Appeal 2007-0118
Application 10/175,612
surface and lower surface slopes at the airfoil trailing edge that
diverge from each other (Henne, col. 2, ll. 8-15).
5. “Couple” is defined as “to join, connect” or “to fasten together.”
Webster’s Third International Dictionary (unabridged) 521, G. & C.
Merriam Co. (1971) (Appendix A).
6. Henne does not teach or suggest coupling a trailing edge wedge to an
airfoil and, in fact, teaches away from coupling a trailing edge wedge
to its airfoil because Henne’s airfoil is specifically intended to avoid
the surface discontinuities associated with trailing edge wedge
devices.
7. The Examiner states that Allen and Vijgen are not relied upon to
provide a different trailing edge wedge to the structure of Henne.
Instead, the Examiner relies on Henne for the claimed trailing edge
wedge and relies on Allen and Vijgen “merely to teach that it is
known to provide spanwise modifications to trailing edge wedges on a
wing” (Answer 3).
8. One having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would
not have been motivated by the prior art to couple a trailing edge
wedge to the airfoil of Henne.
9. Allen discloses adding a splitter plate extending from the blunt trailing
edge of a wing for a transonic airplane (Allen, col. 1, ll. 7-9).
10. Allen teaches that blunt trailing edge airfoils, such as found in
diverging trailing edges and trailing edge wedges, suffer from
5
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