JP2612840B2 - Sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool for optical fiber connectors - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool for inserting and removing a sleeve holder in an optical fiber connector, which is inserted into a ferrule of an optical fiber, with respect to the ferrule.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool of this type is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 05-17611. In an optical fiber connector in which this known sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool can be used, a flange portion formed at an intermediate portion of the sleeve holder has two parallel cut-off portions which are opposed in a diametrical direction. On the other hand, the engaging portion of the housing that engages with the flange portion forms a parallel portion having a width that allows passage of the cut-off portion of the flange portion facing the flange portion.

When inserting and removing the sleeve holder, the cut-off portion of the flange portion of the sleeve holder is made to pass through the locking portion while being parallel to the locking portion. The flange is rotated by 90 ° to lock the flange with the locking portion.

A tool used for inserting and removing the sleeve holder is used together with a jig. The jig is for guiding the tool at a predetermined position, and is inserted into the housing of the connector. The jig has a tool guide hole, and a groove is formed in the tool guide hole so that the tool can be inserted and removed at two positions shifted by 90 °.

On the other hand, the tool has four projections projecting from the tip of the shaft-shaped tool main body, and presses the rear end of the tool main body to resist the reaction force of the built-in spring. Thus, the four projections protrude while widening their spacing.
The sleeve holder is positioned between the four protrusions, the pressing at the rear end of the tool body is released, and the protrusions are slightly retracted to grip the sleeve holder. Then, after passing through the locking portion of the housing as described above, 90
Rotate to insert the sleeve holder. At the time of extraction, the reverse operation is performed.

When a sleeve holder is fitted to each of a plurality of ferrules and these are housed in one connector housing, each sleeve holder is inserted or removed one by one using the above-mentioned tool.

[0007]

However, there are the following problems when using such a conventional sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool.

If the tool is not rotated when the sleeve holder is pulled out, or if the tool is rotated, the rotation angle is completely 90 degrees.
If not, the sleeve holder is still locked in the housing, and forcibly removing the sleeve holder may damage the housing. Also, the jig for guiding the tool may be damaged. At the time of withdrawal, the flange is in the housing and is exactly 90 °
Since it is difficult to confirm whether the rotation has occurred, the above-described accident is likely to occur.

[0009] The cut-off portion of the flange portion of the sleeve holder must be machined in parallel, which increases the manufacturing cost.

In order to insert and remove the sleeve holder, two types of jigs and tools must be prepared, which not only complicates the operation but also increases the cost.

When a plurality of sleeve holders are mounted on the connector housing, each sleeve holder must be inserted and removed one by one, which is troublesome.

The present invention solves such a problem, there is no danger of damaging the housing, the operation is simple, the cost can be reduced by eliminating the need for a jig, and furthermore, two times for a plurality of sleeve holders. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool for an optical fiber connector with extremely high operability, in which all the sleeve holders can be inserted / extracted by the above operation.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the above object is attained by connecting a plurality of cylindrical plug frames contained in a plurality of openings formed at regular intervals in a housing with the plug frames. A sleeve holder having a front portion fitted to an intermediate portion so as to be detachable in the annular space with respect to each optical fiber ferrule forming an annular space open to the outside between the sleeves; In this case, the housing has a flange portion on the outer surface of the intermediate portion, which abuts against the end surface of the plug frame, and the housing has opposed protruding wall portions projecting in parallel to the side of the intermediate portion of each sleeve holder. A locking portion for locking to the flange portion is formed on the opposed inner surface of the protruding wall portion, and a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool for an optical fiber connector in which the locking portion prevents the sleeve holder from coming off. A cylindrical portion having an opening to be fitted to the housing, and a sleeve holder insert / extract body in the internal space of the cylindrical portion corresponding to the sleeve holder at the separated position. It has a tool body having a shaft-shaped tip, at least a pair of widening projections for expanding the width between the opposed protruding wall portions, and a pair of elastic locking members for locking to the flange portion of the sleeve holder. A sleeve holder accommodating portion for accommodating the rear portion of the sleeve holder in the axial direction is formed as a recess at the distal end of the tool main body, and the pair of widening projections are formed at the distal end of the shaft-shaped tool main body. The projection wall portion is elastically deformed to a position where the locking portion of the housing releases the locking with the flange portion of the sleeve holder when the locking portion of the housing is pushed into the predetermined position on the outer surface of the widening projection distal end portion. Impose A pair of elastic locking members are provided between the pair of widening projections, and one end is located at the tip end of the tool body as a free end, and the other end is elastically deformable and deformable. Is attached to the tool body, and when the widening projection is pushed into a predetermined position, the pair of elastic locking members of each sleeve holder insertion / extraction body are interlocked by a pinching operation to be locked to the flange portion of the sleeve holder. Is achieved by being in a position where

[0014]

According to the present invention, the insertion and removal of the sleeve holder are performed in the following manner.

A. At the time of insertion Insert the rear part of the sleeve holder sequentially into the sleeve holder accommodating part of the tool body. The front portion projects from the tip of the tool body. At that time, the sleeve holder is inserted for all the sleeve holder inserts. That is,
When viewed from the connector side, the sleeve holder corresponding to the ferrule at the separated position is held by the tool.

A pair of widening projections projecting from the tip of the tool body are brought into contact with the inner surfaces of the corresponding opposed projection walls of the housing so that the cylindrical body is fitted into the housing. Push the widening projection toward the housing.

The widening projection presses the protruding wall portion outward with its tapered surface to cause elastic deformation.
When the widening projection is pushed into the predetermined position, the opposing locking portions of the projecting wall portion are sufficiently widened, and the flange portion of the sleeve holder passes through the position of the locking portion and is brought to the predetermined position.

Thereafter, when the tool is pulled out, the protruding wall portion returns to its original shape, the locking portion is locked on the flange portion of the sleeve holder, and the sleeve holder is held at a predetermined position. Thus, all the sleeve holders are inserted into the corresponding ferrules of the optical fiber cable, that is, the ferrules at the separated positions.

Next, the above operations (1) to (4) are repeated while the tool is turned upside down. As a result, the sleeve holder is inserted into the ferrule at another separated position where the sleeve holder has not been inserted yet, and the sleeve holder is inserted into the ferrules of all the optical fiber cables.

B. At the time of extraction When the sleeve holder is extracted, the pair of widening projections of the tool are pushed into contact with the inner surfaces of the corresponding opposing projecting wall portions of the housing while fitting the cylindrical portion into the housing, and the projecting wall portion is The gap between the opposing locking portions is expanded to release the locking of the locking portion to the flange portion of the sleeve holder.

In such a state, the pair of elastic locking members are pressed by a finger to cause elastic bending deformation, and the distal ends thereof are locked to the flange portion of the sleeve holder.

Thereafter, the tool is pulled out, and the sleeve holder is pulled out by the elastic locking member. Thus, the sleeve holder at the separated position is withdrawn at a time.

Next, the tool is turned upside down and the above operations (1) to (4) are repeated, and the sleeve holders at the remaining separated positions are withdrawn. This completes the operation of removing all the sleeve holders.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an optical fiber connector 1 and a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool 10 of this embodiment in a separated state, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view when the tool is used. In FIG. 2, the upper half has a horizontal cross section and the lower half has a vertical cross section.

In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes an optical fiber connector, and a cylindrical plug frame 3 is provided in an arbitrary even number of places (two places in the illustrated example) in a housing 2. In the figure, one plug frame is omitted.
In the cylindrical hollow space of each plug frame 3, as shown in FIG.
The ferrule 5 is inserted while being urged rightward by a spring 6 disposed on the left side of the ferrule 5.
Around the right part of the ferrule 5, a plug frame 3
An annular space is formed between them and is open outward to the right, and the sleeve holder 7 is inserted into the annular space.

The sleeve holder 7 has an outer cylinder 7A comprising a front outer cylinder 7A1 and a rear outer cylinder 7A2, and an inner cylinder 7B housed in the outer cylinder 7A. The front outer cylinder 7A1 is provided with a flange portion 7E that forms an annular groove 7D at a joint with the rear outer cylinder 7A2. The inner cylinder 7B has an inner diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the right part of the ferrule 5 and is formed with a slit 7F in the axial direction so that the inner diameter can be expanded when the ferrule 5 is fitted to the right part. It has become.

As described above, an even number of the cylindrical plug frames 3 are built in the housing 2 in parallel at an equal pitch, and the ferrules 5 are inserted and held in the respective plug frames 3. A protruding wall portion 8 extending in the axial direction is provided between two adjacent plug frames 3 and on a side portion of the plug frame 3 at a side end, and a distal end portion of the protruding wall portion 8 extends in a direction perpendicular to the protruding wall portion 8. And a locking portion 9 extending in the direction. The two locking portions 9 facing each other have a locking edge 9A forming a part of an arc on a parallel side edge, and the locking edge 9A is formed on the flange portion 7E of the sleeve holder 7 in an annular shape. Locked in groove 7D.

The sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool 10 has a tubular portion 15 having a rectangular cross section opened forward. The cylindrical part 1
Reference numeral 5 denotes a shape and a size fitted to the housing 2. A sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 16 corresponding to only one (left side in the figure) of the two sleeve holders 7 of the housing 2 is disposed in a left half 15A of the inner space of the cylindrical portion 15, and a right half 15B is hollow.

The sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 16 has a shaft-shaped tool body 11 having a square cross section and a tool body 11
And a pair of plate-shaped elastic locking members 12 provided along the upper and lower surfaces of the elastic member. A recess 13 is formed in the tool body 11 as a sleeve holder accommodating portion for slidingly inserting the rear outer cylinder 7A2 of the sleeve holder 7 and accommodating the same. Upper and lower pairs of widening projections 14 are provided. In FIG. 1, the pair of widening projections 14 on the left and right sides has a tapered surface 14 </ b> A on the outer end of the tip,
When the pair of widening projections 14 are pushed into the opposing projecting wall portions 8, the tapered surface 14 </ b> A is dimensioned so as to widen the space between the projecting wall portions 8.

In FIG. 1, the pair of upper and lower elastic locking members 12 extend in the longitudinal direction of the tool body 11 and are spaced apart from the end of the tool body 11 on the side of the recess 13. One end is attached to the tool body 11 in a cantilever manner. At least in the vicinity of the recess 13 on the free end side, the upper and lower surfaces of the tool main body 11 have predetermined intervals H, respectively, and the front end thereof comes into contact with the tool main body 11 by receiving a pinching force by pinching with a finger (H = 0). The distal ends of the pair of elastic locking members 12 are bent along the distal end surface of the tool body 11,
The opposing edges form an arc-shaped locking edge 12A.
When the elastic locking member 12 is in a free state, the opposed locking edge 12A passes through the flange portion 7E of the sleeve holder 7 without contacting the flange portion on the tool body portion 11 side, and passes through the position of the annular groove 7D. And when the elastic locking member 12 is bent by receiving the pinching force, the gap and the radius are formed so as to enter the annular groove 7D.

In this embodiment, insertion and removal of the sleeve holder are performed in the following manner.

A. At the time of insertion The sleeve holder 7 is inserted and held by the rear outer cylinder 7A2 into the recess 13 of the tool body 11 of the sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 16 located on the left side in the cylindrical body 15 in the drawing.

The tapered surface 14A of the pair of widening projections 14 of the tool body 11 comes into contact with the end of the opposed protruding wall portion 8 of the housing 2 so that the cylindrical portion 15 is fitted into the housing 2. The tool 10 is positioned as described above and is pushed into the housing 2 as it is.

As the widening projections 14 are pushed in, the space between the opposing projecting wall portions 8 is widened.
The width between the opposed locking edges 9A is also widened, and the flange portion 7E of the sleeve holder 7 also passes through the locking portion 9 without hitting the locking portion 9. Thus, the sleeve holder 7 enters the predetermined position, and the sleeve 7 is inserted into the ferrule 5 on the left side in FIG. 1 with the inner cylinder 7B expanded in diameter at the front outer cylinder 7A1.

After that, the tool 10 is pulled out. Then, the opposed protruding wall portion 8 returns to its original shape, the locking edge 9A of the locking portion 9 enters the annular groove 7D of the sleeve holder 7, and the sleeve holder 7 is prevented from coming off.

Next, the tool 10 is turned upside down. Since the connector is symmetrical in the vertical and horizontal directions, the sleeve holder insert / extract body 16 of the tool 10 is located rightward in the tubular portion 15. In this state, the above operations (1) to (5) are performed again. Then, the sleeve holder is inserted into the right ferrule this time.

B. At the time of removal At the time of the above insertion, the cylindrical part 15
Holder insertion / extraction body 1 located at left half 15A within
6 by the pair of widening projections 14 of the tool body 11
The width between the engaging portions 9 of the housing 2 facing each other is increased. By this widening, the locking from the side at the flange portion 7E of the sleeve holder 7 at the locking edge 9A is released. At this time, the elastic locking member 12 has its locking edge 12A at the top and bottom reach the position of the annular groove 7D.

Thereafter, the operator presses the upper and lower pair of elastic locking members 12 with fingers to bend them, and the
2A is locked to the flange portion 7E.

In this state, the tool 10 is pulled toward the user,
Pull out the sleeve holder 7. Thus, the left sleeve holder 7 in FIG. 1 is pulled out.

Next, the tool 10 is turned upside down so that the sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 16 is positioned at the right half in the tubular portion 15, and the right sleeve holder is extracted in the manner described above.

In this embodiment, an example of inserting and removing the sleeve holder when two sleeve holders are mounted on the connector housing has been described. However, any number of sleeve holders can be used in this embodiment. . For example, in the case of eight cables, if the tool is provided with a total of four sleeve holder insertion / removal bodies so as to correspond to the sleeve holders fitted to the ferrules of a total of four optical fiber cables, the tools are separated at a time. A total of four sleeve holders can be inserted and removed, and the remaining four other sleeve holders can be inserted and removed next by reversing the tool. At this time, it is necessary that each elastic locking member of the four sleeve holder insertion / extraction bodies can be interlocked.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the first embodiment, as described above, it is possible to insert and remove the sleeve holder securely without rotating the tool around the axis by simply pushing the tool 10 into the housing and picking the elastic locking member. However, if the insertion / extraction is performed from above, there is a risk that the sleeve holder may fall from the tool, and the state in which the elastic locking member is held must be maintained during the extraction. The present embodiment is characterized in that this point is improved.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, as compared with the tool of the first embodiment shown in FIG. An unlocking device 30 and a switching device 40 at the rear are added.

As shown in FIG. 4, at the rear (right side) of the cylindrical body 17 having the cylindrical portion 15 at the front, a slider 41 forming a part of the switching device 40 is disposed so as to be movable to the left and right. The tool body 21 is attached to the slider 41. The switching device 40 includes a handle 45 having a knob 44 at a tip of a shaft 43 inserted into a shaft hole 42 formed in the slider 41. A cross-shaped groove 18 having cross-shaped grooves 18A and 18B (see FIG. 3) is formed in the cylindrical body 17, and a key 46 provided on the shaft portion 43 is engaged with the groove 18A or 18B. Has become. A spring 47 is disposed in the shaft hole 42 to urge the shaft portion 43 upward. By rotating the handle 45 by 90 ° while pressing the handle 45 downward against the spring 47, the engagement of the key 46 can be switched between the groove 18A and the groove 18B. And as is clear from FIG.
When the key 46 is in the groove 18A, the slider 41 is movable.
1 is blocked from moving.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 20 has a through hole formed in the axial direction inside a shaft-shaped tool body 21 connected to the slider 41, and has a right end. , A support shaft 22 is screwed in, and a push shaft 23 is disposed at an intermediate portion movably in the axial direction. A step is formed on the support shaft 22 and the push shaft 23 on the opposite side, and a spring 24 is provided there. The push shaft 23 is urged leftward by the force of the spring 24. I have. The push shaft 23
Is locked with the step 25 of the tool main body 21, and regulates the amount of movement of the push shaft 23 to the left by a predetermined value. The diameter of the left end of the push shaft 23 is a value that can abut on the end face of the rear outer cylinder 7A2 of the sleeve holder 7.

A retaining ring 26 having a slit 26A extending in the axial direction is inserted into the concave portion at the left side of the step portion 25 of the tool main body portion 21 so as to be able to expand in diameter. The falling off is prevented by the stop ring 27 provided.

The widening projection 14 protruding from the tip of the tool body 21 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted. The elastic locking member 12 is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, but as shown in FIG. 4, has a pressure receiving portion 12A protruding outward at an intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction thereof, When the tool body 21 moves together with the slider 41, the protrusion 17A
The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the pressure receiving portion 12A comes into contact with the second portion to cause the elastic locking member 12 to bend and to maintain the locked state with the sleeve holder.

As shown in FIG. 5, the unlocking device 30 is formed in a hole 31 formed on a portion of the sleeve holder inserter 20 which is integrated with the tool body 21 and located on the side of the push shaft 23. It has a release shaft 33 urged upward by a spring 32 arranged. The release shaft 33 has an engagement portion 34 at the top.
have. The engaging portion 34 has a small diameter portion 34A and a large diameter portion 3A.
4B and a top pressing portion 34C. An engagement hole 35 is formed in the cylindrical body 17 with which the engagement portion 34 of the release shaft 33 is engaged. As shown in FIG. 6, the engagement hole 35 is formed by two semicircular holes 35A and 35B formed in the moving direction A of the tool body 21, and the release shaft is formed in the small diameter semicircular hole 35A. The small diameter portion 34A of 33 has a large diameter portion 34B engaged with a large diameter semicircular hole 35B. In the state of FIG. 5, the small-diameter portion 34A is a small-diameter semicircular hole 35.
6, the tool body 21 is moved by the slider 41 in the direction opposite to the arrow A in FIG.
4B moves to the position of the large-diameter semicircular hole 35B, and the spring 32
To engage with the large-diameter semicircular hole 35B and no longer move in the direction of arrow A. In order to move the slider 41 in the direction of arrow A, the slider 41 must be moved in the direction of arrow A while pressing the pressing portion 34C downward against the spring 32.

The insertion / removal of the sleeve holder into / from the housing by the tool of this embodiment is performed in the following manner.

A. At the time of insertion First, at the time of insertion, the elastic locking member 12 does not act. Therefore, the pressure receiving portion 12A of the elastic locking member 12 is located in front of the projection 17A of the cylindrical body 17 so as not to engage with each other. In order to do so, in FIG.
In the direction of arrow A to lock the small diameter portion 34A into the small diameter semicircular hole 35A. In this state, the tool body 21 and the slider 41 are also advanced in the same direction in the cylinder 17, and the pressure receiving portion 12 </ b> A of the elastic locking member 12 is located forward from the projection 17 </ b> A of the cylinder 17 and is located at any position. It is free and not in force. In such a state, the key 45 is rotated by 90 ° while pressing the handle 45 to lock the key 46 in the groove 18 </ b> B, so that the slider 41 is prevented from moving. Thus, the pair of elastic locking members 12 maintain the released state as shown in FIG. 7A.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7 (A), the sleeve holder 7 is held by being pressed into the holding ring 26 of the tool. The retaining ring 26 is elastically expanded in diameter to firmly hold the sleeve holder 7, and the sleeve holder 7 does not drop in any direction.

As shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C, the cylindrical portion 15 is inserted into the housing 2 in the same manner as in the insertion step of the previous embodiment. The sleeve holder 7 is fitted to the ferrule 5. that time,
As shown in FIG. 8, the locking portion 9 of the housing is outside the annular groove 7D of the sleeve holder 7. Then, when the plug frame 3 receives the pressing force from the back,
When the sleeve holder 7 is displaced rightward together with the plug frame and the locking portion 9 returns to the original shape, the sleeve holder 7 may hit the sleeve holder 7 outside the annular groove 7D. However, in this embodiment, the displacement of the sleeve holder 7 is prevented by the push shaft 23 urged by the spring 24 in the tool body 21, and the locking portion 9 is securely locked in the annular groove 7D at the regular position. .

Thus, the tool is pulled out as shown in the state (D) of FIG.

B. At the time of withdrawal At the time of withdrawal, the handle 45 is rotated by 90 ° while pressing, so that the key 46 is engaged with the groove 18A, and the slide 41 is made movable.

In this state, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9B, the operation is performed in the same manner as in the extraction step of the first embodiment, and the sleeve holder 7 is moved to the holding ring 2.
Press into 6. Further, at this time, the tool body 21 is pressed by the locking portion 9 of the housing 2, so that the slider 4
Retreat with one. When the large-diameter portion 34B of the engaging portion 34 reaches the position of the large-diameter semicircular hole 35B, the large-diameter portion 34B rises by the force of the spring 32 and locks with the semicircular hole 35B to maintain the state. That is, the elastic locking member 12 is also moved rearward with respect to the cylindrical body 17 due to the retreat of the tool main body 21, and the elastic locking member 12 is bent by the pressure receiving portion 12A being pressed by the projection 17A. That is, the state of being locked to the flange portion 7E of the sleeve holder 7 is maintained.

Thereafter, as shown in the state (C) of FIG.
The tool is pulled out, and the sleeve holder 7 is pulled out.

Then, as shown in the state (D) of FIG. 9, the tool main body 21 is moved forward while pressing the pressing portion 34C of the lock releasing device 30, so that the elastic locking member 12 is released, and the handle is further moved. The state is locked by the operation of 45 to prepare for insertion of the sleeve holder.

In this embodiment, the cylindrical portion 15 is inserted into and removed from the housing when the sleeve holder is inserted and withdrawn as in the case of the previous embodiment. Then, the tool is turned upside down, and then the even-numbered sleeve holder is inserted and removed.

Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the first and second embodiments, the housing 1
The attachment / detachment of the sleeve holder insertion / removal tool 10 to / from the housing 1 has been described as mounting and removing the sleeve holder insertion / removal tool 10 directly from the housing 1. However, for example, the guide jig of the ferrule cleaning device is used to easily and precisely attach the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool to the housing 1. Good guidance is also good. Further, in the above description, the operation that the unlocking device 30 is operated manually is described, and the operation of the unlocking device can be automatically activated by linking the operation with the guide jig. It is. Further, a key portion provided on the outer surface of the cylindrical portion 15 of the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool is used to make the housing 1 of the insertion / extraction tool.
It is also possible to adopt a structure that restricts the attachment to the device. This will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 10 shows the structure of the guide jig 120 of the ferrule cleaning device in a partially sectional view.

Reference numeral 120 denotes a guide jig. The guide jig 120 is formed with a guide hole 122 penetrating a cylindrical jig body 121 having a rectangular cross section. The guide hole 12
The guide jig 120 is fitted to the housing of the connector 1 on the left end side of the connector 2. The guide jig 120 has a fixing device 123 at the left end.

The fixing device 123 has a tapered surface attached to the lower end of the shaft 124 by a predetermined angle of rotation of a handle 125 attached to the upper portion of the shaft 124 that passes through the upper wall of the jig body 121. The pressing piece 126 is pressed against a part of the housing so that the position can be fixed with respect to the housing. In the handle 125, a spring 128 is incorporated in an annular space closed at the bottom by a washer 127, and urges the handle 125 and the shaft 124 upward. At the lower end of the shaft 124, the disk 12
The cam pin 130 is implanted on the disk 129 at a position lateral to the shaft 124. Jig body 12
A spiral groove 131 is formed on the back surface of the upper wall of the upper wall 1 to press the cam pin 130 to move in the axial direction when the shaft body 124 rotates around its axis.
The above-mentioned pressing piece 126 is attached to the above-mentioned shaft body 124, but the above-mentioned pressing piece 126 is provided with a shaft part which faces upward (not shown). The pressing piece 126 is rotated only by a predetermined angle about the axis of the handle 125, so that the pressing piece 126 only moves up and down by a predetermined amount.

The guide jig 120 is provided with a guide switching device 132 on the right end side of the guide hole 122. A guide groove 133 is formed on the inner surface of the upper wall of the jig body 121 toward the right end of the guide hole 122, and a movable key 134 is arranged on the right half in the width direction. The movable key 134
Is a slide handle 135 provided on the outer surface of the upper wall of the jig body 121 so as to be selectively movable in the width direction to the left and right.
When the slide handle 135 is moved right and left, the position of the key groove also moves. The guide groove 133 is provided on the inner surface of the lower wall of the jig body 121.
A groove 136 having the same width and depth as the above extends in the longitudinal direction of the jig body 121 to the same position as the guide groove 133.

The guide groove 133 is formed by a concave portion 137 and a convex portion 138 which serve as unlocking means described later.

This will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG.
Fig. 2 shows a partially cross-sectional structure of a sleeve holder insertion / extraction jig. The approximate structure is the same as that of the second embodiment, except that the sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 20 biases the tool main body 21 to the left in the drawing by a spring 51 in the cylindrical portion 15. Is a big difference. The tool has a cylindrical portion 15 guided by a guide hole 122, and an insertion / removal body 2 for inserting / removing a left sleeve holder in a left region inside the cylindrical portion.
0 is provided and the right area is empty. A key portion 50 is provided on the outer surface of the tubular portion 15 on the right side in the width direction. Therefore, when inserting and removing the left sleeve holder, the slide handle 135 of the guide jig 120 is moved to the left to form a guide space at the right portion of the guide groove 133, and the key portion 50 is inserted therein. Then, the tool is inserted into the guide hole 122 and the left and right sleeve holders are inserted and extracted by the insertion and extraction member 20. To insert and remove the right sleeve holder, the slide handle 135 may be moved rightward and the tool may be used upside down.

As described above, by using the guide jig 120 together, the attachment / detachment of the tool to / from the housing 2 can be easily and accurately performed, and the key portion 50 provided on the outer surface of the cylindrical portion 15 of the tool can be provided. It is possible to make use of a structure that restricts the tool from being turned upside down when the tool is mounted on the housing 2.

When the guide jig 120 is used together,
It is also possible to adopt a structure in which the unlocking device 30 is automatically activated from the state in which the engaging portion 34 is engaged with the large-diameter portion 34B when the tool is removed. For example, the guide jig 12
0 are provided in the guide grooves 133 and 136.
7. A convex portion 138 is provided, and the pressing portion 34C of the tool unlocking device 30 is brought into abutment with the concave portion and the convex portion, and the pressing portion 34C is pressed downward against the spring 32, and the tool body is By moving the portion 21 to the left and interlocking with the removal operation of the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool from the guide jig, the unlocking device 30 is automatically operated to engage the engagement portion 34 with the large diameter portion 34B. You can cancel the state that you are doing.

The insertion and removal of the sleeve holder from the housing by the tool of the third embodiment is performed in the following manner.

A. At the time of insertion First, at the time of insertion, the elastic locking member 12 does not act. When the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool 10 is not fitted into the guide jig 120, the pressure receiving portion 12A of the elastic locking member 12 is in front of the projection 17A of the cylindrical body 17 and is in a state in which they do not bend. That is, the small-diameter portion 34A is a small-diameter semicircular hole 3
5A. In this state, the tool body 21 and the slider 41 are also advanced in the direction A in the cylindrical body 17,
The pressure receiving portion 12A of the elastic locking member 12 is
It is located forward from A and is not receiving any force and is in a free state. In this state, while pressing the handle 45, 9
The key 46 is locked in the groove 18B by rotating by 0 °, and the slider 4
1 is stopped. Thus, the pair of elastic locking members 12 maintain the released state as shown in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG.
The guide jig 120 is fitted. After fitting, the handle 125
Is turned by a predetermined angle to lower the pressing piece 126, and the corresponding tapered surface of the housing is pressed by the tapered surface to fix the position of the guide jig 120.

Slide handle 13 of guide jig 120
5 is moved to the right in FIG.
34 is moved to the right, leaving the left part of the guide groove 133 as a space.

After confirming that the key portion 50 of the tool is on the left side, the sleeve holder 7 is pressed and held into the holding ring 26 of the tool as shown in the state (A) of FIG. The retaining ring 26 is elastically expanded in diameter to firmly hold the sleeve holder 7, and the sleeve holder 7 does not drop in any direction.

The cylindrical portion 15 is easily and accurately guided into the housing 2 by using the guide jig 120, and is inserted into the housing 2 so as to be inserted into the housing 2 as shown in FIG.
As shown in (C), the sleeve holder 7 is fitted to the ferrule 5 in the same manner as in the insertion step of the second embodiment. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, the locking portion 9 of the housing is outside the annular groove 7D of the sleeve holder 7. Therefore, when the plug frame 3 is receiving a pressing force from the back, the sleeve holder 7 is shifted to the right together with the plug frame and the locking portion 9 returns to its original shape. 7 could be hit. However, in this embodiment, the displacement of the sleeve holder 7 is prevented by the push shaft 23 urged by the spring 24 in the tool body 21, and the locking portion 9 is securely locked in the annular groove 7D at the regular position. .

Thus, the tool is pulled out as shown in the state (D) of FIG.

B. At the time of withdrawal At the time of withdrawal, the handle 45 is rotated by 90 ° while pressing, so that the key 46 is engaged with the groove 18A, and the slide 41 is made movable.

In this state, as shown in FIGS. 13 (A) to 13 (B), the sleeve holder 7 is operated in the same manner as in the extraction step of the first embodiment, and the sleeve holder 7 is held.
Press into 6. Further, at this time, the tool body 21 is pressed by the locking portion 9 of the housing 2, so that the slider 4
Retreat with one. When the large-diameter portion 34B of the engaging portion 34 reaches the position of the large-diameter semicircular hole 35B, the large-diameter portion 34B rises by the force of the spring 32 and locks with the semicircular hole 35B to maintain the state. That is, the elastic locking member 12 is also moved rearward with respect to the cylindrical body 17 due to the retreat of the tool main body 21, and the elastic locking member 12 is bent by the pressure receiving portion 12A being pressed by the projection 17A. That is, the state of being locked to the flange portion 7E of the sleeve holder 7 is maintained.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 13C, the tool is pulled out and the sleeve holder 7 is pulled out. At this time, the tool is pulled out from the guide jig, so that the pressing portion 34C of the lock release device 30 of the tool is brought into contact with the uneven portion provided with the guide grooves 133 and 136 of the guide jig 120 so that the pressing portion 34C Against this, the tool body 21 is moved to the left by the spring 51, and the unlocking device 30 is automatically turned on in conjunction with the operation of removing the sleeve holder insertion tool from the guide jig. The state where the swaging engagement portion 34 is engaged with the large diameter portion 34B is released.

Thus, as shown in the state (D) of FIG.
The tool is removed. The tool body 21 is moved forward to release the elastic locking member 12 and the handle 4
The state is locked by operation 5 to prepare for insertion of the sleeve holder.

In the third embodiment, the cylindrical portion 15 is attached to the housing when the sleeve holder is inserted and withdrawn when the sleeve holder is inserted, as in the first and second embodiments. Is performed, the tool is turned upside down, and then the even-numbered sleeve holder is inserted / extracted.

At this time, when the tool is mounted on the housing 2 due to the positional relationship between the key portion 50 provided on the outer surface of the cylindrical portion 15 of the tool and the movable key 134 of the guide jig 120.
It is possible to adopt a structure that restricts the mounting by turning over.

[0084]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if a plurality of sleeve holders are mounted on the optical fiber connector, all of the sleeve holders can be inserted and removed by performing the operation twice. Extremely good work efficiency. In addition, in the present invention, the insertion and removal of the sleeve holder can be performed only by inserting the tool toward the housing and pressing the elastic locking member so as to pinch it, and the tool is moved around the axis by 90 degrees.
There is no need to rotate or confirm that the rotation angle is accurate, and the operation is easy. Also,
There is no conventional problem that the housing is damaged if the rotation is forgotten or the rotation is incorrect. Further, it is not necessary to process a cut-off portion on the flange portion of the sleeve holder, which is also convenient in this respect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken perspective view showing a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool and an optical fiber connector according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view when a sleeve holder is inserted with the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool in FIG. 1, in which an upper half is a cross-sectional view and a lower half is a longitudinal cross-sectional view.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool according to a second embodiment taken along a plane including an axis.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of the apparatus in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a VV enlarged sectional view of the device in FIG. 3;

6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

7 is a longitudinal sectional view sequentially showing an insertion step when the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool of FIG. 3 is used.

8 is a cross-sectional view when the sleeve holder is inserted by the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool in FIG. 3, wherein an upper half is a transverse cross-sectional view and a lower half is a longitudinal cross-sectional view.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view sequentially showing an extraction step when the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool of FIG. 3 is used.

FIG. 10 is a partially broken perspective view showing the guide jig of the third embodiment in a state separated from a connector.

11 is a partially cutaway sectional view of a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool that can be used with the guide jig of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a longitudinal sectional view sequentially showing an insertion step when the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool of FIG. 11 is used.

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal sectional view sequentially showing an extraction step when the sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool of FIG. 11 is used.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber connector 2 Housing 3 Plug frame 5 Ferrule 7 Sleeve holder 7E Flange part 8 Projection wall part 9 Lock part 10 Sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool 11 Tool body part 12 Elastic locking member 13 Concave part 14 Widening projection 14A Tapered surface 15 Cylindrical part 16 Sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 20 Sleeve holder insertion / extraction body 21 Tool main body 26 Retaining ring 26A Slit 30, 40 Lock maintaining means 30 Lock release device 40 Switching device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shinichi Iwano 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Kazunori Kanayama 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Japan Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Ando 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (56) References JP-A-64-66607 (JP, A) 119804 (JP, U)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. Each of a plurality of cylindrical spaces formed in a plurality of openings formed at regular intervals in a housing and each having an annular space opened outwardly between the plug frames and the plug frames. The optical fiber ferrule has a sleeve holder in which a front portion is removably fitted to an intermediate portion in the annular space so as to be detachable, and the sleeve holder has a flange portion which comes into contact with an end face of the plug frame at the time of the fitting. The housing has an outer wall of an intermediate portion, and the housing has opposed protruding walls protruding in parallel on the sides of the intermediate portion of each sleeve holder,
A locking portion for locking to the flange portion is formed on the opposing inner surface of the adjacent protruding wall portion, and a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool for an optical fiber connector in which the locking portion prevents the sleeve holder from coming off. , A cylindrical portion having an opening to be fitted to the housing, and a sleeve holder insert / extract body corresponding to the sleeve holder at the separated position in the internal space of the cylindrical portion, wherein each sleeve holder insert / extract body has at least a distal end. Has a shaft-shaped tool body, at least one pair of widening projections for expanding the width between the opposed protruding wall portions, and a pair of elastic locking members for locking to the flange portion of the sleeve holder. A sleeve holder accommodating portion for accommodating the rear portion of the sleeve holder in the axial direction is formed as a recess at the tip of the tool body, and the pair of widening protrusions is formed at the tip of the shaft-shaped tool body. The projection wall portion is elastically deformed to a position where the locking portion of the housing releases the locking with the flange portion of the sleeve holder when the locking portion of the housing is pushed into the predetermined position on the outer surface of the widening projection distal end portion. A tapered surface is formed, and the pair of elastic locking members are located between the pair of widening projections, and one end is located at the tip of the tool body as a free end and the other end is elastically deformable and deformable. Is attached to the tool body, and when the widening projection is pushed into a predetermined position, the pair of elastic locking members of each sleeve holder insertion / extraction body are interlocked by a pinching operation to be locked to the flange portion of the sleeve holder. And a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool for an optical fiber connector. 2. A sleeve holder accommodating portion, wherein a slit extending in an axial direction is formed in a cylindrical concave portion which is immersed from a front end surface of a tool body portion and has an inner diameter slightly smaller than an outer diameter of a rear portion of the sleeve holder so as to be expandable. Is formed by arranging a retaining ring having the same, and is accommodated in an inner space axially inward of the concave portion, and is brought into contact with the end face of the sleeve holder when the sleeve holder enters through the retaining ring and enters. 2. The sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, further comprising a pressing member which is in contact with and is urged toward the sleeve holder in a predetermined range. 3. The sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, further comprising a lock maintaining means for maintaining the elastic locking member in a locked state with the sleeve holder. 4. A tool for inserting and removing a sleeve holder for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, further comprising a lock releasing means for releasing the elastic locking member from a locked state with the sleeve holder.