JPH09197226A - Hauling implement for optical fiber cable - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To drastically decrease the traction load in passing a metallic wheel and to improve laying efficiency in laying by housing the extra length parts of fiber ribbon and connector holders housed connectors mounted at the front ends allowing the surplus length parts to remain into a housing hose and fixing this housing hose to a supporting wire for traction hermetically sealed by a front end cap and an end cap. SOLUTION: This hauling implement K is constituted by half turning and housing the extra length parts T' of the fiber ribbons T into the housing hose 41. Since the connector holder 50 capable of housing the connectors C at a high density is used, the length of the housing hose 41 may be reduced to the length of about half the length of the conventional hauling implements. The hauling load in passing the hauling implement K through the metallic wheel during laying is drastically decreased and the hauling efficiency is improved by coupled adoption of the housing hose 41 having elasticity and the formation of both of a front end cap 43 and an end cap 42 of semi-circular cones made of foamed plastic having elasticity.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pulling tool for an optical fiber cable, and more particularly to a pulling tool for pulling an optical fiber cable in which an optical connection connector is attached to an optical fiber core wire led out from a terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When laying an optical fiber cable, a method of pulling a pulling tool attached to the end of the optical fiber cable with a winch or the like is generally used. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, when laying an optical communication network for telephone lines, the fiber cable 2 from the telephone station 1 is connected to the underground conduit 3
Through the inside or by laying on the telephone pole 4, up to the subscriber company house 5 or the subscriber building 6 is laid.

As shown in FIG. 5, for example, when the optical fiber cable 2 is erected on the utility poles 4, 4, ..., It is connected to the tip of a pulling tool 8 attached to the tip of the optical fiber cable 2. By pulling up the tow rope 9 with the winch 10, the opposite side of the tow direction (left side in the figure)
The optical fiber cable 2 is unwound from the cable drum 13 installed in the above and installed.

As shown in FIG. 5, in order to prevent the optical fiber cable 2 from bending beyond the allowable bending radius and damaging the optical fibers constituting the optical fiber cable, the electric poles 4, 4, ... , 15 ... Are suspended, and the optical fiber cable 2 is laid by moving on the gold wheels 15, 15 ... FIG. 6 shows a structure of a gold wheel 15 used in a portion where the optical fiber cable 2 is bent and installed. The gold wheel 15 is a laying tool in which a plurality of rollers 17 are arranged with a certain curvature, and the optical fiber cable 2 is laid by moving the upper surface of the rollers 17.

Conventionally, a terminal pulling tool 8 of the optical fiber cable 2 (hereinafter referred to as a pulling tool) is as shown in FIG.
Tape fiber T led out from the optical fiber cable 2
And the connector C attached to the tip of the tape fiber T
And a traction support wire 22 for fixing the traction metal fitting 21 to the tip of the traction direction (the right side in the drawing) to support the optical fiber cable and the storage section.

The storage section 20 is a cylindrical storage case 2.
3, a tip cap 24 that seals the storage case 23 at the tip end side in the pulling direction, an end cap 25 that is located at the base end side of the storage case 23 and that seals by inserting the optical fiber cable 2, and the pulling of the tip cap 23. At the front portion in the direction, a housing end fitting 28 is attached via a fixing nut 27 that fixes the tension member 26. Tension member 26 led out from the optical fiber cable 2
Is inserted through the central axis of the storage case 23 and the fixing nut 27, and is fixed to the housing end fitting 28.
Further, the housing end fitting 28 is connected to the towing support wire 22 by a connecting fitting 29.

The housing case 23 and the tip cap 24 are made of plastic, and the end cap 25 is made of synthetic rubber. On the other hand, inside the storage case 23, two metal holding plates 3 for holding the tape fibers are provided.
0, 30 and a plurality of synthetic rubber connector holders 3
1, 31 ... Are arranged. The connector C attached to the tip of the tape fiber T is the connector holder 3
It is fitted and held in the recesses (not shown) formed in 1, 31 ...

The connector C has a surplus portion T'of a tape fiber T which is usually about 1 m in preparation for a failure in connection with another optical fiber or for future connection replacement.
Is attached to its tip leaving. In the terminal pulling tool 8 shown in FIG. 3, a surplus length T ′ is secured from the tip of the optical fiber cable to the connector, and the surplus length is held by the holding plates 30 and 30.

[0009]

By the way, the conventional traction device has the following problems. First, since the tape fiber T having the extra connection length is linearly accommodated in the storage hose, the length of the pulling tool becomes long. Therefore, the extra connection length including the connector is stored in the storage hose. Work takes time, or the number of parts is increased to hold the extra length part, connector, and tension member in the storage part.
There was also the problem that the cost of the towing equipment would increase.

Secondly, since the conventional traction tool is a rigid body having a long length, it is difficult to pass through a metal wheel having a particular curvature when installed, and a high traction load is applied to the traction tool. However, the tractor is easily damaged, and there is also a problem that it hinders the improvement of the efficiency of the laying work to avoid the damage. Further, the conventional tow tool has not only the structure with poor flexibility as described above, but also the end cap attached to the tip in the tow direction makes contact with the fixed nut for stopping the tension member and contact with the fixed nut. Since the contact surface has a relatively large outer diameter, the tip fitting or the fixing nut may be damaged by bending force, or it may be damaged by coming into contact with the gold wheel when passing through the gold wheel. there were.

The present invention has been made under the background as described above, and it is possible to improve the work efficiency of laying, while taking a sufficient extra length of the tape fiber having the connector attached thereto and having a short length. The object is to provide a highly reliable fiber optic cable traction tool.

[0012]

The present invention has the following features to attain the object mentioned above. That is, the optical fiber cable pulling device according to claim 1 is mounted on the support wire (21) to which the pulling means (22) is connected and the tape fiber (T) led out from the optical fiber cable (2). Connector holder (50) accommodating a connector (C) and accommodating hose (41) composed of a cylindrical elastic body accommodating the extra length portion (T ′) of the tape fiber
A tip cap (43) made of a semi-conical elastic body for sealing the leading end of the storage hose, and an end cap (42) made of a semi-conical trapezoidal elastic body for sealing the base end of the storage hose. And the extra length portion of the tape fiber is stored while being turned while maintaining the bending radius in the storage hose. Claim 2
In the invention described in (1), the connector holder (50) is formed into a prismatic shape that can be housed in a storage hose, and a connector formed on a side surface of the connector holder is inclined toward a base end in a pulling direction. It is characterized in that the fitting recesses (52) are arranged in a row.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a pulling tool for an optical fiber cable according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the figure, reference numeral K indicates a pulling tool (hereinafter, abbreviated as "pulling tool") of the optical fiber cable of the present embodiment.
The point that the pulling tool K differs from the conventional pulling tool 10 is the configuration of the storage portion and the connector holder. 1 and 2,
The same components as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals to simplify the description.

FIG. 1 shows the construction of the pulling tool of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the construction of the connector holder of the pulling tool. Code 4
Reference numeral 0 denotes a storage portion of the present invention, and 50 denotes a connector holder. The tow tool K of the present invention has a tow metal fitting 21 for towing at the tip.
The linear pulling support wire 22 to which is attached, the storage portion 40 for storing the tape fiber surplus portion (T ′) and the connector.
Consists of

The storage part 40 of the pulling tool K of the present invention is a storage hose 41 which stores the tape fiber T which is led out from the optical fiber cable 2 and has the connector C attached to the tip thereof.
The storage hose 41 includes an end cap 42 located at the base end (left side in the drawing) of the storage hose 41 and a tip cap 43 located at the tip side (right side in the drawing) of the storage hose 41.

The tape fiber T led out from the tip of the optical fiber cable 2 has a connector C attached to the tip thereof, leaving an extra length T '. And the connector C
Is held by the connector holder 50, and the connector holder 5
0 and the extra length T ′ of the tape fiber are the storage hose 4
It is stored in one. The storage hose 41 is a cylindrical hose and is made of an elastic material such as synthetic rubber.

The tip end of the optical fiber cable 2 is inserted from the small-diameter side to the large-diameter side of a semi-conical trapezoidal end cap 42 whose truncated cone is divided into two parts on a plane passing through the central axis. Be guided inside. This semi-conical trapezoidal end cap 42 has a cylindrical plug portion 42a formed at the tip on the large diameter side, and the plug portion 42a is the storage hose 4 described above.
It is inserted into the base end of No. 1 and seals the base end.

The flat portion corresponding to the dividing surface of the end cap 42 has a saddle portion 4 straddling the traction support line 20.
3b is fixed. A groove 42c is formed in the center of the side surface of the end cap 42, the end cap 42 seals the storage hose 41, and the saddle portion 4 is formed.
The end cap 43 is fixed to the support wire 20 by wrapping the groove 42c and the outer surface of the support wire with the tie wrap 46 while the 2b straddles the support wire 20.

The tip of the storage hose 41 is hermetically supported by a semi-conical tip cap 43 whose conical body is divided into two parts by a plane including the central axis. The apex of the tip cap 43 of the semi-conical body is arranged adjacent to the rear of the tow metal fitting 21 for towing. Similar to the case of the end cap 42, a cylindrical plug portion 43a for sealing the storage hose 41, a saddle portion 43b straddling the support line 22, and a groove portion 43c are provided on the proximal end side of the distal end cap 43. The groove 43c of the tip cap 43 and the outer surface of the support wire 22 are wound by the tie wrap 47 with the plug portion 43a of 43 sealing the tip of the storage hose 41 and the saddle portion 43c straddling the support wire 22. Thus, the tip cap 43 is fixed to the support wire 22. The storage hose 41 is also fixed to the support wire by the tie wrap 48, like the tip cap 42 and the end cap 43.

The end cap 42 and the tip cap 43 are both made of a lightweight and easy-to-process material such as foamed polyethylene.

Next, the structure of the storage hose 41 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the tip of the optical fiber cable 2 is guided into the storage hose 41, the tape fiber T is led out from the tip, and the connector C is attached to the tip leaving a certain extra length T ′. It A cable clamp 45 for fixing the optical fiber cable 2 is attached to the tip of the optical fiber cable 2 guided into the storage hose 41. The cable clamp 45 has an ogre (not shown) inside, and the ogre meshes and fixes the outer surface of the optical fiber cable. Then, one surface of the cable clamp 45 is in contact with the tip end surface of the cylinder 42a of the end cap 42 to fix the position of the optical fiber cable 2.

The tape fiber T led out from the end of the optical fiber cable fixed by the cable clamp 45 is attached with the connector C, leaving the extra connection length T '. The connection length T ′ of the tape fiber is half-turned in the storage hose 41, and the connectors C are inserted into the connector holders 50, respectively.
Is joined to the tension member 26 led out from the tip of the optical fiber cable 2 and placed at the center of the storage hose 41.

Assume, for example, a 400-fiber optical fiber cable pulling tool in which 100 4-fiber ribbons are bundled. The connector holder 50 shown in FIG. 2 is an example designed to accommodate the connector C of the 400-fiber optical fiber cable consisting of the 100 4-fiber tape described above.
The connector holder 50 is made of foam plastic, and 20 connector fitting recesses 52 into which the connector C is fitted and accommodated are formed on the side surface of the connector holder body 51.

These connector fitting recesses 52 are formed on both side surfaces of the connector holder main body 51.
Toward the base end side of the connector holder 51, they are formed in parallel with each other with an inclination of 30 ° with respect to the central axis of the connector holder 51. In each recess 52, five connectors C attached to the ends of the four-fiber tape fiber T are stacked and accommodated. In this way, since the fitting recess 52 is formed obliquely toward the base end side of the connector holder,
In a state where the tape fiber surplus length T ′ is turned halfway at the tip of the storage hose and folded back, the respective connectors C are accommodated in the fitting recess 52 substantially linearly.

The two cover plates 53, 53 shown in FIG. 2 are arranged on the upper surface and the lower surface of the connector holder body 51 in which the connectors C are stacked and held. And
The cover plates 53, 53 arranged on the upper and lower surfaces are
In a state in which they are adhered by the adhesive tape 54, they are simply fixed to the tension member 26 led out from the optical fiber cable 2 and stored in the storage hose 41.

As shown in FIG. 1, the extra length T'of the tape fiber is directed toward the tip of the storage hose 50 and folded back by making a half turn from the tip, so that each connector C is connected to the connector holder 50 at the base end side. It is arranged so that it is stored diagonally toward. Therefore, the tape fiber surplus length T ′ is turned and arranged so as to surround the connector holder 50 in the storage hose 50 while maintaining the bending radius.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A cylindrical net 49 made of metal is inserted so as to contact the inner surface of the. Since the cylindrical metal net 49 has a low contact resistance with the tape fiber T coated with plastic, it facilitates the work of storing or drawing out the tape fiber extra length T ′ in the storage hose 41. There is.

The tow tool K is assembled in the following procedure. First, the optical fiber cable 2 is inserted into the hole formed in the center of the end cap 42, the sheath at the tip is removed, and the tape fiber T and the tension member 2 are removed.
Take out 6. Next, the cable clamp 45 is attached to the tip of the optical fiber cable, and a connection extra length of about 1 m of the tape fiber led out from the tip of the optical fiber cable is left, and the connector is attached to the tip.

Each connector has a connector holder 5
0 is fitted. Further, the connector holder 50 to which the cover plate 52 is attached is
6 and is arranged in the central portion of the storage hose 41. The extra length of the tape fiber T is half-turned so as to surround the connector holder 50, and the storage hose 41
Of the metal net 49. And the storage hose 41
The base end of the is sealed by an end cap 42 and the tip is sealed by a tip cap 43.
The support wire is connected by 47 and 48, and the assembly is completed.

The main traction device K having the above-mentioned structure is
It has the following features. That is, since the extra length of the tape fiber T is stored in the storage hose 41 with a half turn, and the connector holder 50 that can store the connectors with high density is used, the length of the storage hose 41 is reduced to the conventional pulling tool. Could be about half the length of. This is because the storage hose 41 having elasticity is adopted, and the tip cap 43 and the end cap 42 are both made of a semi-conical body made of elastic foam plastic.
The towing tool K was able to greatly reduce the towing load when passing through the gold wheel 15 at the time of installation and to improve the towing efficiency.

Further, the tip and end caps 42 and 43 for sealing the storage hose 41 are made of foamed plastic which is easy to process, and the support wire is connected to the storage hose 41, the tip cap 43 and the end cap 42 by a tie wrap 4.
By adopting a simple structure such as 6, 47, 48, the number of parts constituting the present traction tool K was significantly reduced, and the cost of the traction tool could be reduced.

Further, since the connector holder 50 is made of foamed plastic and has a structure in which the connector can be accommodated in an inclined manner, it has elasticity and the connector C has a high accommodation density. At the same time, for example, when laying an optical fiber cable composed of 50 tape fibers of 4 cores, it is sufficient to accommodate half of the connectors of the optical fiber cable of 100 tape fibers, so that the connector holder 50 has a half length. It has also become possible to cut the length of the storage part further by cutting it into.

Further, since the tip cap 43 has a semi-conical shape and the end cap 42 also has a semi-conical shape, it has a good ability to pass through a gold wheel and has an effect that the tip cap 43 is not particularly damaged when passing through a gold wheel. It was

[0034]

As described above, the pulling tool for the optical fiber cable according to the present invention is attached to the tape fiber extra length portion led out from the optical fiber cable and the tip end leaving the extra length portion of the tape fiber. A connector holder in which a connector is housed is housed in a housing hose, and the housing hose is configured to be sealed by a tip cap and an end cap and fixed to a towing support wire.

Since the connector holder containing the connectors at high density is placed in the center of the storage hose, and the tape fiber surplus portion is folded back and stored in the storage hose, the length of the storage hose is as follows. Compared to the length of conventional traction equipment, it is halved, and the storage hose, tip cap, and end cap are made of elastic material, which significantly reduces the traction load when passing through the gold wheel during installation. The efficiency of laying the optical fiber cable can be improved.

Further, since the tip end cap is a semi-conical body whose outer diameter decreases in the pulling direction, the tip cap is not damaged when passing through the gold wheel and reliability is improved. By providing the metal net in the storage hose, the extra length of the tape fiber can be efficiently stored in the storage hose.

Since the connector holder is made of foamed plastic having a plurality of connector accommodating recesses formed therein, the connector can be accommodated at a high density. The length of the connector holder depends on the number of cores of the optical fiber cable. The effect that the height can be easily adjusted is also obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a pulling tool for an optical fiber cable according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a connector holder and a cover plate of the optical fiber cable of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a conventional optical fiber cable pulling tool.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a configuration of an optical subscriber line.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a situation of aerial installation of an optical fiber cable.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a gold wheel used when laying an optical fiber cable.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Optical fiber cable, T ... Optical fiber, C ... Connector, 21 ... Towing metal fitting, 22 ... Support wire, 41 ... Storage hose, 42 ... End cap, 43 ... Tip cap, 50
… Nectar holder, 52… Connector fitting recess

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pulling tool for an optical fiber cable (2) in which a connector (C) is attached to an optical fiber (T) led out from a terminal, and a supporting wire to which a pulling means (22) is connected ( 21), a connector holder (50) accommodating the connector (C) attached to the tape fiber (T) led out from the optical fiber cable (2), and a surplus length (T ′) of the tape fiber. A storage hose (41) made of a cylindrical elastic body, a tip cap (43) made of a semi-conical elastic body that seals the pulling side tip of the storage hose, and a base end of the storage hose is sealed. An end cap (42) made of a semi-conical trapezoidal elastic body, and the excess length (T ′) of the tape fiber is stored in the storage hose while being turned while maintaining a bending radius. To Traction tool of the optical fiber cable according to symptoms. 2. The connector holder (50) is formed into a prismatic shape that can be housed in a storage hose, and a connector fitting formed on a side surface of the connector holder is inclined toward a base end in a pulling direction. The fiber optic cable puller according to claim 1, wherein the recesses (52) are arranged in a row.