At&t Bell Laboratories

Lucent Technologies Inc.

At+t Corp.

Richard G Huff

Kenneth L Walker

Frank Vincent DiMarcello

Arthur C Hart

Don R Edmonston

Karen S Kranz

James William Fleming

Paul Joseph Lemaire

Arthur Clifford Hart, Jr

Lisa M Larsen-Moss

Wynell Welch

Kristy Moore

A trailer coupler locking device that includes: a trailer ball body, wherein the trailer ball body is shaped as a coupling ball; a plurality of locking rods, where the plurality of locking rods define elongated members which extend from the trailer ball body; and a locking mechanism. The elongated members may be placed in either a locked position or an unlocked position. When in the unlocked position, the ball body moves freely in and out of a ball mount coupler, and when in a locked position, the ball body is locked into a ball mount coupler. The locking rods selectively extend and retract by manual operation of the locking mechanism, where the locking mechanism includes a cylinder lock that is operably connected to a rotational member and a mechanical rod actuator. The mechanical rod actuator operable connects the rotational member with each locking rod and enables each locking rod to move linearly in response to the rotary motion of the rotational member.

Locking trailer ball assembly

A method and apparatus for high velocity dual coating optical fibers includes passing the fiber to be coated through an entrance die into a coating reservoir, to which liquid coating material is supplied under pressure. The diameter of the die passage and the pressure of the fluid is sufficient to prevent air from entering the reservoir. The coated fiber is passed through a centering and sizing die wherein the recirculation of excess coating material is controlled to produce centering forces on the fiber at the high fiber velocity, and wherein the initial coating is sized. The fiber is then passed through a second coating reservoir into an exit die which sizes the second coating. Upon leaving the exit die, the coatings are cured.

Biconic coating die for making coated optical fibers

A fiber drawing apparatus is provided with an improved fiber draw furnace wherein an inner zirconia tube is surrounded by a radially-spaced annular insulating region of magnesia within a silica beaker. While the magnesia has a melting point approximately the same as zirconia, the electrical conductivity of magnesia is substantially lower, enabling it to withstand higher RF power. Moreover magnesia is more soluble than zirconia in silica, reducing the likelihood of particulate contamination of the fiber.

Magnesia fiber draw furnace

The presence of (typically unintended) birefringence in single mode optical fiber can severely limit the usefulness of the fiber for, e.g., high bit rate or analog optical fiber communication systems, due to the resulting polarization mode dispersion (PMD). It has now been discovered that PMD can be substantially reduced if, during drawing of the fiber, a torque is applied to the fiber such that a 'spin' is impressed on the fiber. Desirably the torque is applied such that the spin impressed on the fiber does not have constant spatial frequency, e.g., has alternately clockwise and counterclockwise helicity. At least a portion of optical fiber according to the invention has spin alternately clockwise and counterclockwise.

Article comprising optical fiber having low polarization mode

The presence of (typically unintended) birefringence in single mode optical fiber can severely limit the usefulness of the fiber for, e.g., high bit rate or analog optical fiber communication systems, due to the resulting polarization mode dispersion (PMD). It has now been discovered that PMD can be substantially reduced if, during drawing of the fiber, a torque is applied to the fiber such that a 'spin' is impressed on the fiber. Desirably the torque is applied such that the spin impressed on the fiber does not have constant spatial frequency, e.g., has alternately clockwise and counterclockwise helicity. At least a portion of optical fiber according to the invention has a spin whose spatial frequency exceeds 4 spins/meter.

Method of making a fiber having low polarization mode dispersion due to

An optical fiber (24), destined to receive a hermetic coating (32), is moved through a hermetic coating apparatus (30) wherein the fiber, entering the hermetic coating apparatus as a predetermined temperature, is caused to be engaged by a reactive gas. The reactive gas, reacting with the heated fiber, is effective to cause a layer of a hermetic material to be deposited adjacent to the outer surface of the fiber. A cross-flow purge gas is effective to prevent a resultant accumulation of a soot comprising reactive components of the reactive gas adjacent to portions of the hermetic coating apparatus which become heated by the fiber. Failure to prevent the accumulation of the soot may lead to fiber abrasions and reduced fiber strength.

Apparatus for coating optical fibers

This invention is a process of contactless monitoring the tension in a moving fiber, such as during the process of drawing optical fibers from preforms, and a non-contacting tension gauge which allows measurement of fiber tension at line speed. The device can be used to monitor the tension during the run without any adverse effects on fiber performance. The measurement may be steady, intermittent or sinusoidal as appropriate. The process includes the steps of sensing an initial position of a moving optical fiber, applying a gas jet onto a section of the optical fiber in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the fiber so as to cause deflection of the moving fiber axially of the gas jet, sensing the magnitude of deflection of the fiber relative to the said initial position, and, depending on the magnitude of deflection, adjusting the tension in the fiber so as to cause the change in the magnitude of deflection to a preselected value. The monitoring is especially suitable for monitoring the tension in an optical fiber being drawn from a heated preform, the tension being adjusted by adjusting the temperature of the fiber-drawing furnace.

Method and apparatus for contactless monitoring of tension in a moving

An optical fiber (24), destined to receive a hermetic coating (32), is moved through a hermetic coating apparatus (30) wherein the fiber, entering the hermetic coating apparatus at a predetermined temperature, is caused to be engaged by a reactive gas. The reactive gas, reacting with the heated fiber, is effective to cause a layer of a hermetic material to be deposited adjacent to the outer surface of the fiber. A cross-flow purge gas is effective to prevent a resultant accumulation of a soot comprising reactive components of the reactive gas adjacent to portions of the hermetic coating apparatus which become heated by the fiber. Failure to prevent the accumulation of the soot may lead to fiber abrasions and reduced fiber strength.

Methods of and apparatus for coating optical fibers

A hermetically coated optical fiber is produced by contacting a hot fiber with an organic material such as acetylene. The heat of the fiber causes decomposition and results in a hermetic, carbonaceous coating. This coating is essentially impermeable to both water and hydrogen.

Growing community of inventors

Basking Ridge, NJ, United States of America

Richard G Huff