Appeal No. 1997-2075 Page 2
Application No. 08/362,362
BACKGROUND
The appellant's invention relates to an on the fly method
of laser shock peening a gas turbine engine part. An
understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading
of exemplary claim 1, which appears in the appendix to the
appellant's brief.2
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Fishter et al. (Fishter) 4,411,730 Oct.
25, 1983
Duley et al. (Duley) 4,972,061 Nov. 20,
1990
Vaccari, "Laser shocking extends fatigue life," American
Machinist, pages 62-62, July 1992
Claims 1 to 5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Vaccari in view of Duley.
2However, we regard the following phrases from claim 1 as
being somewhat confusing: "between relatively constant
periods" and "with the pulses around laser beam spots formed
by the laser beam on the surface."
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