Appeal No. 2003-0455
Application No. 09/438,969
Appellants’ Invention
Appellants’ invention is directed to a method of repairing
turbine nozzle segments used in gas turbine engines. A further
understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of
exemplary claim 1, which reads as follows (with emphasis added):
1. A method of repairing a turbine nozzle segment having at
least two vanes disposed between outer and inner bands, said method
comprising the steps of:
separating said nozzle segment into a first singlet containing
one of said vanes and a second singlet containing another one of
said vanes; and
joining said first singlet to a newly manufactured singlet
having a configuration that is similar to said second singlet.
The Prior Art
The prior art relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obvious is “Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art (AAPA) on page 2 second
paragraph [of the specification of the present application]”
(answer, page 2). The paragraph reads as follows (with emphasis
added):
One such technique [of repairing damaged turbine
nozzle segments] is described in U.S. Patent No.
4,176,433 issued December 4, 1979 to Jack W. Lee, et al.
This patent discloses a method of repairing nozzle
segments (referred to therein as turbine vane clusters)
in which the repairable vane from a damaged segment is
separated from the non-repairable portion of the segment.
The salvaged vane is then combined with a complementary
repairable vane that has been similarly salvaged from
another damaged segment. While this technique salvages
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