DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 5/03/2026 has been entered. Claims 3-4 remain pending in the application. Claim 1-2 were cancelled.
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 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dawson (US 3615309) in view of Tobert (US 2686439) and Albinsson (US 20040168551 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Dawson teaches a method for manufacturing a band saw blade which is provided with a body portion having a band-like and an endless shape (see Figure 7); and a coat layer which is formed on a surface of the teeth of the tooth portion (see Figure 12), the method comprising:
performing a coat layer formation step of forming the coat layer on the teeth of an intermediate blade in which the teeth are all straight teeth (see Figure 7).
Dawson fails to teach a tooth portion in which a tooth group, which is a set of a predetermined number of teeth including a set tooth, is repeatedly formed on one edge side of the body portion; then performing set processing of setting and forming a predetermined tooth into the set tooth on which the coat layer is formed into the set tooth.
Tobert teaches performing a coating step then setting the tooth after the coating step (making the teeth then move on to a setting step, col. 3 lines 36- col. 4 line 6).
Albinsson teaches a band saw blade which is provided with a body portion having an endless shape, a device for setting teeth on a saw blade (see Figure 2-3), to create a tooth portion in which a tooth group, which is a set of a predetermined number of teeth including a set tooth, is repeatedly formed on one edge side of the body portion (see Figure 2-3).
As discussed by Tobert, the teeth on a saw blade can be first coated, then the coated teeth can be set (col. 3 lines 36- col. 4 line 6 of Tobert). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Dawson to further set the teeth of the bandsaw, as taught by Albinsson and set the teeth after the coating step, as taught by Tobert, in order to product a bandsaw blade with set tooth. As one of ordinary skill in the art understand that set tooth saw are produced for cutting desired shape kerf wanted by the end user.
Regarding claim 4, modified Dawson further teaches in the coat layer formation step, the intermediate blade and a band-like spacer (57) are lapped and wound so as to expose the tooth portion (band of 58, wound and expose blade 10, see Figure 10), thereby forming a coil body having a spiral coil shape, and the formed coil body is put into a coating device to form the coat layer (reel of 50, see Figure 7 of Dawson).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/03/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 3-4 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/LIANG DONG/Examiner, Art Unit 3724 5/13/2026
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