Sheath termination and ribbon orienting devices and methods for flat optical fiber ribbons

A method, comprising:

• providing a plurality of flat optical fiber ribbons having longitudinal portions positioned in a sheath, each flat optical fiber ribbon including optical fibers arranged side by side in a row, the row defining a transverse dimension of the flat optical fiber ribbon;
• loading the flat optical fiber ribbons into a flat fiber ribbon management device extending from a proximal end of the device to a distal end of the device along a horizontal axis defined by the device, the device including a device body, the device body including:
• a ribbon retention portion;
• and
• a ribbon fanout portion including fins defining channels, the loading including loading the ribbons into both the ribbon retention portion and the ribbon fanout portion;
• the loading including inserting the flat optical fiber ribbons through a ribbon insertion slot of the device, the ribbon insertion slot having an open proximal slot end and an open distal slot end, the ribbon insertion slot extending from a proximal end of the fiber retention portion to a distal end of the fiber retention portion;
• arranging the flat optical fiber ribbons in the channels such that the transverse dimension of each flat optical fiber ribbon is substantially aligned with a vertical axis;
• and
• securing the sheath to an exterior surface of the device.

A flat optical fiber ribbon management device extending from a proximal end of the device to a distal end of the device along a horizontal axis defined by the device, comprising:

• a device body, including:
• a ribbon retention portion;
• a ribbon fanout portion including fins defining channels, the channels being configured to maintain flat optical fiber ribbons within the channels, each flat optical fiber ribbon including optical fibers arranged side by side in a row, the row defining a transverse dimension of the flat optical fiber ribbon, the channels being configured to maintain the flat optical fiber ribbons within the channels such that the transverse dimension of each flat optical fiber ribbon is substantially aligned with a vertical axis;
• and
• a ribbon insertion slot having an open proximal slot end and an open distal slot end, the ribbon insertion slot extending from a proximal end of the fiber retention portion to a distal end of the fiber retention portion,
• wherein an exterior surface of the device is configured to couple to a sheath holding the flat optical fiber ribbons.

An assembly, comprising:

• a sheath;
• flat optical fiber ribbons having longitudinal portions positioned in the sheath, each flat optical fiber ribbon including optical fibers arranged side by side in a row, the row defining a transverse dimension of the flat optical fiber ribbon;
• and
• a flat fiber ribbon management device extending from a proximal end of the device to a distal end of the device along a horizontal axis defined by the device, the sheath being coupled to an exterior surface of the device, the ribbon management device including a device body, the device body including:
• a ribbon retention portion;
• and
• a ribbon fanout portion including fins defining channels, the channels being configured to maintain the flat optical fiber ribbons within the channels such that the transverse dimension of each flat optical fiber ribbon is substantially aligned with a vertical axis,
• wherein the device body includes mating structures for vertically stacking the device body to another device body having the same configuration as the device body.