Gas turbine bucket-root sidewall piece seals

Claim 1

In the method of assembling a fluid-cooled gas turbine including the steps of locating buckets in their respective openings in a platform and securing the buckets to a turbine disc, the combination of the steps of shaping the platform to provide space of width from 0.005 to 0.040 inch between the buckets and the platform within the bucket openings, placing a wire in contact with the upper surface of the platform around the periphery of each bucket-receiving opening and in contact with an annular portion of the bucket skin above the platform, spot-welding each so located wire to the platform and to its respective bucket, covering each spot-welded wire around its length and at least partially filling annular spaces between each said wire and the bucket and the platform with a mixture of powdered braze alloy and binder, firing the assembly to melt the braze while maintaining the braze outside the bucket openings in the platform, and cooling and solidifying the braze in situ and thereby sealing each bucket fluid-tightly to the platform.