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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mori et al., JP53-110047 (IDS; translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Mori teaches a protective element (see at least figs. 5 and 9) comprising:
a fuse element laminated body (fuse main body 20);
an insulating case housing (container 21) the fuse element laminated body;
a first terminal (terminal 14); and
a second terminal (terminal 15), wherein
the fuse element laminated body includes a plurality of fusible conductor sheets (fuse 10)
arranged in parallel in a thickness direction, and a first insulating member (arc extinguishing plate 12) disposed between each of the plurality of fusible conductor sheets, either in proximity to, or in contact with, the fusible conductor sheets,
each of the plurality of fusible conductor sheets has a mutually opposing first end section (left side) and second end section (right side),
one end of the first terminal (for terminal 14) is connected to the first end section (left side) while another end of the first terminal is exposed outside the insulating case (see fig. 9), and
one end of the second terminal (for terminal 15) is connected to the second end section (right side) while another end of the second terminal is exposed outside the insulating case (see fig. 9).
Regarding claim 2, Mori teaches the protective element according to Claim 1, wherein a second insulating member (one of the lowermost plate 12 and the one of the uppermost plate 12; see fig. 9) is disposed between a lowermost located fusible conductor sheet (fuse 10) among the plurality of fusible conductor sheets and the insulating case (container 21), and between an uppermost located fusible conductor sheet among the plurality of fusible conductor sheets and the insulating case.
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.
Claims 4 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori in view of Tong et al., US Pub. 2011/0267168.
Regarding claim 4, Mori teaches the claimed invention except for a pressing member which is disposed inside the insulating case and applies pressure to the second insulating member in a direction of a side of the fusible conductor sheets.
Tong teaches a fusible device having a pressing member (compressing spring; see at least paragraph 0044 and fig. 7) for the purpose of increasing the tension thereby maintaining forced connection.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Tong with Mori, since the pressing member taught by Tong applies pressure to maintain forced connection (prevent movement) to the fuse plates of Mori.
Regarding claim 9, Mori teaches the claimed invention, including that the fusible material may be any conductive metal (under the heading of SUMMARY of the INVENTION). Mori, however, does not teach the fusible sheets containing silver or copper.
Tong teaches the conductive fuse being composed of copper or copper alloy (see paragraphs 0047-0048) depending on the designed over-current rating.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Tong with Mori, since the metal material selected for the fusible material depend on the needed over-current rating of the fusible sheet.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-8, and 10-13 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.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art does not teach or suggest the protective element, wherein the first insulating member and the second insulating member are partitioned in a central section between the first end section and the second end section of the fusible conductor sheets so as to cut the first insulating member and the second insulating member along a direction from the first end section toward the second end section.
Claims 11-13 depend on claim 3.
Regarding claim 5, the prior art does not teach or suggest the protective element, wherein at least one of the first insulating member, the second insulating member and the insulating case is formed from a material having a tracking resistance index CTI of 500 V or higher.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art does not teach or suggest the protective element, wherein at least one of the first insulating member, the second insulating member and the insulating case is formed from a resin material selected from the group consisting of polyamide-based resins and
fluorine-based resins.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art does not teach or suggest the protective element, wherein each of the plurality of fusible conductor sheets is a laminate having a low-melting point metal layer and a high-melting point metal layer, the low-melting point metal layer contains tin, and the high-melting point metal layer contains silver or copper.
Claim 8 depends on claim 7.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art does not teach or suggest the protective element, wherein each of the plurality of fusible conductor sheets has a fusion portion between the first
end section and the second end section, and a cross-sectional area of the fusion portion across a direction of current flow from the first end section toward the second end section is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the first end section and the second end section across the direction of current flow.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYUNG S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-1994. The examiner can normally be reached 7AM-3PM M-F.
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/KYUNG S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
