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.
Status of Claims
Claims 1 – 10 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/21/2024 and 08/04/2025 were filed before the first office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 6 – 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takeda (JP 2021107101 A) as cited by Applicant – see Machine Translation.
Regarding Independent Claim 1, Takeda teaches an electric tool (disc grinder, 1) comprising: a motor (motor, 5) configured to rotate a tip tool (grinding wheel, P); a switch unit (electronic switch, 11) configured to selectively provide or cut off supply of power to the motor (5; Paragraph [0127]); a housing (motor housing, 21) that houses the motor (5; Fig. 2); an operating member (paddle lever, 41) provided outside the housing (21; Fig. 1) and configured to be displaced between a first position (Fig. 11) and a second position (Fig. 12) in response to an operation (Paragraph [0141]); and an interlocking member (intervening portion, 42) configured to be displaced between a third position and a fourth position in response to displacement of the operating member (41; the lever 422 of the intervening portion 42 is pushed upward and as a result, the lever 422 rotates counterclockwise around the pin 423 in the direction shown in Figure 11 (Paragraph [0145]) and on the other hand, the lever 422 of the intervening part 42 rotates around the pin 423 in a clockwise direction as shown in the figure due to the biasing force of the leaf spring 11B of the electronic switch 11 (Paragraph [0148]), the housing (21) being arranged to house the switch unit (11, Fig. 12) and the switch unit (11) being configured to cut off the supply of the power to the motor (5) when the interlocking member (42) is located at the third position (Paragraphs [0148] – [0150]) and provide the supply of the power to the motor (5) when the interlocking member (42) is located at the fourth position (Paragraph [0145]).
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Regarding Claim 6, Takeda teaches the electric tool (disc grinder, 1) wherein the operating member (41) is provided removably with respect to the housing (11; Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 7, Takeda teaches the electric tool (disc grinder, 1) wherein the interlocking member (42) includes a magnet, and the switch unit (11) includes a magnetic sensor configured to detect magnetism produced by the magnet (Paragraph [0128]), and the switch unit (11) is configured to selectively provide or cut off the supply of the power to the motor in response to detection of the magnetism by the magnetic sensor (Paragraph [0128]).
Regarding Claim 8, Takeda teaches the electric tool (disc grinder, 1) wherein the switch unit (11; Fig. 12) includes a displaceable portion (leaf spring, 11B) configured to be displaced between a fifth position (Fig. 12) and a sixth position (Fig. 11), the switch unit (11) is configured to cut off the supply of the power to the motor (5) when the displaceable portion is located at the fifth position (Paragraph [0127]) and provide the supply of the power to the motor (5) when the displaceable portion is located at the sixth position (Paragraph [0127]), and the interlocking member (42) is configured to, when located at the third position, cause the displaceable portion (11B) of the switch unit (11) to be displaced to the fifth position (Paragraph [0129]), and when located at the fourth position, cause the displaceable portion (11B) of the switch unit (11) to be displaced to the sixth position (Paragraphs [0141] – [0146]).
Regarding Claim 9, Takeda teaches the electric tool (disc grinder, 1) wherein the interlocking member (42) is configured to be rotatable, around a rotary shaft, between the third position and the fourth position (Paragraphs [0119] and [0122]).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeda (JP 2021107101 A) as cited by Applicant – see Machine Translation.
Regarding Claim 10, Takeda teaches the electric tool (disc grinder, 1) of claim 1 as discussed above.
Takeda does not teach the electric tool further comprising a second switch unit provided separately from a first switch unit serving as the switch unit, wherein the second switch unit is configured to, when the tip tool is displaced toward the motor, provide the supply of the power to the motor; however, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the tool of Takeda to further include a second switch unit, as claimed, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the
Art (MPEP 2144.04).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Although Takeda teaches an electric tool, the reference does not teach, suggest or make obvious the housing has a through hole, the through hole is arranged to face the operating member, the interlocking member includes a cover portion, the cover portion is arranged to close the through hole, the operating member is configured to, when displaced from the first position to the second position, displace the cover portion in a direction in which the through hole extends, and the interlocking member is configured to, when the cover portion is displaced by the operating member, be displaced from the third position to the fourth position.
Claims 3 – 5 are further objected to as dependents of objected claim 2.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KATINA N HENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-8024. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday; 5:30am to 3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Carter can be reached at 571-272-4475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KATINA N. HENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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