US 6,688,780 B2 · Cantilevered shutter for optical adapter

Abstract

A light-blocking safety shutter is mounted in a fiber-optic adapter housing that mates with a standard fiber-optic male connector of the type with a fiber-containing ferrule protruding from a forward end. The shutter is mounted in the insertion passage of the adapter and is held in the light-blocking position by the cantilever manner in which the shutter is attached. The shutter may have several different shapes depending on the type of adapter in which it is mounted, including a shutter with a flat bumper panel or a shutter with raised dimple on the bumper panel. The bumper panel contacts the body of the inserted connector and takes the force that opens the shutter so that the ferrule is protected from contacting the shutter. The fiber-optic adapter may include one or more housings for receiving one or more fiber-optic male connectors, whereby the housing includes a shutter mounted in a cantilevered manner.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A fiber-optic adapter for mating with a fiber-optic connector, the fiber-optic connector having a connector body and a fiber-containing ferrule protruding a distance d from a forward end of the connector body;

the adapter comprising:
a first housing forming a first passage for accepting the connector body therein during an insertion of the connector in a longitudinal direction into the first passage;
a first shutter rotatably mounted in the first passage;
wherein the first shutter is supported in a cantilevered manner and includes a light-blocking end inside the first passage and another end connected to the first housing and has a depth D in the longitudinal direction measured from the light-blocking end inside the first passage and the point where the connector body contacts the first shutter so that
D>d;
whereby the ferrule of the fiber-optic connector does not touch the first shutter, even when the longitudinal axis of the connector body during insertion in the passage is not substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of the passage.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Cantilevered shutter for optical adapter

Life of this patent

Cantilevered shutter for optical adapter

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20