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 § 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.
Claims 1-3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by USPN 2311426, Wilkie.
Regarding Claim 1, Wilkie discloses a:
A blade guide (23) suitable for use as an accessory for a cutting machine (band filing machine 10) of a type having an elongated saw blade (B) in the form of a band held in tension (since the flexible band is trained), the blade (B) having two sides (fig 2) and teeth (fig 3, pg. 3, col 1, lines 50-60) formed along an edge (fig 3);
the band being carried across a cutting volume by a motor (power unit 63) driving at least one of at least two support pulleys 20 (pg. 3, col. 1, lines 10-30);
wherein the blade guide consists of a shaft (fig 4, guide post 19B) mounted on a frame of the machine (fig. 4, fig 1, pg. 2, col. 1, lines 30-35)
in order to support a head 32 in a fixed position (pg. 2, col. 1, lines 30-45)
the head 32 is configured so as to form a secure yet reversible interlocking connection with each of two replaceable guide shoes (37 and 38)
each shoe presenting a selected rubbing surface (surfaces facing guiding the blade pg. 2, col 1, lines 50-60).
wherein each replaceable guide shoe may be reversibly mounted on to the head in one of a plurality of orientations thereby providing a plurality of alternative rubbing surfaces (pg. 2, col. 2, lines 15-20, and claim 1).
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 of this title, 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 1-3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 4920846, Duginske, in view of USPN 2311426, Wilkie.
Regarding Claim 1, Duginske discloses a:
A blade guide (40) suitable for use as an accessory for a cutting machine (bandsaw 10) of a type having an elongated saw blade in the form of a band held in tension (bandsaw, having tensioned blade 25), the blade 25 having two sides (fig 3) and teeth 26 formed along an edge (fig 3);
the band being carried across a cutting volume by a motor 24 driving at least one of at least two support pulleys 20 (col. 3, 1-30);
wherein the blade guide consists of a shaft 51 mounted on a frame of the machine (fig. 2)
in order to support a head 40 in a fixed position
the head 40 is configured so as to form a secure yet reversible interlocking connection with each of two replaceable guide shoes (46, 47)
each shoe presenting a selected rubbing surface (surfaces facing the blade 25 in fig 3)
Duginske lacks wherein each replaceable guide shoe may be reversibly mounted on to the head in one of a plurality of orientations thereby providing a plurality of alternative rubbing surfaces (See col 3, lines 60-70).
Wilkie discloses a guide device for a bandsaw (abstract) tool in the same field of endeavor as the guide device for a bandsaw tool of the present invention and discloses that such a system includes guide shoes 37 and 38 supported on a head 30 of a blade guide 23, and discloses that the guide shoes are designed to be reversibly mounted on to the head in one of a plurality of orientations thereby providing a plurality of alternative rubbing surfaces in order to accommodate saw bands of different sizes, (pg. 1. Col. 1, lines 15-20, pg. 2, col 1, lines 70-76, and pg. 2, col. 2, lines 15-20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Duginske device by making each replaceable guide shoe may be reversibly mounted on to the head in one of a plurality of orientations thereby providing a plurality of alternative rubbing surfaces, in order to accommodate saw bands of different sizes, as taught by Wilkie.
Regarding Claim 2, in Duginske each replaceable guide shoe has a symmetrical four-sided profile in order to provide four rubbing surfaces about the periphery of the shoe; any one of which surfaces is selected by reversibly attaching the replaceable guide shoe on to the head in a selected one of four orientations (fig3, and col 3, lines 60-65).
Regarding Claim 3, in Duginske each guide shoe has a symmetrical structure about three axes top to bottom, left to right, and front surface to back surface (see annotated fig. 5 below, showing the axes about which the block is symmetrical).
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Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duginske in view of Wilkie, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of USPGPUB 20130139665 Sperry, and in view of the teachings of USPN 3862681, Barker.
Regarding Claim 8, Duginske lacks the shoe being molded in a thermoplastics including a glass-filled polyoxymethylene (POM).
Sperry discloses a guide supported cutting tool in the same field of endeavor as the guide supported cutting tool of the present invention and discloses that such a system includes blade supports 636, which support a blade in a cutting movement and discloses that such supports are made from Acetal (which is a thermoplastics including a glass-filled polyoxymethylene according to Applicant’s own disclosure (e.g. Applicant admitted prior art). Also, Barker discloses that supports in the form of Acetal are beneficial in that the acetal provides low coefficient of friction with good load bearing capability and sliding wear resistance col. 12, 60-67.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device by making the shoes being molded in a thermoplastics including glass-filled polyoxymethylene (POM) in order to provide a low coefficient of friction with good load bearing capability and sliding wear resistance as taught in Barker, and as shown to be a known material for blade shoes/supports in Sperry.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 and 7 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: The closest prior art of record are Duginske and Wilkie, both cited above, which teach various aspects of a band saw guide, and with the features as set forth in the claims and noted in the current action. However, none of the cited references, alone or in combination, disclose a band saw guide having “wherein each guide shoe has a construction including: a. a four-sided peripheral bar configured as a parallelogram shaped profile wherein each one of the four outer sides comprises one separate rubbing surface along an edge of one peripheral bar b. within a space defined by the parallelogram shaped peripheral bar, a set of four curved resilient strips capable when in use of engaging with complementary cavities within a supporting shape upon the head is located” (as required by Claim 4), nor “wherein each of the sets of two nested parallelograms configured upon the head includes an outer restraining group of surfaces having an outline in the form of a parallelogram and disposed in order to make contact with all inner side surfaces of the four-sided profile on one side of one shoe, and includes an inner interlocking group of mating surfaces in the form of a second parallelogram including complementary socket areas capable when in use of making a reversible locking contact with corresponding inner resiliently mounted protrusions or resilient clips upon strips of a web within the interior of the shoe”, as required by Claim 7. Furthermore, none of these references by themselves or in combination with the other prior art cited teach the claimed invention set forth in claims 4-5 and 7.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 1-2-26, with respect to the prior art rejections of the claim under 35 USC 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Wilkie.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. USPN 0434731 and CA 2654125 A1, disclose state of the art bandsaw assemblies with reversing guide blocks. Thus, each of these references disclose elements relevant to the present invention/application.
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/FERNANDO A AYALA/Examiner, Art Unit 3724
/BOYER D ASHLEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724
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