DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-5 are currently pending in the application.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cho (KR 20090105136 A, see attached English translation).
Regarding independent claim 1, Cho discloses a fastener apparatus 10 (Fig. 4) to be welded to a workpiece 80 (“base material”) by a fastener attaching device (“automatic stud welding device” with “welding gun 70”, Fig. 4), the fastener apparatus comprising fasteners 10 (“stud wire”) oriented in a same direction and joined together via a separable fragile portion 11 (“cutting portion”, Fig. 4) to form a rod body (Fig. 4, 6, 7, the fastener apparatus 10 is straightened into a rod body by straightener 40 as shown, Pg. 5, “The stud wire (10) is guided through a welding gun (70) and fed to the parent material (80). In order to plastically deform the curved stud wire (10) that is wound around the wire roll into a straight shape, a straightener (40) is configured, and is installed between the main feeder (20) and the welding gun (70) so that the stud wire (10) can be straightened before being fed into the welding gun (70)”).
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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 2-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cho in view of Schneider (EP 3269488 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Cho discloses a fastener attaching device (Fig. 4 above) configured to weld the fasteners 10 formed as the rod body according to Claim 1 to a workpiece 80 by supplying current (from a power source 60), the fastener attaching device comprising:
a rod body holder 70 (the “weld gun”) provided at an end and configured to accommodate and hold the rod body comprising the fasteners (Fig. 4 above).
Cho fails to disclose the fastener attaching device is fixed to a working end of a manipulator of a robot, and a clamping member provided at an end of the rod body holder and configured to clamp the accommodated and held rod body from a periphery of the rod body.
Schneider teaches a fastener attaching device 10 for welding elements 16 to a workpiece 14, the fastener attaching device being fixed to a working end of a manipulator robot 12 (“joining robot”, Fig. 1, Para. 0044, “Fig. 1 shows a joining head 10, which is arranged on an arm of a joining robot 12 in order to process a workpiece 14”).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the apparatus of Cho such that the fastener attaching device is fixed to a working end of a manipulator robot, as taught by Schneider, in order to utilize the fastener attaching device in an automated system where the fasteners are welded to the workpiece in an automated manner as known in the art, particularly for automotive industry manufacturing (Schneider Para. 0002-0009). Cho does discuss the use of “conventional stud welding apparatus” by a “robot” (Cho Pg. 2, “Conventional stud welding equipment continuously supplies each stud to a welding gun and performs welding manually or automatically using a robot”), but does not go into specifics as to the arrangement of the attaching device on a robot. One skilled in the art would know, based on prior art teachings such as in Schneider, to apply the fastener attaching device of Cho to an end of a robot arm/manipulator, to enable its use in automated manufacturing systems.
Schneider further teaches a clamping member 20 (“clamping portion”, Fig. 2a-2c) provided at an end of the rod body holder 18 (“joining element holder”, Fig. 2a-2c) and configured to clamp the accommodated and held rod body at an end of the welding device(i.e. the fasteners 16IK, 16IIK, 16IIIK) from a periphery of the rod body (Fig. 2a-2c, the clamping member holds the rod body/fastener at an end of the holder 18 at the fastener’s peripheral outer surface).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have incorporated into the apparatus of Cho, the clamping member at an end of the rod body holder for clamping the accommodated rod body from a periphery of the rod body, as taught by Schneider, in order to support and securely hold the fastener about its periphery at the end of the rod body holder, while the fastener is being welded to the workpiece (Schneider Claim 1, Para. 0048, 0053-55, 0058-59).
Regarding claim 3, Cho in view of Schneider teaches the fastener attaching device according to Claim 2, and Cho further teaches a fastener attaching method using the fastener attaching device according to Claim 2, the fastener attaching method comprising:
holding, with the rod body holder 70, the rod body 10 comprising the fasteners 10 (Fig. 4, Pg. 5-7, “When power is supplied to the main feeder motor to operate the main feeder (20), the stud wire (10) is straightened into a straight shape while passing through the straightener (40) and is guided through the welding gun (70) to be fed to the parent material (80).”);
exposing an end of the fastener at the end of the clamped rod body (Fig. 6, one of the fasteners is exposed at the end of the holder 70 as shown; Pg. 5, 6, the rod body is exposed at the end of the device such that one of the fasteners 10 is exposed, and any excess amount of the rod body belonging to the next fastener is at least partially retracted);
welding one of the fasteners at the end to the workpiece by supplying the current (Fig. 6, Pg. 6-7, “When the supplied stud wire (10) comes into contact with the base material (80), the welding current supplied from the power source (60) is energized, causing current to flow between the stud wire (10) and the base material (80), and the operation of the main feeder (20) is stopped, thereby stopping the forward feeding of the stud wire (10)… Then, as the stud wire (10) and the base material (80) fall, an arc is generated, and the welding current is appropriately reduced to sufficiently melt the end of the stud wire (10) by maintaining the generated arc for a certain period of time. When the end of the stud wire (10) is sufficiently melted, the stud wire (10) is fed again so that it comes into contact with the base material (80). At this time, the welding current is minimized to induce a welding phenomenon, and the stud wire (10) is fed forward little by little so that the stud wire (10) is welded to the base material (80)”);
exposing at least the fragile portion 11 in a state in which the one of the fasteners 10 at the end is attached (Fig. 6, the “cutting portion 11” is exposed as shown, Pg. 7-8); and
separating the rod body at the exposed fragile portion (Pg. 7-8, “The stud wire (10) has a concave surface formed into a cutting portion (11) at a predetermined interval, and after welding is completed, a welding voltage is applied to the welding gun (70) and the base material (80) to generate an arc in order to cut the stud wire (10) and supply an appropriate current. And, when the sub-feeder (30) is operated to pull the stud wire (10) in the reverse direction, the stud wire (10) breaks at the cutting portion (11), causing an arc to occur.”; the sub-feeder 30 which manipulates the extension of the rod body is operated to “cut” the rod body at the fragile portion 11).
Cho in view of Schneider fail to teach the step of clamping, with the clamping member, the rod body at an end of the rod body holder; the separating the rod body at the exposed fragile portion is by operating the manipulator.
Schneider teaches a clamping with the clamping member 20 (“clamping portion”, Fig. 2a-2c) the rod body (fastener stack 16IK, 16IIK, 16IIIK) at an end of the rod body holder 18 (“joining element holder”, Fig. 2a-2c, the clamping member holds the rod body/fastener at an end of the holder 18 at the fastener’s peripheral outer surface).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have incorporated into the method of Cho in view of Schneider, clamping with the clamping member the rod body at an end of the rod body, as taught by Schneider, in order to support and securely hold the fastener about its periphery while the fastener is being welded at the end of the rod body holder (Schneider Claim 1, Para. 0048, 0053-55, 0058-59).
Schneider further teaches that the mechanisms for feeding the fasteners/rod body/joining elements, providing control signals, and providing welding current can be integrated into the manipulator arm of the robot (Para. 0024).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the method of Cho in view of Schneider such that the mechanisms for feeding the fasteners/rod body/joining elements, providing control signals, and providing welding current can be integrated into the manipulator arm of the robot, as taught by Schneider, in order to provide a unified fastener attaching device wherein the robot manipulator arm possesses the necessary fastener feeding, control, and welding mechanisms for welding the fastener to the workpiece (Schneider Para. 0024). By integrating the fastener feeding mechanism into the manipulator as taught by Schneider, the step of separating the stud wire/fastener rod body at the fragile portion by reversing the feed of the rod body (as taught by Cho) to apply the breaking force on the fragile portion could be broadly construed as “separating the rod body at the exposed fragile portion is by operating the manipulator”, since the feed mechanism is integrated into and is part of the manipulator, and the claim does not explicitly specify what is meant by “operating the manipulator”).
Regarding claim 4, Cho in view of Schneider teaches the fastener attaching method according to Claim 3, and Cho further teaches wherein, in separating the rod body, the exposed fragile portion 11 is cut by applying a force to the fragile portion by operating the manipulator of the robot to which the fastener attaching device is fixed (Cho Fig. 6 & 7, Pg. 7-8, “when the sub-feeder (30) is operated to pull the stud wire (10) in the reverse direction, the stud wire (10) breaks at the cutting portion (11)”; when the rod body is retracted by the feed mechanism 30, an axial force on the rod body at the weakened cutting portion 11 causes the fragile portion to break; operating the feed mechanism, which is integrated into the manipulator as discussed in claim 3 above, could be broadly construed as “operating the manipulator”, since the feed mechanism is integrated into and is part of the manipulator, and the claim does not explicitly specify what is meant by “operating the manipulator”).
Regarding claim 5, Cho in view of Schneider teaches the fastener attaching method according to Claim 3, and Cho further teaches wherein, in separating the rod body, the exposed fragile portion 11 is fuse-cut by allowing the current to flow between the one of the fasteners attached at the end and the clamping member clamping the rod body (Cho Fig. 4, 6 & 7; Pg. 7-8, “The stud wire (10) has a concave surface formed into a cutting portion (11) at a predetermined interval, and after welding is completed, a welding voltage is applied to the welding gun (70) and the base material (80) to generate an arc in order to cut the stud wire (10) and supply an appropriate current. And, when the sub-feeder (30) is operated to pull the stud wire (10) in the reverse direction, the stud wire (10) breaks at the cutting portion (11), causing an arc to occur. When an arc is generated at the above-mentioned cutting portion (11) location and the stud wire (10) is completely cut, the current is reduced again to appropriately form the shape of the end of the stud wire (10), and the welding operation is performed by moving to the next welding point.”; Cho teaches a current is applied through the welding gun 70, which would include the incorporated clamping member from Schneider, and the fastener fragile portion 11, during the procedure to cut the fastener at the fragile portion).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Song (KR 102400274 B1) teaches a fastener to be welded having a fragile portion meant to break the fastener off from an energizing portion.
신문수 (KR 200472862 Y1) teaches a welding gun for welding studs, wherein the studs are fastened together with a string when loaded into the welding gun.
Kim (KR 20220074552 A) teaches a welding gun having a fastener that is in the form of a rolled wire, which is cut into studs by the welding gun after being welded to the workpiece.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAIN CHAU whose telephone number is (571)272-9444. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9am-6pm PST.
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/ALAIN CHAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3741