DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 13-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/24/26.
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 1-2, 4, 7, and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamiya (U.S. 11,044,853 B2) in view of Mang et al. (2010/0218385 A1, hereinafter Mang, and Li et al. (2017/0071134 A1), hereinafter Li.
Regarding claim 1, Kamiya teaches a working machine 10, comprising: a working unit including a working mechanism 14, an electric motor 26 configured to drive the working mechanism, and a motor housing (not numbered, Fig. 3) that houses the electric motor 26; a control unit 30 (defined by an electric circuit) configured to control the electric motor 26; a base 40 supporting the working unit; a rear housing 50 attached to a rear portion of the base 40; a front handle 16 on the base 40 and configured to be grasped by a user with one hand of the user; and a rear handle 18 disposed on the rear housing 50 and configured to be grasped by the user with the other hand of the user, wherein the base comprises a passage (defined by a tubular portion 52 forming a through hole through which cooling air flows and also corresponding to a portion of the base or housing 40), the motor housing comprises an inner air inlet (defined by the air inlet in the housing from which the airflow enters the motor housing through the cooling passage 56; Fig. 4) that opens to an inside of the passage and an outer air outlet that opens to the outside of the working machine, and the rear housing 50 comprises an outer air inlet 54 that opens to the outside of the working machine and a cooling air passage 56; wherein the control unit is housed in the rear housing and located in the cooling air passage (see Fig. 4); wherein the rear housing is attached to the base such that the rear housing is rotatable about a predetermined rotation axis, and the rear housing is movable relative to the base between a normal position and a rotated position in which the rear housing has been rotated about the rotation axis from the normal position (see col. 4, ln. 60-67); a pair of blades 14 extending in the front-rear direction, and the blades are configured to reciprocate relative to each other in the front-rear direction when driven by the electric motor; a mechanism housing 40; wherein the base comprises a bottom surface that faces a flat surface when the working machine is placed on the flat surface, and a direction from an inside of the working machine to the outside of the working machine via the outer air outlet is along a direction in which the bottom surface faces (see Fig. 4); wherein the rear housing comprises a battery receptacle to which a battery pack 34 is detachably attached, and the outer air inlet faces the battery pack attached to the battery receptacle (see Fig. 4). It should be noted that Kamiva discloses a cooling air passage 56 flowing from air intake 54 through the shaft 52 to the fan 36 in the motor housing, but does not explicitly show an inner air outlet of the rear housing or a continuous path through all elements as claimed.
Kamiya does not explicitly teach that the rear housing includes an inner air outlet (Kamiva discloses an air intake but not a separate inner outlet feeding the passage); an outer air outlet of the motor housing (Kamiva mentions airflow to the motor but not an outlet to the outside); or a full sequential airflow path from the outer inlet, rear housing, passage, motor housing, and outer outlet, and overlap of the inner air inlet and inner air outlet in a front–rear view.
However, Mang teaches a working machine including a cooling system having an outer air inlet 42 of rear housing 2 (Fig. 2). Mang discloses an exterior air inlet for cooling (supplying the missing inlet element). Mang also teaches an inner air outlet (40, 65) of rear housing 2 into the passage. Mang shows airflow from the inlet through an internal passage to the motor housing (supplying the missing inner outlet).
Li teaches a working machine including a cooling system having an outer air outlet 332 of motor housing 33 (Fig. 9). Li teaches a defined outlet from the motor housing to the outside, supplying the missing outlet element. Li also teaches an airflow path through the passage, rear housing 50, and motor housing 33 (Fig. 9). Li further teaches that cooling air flows sequentially through structural channels inside housing 33 to the motor, supporting the claimed continuous airflow path (see Fig. 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Kamiva with Mang and Li to provide a complete cooling airflow path from the outer air inlet of the rear housing, through the rear housing and passage, into the motor housing, and out through an outer air outlet, because improving motor and circuit cooling in handheld power tools is a routine and predictable engineering design choice, and each reference addresses complementary portions of this cooling structure.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, 6, 11, and 12 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 OMAR FLORES SANCHEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-4507. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Thursday8:00-4:00 pm.
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/OMAR FLORES SANCHEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3724
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