Fiber optic cable construction
AssigneeGeneral Cable Corporation
InventorsWalter H. Marx, Stanton M. Smith, Eugene J. Gavaletz
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Abstract
This specification describes a fiber optic cable in which the delicate glass fibers are supported by carriers which protect the fibers from stresses imposed during the manufacturing process, the installation of the cable and the environmental conditions after installation. Microbending of the fibers is eliminated by having smooth supports and by protecting the fibers from contact with any structure that will stress them. Another feature is the provision of tension elements in the carriers with neutral axes in transverse alignment with the neutral axes of the glass fibers that the carriers support.
Claims11
A fiber optic cable including in combination a central core subject to tension applied to the cable, an outer jacket, a transmission medium comprising an optic fiber, and a carrier extending lengthwise of the cable and located within the jacket and surrounding the core and having a preformed groove therein of greater cross-section than the fiber, said groove opening through a top surface of the carrier and extending downward from said top surface of the carrier, and in which the optic fiber is supported, said carrier protecting the optic fiber from stresses imposed upon the cable, the surface of the groove that contacts with the optic fiber, being smooth so as to support the optic fiber free of microbending of the optic fiber, the optic fiber having a neutral axis along which the fiber bends where it extends in a changing direction, and the groove being shaped and so located in the carrier that the neutral axis of the optic fiber substantially coincides with a neutral axis along which the carrier bends when it changes its direction of longitudinal extent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.