Claims
- 1. An optical fiber connector for terminating an optical fiber cable which includes at least one optical fiber and a non-metallic filamentary strength member system, said connector comprising:
- a housing having a longitudinal axis;
- force transfer means adapted to be disposed adjacent to a cable entrance end of said housing and through which the at least one optical fiber is adapted to extend for clamping portions of the non-metallic strength system of the cable to transfer forces from the cable to said housing, said force transfer means including two conformable, substantially smooth, conically shaped surfaces which are adapted to be held in mating relationship with each other with portions of the strength member system therebetween and such that each diverges in a direction from said cable entrance end of said housing toward another end thereof with an included angle between diametrically opposed lines on each surface which are disposed generally in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the housing not exceeding a value of about 6.degree.
- 2. A hermaphroditic optical fiber connector for terminating an optical fiber cable which includes at least two optical fibers and a non-metallic filamentary strength system, said connector comprising;
- a housing having a longitudinal axis and a cable entrance end;
- force transfer means adapted to be disposed adjacent to the cable entrance end of said housing and through which the optical fibers are adapted to extend for clamping portions of the non-metallic strength system of the cable to transfer forces from the cable to said housing, said force transfer means including two conformable substantially smooth, conically shaped surfaces which are adapted to be held in mating relationship with each other with portions of the strength member system therebetween and such that each diverges in a direction from said cable entrance end of said housing toward another end thereof with an included angle between diametrically opposed lines on each of the surfaces which are disposed generally in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the housing not exceeding a value of about 6.degree. which is sufficiently low to avoid breakage of said portions of the strength system at an entrance to said two conformable, substantially smooth, conically shaped surfaces and to provide a self-enhancing locking arrangement for the strength member system; and
- termination means adapted to be disposed adjacent to said force transfer means for terminating optical fibers of the cable, said termination means including a first portion which is adapted to terminate one of the optical fibers of the cable and to receive a plug of another connector which terminates an optical fiber of another cable and a second portion which is adapted to be received in a portion of the other connector.
- 3. A connectorized optical fiber cable, which comprises:
- an optical fiber cable which includes at least one optical fiber and a non-metallic filamentary strength member system;
- a housing having a longitudinal axis and enclosing an end portion of said cable;
- force transfer means disposed adjacent to a cable entrance end of said housing and through which the at least one optical fiber extends for clamping portions of the non-metallic strength member system of the cable to transfer forces from the cable to said housing, said force transfer means including two conformable, substantially smooth, conically shaped surfaces which are held in mating relationship with each other with portions of the strength member system therebetween and which each diverge in a direction from said cable entrance end of said housing toward another end thereof such that an included angle between diametrically opposed lines on each surface which are disposed generally in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the housing does not exceed a value of about 6.degree. which is sufficiently low to avoid breakage of portions of said strength member system at an entrance to said two conformable, substantially smooth, conically shaped surfaces and to provide a self-enhancing locking arrangement for said strength member system; and
- termination means being disposed in said housing adjacent to the other end of said housing and terminating the at least one optical fiber of the cable.
Government Interests
The Government has rights in this invention pursuant to contract no. DAAB07-84-CK551 awarded by the Department of the Army. This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 06/887,468 filed July 21, 1986 (now U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,235)
US Referenced Citations (17)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2431713 |
Feb 1980 |
FRX |
0054301 |
Mar 1983 |
JPX |
WO8400617 |
Feb 1984 |
WOX |
2025650B |
Jan 1980 |
GBX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
J. M. Anderson, B. V. Darden, B. G. LeFevre and V. E. Kalomiris--A Two-Fibre Tactical Fiber-Optic Connector, International Wire & Cable Symposium Proceeding, '85, pp. 286-291. |
J. F. Dalgleish, H. H. Kukas & V. E. Kalomiris--Test Methods and Performance of a Multi-Channel Hermaphroditic Optical Fiber Connector, International Wire & Cable Symposium Proceedings, 1981. |
Yasukasu Kawamura and Yashio Kashima--Optical Connectors for Singlemode Fibers, Lasers & Application, Sep. 1984. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
887468 |
Jul 1986 |
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