CA1155692A - Optical fiber alignment mechanism and connectors using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract Of The Disclosure Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber, at least three rigid members with a circular cross section, which are arranged to surround said optical fiber and of which each is in tangential contact with said optical fiber as well as with two other rigid members, and a plastic member molded in a plug like shape to contain said fiber and rigid members in lump, the outer surface of said plastic member allowing said rigid members to be exposed tangentially at least at three portions thereon.

Description

Specification Title of the Invention Optical Fiber Alignment Mechanism And Connectors Using the Same Background of the Invention The present invention relates to optical fiber alignment mechanism and connectors using it.
Optical fibers have been widely known as suitable means for transmitting optical signals in the optical communi-cation. In optical fiber communication systems, however, the loss of optical energy has been always a subject of discussion.
When light is transmitted through optical fibers, there is caused not only transmission loss due to the fiber character-10 istics but also connecting loss due to the fiber interconnec-tion. This invention aims at elimination of the latter loss.
In order to eliminate or minimize such connecting loss, fiber alignment has to be achieved with accuracy of micron order, and at the same time, one fiber end has to closely abut on the other opposite thereto. Further, optical fibers are usually thin lines having a diameter of 100 microns order, so that fibers themselves are fragile and their ends can be more. Accordingly, fiber ends have to be provided with the structure that is suitable for protecting and reinforcing them. In order to attain fine fiber alignment mechanism there have been made a lot of trials. However, they have been not always successful in giving entire solution of the problem.

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In the most popular structure having been proposed thus far, i the fiber end is just molded by using a plastic resin. This is simple and effective in some sense to some extent. As known well, however, when the melting plastic resin stiffens, it never fails to shrink. Therefore, any fine adjustment of fiber alignment before plastic molding will be in vain due to . .-, such shrinkage. Accordingly, it is hardly possible to achieve the fine fiber alignment by such a simple molding method as mentioned above.
10Another example of the prior art will be seen in the - United States Patent No. 4,087,155 which discloses a connector for a single optical fiber. For the optical fiber alignment, the prior art connector utilizes a tricuspid interstice formed by three spheres with equal diameter. The end of the fiber is mounted in that interstice. The spheres are further mounted in an elongated cylinder member. This arrangement will result in good fiber mating with high accuracy, because tricuspid interstice formed by 3 spheres is smartly utilized to mount the fiber therein. Three spheres are contained in the cylin-der member and then, two of said cylinder member are insertedinto a single sleeve for coupling. In such a structure, however, the fiber alignment would become impossible if two cylinder members should be deformed by some cause. In other words, when an off-center state occurs between the inner and outer diameters of said cylinder member, the center of the fiber inserted into the sleeve comes to be off-axis against ~ .

`-"`" 1 1 55692 ~' , the sleeve center, thus also inviting another off-axis state against the fiber coming from the opposite side of said cylin-der member. In order to solve such an off-center problem as mentioned above, it is necessary to form said cylinder member with extremely high accuracy, thus resulting in expensive connectors.
Still another prior art connector will be seen in the article entitled "Dual three-rod Connector For Single Fiber Optics" by B.D. Metcalf et al, which is carried by Applied Optics Vol. 18, No. 3, page 400-401, issued on February 1, 1979. In the connector disclosed therein, there are used two sets of rods. One set comprises 3 rods having identical diameters and the other comprises also 3 rods having an identical diameter but smaller than that of the former set.
In this connector, there are used two groups of rigid rods, the first one of which consists of three rigid rods having an identical diameter while the second one con-- sists of a plurality of rods having an identical but larger diameter than the rods of the first group. In the first rod group, said three rods are arranged to have a tricuspid interstice therebetween formed thereby, into which an optical fiber is inserted and fixed up. A part of the resultant ~structure by the arrangement above is then further inserted into an insert ferrule by a predetermined length and fixed up therein to form a plug, where said three rods comes to work as insert rods. On one hand, a plurality of said larger diameter ~ 1556~2 rods are arranged, for example, to form a hexagonal cross sec-tional pattern by using seven rods, and then fixed by binding them altogether by means of O-rings. The pattern creates six interstices therein, and each of them is used as a receptacle for the insert rods of said plug. In other words, the fiber alignment has to be made eventually within the interstice formed by the larger diameter rods. As a result, the fiber alighment comes to be dominated by the interstice state which considerably depends on the compression mode by said O-ring or the like. Further, the head of said insert rods are not fixed together, thereby making it harder to insert said insert rods into said interstices. Still further, tangential contact between the rods in the interstice is easily broken by ex-ternal force abnormally added thereto. Still further, when some twisiting force is applied thereto, the fiber location in the insert rods is easily changed thereby.
Summary of the Inventlon Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide the optical fiber alignment mechanism for performing precise connection of optical fibers for use in optical communication systems and the connector utilizing said mechanism, by which accurate optical fiber alignemnt and connection are attained with minimized optical transmission energy loss.
Another object of the invention is to achieve the simple and economical optical fiber alignment mechanism and - 1155~92 .. the connector utilizing it.
Still another object of the invention is to provide the optical fiber alignment mechanism and the connector using it, by which there is attained the excellent optical fiber connection that is stable and durable against repetition of mating and detaching the connector.
According to one aspect of the invention, for achieving the above object, there is provided an optical fiber alignment mechanism which comprises at least an optical fiber;
at least three rigid members with a circular cross section, which are arranged to surround said optical fiber and of which each is in tangential contact with said optical fiber as well as with two other rigid members, and a plastic member formed by molding in a plug like shape to contain said fiber and rigid members as a unitary assembly, the outer surface of said plastic member allowing said rigid members to be exposed tang-entially at least at three portions thereon, According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided the optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; a plurality of rigid balls sur-rounding said optical fiber to be in tangential contact with : it; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to contain said fiber and balls as a unitary assembly, said balls being in tangential contact with one another as well as with the outer surface of said plastic member, a part of each ball being exposed tangentially on said surfacer said balls being divided into a plurity of trian~ular triple-ball sets, which jr/~

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1 ~ ~ 5~9 2 are stacked in parallel with a plane perpendicular to the : axis of said fiber in such a manner that one triple-ball set takes a position twisted by 60~ against two other sets on its both sides, and said fiber running through the tricuspid inter-stice formed at the inside of said stacked triple-ball sets.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is an optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; two triangular triple-ball sets; a ring spacer; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to contain said fiber, triple-ball sets and spacer as a unitary assembly, balls in each of said triple-ball set being in tangen-tial contact with one another as well as with the outer surface of said plastic member, a part of each ball being exposed tangentially on said surface, said fiber running through the interstice formed at the inside of said triple-ball sets and being in tangential contact with the balls of each set, and said ring spacer being axially arranged to intervene between two said triple-ball sets.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided an optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising a plurality of optical fibers, a plurality of rigid members : surrounding each of said fibers, and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to contain said fibers and rigid members as a unitary assembly, said rigid members being arranged in a plurality of layers and being in tangential contact with neigh-bour members, each of said fibers running through the interstice formed by adjoining three rigid members and being in tangential contact therewith, and each rigid member belonging to the periph-eral side layers of the rigid members being in tangential jrc~

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contact with the outer surface of said plastic member.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an optical fiber alignment mechanism com-prising at least an optical fiber; three rods surrounding said fiber, said rods being in tangential contact with said fiber as well as with each other; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to contain said fiber and rods as a unitary assembly, each of said rods being tangentially exposed out of the side surface of said plastic member.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising a plurality of optical fibers; a plurality of rigid members of circular cross section surrounding each of said plural fibers;
and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to contain said optical fibers and rigid members as a unitary assembly, said rigid members being arranged such that one of the members is positioned at center and the remaining members are annularly positioned around said center member, said center member being in tangential contact with all of said surrounding members, each of which is also in tangential contact with members on its both sides, each of said fibers being surrounded by said center member and adjoining two of said annularly arranged members and being in tangential contact with each, and each of said annularly arranged members being in tangential contact with the outer surface of said plastic member.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; a plurality of rigid members surrounding jrc:~

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~` 1155692 and being in tangential contact with said optical fiber; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to contain said fiber and rigid members as a unitary assembly, said rigid members consisting of two rigid rods in tangential contact and adjoining rigid balls which are lined to be in tangential cont-act with both of said rigid rods, and said rigid rods and balls being exposed tangentially on the outer surface of said plastic member.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; rigi.d members surrounding and being in contact with said optical fiber; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to contain said fiber and rigid members ; as a unitary assembly, said rigid members consisting of a rigid rod and two rigid ball lines, each ball in said ball lines being . in tangeti~al contact with said rigid rods as well as with two balls on its both sides, said fiber running through the in.terstice formed in parallel with said rod by means of said two ball lines and rod, and sai`d balls and rod being exposed tangentially on the outer surface of said plastic member.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is Provided an optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at jr/~

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least an optical fiber; a plurality of rigid members surround-ing and being in tangential contact with said optical fiber;
and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to fix said fiber and rigid members together said rigid member consisting of tangentially and parallelly adjoining two rigid rods and balls, each ball of which is lined along said two rods and is in tangential contact with said rods as well as with two balls on its both sides, said rods and balls being tangentially exposed on the outer surface of said plastic member, and the plastic portion across said two rods being removed to form a key way for limiting the axial rotation of the mechanism.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided with an optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising a plurality of optical fibers; a plurality of rigid members surrounding each of said plurality of fibers;
and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape to fix said optical fibers and rigid members together, said rigid members being arranged such that one of the members is positioned at center and the remaining members are annularly arranged around said center member, said center member being in tangential contact with all of said surrounding members, each of which is also in tangential contact with members on its both sides, each of said fibers being surrounded by said center rigid member and adjoining two of said annularly arranged members and being in tangential contact with each, each of said annularly arranged member being in tangential contact with the outer surface of said plastic member, and a 9 _ . jrc !

plastic portion across adjoining two rods being removed to form a key way which is adapted to use in restricting the axial revolution of the mechanism.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a connector comprising: two optical fiber plug means including a plug main body which comprises at least an optical fiber, at least three rigid members with a circle cross section which are arranged to surround said optical fiber and of which each is in tangential eontaet with said 10 optieal fiber as well as with two other rigid members, and a plastic member formed by molding in a plug like shape to eontain said fiber and rigid members as a unitary assembly, the the outer surface of said plastie member allowing said rigid members to be exposed tangentially at least at 3 portions thereon;
and a receptaele whieh eomprises a resilient sleeve for reeeiving said two plug means from its both sides, a housing for eontaining said sleeve, and means for determining the position o said sleeve in sai`d housing.
Aecording to another aspeet of the present invention, there-is provided an optieal fiber alignment meehanism eomprising at least an optieal fiber; at least three rigid members with a eireular eross section, which are arranged to surround said ~' optical fiber and of which each is in tangential eontaet with said optical fiber as well as with two other rigid members; and - a plastic member formed by molding in a plug like shape to contain said fiber and rigid members as a unitary assembly, the outer side surface of said plastic member allowing said rigid members to be expressed tangentially at least at three portions thereon ~ ','.
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while the end face thereof also allows said rigid member to be exposed therefrom, and the optical fiber end being located at the inside a little from said rigid member surface exposed at the end face.
Brief Description Of The Drawings Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from the description taken in conjunction with accompanying draw-ings, wherein:
Fig. 1 is a perspective fragmentary sectional view of optical fiber alignment mechanism and the connector utilizing '' it according to the present invention;
Fig, 2A is a perspective view of a plug body as shown in Fig. l;
Figs. 2B and 2C are cross sectional views taken along IIB-IIB and IIC-IIC lines respectively;
Figs. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D are diagrams for showing the process of molding the plug body in Fig. 2A;
Fi~g. 4 is a diagram showing a modified embodiment of ' 20 this invention wherei`n a set of rigid ball members are used, .
Fi`g., 5 is a cross sectional view of a further modi-fied plug body of the invention;
Fig. 6 is a sectional vi~ew of the plug modified according to the iventïon including an intermediate spacer jr/i;~
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'" ' -Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a plug modified according to the present invention, in which a plurality of optical fibers are held at a center tricuspid interstice;
Fig. 8A is a perspective view of a plug modified according to the invention, which is provided with means for limiting its angular position against the connector;
Fig. 8B is a cross sectional view of the plug as shown in Fig. 8A, when taken along a plane in parallel with the plane including the centers of 3 spheres;
Figs. 9A and 9B are two kinds of cross sectional views of a parallelepiped plug modified according to the invention, which contains a plurality of rigid ball members and optical fibers;
Fig. 10 is a perspective view of another modified plug of this invention, where rigid rod members are used instead of rigid balls;
Figs. llA and llB are diagrammatical representation for explaining the process of manufacturing the plug as shown in Fi. 10;
Fig. 12 is a cross sectional view of a plug modified from that of Fig. 10;
Fig. 13 is a cross sectional view of a modified plug containing a plurality of optical fibers and rigid rod members;
Figs. 14A, 14B and 15 are diagrammatical representa-. .

tions for showing another modified plug which contains a plu-rality of rigid rod members and optical fibers, and is provided ~`~.

' `~ with means for limiting its angu:Lar position against the con-nector;
Fig. 16 is a perspective view of another modified end structure in which rigid ball and rod members are used ; 5 together;
Figs. 17A and 17B are diagrammatical representations for use in explaining the process of manufacturing the plug as shown in Fig. 16;
Figs. 18 and 19 are cross sectional views of plugs which are modified from the plug as shown in Fig~ 16;
Figs. 20, 21, 22 and 23 are diagrammatical repre-sentations for showing further modification of plugs as shown in Fig. 16 through Fig. 19;
Figs. 24, 24A and 25 are diagrammatical representa-tions of plugs having a key way;
Fig. 26 is a perspective view of a connector sleeve that is coupled with plugs as shown in Figs. 24 and 25;
Fig. 27 is a perspective fragmentary sectional view of two plugs with a key way as shown in Fig~ 25 being coupled with the connector with the sleeve as shwon in Fig. 26;
Fig. 28 is a cross sectional representation for ; showing the coupling state in Fig. 27;
Fig. 29 is a cross seGtional representation for showing the coupling state of the plug and the connector modi-fied from Fig. 28;
Fig. 30 is another modification of the plug having 2 :` - 1155692 key ways;
Fig. 31 is a cross sectional representation for showing the coupling state of further modified connector and plug having 2 key ways;
Fig. 32 is a cross sectional representation for showing the coupling state between a plug having two projected keys and a connector; and Fig. 33 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a modified optical fiber end structure which is applicable to each embodiment as mentioned above.
Description_Of The Preferred Embodiment Fig. 1 is a perspective fragmentary sectional view of the optical fiber alignment mechanism according to the invention and the connector utilizing it, especially the connector and plug combination for a single optical fiber. In the figure, a connector 10 comprises a main connector body 12 and plug means 13 and 14 which are inserted into said connec-tor body 12 from both sides thereof. The connector body 12 consists of a cylindrical housing 12a, spacer or sleeve holder 12b contained in said housing 12a, and a slitted sleeve 12c which is held within said sleeve holder 12b. Both ends of said housing 12a are provided on their side surface with a thread portion for coupling to said plug means 13 and 14.
Said sleeve 12c is formed of a resilient material showing spring action such as phosphor bronze, and is provided with a slit 12cs which is formed in its axial direction. Owing to ~ 155692 existence of said slit 12cs as well as elasticity of the material, the sleeve 12c is able to firmly grasp the plug means 13 and 14 inserted thereinto.
The plug means 13 and 14 have an entirely identical structure, so that the following description will be made only about the plug means 13.
The plug means 13 comprises a molded plug 13a, a housing 13b containing said plug 13a, and a spring 13c which is housed in said housing 13b and is giving biasing force to - 10 said plug 13a so as to push it always toward the center of the connector 10. The molded plug 13a comprises a base 16 located at about its center, a guide cylinder 17 which extends in one direction from one side of said base 16 to project out of said housing 13b, and a cylindrical plug body ~hereinafter merely called plug) 18 which extends in the opposite direction from the other side of said base 16 and is to be inserted into sleeve 12c. Said base, guide cylinder, and plug are molded in lump to form the entirety of said molded plug 13a. A jacket 19 is inserted to said guide cylinder from its one end to cover the optical fiber 20. The tip of the inserted jacket reaches said base 16. The optical fiber 20 is further ex-tended up to the end face of said plug 18. In this case, the optical fiber 20 is aligned on the axis of the molded plug 13a by arrangement as explained later, where rigid precision members are adjoiningly disposed to surround the fiber 20, thus the end of the fiber always comes to appear at the center of a circular plug end 18a.
Figs. 2A, 2B and 2C are diagrammatical representa-tion to show the structure of the plug 18 more in detail. As shown in figures, said plug 18 contains 3 rigid precision balls with an identical diameter, which are disposed around the fiber 20 to be in tangential contact with it. Rigid balls are made of a hard material such as steel, high quality hard glass, industrial ruby or sapphire. Optical fibers having a diameter of 0.15 mm, there are used rigid balls having a diameter of about 1 mm. Rigid balls having such diameter are readily and economically obtainable with high accuracy by means of the current technology. Said three balls 22a, 22b and 22c are adjoiningly molded in the plug 18 to be exposed respectively at points where each ball is in contact with the circumscribed surface 18b as well as the end 18a of said plug 18. Such points are indicated by reference numerals 22al, 22bl and 22cl in Fig. 2B as well as by 3 small circles on the end face of the plug 18 in Fig. 2A. The plug end 18a is finished by polishing to obtain a fine flat surface which is suitable for closely abutting on the counter plug end. In molding the plug 18, it is desirable to use plastic material of the type which has an low viscosity in fluid form, such as epoxy resin. The plug 18 further contains another triple-ball 4 set consisting of balls 22d, 22e and 22f, which are stacked along the axis of the plug 18 toward said base 16. These balls are also surrounding and in tangential contact with the 1 15~692 optical fiber 20 as said triple-ball set 22a, 22b and 22c.
The adjacent triple-ball sets are twisted each other by 60 about the axis of the plug 18 and make multi-tangential contacts therebetween. This relationship will become more clear when referring to Figs. 2B and 2C. Ball 22d, 22e and 22f are kept in tangential contact with the surface 18b of the plug 18 as said balls 22a, 22b and 22c. Still another triple-ball set is disposed next said triple-ball set 22d, 22e and 22c with the same relationship that is kept between said two triple-ball sets, one consisting of balls 22a, 22b and 22c, and the other including balls 22d, 22e and 22f. By repeating the steps as described above, triple-ball sets are disposed in the plug as shown in Fig. 2A, where six triple-ball sets are seen.
In the triple ball arrangement as explained above, the optical fiber 20 runs through the central tricuspid interstice of each triple-ball set. This means that the fiber 20 is located at the center of an equilateral triangle, of which vertex corresponds to each center of three balls forming the triple-ball set. The fiber location, therefore, is kept stably against shrinkage of the plastic resin 23 which occcurs when it stiffen in the mold. When the plug 18 is inserted into the connector, its surface 18b is firmly grasped in said sleeve 12c. On one hand, the shrinkage of the resin 23 can give no influence to the triple-ball set geometry but exposing at a single point the tiny sphere surface of each ball. Thus, :

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-` 115S692 the substantial and active surface 18b is accurately deter-mined by the rigid precision balls. This results, according-ly, in the accurate coincidence between the fiber and sleeve centers when the plug is grasped by the sleeve 12c.
Further, according to the plug construction as mentioned above, the sphere surface of the rigid ball exposed out of the surface 18b has a higher hardness than other plastic member portions. This means that the plug 18 is provided with an excellent outer surface which is so hard and so resistant to wear that it stands against repetition of the mating with and detaching from the connector.
Still further, it is apparent that the present plug construction as mentioned above is effective not only for location of the fiber 20 in the plug 18 but also for the protection and reinforcement of the optical fiber, especially its end.
The plug structure as mentioned above will be attaired by the manufacturing steps as shown in Figs. 3A, 3B, ;- 3C and 3D. In these figures, the guide cylinder 17 in Fig. 1 is omitted for simplifying the explanation. Also for further simplification of the explanation, the manufacturing steps will be described in terms of the single-fiber plug structure First, there is prepared a mold 30 which has a form accurately corresponding to the outer dimension of an aimed plug. The mold 30 comprises two portions. One is a deeper cylinder portion 30a which defines the outer surface of the plug, and the other is a cylinder portion 30b which is shal-lower than said cylinder 30a but has a larger diameter than said cylinder 30a. The cylinder 30a is processed to have an accurate inner diameter of 2.155 times ball diameter arranged therein.
To obtain the precision balls, it is helpful to use the knowledge on commercial bearings. Rigid balls for use in bearings are being manufactured with a high accuracy of 0.5-0.2 ,um. Moreover, they are obtainable at a low cost in spite of such a high accuracy. When at least eighteen rigid balls 22 having an identical diameter are cast into said deeper cylinder portion 30a, they are naturally accumulated in the fashion that 3 balls make one triple-ball set and each set is twisted about the mold axis by 60 against the set imme-diately before it. Fig. 3 shows 6 triple-ball sets stacked in the cylinder 30a. In this state, each ball in triple-ball sets comes to be in tangential contact with the inner wall of the cylinder portion 30a or to be very near it. Then, the bared optical fiber 20 extended from the plastic jacket 19 is inserted into the center tricuspid interstice 31 of the top triple-ball set (Fig. 3C). Said interstice 31 has a form like slightly deformed triangle. The state after fiber insertion is shown in Fig. 3B. Then, a melting plastic resin such as an epoxy resin is poured into cylinder portions of the mold 30 as shown in Fig. 3D. When the resin poured is completely stiff-ened, the molded plug is removed out of the mold 30, and then ~', .
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it will receive buffing or polishing, if necessary.
Fig. 4 shows a modified embodiment of the invention, wherein only a single triple-ball set of balls 36a, 36b and 36c is molded in the plug 35. In this case, the fiber 38 may require auxiliary means (not shown) for keeping the fiber accurately at the center of the plug until the molding is finished. After the resin has been hardened, however, the fiber is firmly held at the end of the plug 35 by hardened resin 39. If the plastic resin should shrink during its stiffening, the force caused by shrinkage would be blocked by the rigid balls. Therefore, less force would reach the fiber.
Fig. 5 shows another modified embodiment of this invention. A mold 40 for the modified plug has such a cross section of an equilateral triangle that a triple-ball set of balls 41a, 41b and 41c is inscribed therein. Each ball is in tangential contact with two sides of said equilateral triangle, so that it will be exposed at two points on its spherical sur-face when the resin shrinks. A reference numeral 43 designates the optical fiber which is in tangential contact with each of said balls in the interstice formed therebetween.
In the structure above, the number of points exposed due to resin shrinkage is increased twice comparing with the plug having the circumcircle surface, thus the fiber location against the connector becoming more accurate.
Fig. 6 shows another modified plug structure embody-ing the present invention. In the ~figure, the plug 45 com-., :

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, prises rigid balls 46a, 46b and 46c having a same diameter and being in tangential contact with the plug end 45a as well as with the plug outer surface 45b; a cylindrical spacer 47, of which the bottom is in tangential contact with each of said three balls 46a, 46b and 46c while the upper face thereof is in tangential contact with each of another three balls 48a, 48b and 48c; the optical fiber 50 running through one inter-stice formed by the triple-ball set 48a, 48b and 48c, the hollow portion of said spacer 47 and the other interstice formed by the other triple-ball set 46a, 46b and 46c to arrive at the end face 45a; and the plastic member 49 which is molded to define the plug contour containing in lump said triple ball sets, spacer and the optical fiber. With this structure, the fiber is made parallel with the outer surface of the plug the same as shown in Fig. 2. Further, the fiber is accurately located at the top and bottom portion of the plug, thus a lengthy plug being obtainable without spoiling the accurate fiber location.
Fig. 7 shows another embodiment of this invention, in which a group of optical fibers is handled as single optical fiber. Said group of the fibers is formed by binding a plurality of fibers closely so as to make its cross section axially symmetric. In the figure, reference numeral 54 designates a group of fibers while 55a, 55b and 55c designate identical rigid bails selected in view of the diameter of said fibers 54. In this example, seven fibers are bound together.

556~2 The bound fiber will have an almost complete symmetric cross section because unit fiber diameter is manufactured with a high accuracy. Therefore, when the group of fiber is inserted into the interstice formed by said 3 rigid balls, the center of said group of fibers accurately coincides with the common center of the triple-ball set. In this case, the outer sur-face of said group of fibers comes in tangential contact with said balls. When two plugs having the structure as mentioned above are inserted into the connector as shown in Fig. 1, each of said group fibers in one plug must correctly meet each of the counter group fibers in the other plug. Therefore, plug insertion to the connector has to receive limitation with respect to its angular position about its axis. The embodi-ment as shown in Figs. 8A and 8B is provided with a limiter which restricts the plug angular position against the connec-tor. In the figures, a reference numeral 60 designates a cylindrical plug, 61a, 61b and 61c identical rigid balls molded in said plug body, and 62 optical fiber group inserted into the interstice formed by said three balls. The upwardly extended portion of the fibers is usually covered by the jacket (not shown). A reference numeral 64 designates a molded plastic member. Its outer side surface constitutes a circumscribed surface to said three balls and also its end face constitutes a tangential surface to them. A reference numeral 65 denotes a key way which is formed by partially breaking away a side portion of said plastic member 64 in-. ~

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cluding a part of its end portion. The structure as described above is attained by using a mold 67 as shown in Fig. 8B. The mold 67 has a core inwardly projected in the radial direction.
Two balls 61c and 61a are kept in tangential contact with said projected core. After the arrangement above, a melting plastic material is poured into the mold, thereby attaining the plug structure with a key way. With this structure, the key way comes to take always a constant position with respect to the cross sectional pattern of the fiber group. The connector sleeve for receiving the above plug with the key way 65 is provided with a guide pin corresponding to said key way. Two plugs, therefore, are mated in the sleeve keeping their accurate and constant angular position to the sleeve, thereby sectional fiber patterns of both plugs precisely coinciding with.
Figs. 9A and 9B show another multifiber plug accord-ing to the invention. In the figure, a refeLence numeral 73 designates a plastic member which is molded by using a mold 80 ` to form a plug 70. The plastic member contains seven balls : 20 71a through 71g and five optical fibers 72a through 72e, which are molded in lump therein. In the mold, said balls are arranged to come into tangential contact with each neighbour, ; and also with the end face 70a as well as with the side face of said plastic member 70. Each of fibers 72a through 72e is inserted into each tricuspid interstice formed by adjacent ':
three balls in tangential contact. In this example, rigid ~ , .

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-`` 1155692 balls having an identical diameter are arranged in single layer in parallel with said end face 70a. However, balls may be stacked to form a multilayer arrangement. In this case, after completion of arranging the first ball layer and fibers, preliminary resin pouring is performed to the extent that balls are immersed into the resin a little over their half height. When the resin stiffens, the balls and fibers are fixed precisely at aimed places. Then, necessary balls are added into the mold to form a multilayer ball arrangement by using the fibers fixed at their one end as guide rails for shooting additional balls. Further, instead of the multilayer ball arrangement, the plug structure utilizing the spacer, as shown in Fig. 6, may be adopted when multifiber location has to be attained over the long span of the plug.
In the embodiment as mentioned above, there is no need to provide the key way as shown in Fig. 8 because the - effective plug dimension with a rectangular cross section is precisely determined by the total dimension of precision ball assembly.
Fig. 10 shows still another embodiment of the inven-tion, in which rigid rods are utilized instead of rigid balls.
In the figurer a plug 75 comprises three cylinder rods 76a, 76b and 76c, an optical fiber 77 running through the tricuspid interstice formed by said rods and a plastic member 78 molded to contain in lump said rods, fiber and a base portion 75b.
` Said plastic member 78 generally defines the contour of the ~,.' ' .
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1 155~92 plug body. In the plug, said rods are in tangential contact with each other and also with said fiber running through said interstice. Further, each of said rods makes a tangential contact again the outer surface of the plug. These tangential contact lines becomes slightly exposed when the resin poured shrinks during its stiffening, thus the effective diameter of the plug being free from resin shrinkage. Rods may be made of steel, high quality glass, industrial ruby or sapphire etc.
Rods are precise right cylinders. Therefore, when a plurality of rods having an identical length are bound together, the resultant structure comes to have an end face entirely per-pendicular to its side surface, thus attaining excellent fiber location as well as abutment between two plugs as constructed ;: above. Advantage of using rods is that the number of parts can be decreased in comparison with rigid balls arrangement without spoiling precise fiber location.
The method of manufacturing the plug utilizing rods with an identical dimension will now be described by referring to Figs. llA and llB. In the figures, however, the base por-tion of the plug means is not shown for simplifying the ex-. planation.
First, identical cylindrical rods 81a, 81b and 81c :., are placed in the cylindrical cavity 80a of a mold 80. In this state, three rods are kept in tangential contact with one another, and each rod is also kept in tangential contact with ; the inner wall of said mold cavity or kept very closely. Of ',' .
, -` 115~92 course, rods used in this process are to be right cylinders, - each of them having a precisely processed end perpendicular to its axis. Then, an optical fiber is inserted into the tricuspid interstice formed among the rods until it reaches the bottom of said mold cavity. The inserted fiber is kept correctly vertical within the interstice against the cavity bottom. Then, a melting plastic resin is poured into the mold by keeping said cavity bottom entirely horizontal. When the plastic resin stiffens, the rods and fiber are fixed together in lump and then, the molded plug is removed from the mold 80. The resultant is a plug 85 as shown in Fig. llB. In this figure, as mentioned above, the base portion 75b is not shown.
The plug body 85 has a surface 85a of which a cross section is about a circumscribed circle and tangential contact portions ; 15between said surface 85a and rods 81aa, 81bb and 81cc comes to be exposed a little on said surface 85a. The end face 85b of the plug 85 may be finished by polishing or buffing, if neces-; sary, in order to obtain a flat face perpendicular to the plug axis. As explained before, the plastic molded portion is not always stable on its dimensional accuracy. However, a total diameter of the structure using rigid rods made of hard materials like steel, glass etc. is kept entirely stable, because the effective outer surface of the plug has a very stable diameter including tangential contact lines between rods and said surface 85a. Therefore, the fiber axis and the effective plug center axis can be coincided with each other ~' `-` 11S5692 regardless of plastic resin shrinkage. Accordingly, when two plugs as constructed above are mated with in the connector as shown in Fig. 1, their axes are precisely aligned each other with the help of tangential lines 81aa, 81bb and 81cc. In other words, the contact between the connector sleeve and the plug is made only through said 3 tangential lines, which are on rigid rods of hard materials, for instance steel or glass.
Therefore, the plug can stand repetition of mating with and detaching from the connector without inviting decrease of alignment accuracy and spoiling stable connection. Further, use of 3 rigid rods improves the mechanical strength of the plug to a great extent, thus the connector being more minia-turized than the prior art.
Figs. 12 and 13 show another embodiments of the invention, in which the cross section of the plug is formed in an equilateral triangle shape or a rectangle shape. In these `~ embodiments, rods are used. However, they are generally cor-responding to the embodiments as shown in Figs. 5 and 9A, in which rigid balls are used, so that detailed explanation is ; 20 refrained from. In the figures, except reference numerals 86a, 86b, 86c, 87a, through 879 for rigid rods, like portions ; shown in Figs. 5 and 9A are bearing like reference numerals.
Figs. 14A and 14B show still another embodiment of this invention, in which a group of optical fibers is handled as a single optical fiber. The group of the fibers is formed by binding a plurality of fibers together so as to make its :. :

1 1~56~2 cross section axially symmetric. In these figures, a refer-ence numeral 90 designates a cylindrical plug, 91 a group of optical fibers, and 92a, 92b and 92c three adjoining cylindrical rigid rods having an identical dimension. In this embodiment, three optical fibers are used to form a group of the fibers.
Each fiber has a very high accurate diameter. Therefore, when a plurality of such fibers are bound together, its cross section comes to be of almost complete and axial symmetry. According-ly, when such a group of fibers is inserted into the tricuspid interstice formed among said three rods, it is possible to attain excellent coincidence between the axis of the fiber group 91 and the common axis of said triple-rod set. However, when two plugs as constructed abov~e are inserted into the ; connector as shown in Fig. l, their angular position around their axis has to be restricted to achieve precise plug align-ment in the connector. A reference numeral 94 designates a ` key way which is formed by breaking away a part of the plug ` side surface including a part of the end face 90a. The struc-ture as described above is attained by using a mold 95 as shown in Fig. 14B. The mold 95 is provided with a core 96 which is projected from the side surface of the mold with a predetermined height and is wedged into the bottom of the mold with a predetermined depth. Three rods are arranged in the ` mold such that two of them (92a, 92b) come into tangential contact with said core at its sides respectively. Then, the gro~p of the fibers 91 is inserted into the tricuspid inter-, - il55692 .

stice formed at the center portion of the triple-rod set until it arrives at the bottom of the mold. After the rods and fibers are arranged in the mold, a melting plastic resin such as epoxy is poured thereinto. When the resin hardens, there is provided the plug having a key way at a predetermined position as shown in Fig. 14A. When a connector sleeve is provided with a guide pin corresponding to said key way, the plug angular position against the sleeve is precisely deter-mined, thus fine plug alignment in the sleeve being obtained.
Fig. 15 shows rods and fibers arrangement in the mold for providing another embodiment of the present inven-tion. First, there are provided seven rigid rods lOOa through ,.
i lOOg which have an identical dimension. The rod lOOa is located at the center of the mold 102. Another six rods lOOb ; 15 through 1009 are arranged around said center rod lOOa such ~5 that each of rods lOOb through lOOg are in tangential contact with the center rod lOOa and also with rods at its both sides.
Six fibers lOla through lOlf are inserted into six interstices respectively, which are formed at each center portion of the triple-rod set consisting of said center rod lOOa and two adjacent rods. The fibers are extended to reach the bottom of the mold. In this arrangement, two rods, for example lOOg and lOOb, are brought into tangential contact with a core 104 for a key way. Finally, a melting plastic 103 is poured into the mold.
In the embodiments shown hereinbefore, only rigid - 1~5~92 balls or rods are used as rigid members in each embodiment.
However, when the rods are closely arranged as shown thus far, it is not so easy to insert very thin optical fibers into interstices formed therebetween because of the friction bet-ween the rod surface and the fiber. The longer the rod length is, the harder the fiber insertion becomes. Further, in case of arrangement by rod only, incomplete plastic molding happens in the interstice where the fiber is located. On one hand, the ball arrangement allows the melting plastic resin to extend into the interstices between balls, thus difficulty in the rod arrangement being considerably obviated. However, the struc-ture b~y ball only is provided with less strength in its axial direction and its dimension is not always kept unchanged for a long time.
In the following paragraphs, there will be discussed the embodiments wherein combination of rigid precision rods and balls is utilized.
Fig. 16 shows still another embodiment of this in-vention, in which combination of rigid rods llla and lllb, and rigid balls 112a through 112e is used. In this case, the end face 110a of the plug 110 includes the ends of the rods llla and lllb and the half of rigid ball 112a. These rods and balls are in tangential contact with one another, and the tricuspid interstice formed by them allows the fiber to run therethrough. The fiber is also in tangential contact with rods and balls. The general shape of the plug body is defined = 1155692 by the plastic member 114 molded to contain fiber, balls and rods in lump. The outer surface of said plastic member is in tangential contact with said rods llla, lllb, and balls 112a through 112e.
Figs. 17A and 17s show the procedure for manufactur-ing the embodiment as shown in Fig. 16. First, two rigid rods ` 116a, 116b and five rigid balls 117a through 117e are placed ` in a mold 115. Then, an optical fiber 118 is inserted into the interstice which are formed by said two rods and five balls. The fiber insertion is continued until the fiber top .~
reaches the bottom of the mold. After arrangement of the fiber, rods, and balls, a melting plastic resin such as epoxy resin is poured into the mold. When the plastic resin stiff-ens, the molded plug is taken out of the mold and its end is finished until the ball 117a becomes about half. Fig. 17B
shows the plug after it has received such an end finish work.
Tangential contact lines or points between rods or balls and the plug outer surface are shown reference numerals 116aa, 116bb, 117aa, 117bb, 117cc, 117dd and 117ee.
In the embodiment above, five balls are used but the number of the ball is not to be limited to this example. For example, a single ball can be effective. In this case, the optical fiber is initially proceeded along the valley formed by two rods and then inserted into the interstice formed by two rods and one ball.
Fig. 18 is a cross sectional view of further modi-fied plug according to the invention. In this embodiment, the plug 120 comprises a rigid rod 121, two rigid balls 122a and 122b, an optical fiber 123 which is inserted into the tricuspid interstice formed by said rod and balls and is in tangential ; 5 contact with each of rod and balls, and a plastic member 124 molded to determine the contour of the plug. A part of each ball above and also a part of the rod are tangentially exposed on said outer surface of the plastic member 124.
Fig. 19 shows another modified embodiment of this invention. Combination of rigid balls and rods is same as that shown in Fig. 16 or Fig. 18, and only the cross section of the plug is changed to form a triangle. In the figure, a reference numeral 126 designates a rigid rod, 127 a rigid r, ball, 128 a rigid rod or ball, 129 a plastic member, and 130 an optical fiber.
. Fig. 20 shows still another embodiment with multi-fiber arrangement of this invention. For forming the struc-ture of this embodiment, first, 11 rigid rods and balls (132a through 132k) are arranged in the rectangular space of a mold 131. Then, 10 optical fibers 133a through 133j are located in 10 interstices formed by said rods and balls. Using only balls makes it so hard to attain this arrangement while use of only rods makes it difficult to insert fibers into interstices.
Accordingly, the multifiber arrangement as shown in Fig. 20 is readily obtained with mechanical strength only when rod and ball combination is utilized. The outer dimension of the resultant `` 1 155~92 mold is accurately determined by the entire dimension of stacked precision rods and balls, so that two plugs are completely aligned. A reference numeral 134 designates a plastic member which defines the contour of a plug 135. Rods and balls in tangential contact with the outer surface of said plastic member are tangentially exposed thereon. In this embodiment, the location of rods or balls is a matter of selection.
Fig. 21 shows another embodiment of the present ; invention. For achieving the structure of this embodiment, there is placed in a mold 140 rigid balls and rods (139a through 139g) as well as optical fibers 141a through 141f.
.....
Rod and ball location is also a matter of selection the same as in the embodiment of Fig. 20. A plastic member 142 deter-mines the outer surface of a plug 138. Rods and/or balls are tangentially exposed on said outer surface of the plastic - member the same as in the embodiments thus far.
Fig. 22 shows another embodiment of this invention, in which a group of fibers is handled a single optical fiber.
For attaining the structure as shown in this figure, first, rods and balls (147a through 147c) are arranged in the cylin-drical space of a mold 148, and a group of fibers 146 are inserted into the tricuspid interstice which are formed by rods and balls in tangential contact with one another. In this time, the outer face of said group of fibers comes to be also in tangential contact with said balls and rods. Then, a melting plastic resin is poured to contain said fibers, rods, i~3546~2 and balls in lump. The optical fiber used here has an accurate diameter, so that when they are bounded, their cross section becomes of almost complete and axial symmetry. Thus, the multifiber plug is attained with accurate fiber location.
When it is needed that plug as shown in Figs. 16 through 19 have to be restricted on their angular position about its axis, there is provided a key way 150 as shown in Fig. 23, which is formed by breaking away a part of the side portion of the plug including a port of its end. The method of forming such will be understood from the description previously made in connection with embodiments as shown in Figs. 8A and 8B as well as in Figs. 14A and 14B.
Figs. 24 through 30 shows further modified embodi-ments of the present invention, which can provide accurate alignment against the connector and is provided with means for limiting their axial angular position.
Fig. 24 shows the embodiment with a single optical fiber, which is obtained by slight modification of the plug shown in Fig. 16. In order to produce the plug 160, first, rods 161a, 161b and balls 162a through 162i, all of which have an identical diameter, are arranged in the cylindrical space of the mold (not shown). Then, an optical fiber 163 is in-serted into the interstice formed between said rods and balls.
The fiber, rods and balls are in tangential contact with one another. After the arrangement above, a melting plastic is poured into said mold (not shown) to fix entirety of the arrangement. When the plastic resin hardens, the molded structure is removed from the mold and receives a predeter-mined process for finish. In this process, first, the end of the plug is polished until the rigid ball 162a becomes a half ball. The resultant structure becomes the same as obtained in Fig. 16. Second step is to remove the plastic resin only bridging across two rods 161a and 161b. The portion created by this step provides a key way 167 for limiting the plug angular position around its axis. Fig. 24A is a cross sec-tional view of the plug as shown in Fig. 24, from which theshape of the key way 167 will be more clearly understood.
According to the structure above, the outer surface of the plug 160 is in tangential contact with said rods (161a, 161b) as well as with balls (162a through 162i), so that the plug position in the connector sleeve is accurately determined by two rods and balls and at the same time the relative position between the fiber and key is also accurately determined. Fur-ther, the coincidence between the plug center and the fiber's is achieved with high accuracy. Such an excellent optical fiber locat on and alignment mechanism is owing to the accurate process and stable nature of the basic materials such as rigid ! balls and rods which are made of steel, high quality hard glass, industrial ruby, sapphire, etc. For instance, the materials for use in manufacturing commercial bearings are processed with an error of less than 1 ~m, so that the structure is obtained with accurate dimension when such precision basic materials are ; closely arranged. The plastic member 165 is used for just fixing rod an~ ball arrangement together, so that dimensional requirement for it is not so severe. Generally, the plastic ; material shrinks when it hardens. Consequently, the outer surface of the plastic allows rods and balls to become par-tially exposed. Thus, the effective outer diameter of the plug comes to be determined by the arrangement of precision rods and balls. This is same for the structure using only balls or only rods, but in the present embodiment, combination of balls and rods is used to improve the strength of the re-- sultant structure and also to make the plastic resin adequately go throughout the structure.
Fig. 25 shows still another embodiment of this in-vention. A plug 170 comprises six rods 171a through 171f in a hexagonal~packed arrangement, a ball line 17Z in tangential contact with each of said rods, six optical fibers which are inserted into 6 interstices formed by said 6 rods and one ball line, a plastic member 175, and two key ways 174a and 174b formed at opposite sides by removing the plastic members bet-ween rods 171a and 171f and between rods 171c and 171d. Rods and balls, as mentioned hereinbefore, are processed with an error of less than 1 um, so that the relative position of six fibers, especially to key ways 174a and 174b, is determined with high accuracy. Further, rod and ball arrangement is firmly and stably maintained with the plastic member 175.
Fig. 26 shows a resilient connector sleeve 177 to .
.

:.
receive the plug body as shown in Fig. 25. Said sleeve 177 having a circular or other shaped cross section is provided with two guide pins 178a and 178b which are used for coupling with said key ways 174a and 174b. Fig. 27 shows the coupling state between said plug 170 (170l) and said sleeve 177. Fig.
28 shows the cross section of the coupling state as shown in Fig. 27.
According to the coupling as mentioned above, plugs 170, 170' are accurately aligned and at the same time, their axial angular positions are strictly set each other, so that six optical fibers contained in each plug are aligned with accuracy when coupled. In this case, the sleeve for receiving the plug may be formed in a rigid body having precise dimension.
However, it may be possible to use such a sleeve that is made of a resilient material with lower accuracy. In other words, it is possible to use such a sleeve that it elastically deforms itself in response to the insertion of the plug and holds the inserted plug by the spring action caused by its deformation. Such a sleeve is generally manufactured with an easy process at a low cost, and also it allows the plug to enter into itself with less resistance. For this purpose, the sleeve 177 as shown in Fig. 28 may be made of a resilient thin metal. When the plug is inserted into the sleeve 177, the circle of the sleeve - cross section is expanded by the force pushing guide pins 178a and 178b in the up and down direction. As a result, the sleeve comes to have a elliptic cross section, of which the vertical ~` :

:, ---` l 155692 :
.';
axis is a little longer than the horizontal. When the sleeve is i deformed, a restoration force is created between said guide pins and that force grasps the inserted plugs firmly.
Another sleeve is shown in Fig. 29. A sleeve 180 is a slitted sleeve and is provided with guide pins or rods 181a and 181b at its inside surface. Spring action of the slitted sleeve can bring the same effect as the sleeve as shown in Fig. 28. Further, as shown in Fig. 29, it may be possible to insert spacers 182a and 182b into the space between the plug and the slitted sleeve.
, Fig. 30 shows another embodiment modified from the embodiment as shown in Fig. 25. Both embodiments are entirely same except rigid members used therein. In other words, the rods 171b and 171e in Fig. 25 are replaced by rigid balls 185a 15and 185b in Fig. 28.
Fig. 31 shows still another embodiment of this in-vention, in which ten optical fibers are located. A plug 190 comprises cylindrical rigid rods and balls (19la through l91k) which have an identical diameter and are stacked in three layers in 4-3-4 formation so as to form a rectangulr cross section; ten optical fibers 192a through 192j of which each is inserted into the interst;ces formed by every triangle triple set of rigid members; a plastic member 193 molded to contain in lump said optical fibers, rigid rods and balls. Said rods and balls in said every triangle triple set are in tangential contact with one another as well as with the optical fiber :'.

,~ .
.: ' ' ~ :

' running through the tricuspid interstice formed at the center of the set. The outer surface of said plug 190 allows the rigid rods and/or balls l91a through l91d, l91e, l91g and l91h through l91k to be exposed tangentially on it. The key ways 194a and 194b are respectively formed at a space facing to rigid members l91a, l91e and l91h and also at another space facing to rigid members l91d, l91g and l91k. These key ways mate with guide pins 197a and 197b which are provided on the ~` inside face of a rectangular sleeve 196 in the connector.
With coupling by means of these key ways and pins, right connection is achieved between the plug and the sleeve, thus resulting in accurate multifiber plug alignment.
Fig. 32 shows still modified embodiment of the pre-sent invention. In this embodiment, instead of key ways, there are provided projecting keys, which are formed by making use of two rigid rods arranged for plug formation. Namely, the plug 200 is obtained by removing the plastic resins bet-ween the rods 171a and 171b and also between the rods 171d and 171e ( in Fig. 25). With the removal of the plastic resin above the rods 171a and 171d are projected as guide projections.
The sleeve for receiving such a plug as constructed above is provided on its inside surface with opposing two pairs of means for accepting said projections. The sleeve 201 itself in this structure, of course, has to be so resilient as to deform itself `~ 25 in response to plug insertion and pay back its reaction to the plug inserted.

~ . .
:., '' ' ' ' .

, .

``" 11556~2 In connectors with plugs and sleeves as shown in Figs.
24 through 32, the plug angular position to the counter plug is determined in one way, so that optical fiber alignment is easily and accurately achieved not only in single fiber plugs but also in multifiber plugs. Further, mating and detaching plugs are extremely easy, and repetition of them causes no degeneration of fiber connection quality. These have been confirmed by experiments on connectors trially manufactured.
Fig. 33 shows the end structure of the plug which is applicable to all the embodiments having been described here-inbefore. A plug 210 comprises an optical fiber 211, three comparatively short rods 212a, 212b and 212c (only 212a, 212b shown) which are arranged around said fiber to be in tangential contact with it, and a plastic member 213 molded to contain said fiber and rods in lump and to define the outer surface 210a of the plug. Said three rods are in tangential contact with said surface 210a, and are tangentially exposed on it. The end of - the plug is finished by using a known polishing process. As a result of this polishing process, the end 211a of the fiber 211 is more deeply polished than the end of rods 212a, 212b and 212c ; by a few microns. The end surface (213a, 213b) of the plastic member is further polished than said fiber end. Consequently, the end of the plug is led by the hardest member, the rigid rods 211a, 211b and 211c, so that the fragile fiber face come to oppose to each other at a distance of several microns when two plugs are mated with each other, thus preventing fiber faces ,"`

,:

from being broken. In this case, the distance of several microns between fibers makes nothing against fiber connection quality.
In the embodiment as shown in Fig. 33, rigid rods are used as rigid members, but it is apparent that they are replaced by rigid balls or combination of rods and balls. In this case, it is of course needed to polish the plug end to the extent tbat about a half sphere is remained.
As will be apparent from the description above, in order to obtain the end structure as shown in Fig. 33, the material of the rigid member is harder than at least the material for the optical fiber. Thus, the rigid member is to be prepared in this case by using such a material, for instance, industrial ruby, sapphire, or the like.
In the foregoing discussion, explanation has been made on the case that rods and balls have an identical diameter, but it should be noted that it is not the essential matter of the invention that rigid members have an identical diameter. Namely rigid members having different diameters will be used with the same effect if plugs to be mated have symmetric arrangement of rigid members in the opposing cross sections.
.'"',.

i ,, . ' :, :

Claims (38)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; at least three rigid members with a circular cross section arranged to surround said optical fiber and each being in tangential contact with said optical fiber and two other rigid members; and a plastic member formed by molding said fiber and said rigid members into a unitary plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled, the outer surface of said plastic member allowing said rigid members to be exposed peripherally at least at three portions thereon.

2. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said rigid members are rigid balls.

3. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said rigid members are rigid rods.

4. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said rigid members are combination of rigid balls and rods.

5. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a part of said rigid member is exposed at the end face of said plastic member having the fiber end.

6. The mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the exposed part of said rigid member is polished.

7. The mechanism according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said rigid member is made of the material that is selected from steel, glass, industrial ruby and sapphire.

8. The mechanism according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said plastic member is made of epoxy resin.

9. The mechanism according to claim 1, an end portion of said plastic member having a key way in the form of a groove for restricting rotation about the mechanism axis, the shape of said key way being defined by the exposed rigid members.

10. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said plastic member is provided at its end portion with a key way prepared in the form of a projection, the shape of said key way being defined by the exposed rigid members.

11. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said plastic member has a circular cross section.

12. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said plastic member has a triangular cross section.

13. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said plastic member has a rectangular cross section.

14. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said optical fiber is a group of optical fibers, of which external surface is in tangential contact with said rigid members.

15. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; a plurality of rigid balls surrounding said optical fiber to be in tangential contact with it; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to contain said fiber and balls as a unitary assembly, said balls being in tangential contact with one another as well as with the outer surface of said plastic member, a part of each ball being exposed tangen-tially on said surface, said balls being divided into a plurality of triangular triple-ball sets, which are stacked in parallel with a plane perpendicular to the axis of said fiber in such a manner that one triple-ball set is angularly displaced by 60° relative to two other sets on either side thereof, and said fiber running through the tricuspid inter-stice formed at the inside of said stacked triple-ball sets.

16. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; at least two triangular triple ball sets; a ring spacer; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to contain said fiber, triple-ball sets and spacer as a unitary assembly; balls in each of said triple-ball set being in tangential contact with one another and with the outer surface of said plastic member, a part of each ball being exposed peripherally on said surface, said fiber running through the interstice formed at the inside of said triple-ball sets and being in tangential contact with the balls of each set, said ring spacer being axially arranged to intervene between said two triple-ball sets.

17. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising a plurality of optical fibers, a plurality of rigid members of circular cross section surrounding each of said fibers, and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to contain said fibers and rigid members as a unitary assembly, said rigid members being arranged in a plurality of layers and being in tangential contact with neighbour members, each of said fibers running through the interstice formed by adjoining three rigid members and being in tangential contact therewith, and each rigid member belonging to the peripheral side layers of the rigid members being in tangential contact with the outer surface of said plastic member.

18. The mechanism according to claim 17, wherein said rigid member is selected from rigid balls and rods.

19. The mechanism according to claim 17, wherein said plastic mold has a rectangular cross section.

20. The mechanism according to claim 19, wherein the number of layers is two and each of the rigid members is in tangential contact with the outer surface of the plastic member.

21. The mechanism according to claim 19, wherein the number of layers is three and only part of said rigid members is in tangential contact with the outer surface of the plastic member.

22. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising a plurality of optical fibers; a plurality of rigid members of circular cross section surrounding each of said plural fibers;
and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to contain said optical fibers and rigid members as a unitary assembly, said rigid members being arranged such that one of the members is positioned at center and the remaining members are annularly positioned around said center member, said center member being in tangential contact with all of said surrounding members, each of which is also in tangential contact with members on its both sides, each of said fibers being surrounded by said center member and adjoining two of said annularly arranged members and being in tangential contact with each, and each of said annularly arranged members being in tangential contact with the outer surface of said plastic member.

23. The mechanism according to claim 22, wherein said rigid member is selected from rigid rods and balls.

24. The mechanism according to claim 22, wherein said mechanism is provided with a key way for limiting axial rotation of the mechanism, said key way being formed by exposed rigid members.

25. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; a plurality of rigid members surrounding and being in tangential contact with said optical fiber; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to contain said fiber and rigid members as a unitary assembly, said rigid members consisting of two rigid rods in tangential contact and adjoining rigid balls which are disposed to be in tangential contact with both of rigid rods, and said rigid rods and balls being exposed on the outer surface of said plastic member.

26. The mechanism according to claim 25, wherein said mechanism is provided with a key way for limiting the axial rotation of the mechanism, said key way being formed by exposed rigid members.

27. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; rigid members surrounding and being in contact with said optical fiber; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to contain said fiber and rigid members as a unitary assembly, said rigid members consisting of a rigid rod and two rigid ball lines, each ball in said ball lines being in tangential contact with said rigid rods as well as with two balls on its both sides, said fiber running through the interstice formed in parallel with said rod by means of said two ball lines and rod, and said balls and rod being exposed out of the outer surface of said plastic member.

28. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising at least an optical fiber; a plurality of rigid members surrounding and being in tangential contact with said optical fiber; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to fix said fiber and rigid members together, said rigid members consisting of tangentially and parallely adjoining two rigid rods and balls each ball of which is lined along said two rods and is in tangential contact with said rods as well as with two balls on its both sides, said rods and balls being exposed at the outer surface of said plastic member, and the plastic portion across said two rods being removed to form a key way for limiting the axial rotation of the mechanism.

29. Optical fiber alignment mechanism comprising a plurality of optical fibers; a plurality of rigid members of circular cross section surrounding each of said plurality of fibers; and a plastic member formed in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to fix said optical fibers and rigid members together, said rigid members being arranged such that one of the members is positioned at center and the remaining members are annularly arranged around said center member, said center member being in tangential contact with all of said surrounding members, each of which is also in tangential contact with members on its both sides, each of said fibers being surrounded by said center rigid member and adjoining two of said annularly arranged members and being in tangential contact with each, each of said annularly arranged members being in tangential contact with the outer surface of said plastic members, and a plastic portion across adjoining two rods being removed to form a key way which is adapted to use in restricting the axial revolution of the mechanism.

30. A connector comprising:
two optical fiber plug means including a plug main body which comprises at least an optical fiber, at least three rigid members with a circular cross section are arranged to surround said optical fiber and each being in tangential contact with said optical fiber and two other rigid members, and a plastic member formed by molding in a plug like shape similar to a contour of a connector body to be coupled to contain said fiber and rigid members as a unitary assembly, the outer surface of said plastic member allowing said rigid members to be exposed at least at three portions thereon; and a receptacle which comprises a resilient sleeve for receiving said two plug means from its both sides, a housing for cont-aining said sleeve, and means for determining the position of said sleeve in said housing.

31. The connector according to claim 30, wherein said sleeve is provided with a slit formed in its axial direction.

32. The connector according to claim 30, wherein said optical fiber plug means comprises a base, a guide cylinder extending in one direction from said base, a molded plug constituted by said plug main body which extends from said base opposite to said guide portion, a spring for biasing said molded plug in the direction toward the connector, and a housing.

33. The connector according to claim 30, wherein said plug main body is provided with a key way for limiting its axial revolution while said sleeve is provided on its inner wall with a guide pin to mate with said key way.

34. The connector according to claim 33, wherein there is provided a spacer intervening between said plug main body except said guide pin portion and the inner wall of said sleeve.

35. The connector according to claim 33, wherein a key is constituted with a projection and said guide pin is formed to pinch said projection.

36. Optical fiber alignment mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the end face of said mechanism also allows said rigid member to be exposed therefrom, and the optical fiber end being located at the inside a little from said rigid member surface exposed at the end face.

37. The mechanism according to claim 4, wherein said rigid member is made of the material that is selected from steel, glass, industrial ruby and sapphire.

38. The mechanism according to claim 4, wherein said plastic member is made of epoxy resin.