Optical waveguides – With splice
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-19
2002-12-17
Palmer, Phan T. H. (Department: 2874)
Optical waveguides
With splice
C385S114000, C385S135000, C385S137000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06494625
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a quick restoration splice block for use in splicing fiber optic ribbon cables and, more particularly, to a color-coded splice block to ensure that the proper fibers within each cable are mated to each other.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Quick restoration of optical signal paths is essential when failures occur in an optical fiber network. The failures ranges from cable breaks due to contractor “dig ups” to environmental damage (such as lightning strikes and cable burn). To repair these types of failures, a communication field technician must find and isolate the damaged section of fiber cable, dig up the cable, and splice the fibers back together. Restoration splicing consists of using a quick, temporary splice that will optically couple the fibers back together.
Most conventional fiber optical cables consist of one or more ribbons, where a single ribbon comprises twelve separate fibers that are bonded transversally to form a single structure, each ribbon thus treated as a single unit within the cable, with a unitary sheathing structure formed to surround the ribbon. In order to mechanically splice a pair of ribbons back together, the sheathing must be removed and the ends of the fibers cleaved and cleaned (to form the best possible endface surface for fusion splicing of the mating fibers). A standard ribbon cable is manufactured in accordance with a standard color code (i.e., fiber No. 1 is “blue”, fiber No. 2 is “orange” . . . , and fiber No. 12 is “aqua”; each intermediate fiber is also associated with a readily-definable color). This color code will be repeated for each ribbon within the cable. For example, a cable housing 216 fibers will be formed as 18 individual ribbons, with the same color code used in each ribbon. When splicing a pair of ribbons together, it is important that the color code be followed (e.g., the “blue” fibers spliced together, the “orange” fibers spliced together, etc.). In a conventional arrangement, the blue fibers are inserted in the top opening of the splice housing and the aqua fibers are inserted in the bottom opening.
If one fiber ribbon is improperly placed in the splice housing (i.e., “upside down”), with the aqua fiber on the top and the blue fiber on the bottom, the signal lines will be “crossed” and communication will not be restored. However, since light will still be coupled from one ribbon to another, the splice would appear to be working properly and the repair technician may not be able to discover the mistake. It would, therefore, be desirable and advantageous to provide a splice element that would eliminate the possibility of “crossing” the fibers in a ribbon cable splice.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The need remaining in the prior art is addressed by the present invention, which relates to a quick restoration splice block for use in splicing a fiber optic ribbon cable and, more particularly, to a color-coded splice block to ensure that the proper fibers within each cable are mated to the fibers in the other cable.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a splice block whose fiber-holding grooves are colored to follow the conventional color-coding scheme in a ribbon cable. That is, the “top” groove in a splice block is coated with a blue layer, the next groove is orange, and so on, with the “bottom” groove being colored aqua. In this manner, the repair technician needs only to follow the coloring scheme in the splice block to ensure that like fibers within a pair of ribbon cables are spliced together.
In an alternative arrangement, the coloring may be disposed at the entrance of each groove along the splice block, instead of coloring a portion of each groove. In any embodiment, however, each fiber-holding groove is associated. with one (and only one) of the specific fiber colors of the ribbon and the risk of “crossing” fibers in the splice block is essentially eliminated.
Other and further embodiments of the present invention will become apparent during the course of the following discussion and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4702551 (1987-10-01), Coulombe
patent: 5530786 (1996-06-01), Radcliff et al.
patent: 5825963 (1998-10-01), Burgett
patent: 6094518 (2000-07-01), Eslambolchi et al.
patent: 6217233 (2001-04-01), Eslambolchi et al.
Brandt John D.
Eslambolchi Hossein
Huffman John Sinclair
No associations
LandOfFree
Color-coded restoration splice block does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Color-coded restoration splice block, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Color-coded restoration splice block will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2962150