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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, regarding the 112B rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s argument regarding the Aoki reference are moot, as the claim citations have been amended in accordance with the amended claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 10 and 12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the use of a gear cover with a receptacle facing the annular collar, with a spring or damping element pretensioning the fastening element on the gear housing cannot be found in the prior art.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Aoki, US 20230398663.
Regarding claim 1, Aoki discloses: A hand-held power tool (Fig. 1, impact tool 1), comprising:
a drive motor (Fig. 5, motor 6);
a gear mechanism (Fig. 5, reducer 7) arranged in the housing;
a gear housing (Fig. 5, hammer case 4) which the gear mechanism is also arranged; and
a fastening element (Fig. 5, cup washer 61 and/or see Examiner Illustration A and/or bumper 5b),
wherein the tool receptacle has a receiving sleeve (Fig. 5, anvil shaft 101) which is
(i) mounted in the gear housing so as to be rotatable via at least one bearing element (Fig. 5, anvil bearings 46), and (ii) designed to receive an insert tool,
wherein the gear housing has a receptacle with an annular collar (Fig. 5, second cylinder 402);
configured to receive the at least one bearing element (Fig. 5, anvil bearings 46);
wherein the fastening element (Fig. 5, cup washer 61 and/or see Examiner Illustration A and/or bumper 5b) is configured to fasten the at least one bearing element in the receptacle (for cup washer 61 - [0134-0135], for bumper 5b and the lip portion highlighted in Examiner Illustration A, see figs 4-6 and 17 ),
wherein the fastening element (Fig. 5, cup washer 61 and/or see Examiner Illustration A, and/or bumper 5b) (i) is fastened to the annular collar ([0132] “The cup washer 61 is supported on the hammer case 4. The cup washer 61 in the present embodiment has its outer circumference in a groove portion 404 on the inner circumferential surface of the first cylinder 401.”; [0053] The hammer case cover 5A covers at least a part of the surface of the hammer case 4. The bumper 5B is attached to the front end of the hammer case 4.; and/or see Examiner Illustration A) and (ii) closes an end of the receptacle facing away from the drive motor on one end face of the gear housing at least in certain regions (see Examiner Illustration A which highlights the function of the fastener portion of the hammer case 4. Likewise, it can be seen that bumper 5b also performs this function).
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Examiner Illustration A
Regarding claim 2, Aoki further discloses: wherein the fastening element (Fig. 5, cup washer 61 and/or see Examiner Illustration A and/or bumper 5b) is designed as a pot-shaped part having a sleeve-shaped base body (for cup washer - Fig. 14, connecting portion 613, for cited portion of hammer case 4, see Figs. 4-8, case connector 403, and for bumper 5b, see Figs. 4-8 and 17, hammer case cover 5a) on which a second annular collar (for cup washer - Fig. 14, outer ring portion 612; for cited portion of hammer case 4, see Figs. 4-8, first cylinder 401, and for bumper 5b, see Figs. 4-8 and 17, rear most portion of hammer case cover 5a) for support on the gear housing and a ring-disk-shaped bottom surface (for cup washer - Fig. 14,inner ring portion 611; for cited portion of hammer case 4, [0052] describes this feature, and for bumper 5b, see Figs. 4-8 and 17, Fig. 5 shows the hammer case cover 5a interlocked with the motor compartment 21) for closing the end of the receptacle at least the certain regions are formed.
Regarding claim 6, Aoki further discloses: the sleeve-shaped base body (for cup washer - Fig. 14, connecting portion 613, for cited portion of hammer case 4, see Figs. 4-8, case connector 403, and for bumper 5b, see Figs. 4-8 and 17, hammer case cover 5a) is fastened on an outer periphery of the annular collar of the receptacle (Fig. 5, second cylinder 402) by way of an interference fit.
Claims 4, 5 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki.
Regarding claim 4, Aoki discloses the device of claim 2.
Aoki does not explicitly disclose: the at least one bearing element has an associated bearing width in the longitudinal direction of the receiving sleeve, and the ring-disk-shaped bottom surface of the fastening element has a wall thickness which is smaller than a quarter of the bearing width.
Official Notice is taken that the cited portion of the fastening element would have a wall thickness smaller than a quarter of the bearing width, as the cup washer that the fastening element is made from is a thin piece of metal, which is commonly known in the art to be extremely thin. Furthermore, while not necessarily to scale, it can be seen from the Figures that the bearings are many fold thicker than the fastening element. . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize appropriate dimension of the various parts when constructing the device.
Regarding claim 5, Aoki discloses the device of claim 2.
Aoki does not explicitly disclose: the ring-disk-shaped bottom surface of the fastening element has a wall thickness which is less than 2.2 mm.
Official Notice is taken that the cited portion of the fastening element would have a wall thickness less than 2.2mm, as the cup washer that the fastening element is made from is a thin piece of metal, which is commonly known in the art to be extremely thin. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to utilize appropriate dimension of the various parts when constructing the device.
Regarding claim 11, Aoki discloses the device of claim 4.
Aoki does not explicitly disclose: the wall thickness is smaller than a fifth of the bearing width.
Official Notice is taken that the cited portion of the fastening element would have a wall thickness smaller than a fifth of the bearing width, as the cup washer that the fastening element is made from is a thin piece of metal, which is commonly known in the art to be extremely thin. Furthermore, while not necessarily to scale, it can be seen from the Figures that the bearings are many fold thicker than the fastening element. . Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to utilize appropriate dimension of the various parts when constructing the device.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL JEREMY LEEDS whose telephone number is (571)272-2095. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs, 0730-1730.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna Kinsaul can be reached at 571-270-1926. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL JEREMY LEEDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731
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