Patent ID: 7309215

Claim:
A turbine blade locking device, comprising: a turbine disk having an axially extending profiled lobe slot and a disk lobe, the disk lobe of the turbine disk including a semispherical recess, a turbine blade having a blade root for insertion into the axially extending profiled lobe slot, the turbine blade having a blade platform having a sealing fin, the sealing fin including, over part of its axial length, an axially extending retaining groove having a semicircular cross-section, an open end and a closed end area, the semi-spherical recess and retaining groove facing one another when the blade root is positioned in the lobe slot, and a ball for simultaneously engaging both the recess and the axially extending retaining groove and allowing axial movement of the blade root into the lobe slot during such simultaneous engagement until the ball engages the closed end of the axially extending retaining groove to thereby prevent further axial movement of the blade in a direction of the open end of the axially extending retaining groove.