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. 07, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 13, 2002
The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An optical fiber preform ( ) serving as a material of an optical fiber has a shoulder portion ( ) thrusting beyond a middle portion (M) in a base end region (K) which is on the upper side when the optical fiber preform is suspended for a drawing process. The optical fiber preform ( ) of this configuration can be easily produced by appropriately setting the heating condition, etc. for the sintering step in the production process. Thus, it is possible to omit the elongating step after the sintering step, thereby simplifying the production process. Further, in the prior-art technique, turbulence is generated in the gas flow in the furnace of the drawing apparatus toward the end of the drawing step, making it impossible to draw in a stable manner. In contrast, in this embodiment, due to the shoulder portion ( ), there is a small gap between the inner wall surface of the furnace and the optical fiber preform; due to this small gap, the gas flow is regulated, and the drawing can be conducted in a stable manner even toward the end of the drawing step.