Optical-fiber mechanical splicer using heat-shrink ferrule

Apparatus, comprising:

• a plastic ferrule including a cylindrical aperture formed within said ferrule and spanning said ferrule from one end of said ferrule to an opposite end of said ferrule, said aperture having an inside diameter approximately equal to, but larger than, diameters of two optical fibers selected to be only mechanically spliced together, without fusion, said aperture having said inside diameter when temperature of said ferrule is at a first temperature and having different inside diameters identical, respectively, to said diameters of said two optical fibers when said temperature of said ferrule is at a second temperature higher than said first temperature, provided that ends of said two optical fibers were previously inserted into said aperture and mated-together when diameter of said aperture was equal to said inside diameter, one said end of said two optical fibers being inserted from said one end of said ferrule and the other said end of said two optical fibers being inserted from said opposite end of said ferrule, whereby said ferrule tightly clasps, and permanently retains, said mated-together two optical fibers in a mechanical splice.