Cable-to-repeater joining device for underwater optical fiber cable

Claim 1

Device for facilitating joining an underwater optical fiber cable and a repeater comprising a fiber-feed-in-cable, said underwater cable consisting of an optical core containing optical fibers, a multiple steel wire strength member, a copper tube swaged onto said strength member and an insulating sheath, one end of said underwater cable being secured in a jointing block by means of a tapered ferrule and hard-setting resin filler, said fiber-feed-in-cable comprising an optical core containing optical fibers, said device comprising a slack chamber positioned between said jointing block and said repeater for storing surplus lengths of optical fiber, said slack chamber having an underwater optical fiber cable side and a fiber-feed-in-cable side and comprising on the underwater-fiber-cable side a storage canister having an axial feed through and a convex bulged internal annular wall whose radius of curvature is equal to or larger than the minimum acceptable radius of curvature capable of preventing overly looping of the optical fibers in contact therewith to the extent of causing breakage of said optical fibers, and on the fiber-feed-in-cable side a plug facing said storage canister having a conical internal surface, the internal wall of said storage canister further including, radially outwardly of the convex bulge surface portion, a concave transition surface and wherein, the conical internal surface of said plug terminates near the periphery of said plug in a cylindrical transition surface.