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:
Mar. 22, 1994
Filed:
Jun. 23, 1992
Charles M Mansfield, Austin, TX (US);
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, MN (US);
Abstract
A novel blade design for a tool which strips the buffer layer and protective coating away from a ribbon having a plurality of optical fibers. The blade design includes two generally identical blade halves, each having a cutting edge. Each cutting edge has side borders, and semicircular cutouts between the borders, forming tips between adjacent cutouts. The tips are smoothly rounded, and also recessed whereby, when the blades are brought together in a closed, cutting position, the tips are still separated by a gap. The cutouts have an effective diameter which is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the fiber cladding. The rounded tips minimize damage to the fibers during the stripping operation by providing a self-centering effect as the tips graze the buffer coating of the fibers in a misaligned ribbon, and by further reducing the effective force applied by the tips to the fibers. The larger cutouts and gap between opposing tips further minimize any possible damage to the fibers.