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 .
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.
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiga et al. (US 2002/0043124) in view of Otsubo (JP 2009-41595, submitted with IDS dated Oct. 3, 2025)
Regarding claim 5, Shiga discloses and shows a method of producing a power transmission resin gear that includes an annular resin part having, on an outer peripheral surface thereof, teeth (3) of a gear,
the annular resin part including an annular inner resin member (2) that covers an outer periphery of a core metal (7) and an annular outer resin member (4) that covers an outer periphery of the annular inner resin member,
the annular inner resin member having a plurality of axially downgauged portions (Figs. 2, 4, and 6, item 6) arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction, and
the annular outer resin member having filling portions respectively filling the axially downgauged portions and an axial surface covering portion that is located radially inward of a tooth side of the teeth and covers the filling portions (see Figs. 2 and 6),
the method comprising:
a primary molding step; and
a secondary molding step, wherein
in the primary molding step, molten resin for the primary molding step is injected in a cavity of a primary-molding mold in a state where the core metal is set in the primary-molding mold opening and closing in an axial direction, so as to mold the annular inner resin member through injection molding, thereby producing a primary-molded product including the core metal and the annular inner resin member,
in the secondary molding step, molten resin for the secondary molding step is injected in a cavity of a secondary-molding mold in a state where the primary-molded product is set in the secondary-molding mold opening and closing in the axial direction, so as to mold through the injection molding the annular outer resin member provided with the teeth, and
the filing portions and the axial surface covering portion in the annular outer resin member are located on a side of the secondary-molding mold, in which a mold sprit surface of the secondary-molding mold is located (see para. 0032), and
the secondary-molding mold is opened and a molded product that is the power transmission resin gear is ejected from the secondary-molding mold, after the injection molding, cooling, and solidification in the secondary molding step.
The Shiga gear is described as a resin worm wheel (para. 0001) having an inner annular resin member containing reinforcement fibers and an outer annular resin member without any reinforcement fibers but does not describe the final gear being forcibly removed from the mold.
Otsubo discloses and shows a resin worm wheel formed of a mold and being ejected in an axial direction to be forcibly removed from a secondary-molding mold, eliminating a need for machining, yielding a worm wheel having rotational accuracy and reduced manufacturing costs (para. 0015 of English translation).
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 Shiga method to include a step of forcibly ejecting the gear in an axial direction so as to yield a worm wheel having rotational accuracy and reduced manufacturing costs.
Cl. 6 – each of the teeth has a tooth bottom with an arc shape (not shown) that fits an outer peripheral shape of a worm, and a tooth surface that is a curved surface with an arc shape, and the power transmission resin gear serves as a worm wheel to be used as a worm gear reducer in combination with the worm (para. 0001, thus the worm wheel includes a tooth bottom having an arc shape).
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiga in view of Otsubo, as applied to claims 5 and 6, in view of An Hee (KR 10-2019-0029208).
Shiga and Otsubo disclose and show the invention of claims 5 and 6 as described elsewhere above, but lacks a plurality of axial protrusions. An Hee discloses and shows a power transmission resin gear having a plurality of axial protrusions (Fig. 4, item 116) arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction on an outer peripheral surface of the annular inner resin member, the outer peripheral surface being located radially inward of the teeth (112) on an outer peripheral surface of the annular outer resin member, wherein the axially downgauged portions are located radially inward of the axial protrusions (see Fig. 3). The axial protrusion omits a step of removing the gate, which saves time and manufacturing costs.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a plurality of axial protrusions as offered by An Hee to the Shiga resin gear so as to also save time and manufacturing costs.
Response to Arguments
Applicant' s arguments with respect to the rejected claims have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds.
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 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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached at (571) 270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BOBBY RUSHING, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
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