Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Ken Kashima

Keiji Osaka

Tetsuaki Watanabe

A mid-span branching method for an optical path including a multi-fiber optical cable which is constituted by a multi-fiber ribbon with a plurality of optical fibers arranged in a plane and integrated with a common coating, includes the first step of exposing an intermediate portion of the multi-fiber ribbon from the multi-fiber optical cable (step 101), the second step of extracting the exposed multi-fiber ribbon (step 102), the step of separating at least one single-core optical fiber from the extracted multi-fiber ribbon (step 103), and the step of connecting the single-core optical fiber separated from the multi-fiber optical cable to a single-core optical fiber branched from a branch cable (steps 104, 105).

Intermediate branching method for optical path

The present invention provides a separating tool for separating a multi-core ribbon fiber obtained by arranging a plurality of optical fibers in a plane and integrating the fibers with a common coating into single-core optical fibers, and includes a fiber accommodating means for accommodating the multi-core ribbon fiber in an accommodating area, a fiber holding means for holding the multi-core ribbon fiber in the accommodating area, a scratching means for forming a scratch on a surface of a common coating of the multi-core ribbon fiber held by the fiber holding means, an arrangement defining means for changing an pitch position of the scratching means, and a shearing force applying means for applying a shearing force to the multi-core ribbon fiber along the scratch formed by the scratching means.

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Yokohama, Japan

Ken Kashima