JP2000329946A - Tool for optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the tool that facilitates visual observation for example at the tip end of a piece inserted into both sides of an optical connector inserted in the female side of the housing and that efficiently performs the inserting operation of the piece without damaging an optical fiber near the optical connector to be pulled out. SOLUTION: In this tool 20, a groove 29, which stores an optical connector between a pair of pieces 24 inserted into both sides of the optical connector inserted in the female side of the housing, is in vertical communication in the direction of both inserting pieces 24 projecting from the tool body 22. In addition, a groove 29a in the extension of the connector storing groove 29 is also notched in the tool body 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connector tool used for pulling out an optical connector from a female housing such as an optical connector adapter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a so-called MU type optical connector (Miniature-Unit coupe) defined in JIS C5983.
When multiple optical connectors (optical connector plugs) are connected at high density in a narrow area, such as an optical connector adapter of a plimg optical fiber connector, a special tool for pulling out the target optical connector is provided. I have. MU
The tool of the conventional configuration applied to the optical connector has a complicated configuration and is unsatisfactory in terms of cost and operability. Therefore, simplification of the configuration, cost reduction, and improvement in operability have been demanded. On the other hand, a tool applied to a so-called SC2 type optical connector (SC type optical connector: Single fiber Coupling optica)
l fiber connector), for example, as shown in FIG.
The one shown in (b) is provided. FIG. 4 (a)
, 1 is an optical connector tool, 2 is a grip,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a tool body, and 4 denotes a movable engagement piece. A pair of support parts 5 protrude from the tool main body 3, and further, insert pieces 6 protrude from the tips of these support parts 5, respectively. The engaging movable piece 4 is rotatably attached to a pivot 7 provided on both support portions 5. For example, when an operator manually operates the rear end portions 4a of the two engagement movable pieces 4 near the grip 2 to approach each other, the two engagement movable pieces 4 rotate around the pivot 7 to thereby When the distal end portion 4b located near the insertion piece 6 is opened and the hand is released, the biasing force of the spring 8 pushes and opens the rear end portion 4a between the two engaging movable pieces 4, and conversely, the distal end portion 4b approaches. The engagement movable piece distal end portion 4b abuts on the outside of the insertion piece 6, thereby restricting the movement in the direction approaching each other. Then, the claw 4c protruding from the distal end portion 4b of the engagement movable piece projects through the opening 6a opened in the insertion piece 6 and into the connector housing groove 9 between the both insertion pieces 6.

When the two insertion pieces 6 are inserted along both sides of a target optical connector 10 (here, an optical connector plug of an SC2 type optical connector), the projecting wall 6b at the tip of the insertion piece 6 forms , The optical connector 1 of the claw (not shown) of the female housing 12 (here, the optical connector adapter)
The engagement with 0 is released. After the optical connector 10 is accommodated in the connector accommodating groove 9, the claw 4 c is projected from the opening 6 a into the connector accommodating groove 9 by the rotation of the engagement movable piece 4. (Not shown, engaging recesses and the like) to engage. In this state,
When the optical connector tool 1 is pulled, the female housing 12
Can be pulled out.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned optical connector tool 1, the two insertion pieces 6 are used to connect the optical connector 1 to the target.
At the time of insertion into both sides of the optical connector 10, a connecting plate 15 (see FIG. 4B) connecting the two insertion pieces 6 is attached to a boot 13 at the rear end of the optical connector 10. The rear end of the optical connector 10 and the boot 13 are housed in the groove-shaped connector housing groove 9 surrounded by the insertion pieces 6. However, in such a configuration, since one side of the connector housing groove 9 is closed by the connecting plate 15, the tip of the insertion piece 6 becomes difficult to see, and it is difficult to position the connector piece 6 with respect to the target optical connector 10. I was dissatisfied. When the female housing 12 is mounted at a high density, the optical fiber 14 (mainly an optical cord) drawn from the rear end of the boot 13 of each optical connector 10 inserted into the female housing 12 is located near the female housing 12. It is necessary to perform the work of inserting the insertion piece 6 while pushing the optical fibers 14 apart, and the position of the target optical connector 10 becomes difficult to see, so that the insertion work is mistakenly excluded from the object to be pulled out. The optical connector 10 may be pulled out. At the time of inserting the insertion piece 6 into the optical connector 10, there is a possibility that the optical fiber 14 near the target optical connector 10 to be pulled out enters the connector housing groove 9.
Here, when the insertion operation of the tool 1 is continued, the optical fiber 14 that has entered the connector housing groove 9 is sandwiched between the optical connector 10 to be pulled out and the connecting plate 15 so that the optical fiber has optical characteristics. Problems such as giving a sharp bend that may affect them will occur. Further, the optical fiber 14 pulled out from the rear end of the target optical connector 10 to be pulled out is pulled out from the connector housing groove 9 to the open side (the side without the connecting plate 15). An appropriate drawing direction of the optical fiber 14 may be determined depending on the position of the device or the fixing clip. This optical fiber 14 is connected to a connecting plate 15
If the optical fiber 14 is forcibly pressed, the optical fiber 14 may be damaged due to sudden bending or the like. For this reason, in order to apply the tool 1 to an optical connector, such as an MU optical connector, which has a higher density than an SC2 optical connector, it is necessary to overcome the above problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and facilitates visual observation of the insertion tips of insertion pieces into both sides of an optical connector inserted into a female housing,
In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical connector tool that can efficiently insert a plug piece without damaging an optical fiber near an optical connector to be pulled out.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an optical connector tool used for pulling out an optical connector from a female housing such as an optical connector adapter. A pair of insertion pieces inserted on both sides of the optical connector inserted into the housing, and a pair of optical connector side parts disposed along each insertion piece and housed in the connector housing groove between the two insertion pieces. A pair of engaging movable pieces each having a claw that can be engaged with the mating portion and protruding from a distal end portion, and the connector housing groove communicates perpendicularly to a projecting direction of the both insertion pieces from the tool body. An optical connector tool characterized in that a notch groove extending from the connector housing groove is cut into the tool body. When inserting the insertion pieces on both sides of the optical connector, the optical connector is stored in the connector storage groove between the insertion pieces. Then, by driving the pair of engagement movable pieces, the claws projecting from the engagement movable pieces are engaged with the engagement portions of the optical connector side portion, and the tool is pulled, so that the light from the female side housing is released. Pull out the connector. 2. Description of the Related Art In an optical connector in which the front end of an optical fiber can be connected to a connector, the optical fiber is drawn out from the rear end. When the tool of the present invention is inserted toward the female side housing, an optical fiber pulled out from the rear end of the optical connector to be pulled out and an optical fiber pulled out from the rear end of the optical connector not to be pulled out are inserted. Even if the optical fiber enters the space between the optical fibers, these optical fibers are accommodated in the connector accommodating groove or the cut groove, so that there is no fear that the optical fiber is damaged due to sudden bending or the like.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of an optical connector tool according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is an overall perspective view showing the optical connector tool 20, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a conceptual view (plan view) showing the operation of the optical connector tool 20. 4 (a) and 4 (b).
The same components as those described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be simplified. The optical connector 10 is an optical connector plug of a MU type optical connector, and the female housing is an optical connector adapter.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an optical connector tool 20 includes a tool body 22 to which a grip 21 is fixed,
A pair of insertion pieces 24 provided further in a protruding state from the tips of the pair of support portions 23 protruding from the tool body 22 in the protruding direction, and are disposed along the respective insertion pieces 24, and the claw 25 is provided. And a pair of movable engagement pieces 26 protruding from the distal end portion 26a. Both engagement movable pieces 26 are in the shape of an elongated pin, and are pivoted by a pivot 27 as a movable support.
The central portion is rotatably supported, and the space between the tip portions 26a is freely openable and closable. Tip 2 of each engagement movable piece 26
6a is movable through the storage groove 28 formed in the insertion piece 24 into and out of the connector storage groove 29 between the two insertion pieces 24.

The connector housing groove 29 communicates between the insertion pieces 24 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the two insertion pieces 24 protrude from the tool body 22. The tool body 22 has a notch groove 29a formed by extending the connector housing groove 29.
Is cut. This cut groove 29a is
1 has been reached.

The movable supporting portion is not limited to the pivot 27, but may be any member capable of realizing a movable support for moving the tip end portions 26a of the pair of engaging movable pieces closer to or away from each other. The configuration in which the movable pieces are supported at a variable distance while maintaining the parallelism with each other, and the two movable pieces are supported so as to be slidable and slidable, so that the claw 2 can be inserted into the connector housing groove 29.
Various configurations, such as a configuration enabling the emergence of the five, can be adopted. As the storage groove formed in the insertion piece, a plate-shaped insertion piece 2
The storage groove 28 is not limited to the storage groove 28 opened at the center portion of the plug 4, and various configurations such as a storage groove in which a part of the insertion piece 24 in the surface direction is cut out from the outside can be adopted.

The operation of pulling out the optical connector 10 using the optical connector tool 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the insertion pieces 24 are inserted and inserted into both sides of the target optical connector 10 inserted into the female housing 12, and the optical connector 10 is housed in the connector housing groove 29. At this time, the tool 20 can be efficiently inserted in a state where the tool 20 is positioned with respect to the female housing 12 by the protruding piece 24a at the tip of the insertion piece 24 that has been inserted in advance on the female housing 12 side. As shown in FIG. 1, the projecting piece 24a is rotatably supported by the coupling pin 24b at the tip of the insertion piece 24, and is slightly rotated by being sandwiched from both sides by the pressing piece 24c at the tip of the insertion piece 24. And floating are allowed. Thus, even if the tip of the insertion piece 24 is not precisely positioned with respect to the engagement portion 11 (engagement recess) of the optical connector 10, the engagement portion 11 is inserted with the insertion piece 24.
The protruding piece 24a is inserted in the vicinity so as to be invited,
Insertion work becomes easy. Also, even if the protruding piece 24a comes into contact with the optical fiber 14 or the optical connector 10 during the insertion operation, a slight escape occurs in the protruding piece 24a, so that the pressing force for inserting the tool is reduced. Direct action on the optical connector 10 is avoided and these optical fibers 14
And the optical connector 10 is not damaged.

In the operation of inserting the tip of the insertion piece 24 into a predetermined position (engaging portion 11) on both sides of the optical connector 10, it is necessary to position the tip of the insertion piece 24 with respect to the optical connector 10. Then, the connector storage groove 29 and the cut groove 2
Since it is easy to visually observe the distal end of the insertion piece 24 through the 9a, positioning is easy and insertion workability can be improved. Further, even if the optical fiber 14 existing near the target optical connector 10 to be pulled out enters the connector housing groove 29 in the process of inserting the insertion piece 24, the optical fiber 14 is moved to the inner part of the connector housing groove 29, ,
By storing the optical fiber in the cut groove 29a (in FIG. 1, the optical fiber is denoted by reference numeral 14a for convenience of explanation), there is no fear that the optical fiber 14 will be sharply bent or the like which affects the optical characteristics. There is no. Connector storage groove 29 and cut groove 29a
The direction in which the optical fibers 14 and 14a are drawn out may be either above or below the tool 20 (see the phantom line in FIG. 1). The optical fibers 14 and 14a can be freely wired while being gently bent by passing through the connector housing groove 29 and the cut groove 29a, so that there is no fear of being damaged by sudden bending or the like. For example, even if the optical fiber 14 pulled out from the rear end of the target optical connector 10 to be pulled out has a bending habit, the rear end portion of the tool main body 22 (the insertion piece 2)
(4) The cut groove 29a cut into the vicinity (opposite side to the protruding direction) makes it possible to gently bend and pull out without sharp bending.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
At the time of insertion, the biasing force of the spring 30 pushes and opens the rear end portions 26b of both engagement movable pieces 26, and conversely, the front end portions 26a of both engagement movable pieces 26 It is preferable that it is housed in 28. Thereby, the thickness near the insertion piece 24 can be substantially reduced, and the optical connector 1 to be pulled out can be removed.
Contact with the components around 0, for example, the adjacent optical connector 10 or optical fiber 14, is avoided, and the operation of inserting the insertion piece 24 is performed efficiently. In addition, the engagement movable piece tip 26a
Is provided with a tip inclined surface 26c and can escape to the outside of the connector housing groove 29 by the action of the spring 30 as appropriate. Therefore, along the outer surface of the tapered boot 13 at the rear end of the optical connector 10, etc. It is easy to reach near the side.

However, the insertion pieces 2 on both sides of the optical connector 10
In order to prevent the claw 25 from being caught by the unevenness or the like on the side of the optical connector 10 in the insertion operation of 4, it is necessary to open the space between the engagement movable piece tip portions 26a. At this time, for example, when the operator manually operates the rear end portions 26b of the both engagement movable pieces 26 near the grip 21 to approach each other, the both engagement movable pieces 26 rotate around the pivot 27. Then, the space between the tip portions 26a is opened. Each engagement movable piece 26
If the amount of rotation is large, as shown by a virtual line in FIG.
It protrudes outward from the insertion piece 24. In addition, each engagement movable piece 2
6 is a tool body 22 at the rear end 26b by a stopper or the like.
Is set to the closest approach distance, and the engagement movable piece tip portion 26a is set.
Can be prevented from being unnecessarily wide open, thereby avoiding contact with the surrounding optical connector 10 or the like.

The claw 2 is engaged with the engaging portion 11 of the optical connector 10.
5 is positioned, the release restriction between the engagement movable piece rear ends 26b is released, so that the urging force of the spring 30 pushes and opens the engagement movable piece rear ends 26b, and conversely, the tip The portions 26a approach each other, and the claw 25 is engaged with the engaging portion 11 on the side of the optical connector 10 in the connector housing groove 29. Then, in this state, if the optical connector tool 20 is pulled, the optical connector 10 can be pulled out from the female housing 12.

According to the optical connector tool 20 according to the present invention, the vicinity of the tip of the insertion piece 24 is easily observed by the connector housing groove 29 and the cut groove 29a, and the insertion piece for the optical connector 10 to be pulled out is provided. 24 is easy to position. Also, by storing the optical fiber 14 that has entered between the insertion pieces 24 in the connector storage groove 29 or the cut groove 29a,
The insertion work of the insertion piece 24 can be performed efficiently without damaging the optical fiber 14. Therefore, with the optical connector tool 20, the workability of pulling out the optical connector 10 can be improved. When the insertion piece 24 is inserted into the target optical connector 10, the distal end portions 26 a of both the engagement movable pieces 26 are housed in the connector housing groove 29 or the housing groove 28, and components around the optical connector 10 are provided. For example, contact with the adjacent optical connector 10 or optical fiber 14 or the like is avoided, and the insertion operation can be performed efficiently. Thus, it is possible to avoid affecting the optical connector 10 and the optical fiber 14 in the live state. Since the tip of the optical connector tool 20 in the insertion direction is substantially narrowed, the insertion operation can be performed efficiently even in a narrow place.

Even when the space between the distal ends 26a of the engagement movable pieces is opened, the insertion piece 24 of the distal end 26a of the engagement movable piece 26a differs from the conventional example in which the engagement movable piece is not accommodated inside from the outer surface of the insertion piece.
The amount of outward protrusion is small. Therefore, the rotation space of the engagement movable piece 26 secured around the target optical connector 10 can be reduced. As a result, the female housing 1
No. 2 enables high-density mounting by narrowing the arrangement pitch L2. As the mounting density of the female housing 12 increases, the optical fibers 14 drawn from the optical connectors 10 inserted into the female housing 12 are also intensively wired near the female housing 12 at high density. But,
As described above, by observing the tip of the insertion piece 24 from the connector storage groove 29 or the cut groove 29a by visual observation or the like, and storing the optical fiber 14 in the connector storage groove 29 or the cut groove 29a, the insertion piece 24 is formed. Can be easily inserted into the side of the optical connector 10, and the workability of pulling out the optical connector 10 can be improved.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the configuration is not limited to the configuration in which the engagement movable piece is stored in the storage groove provided in the insertion groove, and from the outside of the insertion piece not provided with the storage groove, to the connector storage groove through the opening of the insertion piece. Optical connector tool (for example, the tool shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B) having a movable engagement piece for engaging the inserted claw with the engaging portion of the optical connector.
And so on. The engaging movable piece of the optical connector tool shown in the embodiment is not limited to the distal end portion, and the entirety thereof is housed in a storage groove of the insertion piece or a groove separately formed in the tool body. May be. In this case, insertion of a tool into a narrow place, avoidance of contact with surrounding optical components, and the like can be further facilitated. The engaging portion on the optical connector side is not limited to the engaging recess, but an engaging protrusion or the like can also be employed. The female housing is not limited to the optical connector adapter applied to the MU type optical connector, but may be an optical connector adapter of another configuration, for example, an optical connector adapter such as an SC type optical connector. Other than the connector adapter, an optical connector receptacle, a jack, a housing for holding an unused optical connector, or the like may be used.
In the case of an SC type optical connector or the like, the protruding piece 24a at the tip of the insertion piece 24 of the tool 20 shown in FIG. 1 is engaged with an engaging claw that is engaged with the optical connector (optical connector plug) from the optical connector adapter side. It can function as an engagement release piece for releasing the engagement. The optical connector is not limited to the optical connector plug of the MU type optical connector, and various optical connector plugs for single core and multiple cores can be adopted. In the above-described embodiment, a configuration in which the engagement movable piece is manually operated is exemplified. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a configuration in which the operation of the engagement movable piece is automatically performed by the driving device can be adopted. Further, a configuration in which positioning with respect to the target optical connector, operation of the engagement movable piece, and the like are automatically performed by a driving device controlled by the control device can be adopted. In this case, the optical connector can be automatically pulled out.

[0019]

As described above, according to the optical connector tool of the present invention, the connector housing groove and the connector housing groove which are vertically communicated between the insertion pieces at the tips in the direction in which both the insertion pieces protrude from the tool body. The cutting groove extending from the connector housing groove to the tool body makes it easy to observe the insertion tips of the insertion pieces into both sides of the optical connector inserted into the female housing, and furthermore, the light that has entered between the insertion pieces. Since the insertion operation of the insertion piece can be performed without damaging the optical fiber by storing the fiber in the connector storage groove or the cutout groove, an excellent operation of improving the pull-out operation of the optical connector from the female housing can be achieved. It works.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment of an optical connector tool according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the optical connector tool of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the operation of the optical connector tool of FIG. 1;

4A and 4B are diagrams showing a conventional optical connector tool, wherein FIG. 4A is a plan view, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of an insertion piece.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 optical connector (MU type optical connector plug), 11 ...
Engaging portion (engaging recess), 12 female side housing, 20 tool for optical connector, 22 tool body, 24 insertion piece, 25
... claw, 26 ... movable engagement piece, 26a ... tip, 29 ... connector storage groove, 29a ... cut groove.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Toshida 1440, Mukurosaki, Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture Inside Fujikura Sakura Plant Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yukio Hayashi 1440, Musaki, Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture Inside Fujikura Sakura Plant, Inc. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Furukawa 1440, Musaki, Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture Inside Fujikura Sakura Plant, Inc. (72) Inventor Yoshikazu Nomura 1440, Musaki, Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture Inside Fujikura Sakura Plant, Inc. (72) Inventor, Tsuneji Mine Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, 3-19-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Shigenori Uruno 3-2-19-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Fumi Izumida Tokyo 3-19-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) in Japan Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An optical connector tool used for pulling out an optical connector (10) from a female housing (12) such as an optical connector adapter, the tool being provided in a projecting state from a tool body (22), A pair of insertion pieces (24) inserted on both sides of the optical connector inserted into the side housing, and arranged along each insertion piece;
A pair of claws (25) protruding from the distal end (26a) of the optical connector side portion, which are accommodated in the connector accommodating groove (29) between the insertion pieces, are engageable with the engaging portions (11). An engagement movable piece (26), wherein the connector storage groove is vertically communicated with a direction in which both insertion pieces protrude from the tool main body, and the tool main body has a notch formed by extending the connector storage groove. An optical connector tool (20), wherein the groove (29a) is cut.