disposed between the sidewalls, at least partially within the radially outer threshold of the bender head, and extends outward beyond the radially outer threshold of the bender head when the bending angle stop is secured to the arcuate rocker.
In the same field of pipe benders, King teaches it was known before the effective filing date to add a wedge (wedge concave bent pipe buffer 22 in Figs. 3, 7 and 9; ¶[0029], [0033] and [0035]-[0036]) to a bending angle stop movably coupled to the arcuate rocker (pendulum stop arm 11 in Figs. 2-3, 7-9 and 13) that comprises a sloped surface configured to receive a pipe disposed in the bender head (Fig. 9 shows wedge pipe buffer 22 has a sloped concave surface configured to receive pipe 23; ¶[0036]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add King’s wedge pipe buffer 22 to Hopwood’s mechanical stop member 180 (Fig. 4) such that the lower portion of the sloped concave surface of King’s pipe buffer 22 (see “Lower Portion” annotation below) is disposed partially within channel 122 of Hopwood and the upper portion of pipe buffer 22 (see “Upper Portion” below) extends outward beyond the Outer Threshold of Hopwood’s bender head 120. A person of ordinary skill would have recognized applying the teaching of King to the angle stop of Hopwood would achieve the predictable result of adding a wedge to the angle stop to prevent the pipe from being bent as expressed in paragraphs [0001] through [0008] of King.
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Regarding claim 16, the prior art reference combination of Hopwood in view of King renders the pipe bender of claim 12 unpatentable as explained above. Hopwood further discloses a pin assembly coupled to the bending angle stop, wherein the pin assembly is slidably coupled to the arcuate rocker. Locking member 190 in Fig. 4 is a pin assembly couple to bending angle stop 150 which slidably couples to the arcuate rocker of head 120 as it is threaded into and out of engagement. King also teaches pin assembly screw 15 in Figs. 3 and 4 coupled to bending angle stop arm 11 by threaded rise blocks 13 which threadedly slides into and out of engagement with the arcuate rocker of bender head 1 at degree slots 2 as shown in Fig. 8.
Regarding claim 17, the prior art reference combination of Hopwood in view of King renders the pipe bender of claim 16 unpatentable as explained above. King further discloses
the pin assembly comprises an engagement key (engagement key bevel point 17 in Fig. 4 and 8);
the arcuate rocker defines a plurality of receptacles for the engagement key, each of the plurality of receptacles disposed at a respective position corresponding to a respective bending angle (receptacle degree slots 2 in Figs. 1, 8 and 13); and
engaging the engagement key with one of the plurality of receptacles secures the bending angle stop to the arcuate rocker (Figs. 8 and 13 show engagement key bevel point 17 of pin screw 15 engaging with degree slots 2).
Regarding claim 19, the prior art reference combination of Hopwood in view of King renders the pipe bender of claim 12 unpatentable as explained above. Hopwood further discloses a handle (handle 110 in Fig. 1) coupled to the bender head.
Regarding claim 20, the prior art reference combination of Hopwood in view of King renders the pipe bender of claim 12 unpatentable as explained above. Hopwood further discloses, wherein the bender head comprises a first metal (col. 3, line 5-7 discloses bender head 120 in Fig. 1 is preferably made of cast iron) and the bending angle stop comprises a second metal (col. 4, line 48-50 discloses stop 150 is preferably constructed of steel), wherein the first metal is different from the second metal (cast iron is different from steel).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hopwood in view of King and further in view of Chinese Patent Publication No. CN 111940565 A by Guo et al., hereinafter “Guo”.
Regarding claim 18, the prior art reference combination of Hopwood in view of King renders the pipe bender of claim 12 unpatentable as explained above. However, neither Hopwood nor King disclose:
the arcuate rocker defines an arcuate aperture; and
the bending angle stop is movably couple to the arcuate rocker via the arcuate aperture.
In the same field of pipe benders, Guo teaches a pipe bending device shown in Figs. 1-4 with an arc-shaped hole 11 provided on main board 1 and a mechanical stop locking component 2 lockable at a scale groove 12 within the arc-shaped hole. Pipe 5 is held by limiting members 4 on rod bodies 3 which are rotatably connected to main board 1 by rotating assembly 7 at the rotational center of arc-shaped hole 11. Rod bodies 3 are then rotated to bend pipe 5 until they are mechanically stopped by locking assemblies 2. See paragraphs [0051] through [0062]. Fig. 5 shows locking assembly 2 comprises locking bolt 21 extending through arc-shaped hole 11 and locking nut 22 threaded thereon. The head of locking bolt 21 and locking nut 22 clamp the shaft of locking bolt 21 in scale grooves 12. The end of the shaft distal from the head of locking bolt 21 acts as the mechanical stop. The end of the shaft proximal to the head of locking bolt 21 acts as a pin coupling the mechanical stop distal end to main board 1 through arc-shaped hole 11. See paragraphs [0073] through [0075].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to slidably couple Hopwood’s stop 150 to Hopwood’s disclosed bender head using an arcuate aperture and pin assembly in the same way Guo teaches slidably coupling the distal end of locking bolt 21 to main board 1 using the proximal end of locking bolt 21 slidably coupled in arc-shaped hole 11. A person of ordinary skill would have recognized applying the teaching of Guo to Hopwood’s pipe bender would achieve the predictable result of mounting Hopwood’s stop 150 on a pin assembly slidably engaged within an arc-shaped hole on Hopwood’s bender head to couple stop 150 to the bender head.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3 and 6-9 are allowed. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: independent claims 1 and 8 have been amended to include the limitation the arcuate apertures through the bender head sidewalls include a plurality of recesses located at desired locations along the arcuate apertures which receive a cap of the pin assembly extending through a bending angle stop located in the arcuate channel of the bender head. The prior art of record does not disclose nor teach this limitation.
Claims 21-23 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: claims 21-23 claim a relationship between the width of the arcuate channel of the bender head and the extent to which the sloped surface of the wedge extends beyond the radial outer threshold defined by the bender head. The prior art of record does not teach this claimed relationship.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL DEREK PRESSLEY whose telephone number is (313)446-6658. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30am to 3:30pm Eastern.
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/P DEREK PRESSLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3725
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