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 08/07/2024 and 06/12/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 14-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Groups I and III, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/09/2026
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 1-7, 9,11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shimizu (U.S. Patent No. 5,214,991).
Regarding claim 1, Shimizu teaches a punch (Abstract and Figure 1) comprising:
a punch body (20,28,25,26,27) comprising an inner space (note the spacing between the housing elements allowing for the push pin and channels within) and an air inlet (26a,26b)(Figure 1);
a push pin (29a,29b,29c) comprising an air flow path (29d) configured to flow through air introduced from the air inlet to the outside (Figures 1-2; Col. 8, Lines 54-68, Col. 9, Lines 1-8); and
an elastic member (35,36) between the punch body and the push pin, and configured to provide an elastic restoring force, wherein the push pin and the elastic member are accommodated in the inner space of the punch body (Figure 1; Col. 8, Lines 47-53).
Regarding claim 2, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the push pin comprises a head (29c), and a rod protruding (29b) from the head, and wherein the air flow path is located within the rod (Figures 1-3).
Regarding claim 3, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 2, wherein: the rod has a first hole (H1) located at one side surface of the rod, and a second hole (H2) located at a lower surface of the rod (Figures 1-2 and See annotated Figure 2);
the air flow path comprises a first air passage extending in a first direction, and a second air passage extending in a second direction different from the first direction (Figure 2; Noting the first air passage to be the top half of the rod and the second air passage to be the bottom half of the rod);
the first hole is configured to flow the air introduced from the air inlet into an interior of the rod; and the second hole is configured to flow to the outside, the air flowing into the interior of the rod that passes through the first air passage and the second air passage (Figure 2).
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Regarding claim 4, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 2, wherein: the rod has a first hole (H1) located at one side surface of the rod, a second hole located (H3) at another side surface of the rod, and a third hole (H2) formed at a lower surface of the rod; the air flow path comprises a first air passage extending in a first direction, and a second air passage extending in a second direction different from the first direction; the first hole and the second hole are configured to flow the air introduced from the air inlet into an interior of the rod; and the third hole is configured to flow to the outside, the air flowing into the interior of the rod that passes through the first air passage and the second air passage (See annotated Figure 2 above).
Regarding claim 5, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 2, wherein a through-hole is located at a lower surface of the punch body to allow the rod to pass therethrough (Figures 1 and 2; noting the rod passes through the body to punch the workpiece 21).
Regarding claim 6, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 2, wherein the elastic member (35,36) is located between a lower surface (27) of the inner space of the punch body and a lower surface of the head (29c) (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 7, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 2, wherein an upper surface of the inner space of the punch body (37) and an upper surface of the head (29c) are spaced from each other (Figures 1-2).
Regarding claim 9, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 2, wherein the push pin is configured to be moved from a first position (starting position) to a third position (end position/punching position) through a second position (movement position) by the air introduced from the air inlet, and wherein the push pin is configured to be returned to the first position from the third position through the second position by the elastic member if the air from the air inlet is stopped (Figures 1-2; Col. 9, lines 51-68 and Col. 10, Lines 9-66).
Regarding claim 11, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 9, wherein the air flow path is configured to flow the air introduced from the air inlet out to the outside during a movement of the push pin from the first position to the second position (Figures 1-2; Col. 9. Lines 50-62).
Regarding claim 13, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 9, wherein a lower surface of the push pin is configured to directly contact a scrap located below the push pin during at least some point of a movement of the push pin from the second position to the third position (Figures 1-2, Col. 9 Lines 65-68).
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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu (U.S. Patent No. 5,214,991) in view of Coombes (U.S Patent No. 3,939,743).
Regarding claim 8, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 2, wherein the push pin further comprises a push member (29a) at a lower end of the rod (Figure 2), but does not provide wherein a lower surface area of the push member is greater than a lower surface area of the rod.
Coombes teaches it is known in the art of punches to provide a punch (11) wherein a rod (22) includes a push member (23) at a lower end of the rod, and wherein a lower surface area of the push member (23) is greater than a lower surface area of the rod (22)(Figures 1 and 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the device of Shimizu to incorporate the teachings of Coombes to provide the push member with a larger surface area than the lower surface area of the rod. In doing so, it allows for a variety of different materials to be punched, with different shapes/sizes as desired.
Claims 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu (U.S. Patent No. 5,214,991) in view of Tsubota (U.S Patent No. 5,361,660).
Regarding claim 10, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 9, but does not provide wherein in the first position, a lower surface of the punch body is flush with a lower surface of the rod.
Tsubota teaches it is known in the art of punching devices to provide a punch (1) with a punch body (8) and a rod (4) wherein in a first position (Starting position) a lower surface of the punch body is flush with a lower surface of the rod (Figure 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the device of Shimizu to incorporate the teachings of Tsubota to provide the lower surface of the punch body as flush with the lower surface of the rod in the first position. In doing so, it allows for proper alignment of the punch body and rod in the starting position of operations.
Regarding claim 12, Shimizu teaches the punch as claimed in claim 9, but does not provide wherein the second position closes the air flow path by the punch body.
Tsubota teaches it is known in the art of punching devices to provide a punch (1) with a punch body (8) and a rod (4) wherein in a first position (Starting position)(Figure 3) and wherein a second position (moving position) closes an air flow path (17) by the punch body (Figure 3 and Col. 1, Lines 10-45; noting at least a portion of the fluid flow path 17 is closed and blocked when moved downwards to an active punching position).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the device of Shimizu to incorporate the teachings of Tsubota to provide a second position that closes an airflow path. Doing so allows for a redirection of fluid flow pathing during active punching as desired.
Related Prior Art
Below is an analysis of the relevance of references cited but not used
- "892 cited references A and C-H, on page 1 establish the state of the art with a variety of punching mechanisms with fluid delivery mechanisms.
Conclusion
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/RICHARD D CROSBY JR/ 03/17/2026Examiner, Art Unit 3724