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, 3-6, 11, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Connell (US 9,136,068).
Regarding claim 1, Connell discloses the switch (10) comprising:
a first terminal (12);
a second terminal (16);
a switching arm arrangement (see the drawing below) comprising a pair of movable contact arms (20, 22) between the first and second terminals (12 and 16) which forms a first electrical conduction pathway in a contact condition of the switching arm arrangement (see the drawing below) and which breaks the first electrical conduction pathway in a non-contact condition of the switching arm arrangement (see the drawing below); and
an electrical conductor (see the drawing below) arranged between the first and second terminals (12, 16) which forms a second electrical conduction pathway in the contact condition in parallel to the first electrical conduction pathway.
[AltContent: textbox (Switching arm arrangement &
Electrical conductor)][AltContent: arrow]
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Regarding claim 3, Connell discloses:
the electrical conductor (see the drawing above) comprises a further switching arm arrangement (see the drawing above).
Regarding claim 4, Connell discloses:
switching arm arrangement (see the drawing above) comprises a pair of movable contact arms (20, 22).
Regarding claim 5, Connell discloses:
the switching arm arrangement (see the drawing above) comprises a lead contact arm and a lag contact arm.
Regarding claim 6, Connell discloses:
the switching arm arrangement (see the drawing above) is connected to the second terminal (16) via a thermally conductive coupling (see col. 9, lines 10-15).
Regarding claims 11, 15 and 16, Connell discloses:
an actuator (42) to drive a switching arm arrangement (see the drawing above) of the switch (10) between an open condition and a closed condition.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 8, 12-14 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 prior art does not teach or suggest the switch comprising:
Claim 7: the switching arm arrangement is connected to the second terminal via a thermally conductive coupling.
Claim 12: switch is a multi-pole relay comprising a plurality of said relay switches
Claim 14: the actuator is a linear actuator having a plurality of wedge elements for driving the switching arm arrangements.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Lisa Homza whose telephone number is (571) 272-3592.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Shawki Ismail can be reached on (571) 272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Lisa Nhung Homza/
Patent Examiner - Art Unit 2837
May 5, 2026
/SHAWKI S ISMAIL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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