Factory spliced cable assembly
AssigneeADC Telecommunications, Inc.
InventorsJohn Clifton Cobb, III, Yu Lu, Erik Gronvall
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
To optically couple a tether to a ribbonized distribution cable, a cut is made in the distribution cable, exposing the ribbons inside. The correct ribbon is located and spliced to a tether. A splice protection sleeve is applied to the splice and placed into the existing cut on the cable so as to be recessed within an outer boundary of the cable jacket. The buffer tube from the tether cable is also guided toward the cut and fixed in place. A breakout assembly is installed on the distribution cable to secure the tether to the distribution cable.
Claims20
A telecommunications cable comprising:
- a distribution cable including a cable jacket and a ribbon stack positioned within the cable jacket, the ribbon stack including a first ribbon, the first ribbon including at least a first optical fiber of the first ribbon, the distribution cable including a cut region where a portion of the cable jacket has been removed and where at least the first ribbon is accessible;
- and
- a tether that branches from the distribution cable at the cut region, the tether including a tether buffer tube surrounding at least a first optical fiber of the tether, the first optical fiber of the tether being optically coupled to the first optical fiber of the first ribbon at a coupling location;
- wherein the coupling location is recessed within an outer boundary defined by the cable jacket of the distribution cable.
A telecommunications cable comprising:
- a distribution cable including a cable jacket and a ribbon stack positioned within the cable jacket, the ribbon stack including a first ribbon, the first ribbon including at least a first optical fiber of the first ribbon, the distribution cable including a cut region where a portion of the cable jacket has been removed and where at least the first ribbon is accessible;
- a tether that branches from the distribution cable at the cut region, the tether including a tether buffer tube surrounding at least a first optical tether fiber, the first optical tether fiber being optically coupled to the first optical fiber of the first ribbon at a coupling location recessed within an outer boundary defined by the cable jacket of the distribution cable;
- and
- a block defining a cable channel and a tether channel arrangement, the cable channel being configured to receive the distribution cable to mount the block to the distribution cable, the tether channel arrangement configured to receive the first tether fiber from the tether and to transition the first tether fiber into the distribution cable at the cut region, the block being securely coupled to the tether to anchor the tether to the distribution cable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.