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 § 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) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steffen (6,474,300) in view of Fukushima et al. (2014/0076596) (“Fukushima”).
Regarding claim 15, Steffen teaches a compacting power tool comprising: a housing; a motor (12) mounted within or on the housing; a reciprocating drive mechanism (120) coupled to the motor, wherein reciprocating drive mechanism (crank); a compacting foot (10) coupled to the reciprocating drive mechanism and configured to reciprocate and engage a surface to be compacted when the motor is operating; a user operated switch (column 4, lines 15-20) for starting operation of the compacting power tool; a controller (16) configured to cause, in response to a signal from the user operated switch, the motor to gradually increase in speed up to an operating speed (Column 4, Lines 8-48). Steffen teaches the invention as described above but fails to teach the drive includes a reciprocating piston. Fukushima teaches a rammer that has a drive comprising a reciprocating piston (20) movable between a first position and a second position. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the piston drive of Fukushima for the drive of Steffen as it is obvious to substitute one known element for another known element to yield predictable results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 are allowed.
Regarding claims 1 and 8, the closest prior art does not teach the controller being configured to cause the motor to provide a first torque when the reciprocating piston is moving from the first position to the second position and to provide a second torque when the reciprocating piston is moving from the second position to the first position, wherein the first torque is greater than the second torque. These limitations in combination with the remaining limitations in the independent claim read over the prior art.
None of the prior art documents suggests such modulation of torque between for- and backward movement between two positions of the compacting power tool. Abbott teaches modulation of torque in response to user input (paragraph [0142]; fig. 26), or in response to battery charge state (paragraph [0024]) but fails to teach modulation of torque between forward and backward movement.
Wacker teaches monitoring a "dynamic response" with an evaluation device and in response adapt a dynamic parameter such as "torque of the drive motor" (paragraphs [0014], [0022]). There is however no indication to change the dynamic parameter in the way it is required by the features of claim 1, enabling the compaction device to make use of gravitational force.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed on the attached PTO-892. Feucht teaches a compacting power tool with a speed switch.
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/ABIGAIL A RISIC/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671 February 7, 2026