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 . Claims 1-12 are pending in the current application.
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 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tetsuya et al. (Japanese Pat. No. JP 2012-138247 A, hereinafter “Tetsuya”; an English specification machine translation attached hereto).
Specifically, regarding Claim 1, Ukon discloses an electric circuit breaker device comprising: an igniter (35; FIG. 2) provided in a housing (11; FIG. 1), a projectile (30; FIG. 2) formed in the housing (11) and disposed in an accommodating space (17) extending in one direction (FIG. 2), the projectile (30) configured to be projected along the accommodating space (17) by energy received from the igniter (35; FIG. 2), a conductor piece (12; FIG. 3) provided in the housing (11) and forming a part of an electric circuit, the conductor piece (12) having, as a part of the conductor piece (12), a cutoff portion (12a; FIG. 3) configured to be cut off by the projectile (30) moving due to energy received from the igniter (35; FIGS. 2 and 3), the cutoff portion (12a) being disposed crossing the accommodating space (17; FIG. 3), and an impact absorbing member (23; FIG. 2) disposed in an arc-extinguishing region of the accommodating space (17; FIG. 2), the arc-extinguishing region being located on a side opposite to the projectile (30) across the cutoff portion (12a) prior to actuation of the igniter (35) and being configured to receive the cutoff portion (12a) cut off by the projectile (30; FIG. 2), the impact absorbing member (23) being formed from a resin material (¶ [0027]) that is modified by heat accompanying actuation of the igniter (35), the impact absorbing member (23) having flexibility, and being configured to absorb impact in a case where the cutoff portion (12a) having been cut off collides (¶ [0028]).
Regarding Claims 5, Ukon discloses that the impact absorbing member (23) is disposed in a ring shape or an arc shape along an inner wall surface of the housing (11; FIGS. 2, 3, and 10).
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 2, 4, 7, and 9, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ukon in view of Sakai et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2021/257172 A1, hereinafter “Sakai”).
Ukon discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention and further discloses that the impact absorbing member (23) is disposed between the housing (20) defining the arc-extinguishing region (¶¶ [0049]-0053]; FIG. 2) and the coolant material, as recited in Claim 4, but does not disclose the claimed material, as recited in Claim 2.
However, Sakai discloses a coolant material (14) disposed in the accommodating space (FIG. 2). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Ukon with those of Sakai and dispose the impact absorbing member between the housing defining the arc-extinguishing region and the coolant material to remove thermal energy of a generated arc.
Regarding Claims 7 and 9, Ukon discloses that the impact absorbing member (23) is disposed in a ring shape or an arc shape along an inner wall surface of the housing (11; FIGS. 2, 3, and 10).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ukon.
Ukon discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention but does not disclose the claimed material. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize such a material for ease of installation and device reliability since it has been held to be within the general ordinary skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 U.S.P.Q. 416.
Claims 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ukon in view of Sakai.
Ukon discloses substantially all of the limitations of the present invention but does not disclose the claimed material. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize such a material for ease of installation and device reliability since it has been held to be within the general ordinary skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 U.S.P.Q. 416.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 8, and 11, 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 ANTHONY R. JIMENEZ whose telephone number is 313-446-6518. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, 1030am - 9pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee Luebke, can be reached at (571) 272-2009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY R JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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