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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is a Non-final Office Action for application number 18/855,491 MOUNTING HOLE CAP AND MOTION GUIDE APPARATUS filed on 10/9/2024. Claims 1-11 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 3/17/2026 and 10/9/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by United States Patent No. to 5,573,211 to Wu.
[AltContent: arrow]With regards to claim 1, the patent to Wu discloses a mounting hole (11) cap (12) for blocking a mounting hole in a rail (1) of a motion guide apparatus, the mounting hole cap having a lid portion;
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and a
[AltContent: arrow]fitting portion
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, wherein the fitting portion includes a
[AltContent: arrow]first fitting portion
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and
[AltContent: arrow]a second fitting portion
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placed in a circumferential direction,
a slit (123) is formed between the first fitting portion and the second fitting portion,
the first fitting portion is formed with a protruding portion (121) that comes into contact with an inner surface (near 111) of the mounting hole, and an outer diameter of the protruding portion of the first fitting portion is greater than an outer diameter of the second fitting portion. (See Figure 2)
With regards to claim 7, Wu teaches a rail (1); and a carriage (2) assembled to the rail and configured to be movable relative to the rail.
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 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent No. 5,573,211 to Wu.
With regards to claim 6, Wu does not specifically disclose that wherein upon the mounting hole cap being temporarily placed in the mounting hole, an entry amount
mounting hole cap into the mounting hole is equal to or more than 25% of a thickness (H) of the mounting hole cap in the up-and-down direction, however it is obvious that a temporary placement of the cap could be at any depth to height ratio, as it is a design choice and is obvious to set the cap in at the height desired before a final mounting.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 8-11 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.
With regards to claim 2, the prior art does not teach wherein a flange that covers a chamfer of an inner peripheral edge of an opening portion of the mounting hole is formed on an upper portion of the second fitting portion.
With regards to claim 3, the prior art does not teach wherein an outer surface of the second fitting portion is formed in a curved shape whose middle portion in an up-and- down direction bulges out most.
With regards to claim 5, the prior art does not teach wherein the lid portion includes a top plate portion and a reinforcing rib provided on an undersurface of the top plate portion and connected to the second fitting portion.
Cited References
PN 4,658,558 to Verble shows a cap
PN 5,048,571 to Ellis shows a cap
PN 5,454,479 to Kraus shows a cap
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Amy J. Sterling at telephone number 571-272-6823 or to Supervisor Jonathan Liu at 571-272-8227 if the examiner cannot be reached. The examiner can normally be reached (Mon-Fri 8am-5:00pm). The fax machine number for the Technology center is 571-273-8300 (formal amendments), informal amendments or communications 571-273-6823. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Technology Center receptionist at 571-272-3600. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/AMY J. STERLING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631 7/23/26
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