Method for breaking brittle rods or fibers
AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorsEdwin Leroy Chinnock, Detlef Christoph Gloge, Peter William Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of breaking a rod of brittle material, such as a glass optical fiber, so as to yield a mirrorlike surface across the entire rod end is described. This is achieved by establishing a decreasing tensile stress across the cross section of the rod which, at all points, is greater than zero but less than the threshold stress at which a mist zone forms. This is conveniently achieved by simultaneously applying longitudinal tension to the rod and bending it. A convenient hand tool for breaking optical fibers is also described.
Claims2
The method of breaking a brittle material including the steps of:
- scoring said material over a region along its surface;
- mounting said material on a flexible bending form with said scored region facing away from said form;
- and bending said form and said material while simultaneously applying to said form and said material a nonuniform tensile stress which decreases from a maximum value at said region to a minimum value along the opposite surface in contact with said form and which, at all points therebetween, is less than the threshold stress for producing a mist zone fracture, said minimum value being grater than zero by a sufficient amount to insure a mirror-type fracture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.