Hoya Glass Works, Ltd.

Kunimitsu Kobayashi

Kenji Nakagawa

Masaaki Osagawa

A process for heat-bonding optical fibers comprising aligning a number of optical fibers in a mould with at least one of whose end surfaces is open and with end members slidable towards the inside of the mould from positions at which the end surfaces are open whereby a gas present among the optical fibers can be discharged, heating the optical fibers and evacuating the gas in the mould, closing the open end surfaces and applying pressure to the optical fibers through a press member and the end members, thereby heat-bonding the optical fibers; and an apparatus for heat-bonding optical fibers, comprising a mould with at least one of whose end surfaces is open, and including a press member as a wall of the mould, at least one end member provided for the end surfaces of the mould, and being capable of sliding inwardly along inclined surfaces of the press member upon application of a presssure on the press member.

Apparatus for heat-bonding optical fibers

A process for producing a gas tight light transmitting optical fiber plate comprising arranging the optical fibers or bundles of the optical fibers in a die, heating and compressing the optical fibers at a temperature of between the transition point of the glass of the optical fibers and the softening point of the glass of the optical fibers thereby to weld the optical fibers together, and maintaining the welded optical fibers within that temperature range at a pressure higher than the pressure during the heating period which is sufficient to cause the shrinkage of voids by the surface tension of the optical fibers.

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Yamato, Japan

Kunimitsu Kobayashi