Optical fiber connector

• US 4,484,796 A
• Filed: 11/10/1981
• Issued: 11/27/1984
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/1980
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Sato, Hidemi, Kaneda, Aizo, Yokono, Hitoshi, Suzuki, Kiichi, Miyake, Kiyohide, Ohashi, Atsuyoshi, Kodama, Toshiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Sikes, William L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gonzalez, Frank
• Application Number:
  US06/319,986
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 264/1.5, 350/96.20, 350/96.21, 350/96.22, 425/808
• US Class Current: 385/72
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3825 with an intermediate part, e.g. adapter, receptacle, linking two plugs
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3863 fabricated by using polishing techniques grinding of the fibre ends B24B19/226
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3865 fabricated by using moulding techniques shaping techniques of plastic materials in general B29C; producing plastic optical fiber connectors B29D11/0075

Abstract

An optical fiber connector comprising a pair of plugs, a sleeve and a pair of cap nuts which is assembled at the site where optical fibers are installed, so as to connect the optical fibers with a high degree of positional accuracy. The plugs and the sleeve are molded of a composition including a synthetic resin added with a suitable content of a filler, such as glass beads.

Claims

1. An optical fiber connector comprising a pair of plug pins, a sleeve having a forward end of each said plug pin inserted therein to bring the end portions of the plug pins into abutting engagment with each other, and a pair of cap nuts for securing said plug pins to said sleeve, said plug pins, sleeve and cap nuts being formed of synthetic resinous material and each of said plug pins being attached to an end of a respective optical fiber by means of an adhesive agent, each of said plug pins having an orifice, formed by a core pin having a diameter 1-2 μ

m larger than the outer diameter of the optical fiber, and being located in the center of a core for forming a forward end face of the plug pin, wherein the adhesive agent comprises an epoxy resin base adhesive agent of below 20 poise in viscosity added as a filler with 40-60 wt% of alumina or aluminum hydroxide in particle form of mean particle size which is 50-70% of the clearance between an orifice of th plug and the optical fiber.

2. An optical fiber connector of the type capable of assembly at a site of installation thereof, comprising:

a pair of plug pins formed of synthetic resinous material, a forward end portion of each plug pin having an orifice in an end face thereof for receiving an end of an optical fiber;

a sleeve formed of synthetic resinous material, said sleeve being constructed for receiving the forward end portion of both of said plug pins inserted therein so as to bring the end faces thereof into abutting engagement with each other;

wherein said orifice is concentrically positioned in the end face of each plug pin and is larger than the outer diameter of said end of the optical fiber by 1-2 μ

m as a result of each plug pin having been fabricated by using a metal mold having a core pin for forming said orifice that is located in the center of a core for forming the forward end face of the plug pin, said core pin being 1-2 μ

m larger in diameter than said outer diameter of the end of the optical fiber; and

wherein each of said plug pins is attached to an optical fiber by means of an adhesive agent which comprises an epoxy resin base adhesive agent of below 20 poise in viscosity added as a filler with 40-60 wt% of alumina or aluminum hydroxide in particle form of mean particle size which is 50-70% of the clearance between an orifice of the plug and the optical fiber.

3. An optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the synthetic resin compositon molding said plug pins and said sleeve comprises polycarbonate, and a material selected from the group consisting of one of glass beads, glass bulbs and silica glass in particle form added to the polycarbonate in 10-30 wt% as a filler.

4. An optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 3, wherein the composition for molding the plug pins and the sleeve is added with 5-30 wt% of polytetrafluoroethylene as a lubricant.

5. An optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 3, wherein the composition for molding the plug pins and the sleeve is added with 1-5 wt% of molybdenum disulfide as a lubricant.

6. An optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the synthetic resin composition molding said plug pins and said sleeve comprises an epoxy resin, and a material selected from the group consisting of one of glass beads, glass bulbs and silica glass in particle form added to the epoxy resin in 30-80 wt%.

7. An optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the difference between an outer diameter of said plug pins and an inner diameter of said sleeve is from -3 to +2 μ

m.

8. An optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein a glass pipe is attached to the optical fiber and inserted together with the optical fiber into the plug, to thereby affix the glass pipe to the plug together with the optical fiber.

9. An optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 6, wherein the composition for molding the plug pins and the sleeve is added with 1-5 wt% of one of polytetrafluoroethylene, molybdenum disulfide and graphite as a lubricant.