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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-15) and Species A (Figs. 4-8C) in the reply filed on 01/20/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 9-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species and/or invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/20/2026.
Claims 1-8 are currently being examined.
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) 1-4 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Borns et al. 6792757.
Regarding independent claim 1, Borns teaches a heat shield (36 Fig. 2) for a combustor (30 Fig. 2) of a gas turbine engine (col 1 lines 6-8), the heat shield comprising:
an annular ring (as shown in Fig. 4a, 36 is an annular ring) having an axial direction (direction into page in center of 36 perpendicular to radial direction in annotated Fig. 4a), a radial direction (labeled in annotated Fig. 4a), and a circumferential direction (labeled in annotated Fig. 4a), the annular ring including a plurality of circumferential segments (labeled in Fig. 5), each circumferential segment of the plurality of circumferential segments being disconnected from an adjacent circumferential segment of the plurality of circumferential segments (each of the circumferential segments in annotated Fig. 5 are disconnected from each other due to slot 47 between the adjacent segments) to allow for thermal growth of each circumferential segment during operation of the combustor (the slot between adjacent circumferential segments allow each circumferential segment to thermally expand, i.e., grow during operation of combustor 30).
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Regarding claim 2, Borns further teaches the annular ring includes a plurality of radial slots (as seen in Fig. 5, there are a plurality of radial slots 47), adjacent circumferential segments of the plurality of circumferential segments being disconnected from each other by one of the radial slots of the plurality of radial slots (adjacent circumferential segments in annotated Fig. 5 are disconnected from each other by one of the radial slots 47).
Regarding claim 3, Borns further teaches the annular ring has a width (labeled in annotated Fig. 5) in the radial direction and includes a radially outer edge (labeled in annotated Fig. 5), each radial slot extending inward from the radially outer edge a distance (labeled in annotated Fig. 5) that is less than the width of the annular ring in the radial direction (distance is less than width in radial direction as shown in annotated Fig. 5).
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Regarding claim 4, Borns further teaches the annular ring includes an inner ring portion (labeled in annotated Fig. 5), the inner ring portion being an inner portion of the annular ring (inner ring portion is an inner portion of annular ring of heat shield 36) that is free from the plurality of radial slots (inner ring portion is free of plurality of lots 47 in annotated Fig. 5), each circumferential segment of the plurality of circumferential segments extending radially outward from the inner ring portion (each circumferential segment extends radially outward from the inner ring portion in annotated Fig. 5).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5-8 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.
Borns does not teach the limitations of claim 5 and it would not be obvious to modify a hot side of a distal end of a fuel nozzle tip of fuel nozzle 31 shown in Fig. 1 to have the distal end of the fuel nozzle tip include a plurality of projections with each projection extending into a corresponding one of the radial slots.
Prior art Polyzopoulos et al. 10982853 listed on IDS filed 12/12/2023 teaches a fuel nozzle 110 in Fig. 3 with a heat shield 160 including slots 174 shown in Fig. 11. Polyzopoulos does not teach the limitations of claim 5 and it would not be obvious to modify a hot side of a distal end of a fuel nozzle tip of fuel nozzle 110 to have the distal end of the fuel nozzle tip include a plurality of projections with each projection extending into a corresponding one of the radial slots.
Claims 6-8 being dependent directly or indirectly upon claim 5 include the allowable subject matter of claim 5 and 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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/A.J.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3741
/LORNE E MEADE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3741