Combustion liner assembly

Claim 1

A combustor having upstream and downstream radially spaced telescoping sections, an end of said downstream section overlapping an end of said upstream section, the outer surface of the end of the upstream section being surrounded by the inner surface of the end of the downstream section; a plurality of peripherally spaced bosses on one of said surfaces, the spacing between said bosses providing means for admitting cooling air from outside the combustor to the inside thereof, the direction of flow of the cooling air being toward the downstream section such that the upstream section is subjected to more heat than the downstream section whereby the upstream section expands more than the downstream section; a first groove in each of said bosses, said first grooves being peripherally aligned; a step on said other surface, said step having a second groove opposed to said first grooves; a tangential opening through said downstream section to said first grooves; and a wire locking ring threaded through said opening and seated in said first and second grooves for connecting said sections, said bosses and said step being dimensioned such that the fit between said sections is loose when said sections are in a cool non-operating condition, said fit becoming tight under normal hot operating conditions due to the difference in expansion of said sections.