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 .
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) 1-3 and 8, 9, 11, 14, 15 and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tabayashi et al. (JP 2012-86303, herein referenced by the EPO English Machine Translation).
Re Claim 1, Tabayashi discloses a double-sided negative cutting insert (1a) for use in milling (Par. 0178), the cutting insert (1a) having an essentially quadratic basic shape and being turnable into eight different working positions (See figure 1) and comprising: first and second major faces (10 and the face opposite 10) arranged on opposite sides of the cutting insert (1a) and serving as top and bottom faces of the cutting insert (1a), the cutting insert (1a) has a centre axis that extends between the first and second major faces and a median plan that extends halfway between the first and second major faces perpendicularly to the centre axis, and the cutting insert has 90° rotational symmetry about the centre axis (Pars. 0031 and 0032, Figure1); a peripheral surface (23, 24, 25, see figure 1) extending around the cutting insert (1a) between the first and second major faces substantially perpendicularly to the median plane, the peripheral surface (23, 24, 25) comprising: four main side faces, a first pair of which being arranged opposite to each other on two opposite sides of the cutting insert (1a) and a second pair of which being arranged opposite to each other on two other opposite sides of the cutting insert (1a) (see figure 1), the cutting insert (1a) has a first transverse plane that extends halfway between the two main side faces in the first pair and contains the centre axis of the cutting insert and a second transverse plane that extends halfway between the two main side faces (25) in the second pair and contains the centre axis of the cutting insert, and each main side face (25) in the first pair has 180° rotational symmetry about a first imaginary reference axis that extends along a line of intersection between the median plane and the second transverse plane and each main side face in the second pair has 180° rotational symmetry about a second imaginary reference axis that extends along a line of intersection between the median plane and the first transverse plane (Pars. 0031 and 0032, Fig. 1), and four corner side faces (23, 24), each of which being arranged between two adjacent main side faces (25); four first main cutting edges (13, the portion along 24 and 25) formed at an intersection between a respective one of the four main side faces (25) and the first major face (10); four second main cutting edges (13) formed at an intersection between a respective one of the four main side faces (25) and the second major face (the fade opposite 10); four first surface-wiping cutting edges (13, the portion along face 23) formed at an intersection between a respective one of the four main side faces (25) and the first major face (10); four second surface-wiping cutting edges (13, the portion along face 23) formed at an intersection between a respective one of the four main side faces (25) and the second major face; four first curved corner cutting edges (11a, 11b) formed at an intersection between a respective one of the four corner side faces (23, 24) and the first major face (10) (Pars. 0034 and 0039, Fig. 1), each one the first curved corner cutting edges (11a, 11b) is located between one of the first main cutting edges (13) and one of the first surface-wiping cutting edges (13); and four second curved corner cutting edges (11a, 11b) formed at an intersection between a respective one of the four corner side faces (23, 24) and the second major face, each one the second curved corner cutting edges (11a, 11b) is located between one of the second main cutting edges (13) and one of the second surface-wiping cutting edges (13), each one of the main side faces (25) includes a central side surface that extends between the first and second major faces (See figure 1), a first lateral side surface (24) that extends between the first and second major faces and adjoins to one of the four corner side faces and a second lateral side surface (23) that extends between the first and second major faces and adjoins to another one of the four corner side faces, the first lateral side surface (24), the central side surface (25) and the second lateral side surface (23) being arranged one after the other with the central side surface (25) located between the first lateral side surface (24) and the second lateral side surface (23) (See figure 1); one of the first main cutting edges (13) extends along the first lateral side surface (24) and along at least a major part of the central side surface (25), one of the first surface-wiping cutting edges (13) extends along at least a part of the second lateral side surface (23), one of the second main cutting edges (13) extends along the second lateral side surface (23) and along at least a major part of the central side surface (25), and one of the second surface-wiping cutting edges (13) extends along at least a part of the first lateral side surface (24) (See figure 4, listed as 23, but should be denoted as 24 near numeral 11b); and when seen in a cross-section of the cutting insert (1a) taken along the median plane, each one of the main side faces (25) is arranged such that the first lateral side surface (24) of the main side face extends along a first line, the central side surface of the main side face extends along a second line (25 in figure 4) and the second lateral side surface (23) of the of the main side face extends along a third line; the second line has a first end point (15b), through which the second line adjoins to the first line, and a second end point (15a), through which the second line adjoins to the third line (See figure 4), these first and second end points (15b, 15a) being located on an imaginary straight reference line that extends between a first point (16b) where the first line adjoins to the corner side face adjacent to the first lateral side surface (24) of the main side face and a second point (16a) where the third line adjoins to the corner side face adjacent to the second lateral side surface (23) of the main side face, the second line (25 in figure 4) is depressed in relation to the imaginary straight reference line toward the centre axis of the cutting insert and has a deepest part at its middle part (Pars. 0013 and 0040, Fig. 4), and a depth (d) of the second line in relation to the imaginary straight reference line is gradually increasing as seen in a direction from the first end point (15b) to the deepest part of the second line and as seen in a direction from said second end point (15a) to the deepest part of the second line, the depth of the deepest part of the second line in relation to the imaginary straight reference line being 0.01-0.15 mm (Par. 0126).
Re Claim 2, Tabayashi discloses each one of the main side faces (25) has a shape such that the central side surface of the main side face is tangentially connected to the first lateral side surface (24) of the main side face and tangentially connected to the second lateral side surface (23) of the main side face (see figures 1 and 6).
Re Claim 3, Tabayashi discloses each main side face (25) in the first pair has such a shape that the central side surface of this main side face, as seen in a lateral view of the cutting insert (1a) along the first imaginary reference axis toward this main side face, has a length along the median plane corresponding to 35-75%, of a width of the cutting insert (1a) as seen in this lateral view and measured along the median plane (See figure 4 and claim 1).
Re Claim 8, Tabayashi discloses the first lateral side surface (24) of each main side face has such a shape that the first line is flush with the associated imaginary straight reference line; and the second lateral side surface (23) of each main side face has such a shape that the third line is flush with the associated imaginary straight reference line (See figure 4).
Re Claim 9, Tabayashi discloses the central side surface (25) of each main side face has at least one concave part (26) that is concavely shaped as seen in a cross-section of the cutting insert taken along the median plane (see figure 4).
Re Claim 11, Tabayashi discloses each first surface-wiping cutting edge (13) extends along at least a major part of the associated second lateral side surface (23); and each second surface-wiping cutting edge (13) extends along at least a major part of the associated first lateral side surface (24) (See figure 1).
Re Claim 14, Tabayashi discloses each one of the first surface-wiping cutting edges (13) extends essentially in parallel with the median plane; and each one of the second surface-wiping cutting edges (13) extends essentially in parallel with the median plane (See figures 1 and 4).
Re Claim 15, Tabayashi discloses the cutting insert (1a) is provided with a through hole (14), which extends centrally through the cutting insert (1a) between the first and second major faces, a centre axis of the through hole (14) coincides with the centre axis of the cutting insert (1a) (Par. 0038, Figure 1).
Re Claim 17, Tabayashi discloses in each one of the different working positions of the cutting insert, the first and second lateral side surfaces of one of the main side faces are configured to jointly serve as axial abutment surfaces of the cutting insert at the same time as the first and second lateral side surfaces of another one of the main side faces are configured to jointly serve as radial abutment surfaces of the cutting insert.
Re Claim 18, Tabayashi discloses the cutting insert (1a) is a square-shoulder milling insert or a face milling insert (Par. 0178, Figure 1).
Re Claim 19, Tabayashi discloses a milling tool comprising at least one double-sided negative cutting insert according to claim 1 (Pars. 0059 and 0178, Fig. 8).
Claim Objections
Claims 4-7, 10, 12, 13 and 16 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.
Conclusion
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/BAYAN SALONE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3722
