Optical waveguides – With disengagable mechanical connector – Structure surrounding optical fiber-to-fiber connection
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-13
2004-03-23
Patel, Tulsidas C. (Department: 2839)
Optical waveguides
With disengagable mechanical connector
Structure surrounding optical fiber-to-fiber connection
Reexamination Certificate
active
06709165
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a plug portion for an optical plug connection according to the preamble of claim
1
. Together, sleeve portions and plug portions of the type mentioned form an optical plug connection, in which light can be transmitted with as less transmission losses as possible. Therefore the sleeve portion can either centre a pair of plugs towards one another or it can align an one-side inserted plug with an optical element as e.g. a light receiver or a light transmitter.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For optical plug connections demands are always increasing. On the one hand, similar to electronical components, a continuous miniaturisation is demanded, nevertheless a manual handling still must be guaranteed. On the other hand this miniaturisation must not make the assembling more difficult and expensive, and for reasons of production, the plug connection should comprise as less component parts as possible.
A comparable kind of a plug connection is known, for example, from the EP A 1 072 918. This meets all of today's demands, as e.g. tensile strong lock of the plug portion in the sleeve portion, the facing side of the connector pin being protected by a protecting cover, dipped insert openings and much more. However, in practise it has been shown, that the production and the assembling is still involved with a great effort and that depending on the purpose of use in particular the handling of the plug is difficult due to its small gripping surface.
For the enlargement of the gripping surface at duplex plug portions it is already known from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,425, to insert a clip between the both simplex plugs, which on the one hand connects the both simplex plugs with one another and which on the other hand comprises a flexible gripper part, which engages onto the both lever arms at the single plugs indirectly serving for the release. However the gripper element is not tightly connected to those lever arms, and furthermore the problem at the single plugs is not solved therewith.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to create a plug portion of the type mentioned above, in order to produce an optical plug connection with a few components and little effort of assembling, which can be handled well in spite of the miniaturisation. This object is solved by a plug portion comprising the features of claim
1
.
The gripper part, being separately snappable onto the locking element, simplifies the handling of the plug portion considerably, and the effort of assembling is less. The separate gripper part can also additionally be used for the encoding of the plug portion, for example by the use of different colours.
The locking element can be formed as a bent component made of metal and the gripper part made of plastic material. The gripper parts of different colours can be produced cheaply therewith by means of the injection moulding method.
The gripper part can engage partly onto the locking element and can be anchored at lateral snap cams behind edges of the locking element. However, also push-bottom like snap connections would be conceivable. The engagement of the locking element is especially advantageous, if it itself is snapped onto the plug housing. In a snap connection with lateral opening snap legs, the gripper part serves for the securing of the snapped-on locking element.
In this case, the locking element can for example be snapped onto the plug housing at lateral linkage cams, engaging in recesses at the locking element, the latter comprising two parallel arms, laterally extending along the plug housing, at which ends there are arranged detent pawls, which are able to engage at the undercuts of the sleeve portion.
Furthermore it is advantageous, if the locking element is provided integrally with a leaf spring, which is supported between the parallel arms, preferably in the region of the both detent pawls at the plug housing and thus preloads the detent pawls in the engaged position.
A duplex plug unit can be formed most preferably in that at least two plug portions are associated with a connector in a position almost running in parallel next to each other and that a common gripper part is able to snap onto the locking elements of the both plug portions.
An optical connection can be formed with a prescribed plug portion and with a sleeve portion, said sleeve portion comprising a sleeve housing with at least one insert opening, which is closed by means of a pivotable protective flap, which is held in closed position by means of the power of a close spring, said protective flap being a bent component made of metal, that is flexibly latched at the sleeve housing.
The formation of the protective flap as a bent component made of metal that is flexibly latched at the sleeve housing, allows to omit the use of the hitherto usual axis in order to link the protective flap. Thereby not only a component is omitted which is difficult in handling, but also the assembling is substantially facilitated.
The protective flap can thereby be linked at a pivoting bearing, comprising a pair of linkage cams and hinge sockets. Thereby, the linkage cams can be arranged at lateral wings, that are bent towards the plane of the protective flap. The hinge sockets are advantageously formed by through openings in the sleeve housing. Thus also conventional protective flaps with separate axes can be linked at the same sleeve housing respectively these conventional protective flaps at existing sleeve portions can be exchanged for those according to the present invention.
Further advantages can be achieved, if the close spring is a leaf spring formed integrally with the protective flap which is supported at the bottom of the sleeve housing. Thereby an additional coiled spring for enforcing the spring power is omitted.
If the leaf spring is divided in two separate spring tongues at least in the region of the support, the desired spring power depending on the chosen width of the tongues can be set relatively fine. The stress-free leaf spring can thereby be inclined in an angle of 10° to 20°, preferably of about 15°, towards the protective flap, said support being performed nearby the pivoting axis. Thus the leaf spring takes up a small amount of space.
The prescribed sleeve portion with the latched protective flap could also be used for plug connectors with conventional plug portions.
Particularly preferred, the sleeve portion can be used by an additional means in an optical plug connection, which allows the inclusion of different categories of plug portions, at which a connector pin is retained in the plug housing, protruding over the facing side of the plug housing. For this purpose a bulging, which is directed against the interior of the sleeve housing, is provided in the protective flap in order to prevent a collision with the connector pin when the plug portion is inserted into the sleeve portion. For plug portions, the facing side of which is not protected by a protecting cover, it is thus prevented, that the facing side of the connector pin ascents on the protective flap before it is pivoted back. Thereby it is suitable when the bulging is wider than the diameter of the connector pin, but narrower than the facing side of the plug housing. The depth of the bulging is dimensioned in such a way that the facing side of the connector pin never gets in contact to the surface of the protective flap and the latter is pushed open by the facing side of the plug housing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5579425 (1996-11-01), Lampert et al.
patent: 5883995 (1999-03-01), Lu
patent: 0 729 048 (1996-08-01), None
patent: 0 788 002 (1997-08-01), None
patent: 0 893 716 (1999-01-01), None
patent: 0 962 799 (1999-12-01), None
patent: 1 004 911 (2000-05-01), None
patent: 1 072 918 (2001-01-01), None
Berkowitz Marvin C.
Diamond SA
Nath & Associates PLLC
Patel Tulsidas C.
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