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 .
Application Status
This action is responsive to the claims filed 19 February 2026.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and being examined.
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.
Claim(s) 11 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ueda (US 2021/0316433).
Ueda teaches:
Claim 11: A working machine (10-fig.1) comprising:
an ejection unit (13-fig.1) housing a fastener (¶[0023]); and
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a striking unit (22,21,21a-figs.1 and 7) operable to reciprocate in an up-down direction of the working machine and move downward to strike the fastener housed in the ejection unit (¶[0026]), wherein
the ejection unit has a first wall portion (42-fig.5) forming a rear side of an ejection path to which the fastener is supplied (¶[0030],[0042]), a second wall portion (41-fig.5) facing the first wall portion and forming a front side of the ejection path (¶[0042]), and a raised portion (annotated fig.7) provided on at least one of the second wall portion (41-fig.5),
striking unit (21,21a-fig.7) has a recessed portion (annotated fig.7) configured to receive the raised portion (see annotated fig.7 showing the raised portion within the recessed portion), and
the raised portion is positioned on a side of the fastener supplied to the ejection path (see fig. 7 showing the raised portion offset to the side of the center line of where the driver is feed from the magazine 29),
the striking unit (21,21a-fig.4) has an elongated body portion (21-fig.4) and a plurality of rack portions (21a-fig.4) provided on only one side of the elongated body portion (¶[0033]),
the ejection unit (13-fig.1) has an inner surface (46-fig.5) positioned on a side of the elongated body portion opposite to the side with the plurality of rack portions (¶[0042]-[0043]), and
an extent of the inner surface in a front-rear direction of the working machine is greater than an extent of the raised portion in the front-rear direction (see annotated fig.7 showing 40a and 40b) extent is greater than the raised portion).
Claim 16: The working machine according to claim 11, wherein
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the striking unit has an elongated body portion (21-fig.4), a plurality of rack portions (21a-fig.4) provided on one side of the elongated body portion (¶[0033]), and an engaging portion (annotated fig.5) disposed on a front surface of the elongated body portion facing the second wall portion (annotated fig.5 showing the engaging portion on the front surface of 21),
the second wall portion has a guiding portion (annotated fig.5) configured to engage with the engaging portion to guide movement of the striking unit in the up-down direction (see annotated fig.5 showing the engaging portions engaged with the guiding portion), and
the recessed portion is offset toward the side of the elongated body portion, relative to the guiding portion (see fig. 7 showing the raised portion offset to the side of the center line of where the driver is feed from the magazine 29).
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(s) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueda (US 2021/0316433) in view of Mikat-Stevens (US 2020/0246949).
Ueda teaches:
Claim 1: A working machine (10-fig.1) comprising:
an ejection unit (13-fig.1) housing a fastener (¶[0023]); and
a striking unit (22,21,21a-figs.1 and 7) operable to reciprocate in an up-down direction of the working machine and move downward to strike the fastener housed in the ejection unit (¶[0026]), wherein
the ejection unit has a first wall portion (42-fig.5) forming a rear side of an ejection path to which the fastener is supplied (¶[0042]), a second wall portion (41-fig.5) facing the first wall portion and forming a front side of the ejection path (¶[0042]), and a raised portion (annotated fig.7) provided on at least one of the second wall portion (41-fig.5),
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the striking unit (21,21a-fig.7) has a recessed portion (annotated fig.7) configured to receive the raised portion (see annotated fig.7 showing the raised portion within the recessed portion),
the raised portion is positioned on a side of the fastener supplied to the ejection path in a lateral direction of the working machine intersecting the up-down direction (see fig. 7 showing the raised portion offset to the side of the center line of where the driver is feed from the magazine 29).
Ueda does not expressly teach an upper end of the raised portion is positioned, in the up-down direction, above an upper end of the fastener when the fastener is supplied to the ejection path.
However, Mikat-Stevens teaches an upper end of the raised portion (annotated fig.6A) is positioned, in the up-down direction, above an upper end (annotated fig.6A) of the fastener when the fastener (102a-fig.6A) is supplied to the ejection path (80-6A).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention, to modify the device of Ueda, by having the upper end of the raised portion to extend above the fastener, as taught by Mikat-Stevens, to ensure that the driver blade stays on the track during the whole driving cycle and to provide lateral stability. (Mikat-Stevens: ¶[0038]).
Ueda as modified by Mikat-Stevens further teaches:
Claim 2: The working machine according to claim 1, wherein the striking unit (Ueda: 21,21a-fig.4) has an elongated body portion (Ueda: 21-fig.4) and a plurality of rack portions (Ueda: 21a-fig.4) provided on one side of the elongated body portion (Ueda: ¶[0033]),
the plurality of rack portions is arranged in line along a longitudinal direction of the elongated body portion (Ueda: ¶[0033]), and
the recessed portion (Ueda: annotated fig.7) is provided between the elongated body portion and the rack portions, and extends along the longitudinal direction of the elongated body portion, and the recessed portion is provided between the elongated body portion and the rack portions, and extends along the longitudinal direction of the elongated body portion (Ueda: see annotated fig.7 showing the recessed portion located between 21a and 21).
Claim 3: The working machine according to claim 1, wherein a height of the raised portion is 5% or more and 80% or less of a thickness of the striking unit in a thickness direction intersecting of the striking unit both the up-down direction and the lateral direction (Ueda: see annotated fig. 7 showing the raised portion is at least 5% or more of the thickness of 21).
Claim 4: The working machine according to claim 1, wherein the fastener has a first foot portion and a second foot portion parallel to each other, and a head portion connecting one end of the first foot portion and one end of the second foot portion to each other, the upper end of the fastener being an upper end of the head portion in the up-down direction (Ueda: Claims are drawn to a working machine not the fastener, tool 10 is capable of firing a variety of types of fasteners.), and
the raised portion is positioned on a side of the first foot portion of the fastener supplied to the ejection path in the lateral direction intersecting the up-down direction (Ueda: Claims are drawn to a working machine not the fastener, tool 10 is capable of firing a variety of types of fasteners. The raised portion would be on a side of a foot portion of a fastener.).
Claim 5: The working machine according to claim 1, wherein
the striking unit reciprocates between a bottom dead center which is a lower end of a movement stoke of the striking unit in the up-down direction and a top dead center which is an upper end of the movement stroke of the striking unit in the up-down direction (Ueda: ¶[0034]-[0035]; Mikat-Stevens: ¶[0033], fig.6A),
a lower end of the striking unit is positioned, in the up-down direction, below the upper end of the raised portion when the striking units is at the top dead center (Ueda: ¶[0034]-[0035]; Mikat-Stevens: ¶[0033],fig.5A).
Claim 6: The working machine according to claim 5, wherein the striking unit (Ueda: 21,21a-fig.4) has an elongated body portion (Ueda: 21-fig.4) and a plurality of rack portions (Ueda: 21a-fig.4) provided on one side of the elongated body portion (Ueda: ¶[0033]),
the plurality of rack portions is arranged in line along a longitudinal direction of the elongated body portion (Ueda: ¶[0033]), and
the recessed portion (Ueda: annotated fig.7) is provided between the elongated body portion and the rack portions, and extends along the longitudinal direction of the elongated body portion, and the recessed portion is provided between the elongated body portion and the rack portions, and extends along the longitudinal direction of the elongated body portion (Ueda: see annotated fig.7 showing the recessed portion located between 21a and 21), and
when the striking unit is at the bottom dead center, the raised portion enters the recessed portion halfway to a position corresponding to a midpoint of the recessed portion in the longitudinal direction (Mikat-Stevens: ¶[0044]).
Claim 7: The working machine according to claim 5, wherein
the raised portion does not enter the recessed portion when the striking unit is at the top dead center (Mikat-Stevens: ¶[0038]).
Claim 8: The working machine according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of rack portions (Ueda: 21-fig.4) is positioned on only one side of the elongated body portion (Ueda: see fig.4 showing 21a on only one side of 21),
the ejection unit has an inner surface (Ueda: 46-fig.5) positioned on a side of the elongated body portion opposite to the side with the plurality of rack portions (Ueda: ¶[0043]), and
the inner surface suppresses the fastener supplied to the ejection path from coming off the ejection path (Ueda: ¶[0042]-[0043]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 15, and 17-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The prior art is silent in regard to a first wall portion forming a rear side of an ejection path to which the fastener is supplied and the first wall portion having a raised portion and the striking unit has a recessed portion configured to receive the raised portion.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claims 9 and 12-14 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: The prior art is silent in regard to a first wall portion forming a rear side of an ejection path to which the fastener is supplied and the first wall portion having a raised portion and the striking unit has a recessed portion configured to receive the raised portion.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks pages 10-11, filed 19 February 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-11 under 35 USC §102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of 35 USC §103.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KATIE L GERTH whose telephone number is (303)297-4602. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 9am-4pm (CT).
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/KATIE L GERTH/Examiner, Art Unit 3731
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