Aster Corporation

Daniel R Campbell

David W Stowe

A guitar having a headstock, a neck body extending about a longitudinal axis from a first end in contact with the headstock to a second end, an electronic body coupled to one side of the neck body, and an adjustable belly body coupled to an opposite side of the neck body. The belly body can be slidable about the longitudinal axis of the neck body. The belly body can be moved to an outwardly extended position to create a spaced distance between the belly body and the neck body. The belly body can be removably coupled to the first side of the neck body. The belly body can have a removable lid for accessing an interior of the belly body. The belly body is configured so a user can play the guitar while its top face having the guitar strings is facing upward and while the user is walking.

Mobile steel guitar

Fiber optic couplers formed of at least two single mode optical fibers, at least one of which is an input fiber, are shown, the fibers constructed and arranged in the manner that coupling between the input fiber and the other fibers limits antisymmetric modal energy to substantially less than 50% of the input energy, the coupling region of said coupler being fused and drawn to an extended length sufficient to cause cutoff of the antisymmetric mode energy, whereby the coupler exhibits coupling ratio stability over an extended range of wavelengths and an excess loss of substantially less than 50%. Numerous fiber couplers of various construction, all employing cut-off of the antisymmetric mode to achieve wideband response or wavelength insensitivity are shown along with their method of manufacture.

Optical fiber couplers and methods of their manufacture

A means of fabricating wideband 1.times.8 singlemode fiber optic couplers is disclosed. It has been found that a 1.times.7 fiber optic coupler can be fused by twisting six fibers around a central seventh fiber, heating the region on contact among the seven fibers, and drawing until the desired distribution of optical power is achieved among the seven fibers. Both 1.times.6 and 1.times.7 couplers can be made this way depending upon the extent of drawing. Using such a coupler in combination with conventional 1.times.2 and wideband 1.times.2 couplers allows fabrication of 1.times.8 couplers using only two or three separate couplers compared to seven couplers required in coupler tree structures. Further, by taking advantage of selected wavelength response behaviors characteristic of each coupler in the combination, the combination of 1.times.2 and 1.times.7 or 1.times.6 couplers is done in a manner to provide relatively improved coupling uniformity over a bandwidth of .+-. 50 nm around the operating wavelengths of the 1.times.8 coupler.

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Medfield, MA, United States of America

Daniel R Campbell