End fixture for optical fibre bundle - has winding of tinned copper wire soldered to bundle of exposed fibres embedded in resin

摘要

To seal the end of a bundle of optical fibres, the fibre cable sheath (1) is held in one clamp (4) and the exposed fibre bundle (2) is held in another (5). The two clamps are both fixed, but a rotary guide arm (6) is mounted on the second, and is used to guide the winding of a tinned copper wire (3) which is wound around the bundle of fibres under a controlled tension. The winding process is actuated by a gear wheel drive, associated with a lead screw which operates the axial movement of the binding wire. One end (9) of the wire is held by a fixed projecting arm extending from the lower clamp (5). A heating jet (7) is used to embed the fibres in epoxy resin and at the same time to heat solder to form a sweated joint around the tinned copper wire.