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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 18, 2025 has been considered by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 1 includes the limitation, “wherein the slider comprises a slider main body including comprising a ball screw nut part” at line 11 which is redundant to the limitation, “a ball screw nut part provided in the slider” at line 8.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation, “each of the left and right linear ball bearings comprises an external passage formed between a corresponding one of the side walls of the guide rail and the slider main body…”, stating the ball bearings comprising external passages, which is unclear how bearings can comprise an external passage. Claim 3 is rejected for its dependence to claim 2.
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.
Claims 1-3, 6, 7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dirschbacher et al. (CN 108730461).
Dirschbacher discloses and shows at Fig. 1 a ball screw actuator, comprising:
a linear guide rail (30) comprising left and right side walls and defining a concave cross-sectional shape;
a slider (41) disposed between the left and right side walls of the guide rail;
left and right linear ball bearings (17) which are provided with multiple balls that circulate between the slider and the left and right side walls of the guide rail, and which guide movement of the slider in an axial direction relative to the guide rail;
a ball screw nut part (40) provided in the slider; and
a ball screw shaft (20) that passes through a through hole provided in the slider in the axial direction and is threadedly engaged with the ball screw nut part provided in the slider via balls (16, not shown),
wherein the slider comprises a slider main body comprising a ball screw nut part, and ball return members (61,62) respectively attached to both ends of the slider main body in the axial direction,
at least one of the ball return members comprises (see Fig. 4) left and right return passages (45) through which each ball of the left and right linear ball bearings moves, the left and right linear ball bearings being provided bilaterally symmetrically with respect to the through hole, a lubricating oil injection passage (Fig. 6, item 65) provided offset to one of left and right sides with respect to the through hole, and a lubricating oil supply passage (60) for supplying lubricating oil from the lubricating oil injection passage to the left and right return passages, and
the lubricating oil supply passage comprises a first passage (Fig. A, below, item 1P) that extends from the lubricating oil injection passage to a branch position on a bilateral symmetry line which passes through a center of the through hole, and second passages (66) which are branched left and right from the branch position to respectively extend to the left and right return passages and are bilaterally symmetric.
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Cl. 2 – each of the left and right linear ball bearings comprises an external passage formed between a corresponding one of the side walls of the guide rail and the slider main body and an internal passage (47) formed to extend in the axial direction inside the slider main body,
each of the left and right return passages comprises an outer end portion communicating with the corresponding external passage and an inner end portion communicating with the corresponding internal passage, and
the second passages respectively communicate with parts of the left and right return passages on a side closer to the outer end portion than to the inner end portion.
Cl. 3 – the second passages respectively communicate with the outer end portions of the left and right return passages.
Cl. 6 – the lubricating oil supply passage further comprises third passages (Fig. A, above, item 3P) extending from the respective second passages bilaterally symmetrically on a radially outer side of the through hole, and a fourth passage (4P) extending from the third passages to the through hole.
Cl. 7 – the first passage, the second passages, the third passages, and the fourth passage comprise parts constituted of recessed grooves opening in a surface of the ball return member that contacts an end surface of the slider main body, and the recessed grooves define the shape lubricating oil supply passage with an opening being closed by the end surface of the slider main body (pg. 6, last partial paragraph of English translation).
Cl. 10 – each of the left and right linear ball bearings is configured in two stages, an upper stage and a lower stage (Fig. 2), the ball return member further comprises the return passages arranged in two stages, an upper stage and a lower stage (Fig. 4), and the second passages extend bilaterally symmetrically to between the return passages arranged in the upper stage and the lower stage and are in communication with the return passages arranged in the upper stage and the lower stage.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dirschbacher as applied to claim 6, in view of Ootani (US 2018/0259073).
Dirschbacher discloses and shows the invention of clam 6 as described elsewhere above. Dirschbacher does not include a seal plate as described in claim 9. Ootani teaches a ball screw actuator having seal members (5) at each end of the ball screw nut, the seal member having an inner diameter smaller than a through hole of the openings at the axial ends of the ball screw nut, the seal member prevents foreign matter from infiltrating the space between the nut and spindle, the seal members also withstands internal pressure higher than the pressure outside of the ball screw actuator.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Dirschbacher ball screw actuator to include a seal plate between the slider between the slider main body and each of the ball return members, wherein each of the seal plates comprises an opening with an inner diameter smaller than the through hole, the seal plates prevents foreign matter from infiltrating the space between the nut and spindle and withstands internal pressure higher than the pressure outside of the ball screw actuator.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5 and 8 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: while a ball screw actuator as described at claim 1 with its first and second lubricant passages is known in the art, the prior art lacks a ball screw actuator where the first and second lubricant passages are axially overlap one another, the first and second lubricant passages are separated by a partition wall provided on the ball return member.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BOBBY RUSHING, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-0501. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8AM-5PM EST.
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/BOBBY RUSHING, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
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