Optical fibre element for use in an optical cable

摘要

An optical fibre element suitable for loosely housing in a bore of an optical cable comprises a plastics tape having transversely spaced on and secured to one of its major surfaces two plastics insulated electric conductors extending lengthwise of the tape and a second plastics tape overlying and secured to the plastics insulated conductors to form between the pair of plastics insulated conductors an elongate compartment. Loosely housed in the elongate compartment is an optical fibre ribbon comprising a plurality of optical fibres arranged side by side and embedded in an elongate plastics body. Each conductor may be of a resilient metal and/or each plastics tape may be of a resilient plastics material and each conductor and/plastics tape may be resiliently set in such a form that the optical fibre element follows a path of smoothly curved undulations whose axes of curvature lie transverse to the longitudinal axis of the element.