DETAILED ACTION
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 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharman et al. (9,605,328) in view of Suzuki et al. (JP 2017-94396). Sharman discloses (Fig. 3) that a peening pin (14) is ultrasonically vibrated (col. 4, lines 1-3 and 15-18) in a center axis direction perpendicular to and located on a weld toe (21; intersection between 10,12; col. 5, lines 48- 50), the peening pin (14) is rotated (col. 4, lines 65-67) on a circle diameter (22) on the weld toe (21; Fig. 3) about a rotation axis (axis into page at a center of the circle, 22) which is parallel to the center axis (vibrational axis), then a center axis of the peening pin (14) is offset from the rotation axis at a position parallel to the rotation axis as the peening pin (14) rotates around a second circle diameter (22) with an offset center along a longitudinal weld seam (18; col. 4, lines 64-67) which is a linear path down a length of the weld seam (18). As the peening pin (14) is moved along the weld toe, along the arrows (Fig. 3), each axis of each circle diameter (22) is parallel to and offset longitudinally from the previous circle diameter.
Sharman does not disclose that the pin has a radius of curvature of 0.1mm to 1mm. Suzuki teaches (page 6, 2ⁿᵈ to last paragraph) that a pin radius of curvature experimentation is conducted with radius of curvature values of 0.2mm, 0.5mm and 0.8mm. It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan prior to the effective filing date of the present invention to modify a radius of curvature of the tip of the peening pin of Sharman to be between 0.05mm to 1mm as taught by Suzuki according to a size of the toe weld so that the pin tip radius of curvature is selected to be larger or smaller than the toe weld radius in order to suppress wrinkle folding during ultrasonic impact treatment.
Regarding claim 2, Sharman discloses that a portion (31; col. 7, lines 41-44) toward a weld bead side (10) and a base metal side (12) with a weld toe (21; Fig. 3) as a center is peened during the moving along the weld toe (21).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/EDWARD T TOLAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725
