Appeal No. 99-1962
Application 08/671,463
have been indicated by the examiner as being allowable if
rewritten in independent form to include all the limitations
of the base claim and any intervening claim.
Appellants’ invention pertains to a fuel nozzle guide for
use in a gas turbine engine, and in particular to a fuel
nozzle guide for improving bulkhead film cooling. To this
end, the radially extending ribs typically found on the flange
of a prior art fuel nozzle guide are provided with trailing
ends that are rounded off. According to appellants, the
rounding off of the trailing ends contributes to a reduction
in “the formation of vortices . . . , [thereby] resulting in a
lower risk of hot gases becoming entrained and causing thermal
distress to the heat shield 58” (specification, page 7).
Independent claim 11 is illustrative of the appealed subject
matter and reads as follows:2
2The bracketed numerals added to claim 11 are with
reference to the fuel nozzle guide as shown in Figures 3 and 4
of the instant application. Consistent with appellants’
disclosure, in paragraph (c) of claim 11, “each of said ribs
having leading ends and trailing ends” would more
appropriately be --each of said ribs having a leading end and
a trailing end--. In deciding this appeal, we have so
interpreted this claim language, and the similar language that
appears in each of independent claims 1 and 6.
-2-
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