The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 15, 1981
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1978
Bernard R Eichenbaum, Lilburn, GA (US);
Francis J Topolski, Lilburn, GA (US);
Western Electric Company, Inc., New York, NY (US);
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
In order to organize a plurality of fiber lightguides (33--33) into a planar array (40), so that they can be bonded together between two tapes (34--34) to form a ribbon (32), the fiber lightguides are payed out from individual supply spools (51--51) and advanced toward a takeup (43). Interposed between the supply spools and the takeup is at least one surface (72) past which the lightguides are advanced and which is effective to organize them contiguously into a single layer array (76). The surface is made with a curvature which is convex in the direction of advance of the fiber lightguides and which is concave in a direction transverse to the direction of advance. The single layer array (76) is advanced past and in engagement with another surface (86) which reforms the array into a planar configuration after which the lightguides are bonded together to form the ribbon (32). A plurality of the ribbons may be formed into a stack which comprises a core (31) of an optical communication cable and which lends itself to group-splicing techniques.