EP0409390A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Junction box for optical communications cords and gland assembly for cord
Assignee: Telephone Cables Ltd
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Filing: 1990-05-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-05-29
Abstract
Abstract A junction box for linking a first optical communications cord with two or more second optical communications cords, comprising: a sealable, flat housing (10) having internal formations for organising optical fibres; terminals (G1,G2,G3), preferably glands, along one edge of the housing (10) for connection to the first and/or second optical communications cords (CD1,CD2); passive optical components including a 1x2 fibre-optic coupler all interconnected by internal optical fibres (C0...C8) with the terminals, the internal fibres (C0...C8) all being organised together in a single loop parallel to the major faces of the housing; and clamps (14,15,16) along the inside of at least one different edge of the housing (10) between the loop and the edge wall of the housing, retaining the passive optical components.
Inventors
- 👤 Roger Erwin Jung
- 👤 Edward Kitchener George
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 14:57
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B6/00; G02B6/44; G02B6/4439; G02B6/444; G02B6/4441; G02B6/44528; G02B6/4453
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
143 words
A junction box for linking a first optical communications cord with two or more second optical communications cords, comprising: a sealable, flat housing (10) having internal formations for organising optical fibres and characterised in that the junction box further comprises terminals (G1, G2 and G3) along one edge of the housing (10) for connection to the first and/or the second optical communications cords (CD1), (CD2), passive optical components including a 1x2 fibre-optic coupler (WDM) all interconnected by internal optical fibres (C0 ....C8) with the terminals, the internal fibres (C0 .... C8) all being organised together in a single loop parallel to the major faces of the housing; and clamps (14, 15, 16) along the inside of at least one different edge of the housing (16) between the loop and the edge wall of the housing, retaining the passive optical components (WD, CR, F).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
143 words
A junction box for linking a first optical communications cord with two or more second optical communications cords, comprising: a sealable, flat housing (10) having internal formations for organising optical fibres and characterised in that the junction box further comprises terminals (G1, G2 and G3) along one edge of the housing (10) for connection to the first and/or the second optical communications cords (CD1), (CD2), passive optical components including a 1x2 fibre-optic coupler (WDM) all interconnected by internal optical fibres (C0 ....C8) with the terminals, the internal fibres (C0 .... C8) all being organised together in a single loop parallel to the major faces of the housing; and clamps (14, 15, 16) along the inside of at least one different edge of the housing (16) between the loop and the edge wall of the housing, retaining the passive optical components (WD, CR, F).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
62 words
A junction box according to Claim 1 and further characterised in that at least one of the internal fibres (C0 .... C8) is spliced along its length and the splice is retained in one of the edge clamps (14,15, 16), the clamps (14, 15, 16) further including resiliently deformable pads (13) between which the passive optical components (WDM, CR, F) are retained.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
43 words
A junction box according to Claim 2 and further characterised in that the clamps (14, 15, 16) are along two parallel edges of the housing (10) so that all the passive optical components (WDM, CR,F) and any splices are parallel to each other.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A junction box according to Claim 3 and further characterised in that the internal formations comprise an accumulator (12) extending in the plane of the loop from the outside to the centre of the loop.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
46 words
A junction box according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 and further characterised in that the housing (10) is a plastics moulding and the internal formations are moulded integrally with the housing, the clamps (14, 15, 16) being moulded integrally with the housing (10).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
115 words
A gland assembly for an optical cord having an optical fibre core (20), a sheath (22), and an intermediate layer of non-metallic strength members (21), the assembly being characterised in that it comprises a tube (27) having external formations (28) for connecting it to a body through which it extends; and a tubular end cap (24) with an apertured base for the passage of the optical fibre core; there being an annular clearance space between the cylindrical inner wall of the end cap and outer wall of one end of the tube (27) just sufficient to trap therebetween the evenly-spread strength members bent back from the end of the optical cord held within the tube.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
115 words
A gland assembly for an optical cord having an optical fibre core (20), a sheath (22), and an intermediate layer of non-metallic strength members (21), the assembly being characterised in that it comprises a tube (27) having external formations (28) for connecting it to a body through which it extends; and a tubular end cap (24) with an apertured base for the passage of the optical fibre core; there being an annular clearance space between the cylindrical inner wall of the end cap and outer wall of one end of the tube (27) just sufficient to trap therebetween the evenly-spread strength members bent back from the end of the optical cord held within the tube.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
81 words
A gland assembly according to Claim 6 and further characterised in that the external formations comprise screw-threading adjacent an annular shoulder (28), the assembly further comprising a nut (25) in screw-threaded engagement with the tube (27), for clamping between the nut (25) and the shoulder (28) the annular edge of a circular-apertured body the tube (27) and the end cap (24) having co-operating surface formations such that they are a snap fit when trapping the strength member of the optical cord.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
76 words
A gland assembly according to Claim 7 and further characterised in that it is connected to an optical cord having an optical fibre core (20), a sheath (22), and an intermediate layer of non-metallic strength members (21), with the sheath (22) engaging the inner surface of the tube (27), an excess length of the strength members (21) being spread evenly and trapped between the end cap (25) and the cylindrical outer surface of the tube (27).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
30 words
A gland assembly and optical cord according to Claim 8, and further charcterised in that it comprises a tightly-fitting sleeve (23) over part of the tube (27)and the optical cord.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
33 words
A gland assembly and optical cord according to Claim 9, and further characterised in that the sleeve (23) is heat-shrunk, and in that the end cap (24) is adhered to the tube (27).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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