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 .
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.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the grinding machine having a grinding belt as recited in claim 29 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities: The limitation of “wherein the first and second proximal abutments of the first and second support surfaces are rounded” in claim 19 is grammatically ambiguous, as it could, if read in isolation from the disclosure, suggest that each support surface has two proximal abutments. Consider ––wherein the first and second proximal abutments are rounded––. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 16-23, and 26-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Persson (US PGPub 2020/0316748).
1. Persson teaches a jig (100) for grinding a bladed tool that would be capable of use as an axe jig, the jig comprising
a first (101) and a second (102) clamp portion (two clamp portions, see Persson fig. 3) capable of being arranged on opposite sides of an axe head of the axe and configured such that the axe jig is attachable to the axe head (the jig would be capable of being attached to opposing sides of a properly scaled axe head),
wherein the first clamp portion (110) comprises a first support surface (161) capable of use in positioning the axe head during grinding and the second clamp portion (120) comprises a second support surface (162) capable of being used to position the axe head during grinding (161 and 162 are capable of being used to position the jig during grinding, see Persson fig. 2a).
Regarding claim 1 and claims 16-28 depending therefrom, applicant is reminded that “apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does.” Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc., 909 F.2d 1464, 1469, 15 USPQ2d 1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (emphasis in original). A claim containing a “recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus” if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987). Limitations describing intended uses of the device rather than positive recitations of structure may be met by any art capable of performing the claimed uses. For example, the limitation in claim 1 of clamp portions “to be arranged on opposite sides of an axe head of the axe and configured such that the axe jig is attachable to the axe head” would be satisfied by any jig including clamp portions so long as the jig was attachable to any type of axe head (including things like a stone axe or a bush axe). Because Persson teaches a jig capable of use with something such as a bush axe head, it teaches the claim even though it does not explicitly teach that its jig is intended to be used with an axe head.
16. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 1, wherein the axe jig is capable of being used when grinding the axe with a grinding machine that comprises a grinding wheel or a grinding belt and a support for supporting the first support surface and the second support surface of the axe jig during grinding (the jig of Persson would be capable of use with an otherwise arbitrarily defined grinding machine including a support 350 and a grinding wheel 310 or a similar machine including a grinding belt, see e.g., Persson fig. 2a).
17. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 1, wherein the first support surface (161) comprises a first proximal abutment (165) and the second support surface (162) comprises a second proximal abutment (166), the first and second proximal abutments being positioned to facilitate a uniform grinding of the axe when the axe jig is attached to the axe head (165 and 166 are capable of being used to facilitate uniform grinding, see Persson figs. 3 and 2a).
18. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 17, wherein, when the axe jig is attached to the axe head, the first proximal abutment, the second proximal abutment and a cutting edge of the axe head form an isosceles triangle (because 165 and 166 extend symmetrically outward from the clamping portion, and the clamp is capable of use with a symmetric axe head having a cutting edge located at an exact mid-point, it would be possible to define an isosceles triangle between the outermost points of 165 and 166 and the cutting edge, see e.g., Persson figs. 3-4).
19. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 17, wherein the first and second proximal abutments of the first and second support surfaces are rounded (165 and 166 are rounded, Persson figs. 3-4).
20. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 17, wherein the first support surface (161) further comprises a first distal abutment (163) that is distanced from the first proximal abutment in a direction that is non-parallel to a cutting edge of the axe head (163 is spaced apart from 165 in a direction orthogonal to a hypothetical cutting edge, see Persson fig. 3), and the second support surface (162) further comprises a second distal abutment (164) that is distanced from the second proximal abutment (166) in the direction that is non-parallel to the cutting edge of the axe head (164 is spaced apart from 166 in a direction orthogonal to a hypothetical cutting edge, see Persson fig. 3).
21. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 20, wherein the first distal abutment is distanced at least 20 millimeters from the first proximal abutment and the second distal abutment is distanced at least 20 millimeters from the second proximal abutment (spacing between abutments is 2-5cm, or 20-50mm, Persson [0038] and figs. 3-4).
22. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 17, wherein the first clamp portion (101) further comprises a first proximal protrusion forming the first proximal abutment (165 protrudes from 101, see Persson fig. 3), and the second clamp portion (102) further comprises a second proximal protrusion forming the second proximal abutment (166 protrudes from 102, see Persson fig. 3).
23. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 20, wherein the first clamp portion (101) further comprises a first proximal protrusion forming the first proximal abutment (165) and a first distal protrusion forming the first distal abutment (163), and the second clamp portion (102) further comprises a second proximal protrusion forming the second proximal abutment (166) and a second distal protrusion forming the second distal abutment (164). Each of 163-166 protrude from 101 or 102, see Persson fig. 3)
26. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 1, wherein the first clamp portion and the second clamp portion are separate parts (101 and 102 are separate parts, see Persson fig. 3 and [0029]).
27. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 1, wherein the first clamp portion and the second clamp portion are movable with respect to one another to clamp the axe head (101 and 102 are movable relative to each other, see Persson fig. 3 and [0029]).
28. Persson teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 1, further comprising an actuating assembly (Persson [0031]) configured to move the first and second clamp portions with respect to one another to clamp the axe head,
the actuating assembly being configured to translationally (under force of springs 150) and rotationally (under turning of threaded screw and knob 130-133, Persson fig. 3 and [0031]) move the first and second clamp portions with respect to one another, such that the first and second clamp portions are configured to clamp axe heads of various dimensions (clamp portions are movable such that they may clamp objects of different dimensions, Persson [0031]),
the actuating assembly comprising a first actuator (springs 150) and a second actuator (screw 133), and wherein the actuators are distanced from one another in a direction that is non-parallel to a cutting edge of the axe head (150 and 130 are positioned in a direction that would be nonparallel to a hypothetical axe blade, see Persson fig. 3).
29. Persson teaches a grinding system comprising the Jig capable of use as an axe jig (100) of claim 1 and a grinding machine (300) having a support (350) and a grinding wheel (310, see Persson fig. 2a).
Claims 1 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Putnam (US 3589706).
1. Putnam teaches an axe jig (10) for use when grinding an axe (16), the axe jig comprising
a first and a second clamp portion (clamp portions 12, see Putnam fig. 3) to be arranged on opposite sides of an axe head of the axe (see Putnam fig. 3) and configured such that the axe jig is attachable to the axe head (Putnam figs. 1-3),
wherein the first clamp portion comprises a first support surface for positioning the axe head during grinding and the second clamp portion comprises a second support surface for positioning the axe head during grinding (outside surfaces of 12 are capable of being used to position axe head 16 during grinding).
24. Putnam teaches the axe jig of claim 1, wherein the axe head comprises an eye for a handle (handle 22 is inserted in an eye, see Putnam fig. 3), and the first and second support surfaces are configured to extend across at least a portion of the eye (outside surfaces of 12 extend across a portion of the eye, see Putnam fig. 3).
Claims 1 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Allison (US 12350783).
1. Allison teaches a jig (200) capable of use when grinding an axe, the jig comprising
a first (210) and a second (212) clamp portion capable of being arranged on opposite sides of an axe head of the axe and configured such that the jig is attachable to the axe head (axe capable of being clamped in gap 214, see Allison fig. 10),
wherein the first clamp portion (210) comprises a first support surface for positioning the axe head during grinding and the second clamp portion comprises a second support surface for positioning the axe head during grinding (bottom portions 210a, 212a of 210 and 212 are capable of being used, in conjunction with cam assembly 216, to position the clamped object during grinding, see Allison 9:1-18 and figs. 1 and 9).
25. Allison teaches the jig capable of use as an axe jig of claim 1, wherein the first clamp portion further comprises first clamp projections (215) configured to be brought in contact with a first axe head side, and the second clamp portion further comprises second clamp projections (215) configured to be brought in contact with an opposite second axe head side (jaws 210, 212 include tines 213, which include protruding gripping surfaces 215, see Allison figs. 15-18 and 14:3-28), wherein the number of first clamp projections is three and the number of second clamp projections is three (three protruding gripping surfaces 215 on each side, see Allison figs. 15-18 and 14:3-28).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Baker et al. (US 11498186), Schwartz (US 8303381), Keska (US 7182678), Zhang et al. (US 7033247), Juranitch (US 3800632), and Sandefur (US PGPub 2019/0247971) teach relevant structures for grinding jigs.
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/J.R.Z./Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/MONICA S CARTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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