Optical fiber fitting

Details Optical fiber fitting Optical fiber fitting

2002-06-11

2004-05-18

Sanghavi, Hermang (Department: 2874)

Optical waveguides

With disengagable mechanical connector

Optical fiber/optical fiber cable termination structure

C385S138000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06736549

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber fitting and, more particularly, to the locking structure of an optical fiber fitting used for introducing an optical fiber into an optical device.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An optical device, such as an optical repeater used for a submarine cable in an optical communication system, may be associated with an optical fiber fitting having an encapsulation structure or airtight structure and used for introducing optical fibers into the optical device.
FIG. 1
shows an example of a conventional optical fiber fitting. The optical fiber fitting, generally designated by numeral
10
A, includes a metallic sleeve
11
fixed to an optical repeater (shown by dotted line), which is disposed at the front end of the fitting
10
A, i.e., the bottom of the fitting
10
A in the figure. A metallic rod
17
mounting thereon optical fibers
12
has a part received within the metallic sleeve
11
.
FIG. 2
shows the structure of the interior of the metallic sleeve
11
, whereas
FIG. 3
shows the metallic sleeve of
FIG. 2
in a front view thereof. The metallic sleeve
11
is of a hollow cylinder, the front end of which is provided with a front plug
16
formed as a unitary body therewith, as shown in FIG.
2
. The front plug
16
is used as a stopper for the metallic rod
17
. A flange member
14
is provided on the outer surface of the metallic sleeve
11
in the vicinity of the front end of the metallic sleeve
11
for fixing the optical fiber fitting
10
A onto the optical device. Four through-holes
15
are formed in the front plug
16
of the metallic sleeve
11
in this example, as shown in
FIG. 3
, for allowing four optical fibers to pass therethrough.
FIG. 4
is a side view of the metallic rod
17
, and
FIG. 5
is the front view thereof. The metallic rod
17
has a front cylinder
17
A received within the metallic sleeve
11
, a rear cylinder (or rear disk)
17
B disposed outside the metallic cylinder
11
and having thereon a plurality of fiber channels
19
arranged at a constant angular pitch, and a coupling column
17
C coupling together the rear cylinder
17
A and the front cylinder
17
B. As illustrated in
FIG. 5
, the rear cylinder
17
B has four fiber channels
19
on the outer periphery thereof.
The optical fibers
12
shown in
FIG. 1
are received in the respective fiber channels
19
of the rear cylinder
17
B, and also received in respective channels
21
formed on the outer surface of the front cylinder
17
A of the metallic rod
17
. The channels
19
and
21
of the metallic rod
17
extend in the axial direction of the optical fiber fitting
10
A. The optical fiber
12
is stripped of the overcoat between the rear cylinder
17
B and the front cylinder
17
A of the metallic rod
17
to expose the core of the optical fiber
12
.
FIG. 1
illustrates the combination structure wherein the metallic rod
17
attached with optical fibers
12
are received in the metallic sleeve
11
. For obtaining the combination structure of
FIG. 1
, the optical fibers
12
are first fixed onto the metallic rod
17
shown in
FIG. 4
, and then inserted into the metallic sleeve
11
together with the metallic rod
17
. Before this step, the forward portions of the optical fibers
12
to reside below the channels
21
of the metallic rod
17
are allowed to pass through the respective through-holes
15
of the metallic sleeve
11
in advance toward the interior of the optical device. The metallic rod
17
of
FIG. 4
is attached with the optical fibers
12
in advance, which are fixed onto the rear cylinder
17
B of the metallic rod
17
with adhesive
23
.
The front cylinder
17
A of the metallic rod
17
is forwarded to be stopped by the rear surface of the front plug
16
, and adhered thereto with adhesive
24
. Subsequently, the rear portion of the gap between the inner surface of the metallic sleeve
11
and the outer periphery of the coupling column
17
C of the metallic rod
17
is filled with a low-melting-point metal
25
for airtight.
In the conventional encapsulation structure of the optical fiber fitting
10
A as described above, the work efficiency for obtaining the combination structure is relatively low due to the difficulty in the step of allowing the optical fibers
12
to pass through the respective through-holes
15
formed in the front plug
16
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a locking structure of an optical fiber fitting, which is capable of encapsulating optical fibers for airtight without a complicated work.
The present invention provides an optical fiber fitting including: a cylindrical sleeve having an inner surface, the inner surface having thereon a first annular groove extending normal to an axial direction of the cylindrical sleeve; a ring-like spring member having a radially outer surface received in the first annular groove, with a radially inner surface of the spring member protruding from the first annular groove; and a rod member having a cylindrical portion received in the cylindrical sleeve, the cylindrical portion having thereon at least one channel extending along the axial direction for receiving therein an optical fiber and a second annular groove extending normal to the axial direction and receiving therein the radially inner surface of the spring member, the spring member locking the rod member with the cylindrical sleeve.
In accordance with the optical fiber fitting of the present invention, the rod member and the cylindrical sleeve are locked by the function of the ring-like spring member and thus the front plug of the cylindrical member is not needed. This obviates the step of allowing the optical fibers to pass through the respective through-holes of the front plug of the cylindrical sleeve, and improves the work efficiency in the assembly of the optical fiber fitting.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description, referring to the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4161348 (1979-07-01), Ulrich
patent: 4673242 (1987-06-01), Logan et al.
patent: 4674833 (1987-06-01), Des Forges et al.
patent: 4711517 (1987-12-01), Fentress et al.
patent: 5088804 (1992-02-01), Grinderslev
patent: 5574815 (1996-11-01), Kneeland
patent: 5671310 (1997-09-01), Lin et al.

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