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:
Aug. 26, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 08, 1999
Richard Hartford Norris, Powder Springs, GA (US);
Richard D. Small, Lilburn, GA (US);
Phillip Maurice Thomas, Suwanee, GA (US);
Peter A. Weimann, Atlanta, GA (US);
Fitel USA Corp., Norcross, GA (US);
Abstract
A hybrid strength member ( ) for an optical cable ( ) is made from dielectric materials, and provides excellent compressive and tensile properties within a single structure. The strength member includes two concentric layers of filamentary strands that are embedded in a thermoset material such as epoxy. The filamentary strands of the inner layer ( ) primarily comprise aramid fibers, while the filamentary strands of the outer layer ( ) primarily comprise glass fibers. A pair of strength members ( - - ) is embedded in a plastic jacket of the optical cable at diametrically opposite sides of a central core tube that contains a number of optical fibers. Each strength member includes a thin coating ( ) of a relatively soft material (i.e., a hardness of less than 80D on the Shore durometer scale) to enhance its coupling to the plastic jacket. Moreover, each strength member has a compressive stiffness that is effective to inhibit substantial contraction of the cable, and a tensile stiffness that is effective to receive tensile loads without substantial transfer of such loads to the glass fibers.