Plessey Handel Und Investments A.g.

John A Robinson

Wilfred H Turley

William James Stewart

Richard Carpenter

It is important that in an optical fibre connector the ends of the fibres should contact or very nearly contact to avoid excessive optical losses. They must be accurately aligned and lateral movements, causing varying optical output, be minimized. In this invention, the fibre or fibres are secured in grooves formed in flat surfaces in two abutting blocks and the blocks are clamped together with their flat surfaces in contact with a further flat surfaced member. The clamp consists of a cam surface formed in a housing which is adapted to contact a portion of the further member when the blocks are introduced into the housing.

Optical fibre connectors

An optical fibre connector comprises two co-operating parts each of which includes a fibre alignment member formed on one plane surface with relatively narrow parallel grooves for receiving the ends of optical fibres and relatively wide grooves accurately positioned relative to the narrow grooves for receiving connector alignment pins or rollers for the accurate alignment of the connector parts and the fibre alignment members thereof, said connector parts also including clamping means for clamping optical fibres in the relatively narrow grooves so that the fibres become compressed into the material of the alignment members and in the case of at least one of the connector parts for clamping one or more connector alignment pins or rollers in the relatively wide grooves.

Optical fiber connectors

An optical fibre connector in which cylindrical probes fitted to optical fibres are insertable into the opposite ends of the resiliently self-centering guide means which retains the two probes in co-axial end-to-end contact, the self-centering guide means comprise cylindrical precision rollers held in angularly-spaced relationship about a common axis by means of a cage structure which is itself surrounded by annular spring means of the guide means.

Growing community of inventors

Northampton, United Kingdom

John A Robinson