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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s):
“the adjacent space (60C) is positioned further on a side of the leading edge (52) than the trailing end space (60D)” as identified in claim 1. This limitation requires that the adjacent space (60C) be positioned on (a side of) the leading edge (52), which is not the case shown in any figures. This limitation also seems to require that the trailing end space (60D) be positioned on (a side of) the leading edge. It is suggested that the limitation be rewritten to identify that the adjacent space (60C) is located between the leading edge (52) and the trailing end space (60D).
“an inner wall surface” as identified in the claim 1 limitation “both the adjacent space (60C) and the trailing end space (60D) are each defined by an inner wall surface” wherein it is not clear exactly which inner wall surface (or exactly which two separate inner wall surfaces?) this is referencing.
Note that 35 U.S.C. 113 identifies the requirement for drawings to be generally provided (“The applicant shall furnish a drawing where necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented.”) and 37 CFR 1.83(a) identifies requirements for what those drawings must show (“The drawing in a nonprovisional application must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. However, conventional features disclosed in the description and claims, where their detailed illustration is not essential for a proper understanding of the invention, should be illustrated in the drawing in the form of a graphical drawing symbol or a labeled representation (e.g., a labeled rectangular box)”).
No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because:
Reference character 45 appears in the specification (e.g. para 0023) but does not appear in the drawings.
For each of the drawing objections above, corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to because:
In Fig 2, reference character 60D (at the far right side of the figure) is supposed to identify “the trailing end space 60D” but its leader line is pointing to something else.
For each of the drawing objections above, corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as "amended." If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either "Replacement Sheet" or "New Sheet" pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
The following claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 (line 2) recites the limitation “a blade body of which a shape forms a blade shape in a cross section” which may cause confusion regarding what it means for a shape to form a shape, thus it is suggested that this be instead rewritten as -- a blade body comprising a blade shape in a cross section --.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/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 1 (line 10) recites the limitation “the adjacent space is positioned further on a side of the leading edge than the trailing end space” which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear what direction on the side of the leading edge corresponds to “further”. It is suggested that the limitation be rewritten to identify that the adjacent space (60C) is located between the leading edge (52) and the trailing end space (60D), or that a first distance between the adjacent space and the leading edge is shorter than a second distance between the trailing end space and the leading edge.
Claim 1 (line 14) recites the limitation “both the adjacent space and the trailing end space are each defined by an inner wall surface” which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear which of the following mutually exclusive interpretations apply:
the adjacent space is defined by a first inner wall surface, and the trailing end space is defined by a second inner wall surface, or
the adjacent space and the trailing end space are both defined by a single inner wall surface.
Claim 1 (line 16) recites the limitation “the inner wall surface of the adjacent space” which lacks proper antecedent basis and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 1 (line 16) recites the limitation “the inner wall surface of the trailing end space” which lacks proper antecedent basis and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 1 (line 16) recites the limitation “both the inner wall surface of the adjacent space and the inner wall surface of the trailing end space each include a positive pressure-side inner wall surface that extends along the positive pressure surface” which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear which of the following mutually exclusive interpretations apply:
the inner wall surface of the adjacent space includes a first positive pressure-side inner wall surface that extends along the positive pressure surface, and the inner wall surface of the trailing end space includes a second positive pressure-side inner wall surface that extends along the positive pressure surface, or
the inner wall surface of the adjacent space and the inner wall surface of the trailing end space each include a single positive pressure-side inner wall surface that extends along the positive pressure surface.
This same issue is also present within the next limitation in the claim, regarding the inner wall surface of the adjacent space and the inner wall surface of the trailing end space and the negative pressure-side inner wall surface, thus that limitation is also rejected for the same reason.
Claim 1 (line 21) recites the limitation “the positive pressure-side inner wall surface of the adjacent space” which lacks proper antecedent basis and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 1 (line 21) recites the limitation “the positive pressure-side inner wall surface of the trailing end space” which lacks proper antecedent basis and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 1 (line 23) recites the limitation “the negative pressure-side inner wall surface of the adjacent space” which lacks proper antecedent basis and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 1 (line 23) recites the limitation “the negative pressure-side inner wall surface of the trailing end space” which lacks proper antecedent basis and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 1 (last line) recites the limitation “the inner wall surface which defines the adjacent space” which lacks proper antecedent basis and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Claim 3 recites the limitation “all of the plurality of partition ribs are the extending partition rib” which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear how a plurality of partition ribs can possibly be the (single) extending partition rib.
Claim 4 (line 3) recites the limitation “an edge on the side of the leading edge of the trailing end space” which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear if this references the same “an edge of the trailing end space on the side of the leading edge” previously identified in claim 1 or a different edge.
Claim(s) 2-7 is/are also rejected by virtue of dependency.
In view of the 112(b) rejections set forth above, the claims are rejected below as best understood.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20070258814 A1 (hereinafter Metrisin).
Regarding claim 1, Metrisin discloses:
A stator blade included in a gas turbine, the stator blade comprising:
a blade body (Fig 1) of which a shape forms a blade shape in a cross section (cross section per Figs 4 and 5) and that extends in a blade height direction (e.g. 46; Fig 1) having a direction component perpendicular to the cross section,
wherein the blade body includes a leading edge (50; Fig 1) and a trailing edge (16; Fig 1) that extend in the blade height direction,
a positive pressure surface (pressure side 28; Fig 1) and a negative pressure surface (suction side 32; Fig 4) that extend in the blade height direction and that connect the leading edge and the trailing edge,
a trailing end space (24; Fog 3) and an adjacent space (36; Fig 3) that are positioned between the leading edge and the trailing edge and between the positive pressure surface and the negative pressure surface,
and a plurality of trailing end cooling passages (14; Fig 3) that penetrate from the trailing end space to the trailing edge,
the adjacent space is positioned further on a side of the leading edge than the trailing end space (Fig 3 shows this),
an edge of the trailing end space on the side of the leading edge (Figs 3 and 4 each show this) is open and communicates with the trailing end space (Fig 4 shows this),
both the adjacent space and the trailing end space are each defined by an inner wall surface (Figs 4 and 5 shows this),
both the inner wall surface of the adjacent space and the inner wall surface of the trailing end space each include a positive pressure-side inner wall surface that extends along the positive pressure surface,
and a negative pressure-side inner wall surface that extends along the negative pressure surface and that is separated from the positive pressure-side inner wall surface toward a side of the negative pressure surface (Figs 4 and 5 show all this),
the positive pressure-side inner wall surface of the adjacent space and the positive pressure-side inner wall surface of the trailing end space are connected to each other (Figs 4 and 5 shows this),
the negative pressure-side inner wall surface of the adjacent space and the negative pressure-side inner wall surface of the trailing end space are connected to each other (Figs 4 and 5 shows this),
a plurality of partition ribs (34; Figs 3-5), which are aligned in the blade height direction and partition the trailing end space in the blade height direction, and a plurality of pins (22; Figs 3-4) are disposed in the trailing end space (e.g. Fig 3 shows this),
all of the plurality of pins are joined to the positive pressure-side inner wall surface of the trailing end space and to the negative pressure-side inner wall surface of the trailing end space (Figs 3-4 shows this),
and at least one partition rib among the plurality of partition ribs forms an extending partition rib that extends to an interior of the adjacent space and is joined to the inner wall surface which defines the adjacent space (Figs 3-4 show all this).
Regarding claim 2, Metrisin discloses:
the extending partition rib is disposed at a position of 30% to 70% of a dimension of the trailing end space in the blade height direction from an end on one side of the trailing end space in the blade height direction (Fig 2 shows this).
Regarding claim 3, Metrisin discloses:
all of the plurality of partition ribs are the extending partition rib (e.g. Fig 2 shows this).
Regarding claim 4, Metrisin discloses:
an extension dimension (Annotated Fig 4a) by which the extending partition rib extends to the interior of the adjacent space from an edge on the side of the leading edge of the trailing end space is smaller than twice a boundary width (Annotated Fig 4a) that is an interval between the positive pressure-side inner wall surface and the negative pressure-side inner wall surface in the edge on the side of the leading edge of the trailing end space (the extension dimension can essentially be chosen to be any arbitrary length short enough to meet this requirement).
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Annotated Fig 4a
Regarding claim 5, Metrisin discloses:
the extending partition rib is joined to the negative pressure-side (suction side) inner wall surface of the adjacent space and is not joined to the positive pressure-side (pressure side) inner wall surface of the adjacent space (Fig 4 shows this).
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(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Metrisin in view of US 20020090294 A1 (hereinafter Keith).
Regarding claim 6, Metrisin discloses all claim limitations (see above) except may not explicitly disclose:
an insert of a tubular shape disposed in the adjacent space,
wherein the insert is provided with a plurality of impingement holes penetrating from an inner peripheral side to an outer peripheral side.
However, Keith, in the same field of endeavor, stator vanes, teaches: An analogous stator vane (12; Fig 1) comprising a perforate impingement baffle or insert (36, 38; Fig 1) is mounted inside each vane for directing cooling air in discrete jets against the inner surface of the vane for enhanced cooling thereof (e.g. para 0005).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Metrisin to include Keith’s teachings as described above, having Keith’s inserts incorporated into Metrisin’s stator vane in order to direct cooling air in discrete jets against the inner surface of the vane for enhanced cooling thereof (e.g. para 0005).
This modification results in teaching the limitations above.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Metrisin in view of US 20200190989 A1 (hereinafter Fujii).
Regarding claim 7, Metrisin discloses:
the stator blade according to claim 1 (see claim 1 above);
Metrisin may not explicitly disclose:
a rotor that rotates about an axis;
and a casing that covers an outer peripheral side of the rotor, wherein the stator blade is fixed to an inner peripheral surface of the casing.
However, Fujii, in the same field of endeavor, stator vanes, teaches:
a rotor that rotates about an axis; and a casing that covers an outer peripheral side of the rotor, wherein the stator blade is fixed to an inner peripheral surface of the casing (Fig 1 indicates all of this).
The claim is essentially directed to the environment of use, wherein the stator is used within a typical gas turbine engine, and Fujii teaches a typical gas turbine engine in Fig 1 which comprises a stator vane.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Metrisin to include Fujii’s teachings as described above, having Metrisin’s stator vane placed inside Fujii’s typical gas turbine engine, in order to at all use Metrisin’s stator vane within a typical gas turbine engine.
This modification results in teaching the limitations above.
Conclusion
The following prior art, made of record and not relied upon, is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 4515523 A - cited for teaching extending partition ribs 26.
US 20030049127 A1 - cited for teaching extending partition ribs 24.
US 20220145799 A1 - cited for teaching pins and ribs in the trailing portions.
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/Art Golik/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/COURTNEY D HEINLE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745
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