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:
Dec. 08, 1987
Filed:
May. 20, 1985
Joseph Winter, New Haven, CT (US);
Michael J Pryor, Woodbridge, CT (US);
Olin Corporation, New Haven, CT (US);
Abstract
A process and apparatus for fabricating an optical fiber communication cable are described herein. The optical fiber cable has a cable core including a metal containment tube and at least one optical fiber within the tube. The containment tube preferably is formed by drawing a strip of metal through at least one forming die. In a first aspect of the present invention, smooth operation of the forming die is promoted by first passing the metal strip through a shaving die to remove any shearing burrs along the strip edges and to maintain the width of the strip within a desired tolerance. In a second aspect of the present invention, various approaches for effectively sealing the containment tube are described. In a first embodiment, the tube is sealed using a wave soldering approach wherein a flow of moving molten solder is used to substantially fill a seam in the tube. In a preferred embodiment, a mechanical separation is placed between the tube and the moving molten solder to prevent sealing until a steady state running condition has been achieved. In a second embodiment, the tube is sealed by wrapping a metal foil having a meltable coating about the tube and heating the assembly to melt the coating and effect a seal. In a third aspect of the present invention, the optical fiber cable is provided with an improved concentricity. The improved concentricity is effected by passing the sealed metal tube through a die for removing any excess material such as solder from about the outer periphery of the tube.