Corning Incorporated

Duane Edward Hoke

Ronald L Kimball

Paul Andrew Chludzinski

Kirk Patton Bumgarner

Kenneth William Roberts

Christopher John Bacon

David E Quinn

An apparatus for threading a fiber that is being continuously supplied by a supplying device for winding on a spool, includes a collecting device, adjacent to the supplying device, that collects the fiber by urging the fiber from the supplying device into the collecting device to provide a tension in the fiber between the supplying device and the collecting device, a positioning device that engages the fiber, between the supplying device and the collecting device, with an engaging portion that allows the fiber to be continuously collected in the collecting device and that moves from a position adjacent to the supplying device and the collecting device to a position adjacent to the spool to move the fiber to at least one threading position, and a threading device that automatically threads the fiber at the at least one threading position onto the spool.

Optical fiber dual spindle winder with automatic threading and winding

Optical fibers are spliced by securing them in end-to-end relationship in a tube. Tinted epoxy is inserted into the bore. One fiber is inserted into the bore until its endface reaches the center thereof. As the second fiber is inserted into the other end of the bore, the length of the epoxy column in the bore is observed to diminish as epoxy is displaced into venting means associated with the bore. When the second fiber begins to buckle, movement thereof is stopped. The central region of the tube is inspected to ascertain the disappearance of the epoxy column. This indicates that the endfaces are in abutment. The tube may contain an integral lens for viewing the fibers in the bore. A stripe of appropriate color on one side of the bore provides the contrast to enhance the visibility of the tinted epoxy.

Optical fiber connector and method

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Wilmington, NC, United States of America

Duane Edward Hoke