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Patent EP0430533A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
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EP0430533A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Water blocked cable portion and methods of making same

Assignee: AT&T Inc
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Filing: 1990-11-20
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-11-20
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Abstract

Abstract An optical cable portion (10), resident within a cable closure (14), is caused to receive a water blocking arrangement which is effective to prevent water, which enters an internal cable portion (24) through an unintended cut (21) in an outer jacket (18) of a cable portion (20), from entering an interior of the cable closure. A plurality of water blocking materials (30 and 32) are coaxially disposed about the outer jacket and a core tube (26) of the cable portion, respectively, and cooperate with a heat shrinkable plastic tube (34) which substantially covers the water blocking materials to prevent the movement of water from the internal cable portion past the water blocking materials.

Inventors

  • 👤 Gary S. Cobb

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-10 02:09
CPC Classifications
H; H01; H01B; H01B13/00; H01B13/22; G; G02; G02B; G02B6/00; G02B6/44; G02B6/4439; G02B6/4471; G02B6/4476; G02B6/4401; G02B6/4429; G02B6/44384; G02B6/44775; G02B6/4479; Y; Y10; Y10T; Y10T29/00; Y10T29/49; Y10T29/49826; Y10T29/49863; Y10T29/49865; Y10T29/49885; Y10T428/00; Y10T428/13; Y10T428/1328; Y10T428/29; Y10T428/2913; Y10T428/2933; Y10T428/2936; Y10T428/294; Y10T428/2942; Y10T428/2944; Y10T428/2947; Y10T428/2958; Y10T428/2964

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim 198 words
A water blocked cable portion, which comprises a core comprising at least one transmission medium, a longitudinally extending tube in which is disposed said core, and a longitudinally extending outer jacket which is coaxially disposed about said tube and beyond a portion of which a portion of said tube extends, said cable portion being characterized by a first water blocking material disposed about an outer surface of a portion of said outer jacket adjacent to the extending portion of the tube; a second water blocking material disposed about an outer surface of a portion of said extending portion of said tube adjacent to said portion of said outer jacket; and a plastic membrane which is disposed about each of said portions of said tube and said outer jacket and further disposed in compressive engagement with said first and second water blocking materials wherein the compressive engagement of the plastic membrane is effective to provide a water seal between a portion of an inner surface of said plastic membrane and the outer surface of said tube and between a portion of an inner surface of said plastic membrane and a portion of an outer surface of said outer jacket.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 16 words
The cable portion of claim 1, wherein said plastic membrane comprises a heat shrinkable plastic tube.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 20 words
The cable portion of claim 2, wherein said first and second water blocking materials each comprise a water blocking tape.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 108 words
The cable portion of claim 2, wherein said heat shrinkable plastic tube is a first heat shrinkable plastic tube and wherein said heat shrinkable plastic tube further comprises a relatively short length of a second heat shrinkable plastic tube which is disposed in compressive engagement with a portion of said core tube such that said second water blocking material is disposed between said second heat shrinkable plastic tube and said outer jacket, and wherein said first heat shrinkable plastic tube is disposed in compressive engagement with at least a portion of the second heat shrinkable plastic tube and at least a portion of said first water blocking material.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 245 words
A water blocked optical fiber cable portion, which comprise a core comprising at least one optical fiber, a longitudinally extending tube in which is disposed said core and from which an end portion of said core extends, a longitudinally extending inner jacket coaxially disposed about said tube and from which an end portion of the tube extends, a longitudinally extending metallic shield coaxially disposed about said inner jacket, means including a ground wire connected to said shield for establishing a ground connection to said shield, and a longitudinally extending outer jacket which is coaxially disposed about said metallic shield and from which an end portion of said metallic shield extends, said cable portion characterized by a water blocking material disposed about an outer surface of an end portion of said outer jacket adjacent to said end portion of said metallic shield; a disc of plastic material disposed adjacent to said end portion of said metallic shield and having openings through which said tube and ground wire extend; and a plastic membrane disposed about said cable end portion and in compressive engagement with said water blocking material and said disc wherein the compressive engagement of the plastic membrane is effective to provide a water blocking seal between a portion of an inner surface of said plastic membrane and an outer surface of said disc and between a portion of an inner surface of said plastic membrane and a portion of outer surface of said outer jacket.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 46 words
The optical fiber cable portion of claim 5, wherein said water blocking material is a first water blocking material and wherein a second water blocking material comprises a water blocking polyurethane polymer material which is disposed in engagement with said disc adjacent to said outer jacket.
Claim 7
Independent Claim 305 words
A method of causing a portion of an optical fiber cable to be water blocked, said method comprising the steps of providing an optical fiber cable comprising at least one optical fiber, a longitudinally extending core tube within which the optical fiber is disposed and a longitudinally extending outer jacket disposed about the core tube, and removing the outer jacket from a portion of the cable, the removal of the outer jacket being effective to expose a portion of the core tube, said method characterized by the steps of causing a first water blocking material to be disposed about an outer surface of a portion of the outer jacket adjacent to the exposed portion of the core tube; causing a second water blocking material to be disposed about an outer surface of a portion of the core tube adjacent to the outer jacket; causing a heat shrinkable plastic tube to be disposed about the portion of the cable and to extend to cover at least a portion of the first water blocking material disposed about the outer jacket of the cable and at least a portion the second water blocking material disposed about the portion of the core tube; and applying heat energy to the heat shrinkable plastic tube, said step of applying heat energy being effective to cause the heat shrinkable plastic tube to shrink to cause compressive engagement of a portion of the inner surface of the heat shrinkable plastic tube with the water blocking materials and to provide a seal between a portion of the inner surface of the heat shrinkable plastic tube and a portion of the outer surface of the outer jacket of the cable and between a portion of the inner surface of the heat shrinkable plastic tube and a portion of an outer surface of the core tube.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 293 words
The method of claim 7, wherein the heat shrinkable plastic tube is caused to extend to cover completely and extend past the first water blocking material disposed about the outer jacket of the cable and the second water blocking material disposed about the portion of the core tube, wherein the step of applying heat energy to the heat shrinkable plastic tube is effective to cause a portion of the inner surface of the heat shrinkable plastic tube to become disposed in sealing and gripping engagement with a portion of the outer surface of the core tube and a portion of the outer surface of the outer jacket, wherein said heat shrinkable plastic tube is a first heat shrinkable plastic tube and wherein said method further includes the steps of causing at least one relatively short length of a second heat shrinkable plastic tube to become disposed about a portion of the core tube such that the second water blocking material is disposed between the second heat shrinkable plastic tube and the outer jacket and causing the second heat shrinkable plastic tube to be shrunk into sealing and gripping engagement with the core tube by the application of heat energy, wherein the first heat shrinkable plastic tube is caused to extend to cover at least a portion of the second heat shrinkable plastic tube and at least a portion of said first water blocking material, and wherein heat energy is applied to the first heat shrinkable plastic tube and is effective to cause the first heat shrinkable plastic tube to come into compressive engagement with at least a portion of the second heat shrinkable plastic tube, with at least a portion of the first water blocking material, and with the second water blocking material.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 48 words
The method of claim 7, wherein the second water blocking material comprises a disc through which the core tube extends, and wherein said method further includes the step of causing a water blocking polyurethane material to become disposed in engagement with the disc adjacent to the outer jacket.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 107 words
The method of claim 9, wherein heat energy is applied to the heat shrinkable plastic tube and is effective to cause a portion of the inner surface of the heat shrinkable plastic tube to become disposed in compressive engagement with a portion of the outer surface of the disc and to provide a water blocking seal between a portion of the inner surface of the heat shrinkable plastic tube and a portion of the outer surface of the outer jacket and to provide a water blocking seal between a portion of the inner surface of the heat shrinkable plastic tube and the outer surface of the disc.

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