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
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 1, 4-10, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Coleman (US 2007/0272422) in view of St. John et al (US 2007/0221698), hereinafter St. John.
Regarding claim 1, Coleman discloses a nail gun (Fig. 1, item 10), comprising:
a housing (Fig. 1, item 12);
an accessory box (Fig. 3B, item 64, 52, 62, 22) for accommodating a fastener (Fig. 1, item 30) (Para. 0036) and at least partially connected to the housing (Para. 0036) (Fig. 1); and
a power output portion (Fig. 1, item 18) for outputting a striking force to the fastener (Para. 0032-0033);
wherein the nail gun further comprises:
an operating member (Fig. 3B, item 62, 90, 98) (Para. 0038) triggered to have at least a first position (Para. 0043-0047), a second position (Para. 0043-0047), and a third position located between the first position and the second position, wherein the nail gun has a maximum desired penetration depth (Para. 0047) when the operating member is operated to the first position (Para. 0047, largest driving depth occurs when contact surface 110 contacts fourth cam block 106), and the nail gun has a minimum desired penetration depth (Para. 0046) when the operating member is operated to the second position (Para. 0046, smallest driving depth occurs when contact surface 110 contacts first cam block 100);
wherein the operating member comprises an operating portion (Fig. 3B, item 62, 90, 98) operated by a user (Para. 0043-0047) and the operating member and the operating portion move along a preset path (Para. 0043-0047) when the operating member is triggered to switch from the first position to the second position (Para. 0043-0047), an angle by which the operating member rotates about a first straight line is less than or equal to 180° (Para. 0044, each cam 100, 102, 104, 106 are spaced generally in ninety degree increments) (Para. 0043-0047),
the operating member is capable of being triggered to have a third position (Para. 0043-0047, third position occurs when second block 102 contacts contact surface 110), and the operating member at the third position is capable of being triggered to switch to the first position or the second position (Para. 0043-0047), and
an operating plane (Fig. 3B) formed by a movement of a point on the operating portion along the preset path (Fig. 3B, operating member 62, 90, 98 has an operating plane).
Coleman does not expressly disclose the nail gun has an intermediate desired penetration depth when the operating member is operated to the third position.
However, St. John teaches an operating member (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) triggered to have at least a first position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), a second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), and a third position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) located between the first position and the second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) wherein the nail gun has a maximum desired penetration depth (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) when the operating member is operated to the first position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), and the nail gun has a minimum desired penetration depth (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) when the operating member is operated to the second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), and the nail gun has an intermediate desired penetration depth (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) when the operating member is operated to the third position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036); the operating member is triggered to the third position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) when the operating member is triggered to switch (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) from the first position to the second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), and the operating member at the third position is capable of being triggered to switch (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) to the first position or the second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention having the teachings of Coleman and St. John to modify the nail gun of Coleman to include the third position with the intermediate penetration depth as taught by St. John. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such change in order to allow for at least one easily adjustable, repeatable intermediate depth of drive (St. John, Para. 0005).
Coleman does not expressly disclose the operating plane is substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the fastener. However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to position the operating member such that the operating plane is substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the fastener, since applicant has not disclosed that moving the drive rod along the first straight line solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally as well with the orientation taught in Coleman.
Regarding claim 4, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 1, further comprising a trigger member (Fig. 1, item 28) and a first switch (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039), wherein the trigger member is connected to the power output portion and is movable relative to the accessory box to a first state (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) in which the first switch is triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) and a second state (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) in which the first switch is not triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039), and the power output portion stops outputting the striking force when the first switch is not triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039).
Regarding claim 5, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 4, wherein the first switch is triggered once (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) such that the power output portion outputs the striking force to the fastener once (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039).
Regarding claim 6, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 4, wherein the trigger member comprises at least a trigger rod (Fig. 1, item 28), a drive rod (Para. 0035, transmission shaft), and a gear piece (Fig. 1, items 42, 44, 48), the gear piece is formed with or connected to a plurality of stoppers (Fig. 1, items 42, 44, 48), a first end of the drive rod abuts against the gear piece (Para. 0035), and a second end of the drive rod is connected to the trigger rod (Para. 0035, transmission shaft is connected to trigger 28 because once trigger is activated, transmission shaft rotates).
Regarding claim 7, Coleman does not expressly disclose the nail gun according to claim 6, wherein the drive rod is movable along the first straight line when the operating member is operated to rotate about the first straight line.
However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to position to drive rod such that it moves along the first straight line, since applicant has not disclosed that moving the drive rod along the first straight line solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally as well with the orientation taught in Coleman.
Regarding claim 8, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 7, wherein the operating member comprises a first portion (Fig. 3B, item 98) at least partially disposed in the housing (Para. 0043-0047) and a second portion (Fig. 3B, item 90) extending from the first portion to an outside of the housing (Para. 0043-0047).
Regarding claim 9, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 8, wherein the second portion is triggered to move the trigger member (Fig. 3B, item 52) (Para. 0043-0047) toward and away from the housing so that a desired penetration depth (Para. 0043-0047) of the nail gun is defined (Para. 0043-0047).
Regarding claim 10, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 1, wherein a stopper (Fig. 3B, item 110) is formed on the housing (Para. 0043-0047), the operating member is located at the first position when abutting against the stopper (Para. 0043-0047), and the operating member is located at the second position when abutting against the stopper (Para. 0043-0047).
However, Coleman does not expressly disclose a first stopper and a second stopper. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include a first stopper and a second stopper, rather than one stopper as taught by Coleman, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8.
Regarding claim 19, Coleman discloses a nail gun (Fig. 1, item 10), comprising:
a housing (Fig. 1, item 12);
an accessory box (Fig. 3B, item 64, 52, 62, 22) for accommodating a fastener (Fig. 1, item 30) (Para. 0036) and at least partially connected to the housing (Para. 0036) (Fig. 1); and
a power output portion (Fig. 1, item 18) for outputting a striking force to the fastener (Para. 0032-0033);
an operating member (Fig. 3B, item 62, 90, 98) (Para. 0038) triggered to have a first position (Para. 0043-0047) a second position (Para. 0043-0047), and a third position (Para. 0043-0047) wherein the nail gun has a maximum desired penetration depth (Para. 0047) when the operating member is operated to the first position (Para. 0047, largest driving depth occurs when contact surface 110 contacts fourth cam block 106), and the nail gun has a minimum desired penetration depth (Para. 0046) when the operating member is operated to the second position (Para. 0046, smallest driving depth occurs when contact surface 110 contacts first cam block 100); and
wherein the operating member comprises an operating portion (Fig. 3B, item 90) for a user to operate, the operating portion being disposed outside the housing,
when the operating member is moved between (Para. 0043-0047) the first position, the second position (Para. 0043-0047), and the third position, a plane (Para. 0043-0047) is formed a point on the operating member in a moving direction of the operating member (Para. 0043-0047).
Coleman does not expressly disclose the nail gun has an intermediate desired penetration depth when the operating member is operated to the third position.
However, St. John teaches an operating member (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) triggered to have at least a first position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), a second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), and a third position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) located between the first position and the second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) wherein the nail gun has a maximum desired penetration depth (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) when the operating member is operated to the first position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), and the nail gun has a minimum desired penetration depth (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) when the operating member is operated to the second position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036), and the nail gun has an intermediate desired penetration depth (St. John, Para. 0032-0036) when the operating member is operated to the third position (St. John, Para. 0032-0036).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention having the teachings of Coleman and St. John to modify the nail gun of Coleman to include the third position with the intermediate penetration depth as taught by St. John. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such change in order to allow for at least one easily adjustable, repeatable intermediate depth of drive (St. John, Para. 0005).
Coleman does not expressly disclose the plane form is substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the fastener is shot. However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to position the operating member such that the operating plane is substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the fastener, since applicant has not disclosed that moving the drive rod along the first straight line solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally as well with the orientation taught in Coleman.
Regarding claim 20, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 19, wherein the operating member further comprises a second portion (Fig. 3B, item 98) disposed in the housing (Para. 0043-0047), and the second portion is triggered to move a trigger member (Fig. 3B, item 52) (Para. 0043-0047) toward and away from the housing so that a desired penetration depth (Para. 0043-0047) of the nail gun is defined (Para. 0043-0047).
Claims 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Coleman in view of St. John further in view of Yu (US 2009/0127310)
Regarding claim 11, Coleman in view of St. John is silent about the nail gun according to claim 1, further comprising a brake member switching from a released state to a locked state when the fastener satisfies a preset state, wherein the power output portion stops outputting the striking force when the brake member is in the locked state, and the brake member is at least partially located above the fastener.
However, Yu teaches a brake member (Yu, Fig. 1, item 5) switching from a released state (Yu, Para. 0037-0042) to a locked state (Yu, Para. 0037-0042) when the fastener satisfies a preset state (Yu, Para. 0037-0042), wherein the power output portion stops outputting the striking force when the brake member is in the locked state (Yu, Para. 0037-0042), and the brake member is at least partially located above the fastener (Yu, Para. 0037-0042, brake member 5 is located above tip where fastener exits the tool).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention having the teachings of Coleman, St. John, and Yu to modify the nail gun of Coleman in view of St. John to include the brake member of Yu. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such change in order to improve the accuracy and reliability of the tool in preventing the nail gun from shooting when no nails are in the magazine (Yu, Para. 0006).
Regarding claim 12, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 11, wherein the accessory box comprises a first housing (Coleman, Fig. 1, item 12) and a second housing (Coleman, Fig. 1, item 12), the first housing and the second housing form an accommodating space for accommodating the fastener (Coleman, Fig. 1).
As combined above, Yu teaches an upper cover (Yu, Fig. 1, item 12, 21, 22), the upper cover is disposed above the fastener (Yu, Fig. 1) (Yu, Para. 0037-0042), and the brake member is connected to the upper cover (Yu, Para. 0037-0042).
Regarding claim 13, as combined above, Yu teaches the nail gun according to claim 12, wherein the brake member comprises a brake piece (Yu, Para. 0037-0042) formed with or connected to a first brake portion (Yu, Para. 0037-0042) and a second brake portion (Yu, Para. 0037-0042), the upper cover is formed with a through hole (Yu, Para. 0037-0042), and the second brake portion is at least partially disposed in the through hole (Yu, Para. 0037-0042).
Regarding claim 14, as combined above, Yu teaches the nail gun according to claim 13, wherein the accessory box further comprises a nail pusher (Yu, Para. 0037-0042) for applying pressure to the fastener (Yu, Para. 0037-0042), and the nail pusher is formed with a slot (Yu, Para. 0037-0042) disposed opposite to the second brake portion in an up and down direction (Yu, Para. 0037-0042).
Regarding claim 15, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 14, further comprising a trigger member (Fig. 1, item 28) and a first switch (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039), wherein the trigger member is connected to the power output portion and is movable relative to the accessory box to a first state (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) in which the first switch is triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) and a second state (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) in which the first switch is not triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039), and the power output portion stops outputting the striking force when the first switch is not triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039).
Claims 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Coleman (US 2007/0272422).
Regarding claim 16, Coleman discloses a nail gun, comprising:
a nail gun (Fig. 1, item 10), comprising:
a housing (Fig. 1, item 12);
an accessory box (Fig. 3B, item 64, 52, 62, 22) for accommodating a fastener (Fig. 1, item 30) (Para. 0036) and at least partially connected to the housing (Para. 0036) (Fig. 1); and
a power output portion (Fig. 1, item 18) for outputting a striking force to the fastener (Para. 0032-0033);
an operating member (Fig. 3B, item 62, 90, 98) (Para. 0038), wherein an operating piece (Fig. 3B, item 90, 98) is moveable between a first position (Para. 0043-0047), a second position (Para. 0043-0047), the nail gun has a maximum desired penetration depth (Para. 0047, largest driving depth occurs when contact surface 110 contacts fourth cam block 106) when the operating member is operated to the first position (Para. 0043-0047), and the nail gun has a minimum desired penetration depth (Para. 0046, smallest driving depth occurs when contact surface 110 contacts first cam block 100) when the operating member is operated to the second position (Para. 0043-0047); and
wherein the operating member comprises an operating portion (Fig. 3B, item 90) operable by a user to move the operating member (Para. 0043-0047), the operating portion disposed outside the housing, when the operating member is triggered (Para. 0043-0047) from the first position and the second position (Para. 0043-0047), a plane (Para. 0043-0047) formed by a point on the operating portion is formed when the operating member rotates (Fig. 3B, operating member 62, 90, 98 has an operating plane).
Coleman does not expressly disclose wherein a moving distance of the operating portion is greater than or equal to 5 mm when the operating member is moved between the first position and the second position.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to position the operating portion such that the operating portion protrudes at least 5 mm from the housing, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Coleman does not expressly disclose the plane form is substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the fastener is shot and the operating plane is substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the fastener. However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to position the operating member such that the operating plane is substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the fastener, since applicant has not disclosed that moving the drive rod along the first straight line solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally as well with the orientation taught in Coleman.
Regarding claim 17, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 16, wherein the operating member further comprises a second portion (Fig. 3B, item 98) disposed in the housing (Para. 0043-0047), and the second portion is triggered to move a trigger member (Fig. 3B, item 52) (Para. 0043-0047) toward and away from the housing so that a desired penetration depth (Para. 0043-0047) of the nail gun is defined (Para. 0043-0047).
Regarding claim 18, Coleman discloses the nail gun according to claim 16, wherein a trigger member (Fig. 1, item 28) is connected to the power output portion (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) and is movable relative to the accessory box (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) to a first state (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) in which a first switch (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) is triggered and a second state (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039) in which the first switch is not triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039), and the power output portion stops outputting the striking force when the first switch is not triggered (Para. 0035-0036, 0038-0039).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/07/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for the following reasons:
Regarding Applicant’s argument that the application discloses criticality for the feature of the perpendicular relationship between the operating plane and the nailing direction, Examiner disagrees. Applicant has not disclosed criticality for the operating plane being substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the fastener. Applicant has not cited to anywhere in the specification disclosing Applicant asserted criticality of “help[ing] the user to intuitively set the nailing depth”, as alleged in Applicant’s arguments. Because Applicant has not provided criticality for the feature of the perpendicular relationship between the operating plane and the nailing direction, the feature would have been an obvious matter of design and the rejection is maintained.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VERONICA MARTIN whose telephone number is (571)272-3541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00-6:00.
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/VERONICA MARTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731