1985-07-17
1989-05-16
Sikes, William L.
G02B 636, G02B 726
Patent
active
048304557
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to jointing arrangements between repeater housings and submarine cables. In particular it relates to such arrangements between repeater housings and submarine optical fibre cables.
Known repeater housings, once installed on a cable, constitute a rigid section in the cable. It is advantageous to keep rigid sections in the cable as short as possible because handling is made easier. For instance, in bow laying of a cable from a ship, the cable must pass round a winch drum. Clearly, rigid sections are not able to conform to the circumference of a winch drum and, above a certain length (determined in part by the diameter of the drum concerned), they must be manoeuvred to bypass the drum altogether. Increasing the width to length ratio of a rigid section, effectively reducing its length, is not an ideal design approach since changes in diameter in a cable can also generate handling difficulties.
Further, it is advantageous that joints affecting a submarine cable, which are to be submerged, should be capable of being disassembled and remade at sea for repair and maintenance purposes. Known cable to cable joints can be so treated but known cable to repeater housing joints require a special termination to be attached to the cable end at the factory. If such a joint has to be disassembled, on an installed cable, the original termination cannot be re-used at sea and must be replaced. To do that a short length of cable, or cable tail, is supplied which has had such a termination attached at the factory. The cable tail can be jointed at sea to the free end of the installed cable by means of a cable to cable joint and the new termination used to reinstall the cable to repeater housing joint.
Although the above, known, cable to repeater housing joint may avoid an optical fibre joint outside the repeater housing at first instance, because of the necessary repair procedure such a joint must be allowed for anyway at the cable design state. That is, in calculating signal loss along the installed cable for the purposes of, for instance, choosing repeater separation distances, the potential repair-generated joints must still be taken into account.
It is an object of the present invention to facilitate handlign of a submarine cable with a repeater installed, by use of for instance a winch drum.
It is a further object of the present invention to facilitate disassembly and reinstallation of a joint between a repeater housing and a submarine cable.
According to the present invention, there is provided a jointing arrangement, for use between an optical fibre submarine cable and a repeater housing, characterised in that it comprises a termination assembly for such a cable including means for attachment of the tensile load carrying components of the cable and support means for an optical fibre joint between a fibre from a cable thus terminated and a second fibre, the termination assembly being provided with a hose which is adapted to receive such a second fibre.
Embodiments of the present invention have the advantage that a repeater housing and its associated cable jointing equipment constitute three rigid sections which are separated from each other by flexible links, the links allowing a bend of up to, say, 90.degree. to occur between the rigid sections. This can greatly facilitate cable handling once a repeater is installed.
In use, the hose is preferably mounted on a bulkhead of the repeater housing and, advantageously, the hose may be provided at the factory with mounting means by which it may be so mounted.
Preferably the hose is adapted to receive the second fibre slidably.
An advantage of embodiments of the present invention incorporating the latter preferable feature is the manner in which optical fibres can be mounted in the hose. If they can be manoeuvred by sliding along the hose, it is possible that individual fibres may be removed from and replaced in the jointing arrangement without either significant disturbance of other fibres connected to the same repeater apparatus or the introduction of a fur
REFERENCES:
patent: 4648688 (1987-03-01), Ashman
Patents Abstracts of Japan, vol. 6, No. 233 (P-156) (1111), Nov. 19, 1982, & JP-A 57 133 418 (Nippon Denshin Denwa Kosha) (18-08-1982).
I.S.A. Transactions, vol. 21, No. 3, 1982, Research Triangle Park, N.C., (U.S.), 1982, Research Triangle Park, N.C. (U.S.), G. Wilkins et al., "Design and Performance of an Undersea, Single-Fiber Multi-Repeater, Full Duplex, Electro-Optical Data Link", pp. 3-19.
British Telecommunications public limited company
Sikes William L.
Wise Robert E.
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