US 4,046,454 AGranted

Optical fiber connector

AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated

InventorWilliam Edward Pugh, III

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A thin chip having parallel, evenly spaced optical fiber-receiving grooves on at least one side forms the basic building block for a certain prior art multilayer optical fiber connector. The end arrays of fiber groups assembled within stacks of such chips are substantially identical in spacing, thus enabling a gang splice to be achieved with a simple abutment of the two end arrays. The present disclosure achieves vertical spacing between layers, as well as horizontal fiber spacing in a given layer, by including in the base of each chip a thin layer of compliant material to urge the fibers housed in the adjacent chip into their respective grooves. The compliance is sufficient to permit vertically adjacent chips to contact each other rather than to float atop fibers. The splice array additionally uses a key chip which rests upon a vertical reference surface with one end contacting a horizontal reference surface. These surfaces may form part of the permanent splice.

Claims6

Dependent claims

Apparatus for assembling a first group of optical fibers into a fixed fiber end configuration preparatory for splicing to a second such group, comprising:

a key chip comprising:
a horizontal and a vertical reference surface;
a plurality of evenly-spaced, parallel fiber-receiving grooves on at least one side of said key chip, the first such groove being located a first fixed distance from the key chip horizontal reference surface and all such grooves being located a uniform distance from said key chip vertical reference surface;
a standard chip comprising:
a horizontal and a vertical reference surface;
a base including a recess;
a plurality of evenly-spaced, parallel fiber-receiving grooves on at least one side, the first such groove being located a second fixed distance from the standard chip horizontal reference surface and all such grooves being located a uniform distance from the standard chip vertical reference surface;
said second fixed distance being less than said first fixed distance;
and
compliant means comprising compliant fiber-contacting material recessed in said base of said standard chip.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 05/687,463Filed 18 May 1976
Granted: 6 Sep 1977
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

G02B 6/3676
2D cross sectional arrangements of the fibres: stacked arrangement
G02B 6/3636
Characterised by the cross-sectional shape of the mechanical coupling means: the mechanical coupling means being grooves
G02B 6/255
Coupling light guides: splicing of light guides, e.g. by fusion or bonding
G02B 6/3652
Supporting carriers of a microbench type, i.e. with micromachined additional mechanical structures: the additional structures being prepositioning…