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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/11/25 has been entered.
Claims 10-15 are now pending in that un-elected claims 10-13 are existed and are requested to be cancelled.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(b) because they are incomplete. 37 CFR 1.83(b) reads as follows:
When the invention consists of an improvement on an old machine the drawing must when possible exhibit, in one or more views, the improved portion itself, disconnected from the old structure, and also in another view, so much only of the old structure as will suffice to show the connection of the invention therewith.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 14-15 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The phrases:” the laminated iron core including unit iron cores that are pressed from an electrical steel sheet having a coating containing an adhesive that exhibits adhesive ability through heating, provided to a sheet surface of the electrical steel sheet, and laminated” (claim 14, lines 2-4) considered preamble which does not further limit the claimed apparatus, since above directed to entity of a product (e.g., laminated iron core) which is not a part of the claimed apparatus.
In formulate the rejection on the merits only structural elements of the apparatus is/are considered but not the “laminated iron core” and claims will be rejected accordingly.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 a1 as being anticipated by Frosch et al (DE 102012001744).
Frosch et al discloses the claimed apparatus of a laminated iron core, the laminated iron core including unit iron cores that are pressed from an electrical steel sheet having a coating containing an adhesive that exhibits adhesive ability through heating, provided to a sheet surface of the electrical steel sheet, and laminated, the manufacturing apparatus comprising:
a progressive die 3 configured to press the electrical steel sheet having the coating containing the adhesive that exhibits adhesive ability through heating, provided to the sheet surface of the electrical steel sheet, to obtain a unit iron core, the electrical steel sheet being conveyed along a conveyor path, the progressive die disposed along the conveyor path (see related embodiments of Figs. 1-2, 6); Note that punch 7’s are progressive die of tool 3.
a lamination space (within depositing unit 4) configured to laminate the unit iron cores after being subjected to a final pressing step in the progressive die, the lamination space disposed downstream from the progressive die along the conveyor path (see Fig. 1 and 6); and
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a heating unit 5, 9 that is disposed at an upper part of the lamination space and is configured to heat the sheet surface of the unit iron core of an uppermost layer laminated in the lamination space, at a plurality of partial regions to make the unit iron core of the uppermost layer to be partially adhered to the unit iron core of a lower layer thereof at a plurality of regions the heating unit disposed downstream from the progressive die along the conveyor path (see Figs 1-2, 6, respectively). Therefore, the above structure elements features is/are met by the Frosch et al reference.
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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) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Frosch et al in view of Lewe et al (DE 102020109985).
The Frosch et al as advanced above is in silent regarding to where” The manufacturing apparatus of the laminated iron core according to claim 14, further comprising a pressurizing unit configured to pressurize the unit iron cores laminated in the lamination space, wherein the pressurizing unit is configured in a retractable manner from the lamination space”. The Lewe et al discloses such feature above (see Fig. 1, which depicts a pressurizing unit 7 configured to pressurize the unit iron cores laminated in the lamination space).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to employ the Lewe’s teaching as noted above on the invention of Frosch et al in order to form a device having the above arranging feature by utilizing the known and available concepts. The motivation for the combination references above can be found in either reference since both are in same endeavor field invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINH N TRINH whose telephone number is (571)272-4569. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH ~5:00-3:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas J Hong can be reached at 571-272-0993. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MINH N TRINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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