Appeal No. 1997-1412 Page 2
Application 08/139,888
BACKGROUND
The invention at issue in this appeal relates to laser
machining heads for cutting. When cutting metal with a laser
beam, an assist gas such as oxygen is supplied to the cutting
surface of the metal. The gas is used for an oxidized burning
reaction. More specifically, the metal melted by the laser
beam is sublimated or melted with an oxidized burning
reaction. The gas is also used to blow off and eliminate
melted and oxidized metal.
A conventional machining head features a main assist gas
nozzle on the central axis of the head for supplying a main
assist gas. Concentric sub assist gas outlets surround the
flow of gas from the main gas nozzle and supply a sub assist
gas. The direction of jet flow from the sub assist gas
outlets is parallel to the direction of jet flow from the main
assist gas outlet. This parallelism keeps the assist gas in a
laminar flow. To reach the metal, however, the laminar flow
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