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 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 06/17/2024 and 01/15/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ota (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2017/0273239) in view of
Regarding claim 1, Ota teaches an electric working machine (Figures 2A-2B) with an operating rod (2) comprising:
an electric motor (40) provided on the base end (3) of the operating rod (Figure 2A and Paragraph 0096); a working device (5) provided on the head end (4) of the operating rod (Figure 2A); and
a power transmission shaft (28) passing through the inside of the operating rod and configured to transmit power from the electric motor to the working device, wherein: a lead wire is laid in the operating rod along a longitudinal direction of the power transmission shaft (Paragraph 0113); the operating rod includes a wiring space around the power transmission shaft to lay the lead wire (Figures 2A, 2B and 3A-3C; Paragraphs 0113-0119); and the operating rod includes a plurality of pull-out holes to pull connecting terminals of the lead wire out from itself (Figure 2B noting the pull out holes provided on each of the first and second pipes 14,15 respectively).
Regarding claim 2, Ota teaches the electric working machine with an operating rod according to claim 1, wherein: the connecting terminal on one end of the lead wire is connected to a controller (60,67)(Paragraph 0191 noting motor controller 67 to be within the controller 80) provided on the base end of the operating rod (Paragraphs 0125-0132) and the connecting terminal on the other end of the lead wire is connected to a detection switch (36) attached to the head end of the operating rod to detect the posture of the working device (Paragraphs 0157-0162).
Regarding claim 3, Ota teaches the electric working machine with an operating rod according to claim 2, wherein: the detection switch detects the storage posture of the working device; and the controller includes a processor (Paragraph 0137) configured to prevent the electric motor from being driven when the detection switch detects the storage posture of the working device (Paragraph 0162).
Regarding claim 4, Ota teaches the electric working machine with an operating rod according to claim 1, wherein a connecting terminal of the lead wire is connected to 913416a detection switch (70) provided on a front handle (7) attached at the intermediate position of the operating rod (Figures 2A and 7; Paragraphs 0092-0093).
Regarding claim 5, Ota teaches the electric working machine with an operating rod according to claim 1, wherein a connecting terminal of the connecting terminals of the lead wire are smaller than a pull-out hole of the pull-out holes so that the connecting terminal can go through the pull-out hole (Figure 2B noting the wiring hose to be smaller than the end of elements 14/16).
Regarding claim 6, Ota teaches the electric working machine with an operating rod according to claim 1, wherein the lead wire pulled out from the pull-out holes is covered with a cover member (16)(Figures 3A-3C; Examiner notes the wires to be covered via a cover (16) when the device is extended as shown in Figure 3C).
Regarding claim 7, Ota teaches the electric working machine according to claim 1, wherein the lead wire is pulled out from the pull-out holes and connected to a plurality of detection switches (Paragraph 0116 and 0175).
Related Prior Art
Below is an analysis of the relevance of references cited but not used
- "892 cited references B-M on page 1 and A- F on Page 2 establish the state of the art with a variety of handheld cutting tools with different cutting elements/blades
using a variety of electrical systems and sensors for the device.
Conclusion
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/RICHARD D CROSBY JR/ 12/23/2025Examiner, Art Unit 3724