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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/03/2026 has been entered.
Applicant’s Submission of a Response
Applicant’s submission of response was received on 03/03/2026. Presently claims 4 and 14-15 are pending. Claims 1-3 and 5-13 are canceled.
Response to Arguments
In light of Applicant’s amendments to claims 4 and 14-15, new 35 U.S.C. 112 rejections and a new 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection are issued herewith (see rejections below).
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 15, line 2, change: “in a section of maximum-thickness…”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 4, the claim recites the inflection point having a magnitude, which is a first multiple of a magnitude of the chord at 0% span, and which is a second multiple of a magnitude of the chord at 100% span. From the specification, there is no written description or support with regard to such limitation. The specification does not discuss the magnitude of the infection point being a multiple of a magnitude of a chord at 0% and at 100% span. Therein, there is a lack of written description suggesting to one of ordinary skill in the art with respect to the limitation and therein the amended claim 4 has introduced new matter.
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 4 and 15 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites “the chord” in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 15 in line 2, recites “wherein an increase in a section maximum-thickness is on a pressure surface only of the first airfoil”. It Is unclear of the use of the term “only”. It is unclear whether “only” excludes the suction surface of the first airfoil or if the use of the term “only” excludes the second airfoil in the sense that there is maximum thickness only on the first airfoil for the pressure surface. Due to the ambiguity and lack of clarity of the use of the term “only” in the claim language found for claim 15, the metes and bounds cannot be determined, which renders the claim indefinite.
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 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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Warikoo et al. (U.S. 10,718,215).
Regarding claim 4, Warikoo et al. discloses a fan (12) blade (applicable to fan blades, Col. 7, lines 55-67) of a gas turbine engine (Fig. 1), comprising:
a body having an airfoil shape (i.e., 26) and exhibiting-a range of thickness-over-chord values (i.e., values shown in Fig. 7A in the distribution of max thickness over chord values as a function of the span) that decrease from 20% span to 50% span (i.e., the values decrease from 0.2 to 0.5 span as shown in Fig. 7A), wherein the body comprises an airfoil section (26) exhibiting at least one of:
a tapering thickness-to-chord value (i.e., as shown in Fig. 7A, the airfoil comprises tapering values (i.e., decreasing) along the span from approximately a value greater than 0.05 max thickness/chord to a value approximately less than 0.03 max thickness/chord).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 14 is allowable over the prior art of record.
The closest prior art of record is: Shmilovich et al. (US 2021/0323656 A1) and Schlipf et al. (US 2014/0246540 A1).
Regarding claim 14¸ Shmilovich et al. and Schlipf et al. each discloses of an airfoil with droop (Fig. 2 of Shmilovich and Fig. 3 of Schlipf), but each fails to disclose or suggest of a suction surface metal-angle distribution that decreases to where the second airfoil at least partially overlaps the first airfoil in a circumferential dimension, and wherein the suction surface metal-angle distribution exhibits a bump of an airfoil covered-passage starting position, and following a precompression region, the suction surface metal-angle distribution has a linear section that blends into precompression and trailing-edge locations.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC J ZAMORA ALVAREZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7928. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30 am- 5:00 pm EST alternating Fridays off.
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/ERIC J ZAMORA ALVAREZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 04/06/2026