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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Embodiment 2, Figures 1-4 and 8-10, Claims 1-12 in the reply filed on 04/22/2026 is acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/27/2024, 01/07/2025, 08/13/2025, 12/17/2025, 05/04/2026 and 05/14/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 8-10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gruner [US 2012/0206222], applicant cited prior art.
Claim 1, Gruner discloses a relay [10], comprising: a base [24]; a contact part disposed on the base and comprising two sets of movable contact parts [15; figure 4; paragraph 0051], each set of the movable contact parts comprising a movable contact piece [15], a movable contact unit [31 near 14] and a static contact unit [31 near 11], the movable contact unit being arranged on the movable contact piece [figures 4 and 6]; two movable contact units of the contact part corresponding to two static contact units of the contact part [figure 4; paragraph 0056], respectively; a push rod assembly [14] connected to the two movable contact pieces; and a magnetic circuit part [12] arranged on the base and configured to drive the movements of the push rod assembly [paragraphs 0051-0052], so as to drive two movable contact pieces to come into contact [figures 5 and 7] or move away from [figures 4 and 6] each other, so that the contact part can transit between a connected state [figures 5 and 7] and disconnected state [figures 4 and 6]; when the contact part being in the connected state [figures 5 and 7], one of the two movable contact pieces is deformed under an action of the push rod assembly and has an elastic force, the elastic force makes the movable contact piece has a moving tendency to disconnect the contacts [this is inherent as the movable contact piece 15 is a spring arm, deflection of the spring by push rod 14 to cause contact 31 to close as shown in figure 5 results in the spring bending, thereby creating an elastic force to disconnect the contacts].
Claim 8, Gruner discloses the relay according to claim 1, wherein each set of movable contact parts [15] further comprises a movable contact leading-out piece [11], the movable contact leading-out piece is connected to the movable contact piece [figures 2 and 4-7]; the static contact unit is disposed at a connection position between the movable contact piece and the movable contact leading-out piece [figures 2 and 4-7].
Claim 9, Gruner discloses the relay according to claim 8, wherein the movable contact piece has a first end and a second end opposite to the first end in its own length direction [figures 2 and 4-7]; the movable contact unit [31 near 36/14] is disposed at the first end, and the second end is connected to the movable contact leading-out piece [11], the push rod assembly [14] is connected with the first ends of the two movable contact pieces [figures 4-7].
Claim 10, Gruner discloses the relay according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic circuit part [12] comprises a coil assembly [16] and an armature assembly [18], the armature assembly is pivotally connected to the base [paragraph 0057], the armature assembly is connected to the push rod assembly [paragraph 0057], the coil assembly is configured to drive the armature assembly to pivot [paragraph 0057].
Claim 12, Gruner discloses the relay according to claim 1, wherein the push rod assembly [14] comprises a first push rod and a second push rod, the first push rod and the second push rod being connected to two movable contact pieces, respectively [figures 4-7].
Claims 1, 2, 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hayashida et al. [US 2018/0240631], applicant cited prior art.
Claim 1, Hayashida et al. discloses a relay [1], comprising: a base [2]; a contact part [7/8] disposed on the base and comprising two sets of movable contact parts [35 and 36], each set of the movable contact parts comprising a movable contact piece [35/36], a movable contact unit [23/24] and a static contact unit [26/27], the movable contact unit [23/24] being arranged on the movable contact piece [35/36]; two movable contact units of the contact part corresponding to two static contact units of the contact part [figures 2 and 3], respectively; a push rod assembly [6] connected to the two movable contact pieces; and a magnetic circuit part [3/4] arranged on the base and configured to drive the movements of the push rod assembly [paragraph 0053], so as to drive two movable contact pieces to come into contact [figure 3] or move away from [figure 2] each other, so that the contact part can transit between a connected state [figure 3] and disconnected state [figure 2]; when the contact part being in the connected state, one of the two movable contact pieces is deformed under an action of the push rod assembly and has an elastic force, the elastic force makes the movable contact piece has a moving tendency to disconnect the contacts [this is inherent as the movable contact pieces are springs, deflection of the spring by push rod cause contact to close as shown in figure 3 results in the spring bending, thereby creating an elastic force to disconnect the contacts as shown in figure 2].
Claim 2, Hayashida et al. discloses the relay according to claim 1, wherein when the contact part is in a disconnected state [figure 2], a contact gap between the movable contact unit and the static contact unit corresponding to each other in one set [24/27] is smaller than a contact gap between the movable contact unit and the static contact unit corresponding to each other in the other set [23/26; figure 2; paragraph 0099]; the movable contact unit and the static contact unit in one set with a smaller contact gap is defined as an arc-resistant end contact, and movable contact unit and the static contact unit in the other set with a larger contact gap is defined as a current-carrying end contact [paragraph 0099]; the movable contact piece provided with the movable contact unit of the current-carrying end contact is defined as a first movable contact piece, the movable contact piece provided with the movable contact unit of the arc-resistant end contact is defined as a second movable contact piece; the first movable contact piece is deformed under the action of the push rod assembly [6] and has the elastic force [figure 2].
Claim 10, Hayashida et al. discloses the relay according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic circuit part [3/4] comprises a coil assembly [3] and an armature assembly [4], the armature assembly is pivotally connected [at 191] to the base [2], the armature assembly is connected to the push rod assembly [6], the coil assembly is configured to drive the armature assembly to pivot [paragraphs 0053-0054].
Claim 11, Hayashida et al. discloses the relay according to claim 1, wherein the movable contact piece comprises a plurality of sub-contact pieces [41/42/43] stacked with each other [figure 4].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bernard Rojas whose telephone number is (571)272-1998. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. thru Fri. 7:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shawki S Ismail can be reached at (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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/BERNARD ROJAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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