US 5,359,690 AGranted

Cutting method and apparatus for removing a secondary coating layer from a jacketed optical fiber

AssigneeSumitomo Cement Co., Ltd.

InventorsRyosuke Kaizu, Hirotoshi Nagata, Nobuhide Miyamoto, Makoto Shimada

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Abstract

A jacket layer of a jacketed optical fiber is cut by a cutting method and apparatus in which (A) a terminal portion of a jacketed optical fiber is straightened and grasped by a fiber holder, and (B) a blade device having (a) a pair of cutting blades and (b) a blade holder in which device cutting edges of the blades are arranged in such a manner that the edges are opposite to each other through a gap left therebetween and are on one and the same plane, the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber extends at a substantially right angle to the plane, and a center line of the gap between the cutting edges intersects an axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber, and is moved in at least one direction at a substantially right angle to the axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber to cut the secondary coating layer at a depth equal to or larger than the thickness of the secondary coating layer but smaller than the total thickness of the primary and secondary coating layers.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A cutting method of removing a jacket layer from a jacketed optical fiber, comprising

(A) straightening a terminal portion of a jacketed optical fiber comprising a base optical fiber and a jacket layer comprising a primary coating layer covering the base optical fiber and a secondary coating layer covering the primary coating layer;
(B) grasping the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber at at least two portions thereof spaced from each other,
(C) arranging, beside the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber, a blade device comprising (a) a pair of cutting blades having straight cutting edges and (b) a blade holder by which the pair of cutting blades are held in such a manner that the straight cutting edges are arranged opposite to each other through a gap left therebetween and on one and the same plane through which a straight axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber extends at a substantially right angle thereto, and a center line of the gap between the pair of cutting edges intersects the straight axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber;
and
(D) cutting the jacket layer of the straight portion of the jacketed optical fiber at a depth equal to or larger than the thickness of the secondary coating layer but smaller than the total thickness of the jacket layers, by moving the pair of cutting blades of the cutting device in at least one transversal direction at a substantially right angle relative to the straight axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber.

2 more elements

A cutting apparatus for removing a secondary coating layer from a jacketed optical fiber, comprising

(A) a holder for holding a terminal portion of a jacketed optical fiber comprising a base optical fiber, a primary coating layer covering the base optical fiber and a secondary coating layer covering the primary coating layer, said jacketed optical fiber holder having a pair of clamps for grasping the terminal portion of the jacketed optical fiber, spaced from each other to leave a space therebetween through which space a terminal portion of the jacketed optical fiber extends in a straightened form;
and
(B) a blade device comprising (a) a pair of cutting blades having straight cutting edges and (b) a blade holder by which the pair of cutting blades are held in such a manner that the straight cutting edges are arranged opposite to each other through a gap left therebetween and on one and the same plane through which a straight axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber held by the jacketed optical fiber holder extends at a substantially right angle thereto, and a center line of the gap between the pair of cutting edges intersects the straight axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber, the blade device being able to move in a direction at an angle of about 90 degrees to the straight axis of the straightened portion of the jacketed optical fiber.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.