The present invention relates to a coupling arrangement in general, and more particularly to an arrangement for alignedly coupling two coated light-conductive fibers.
There are already known various arrangements for coupling or alignedly interconnecting two light-conductive fibers at their end portions. The light-conductive fibers, which are usually used for transmitting signals or the like, are, more often than not, externally coated in order to minimize intensity losses of the light being transmitted through the light-conductive fibers. While the distance which is to be traversed by the light rays conducted through the light-conductive fiber may be sometimes small enough for use of only a single section of the light-conductive fiber, it is often necessary to compose a light-conductive line of a plurality of such sections, particularly when the distance to be traversed exceeds the length of a single available light-conductive fiber section. When this is the case, it is necessary to securely connect the light-conductive fiber sections with one another in such a manner that the end portions of the light-conductive fiber sections which are juxtaposed with one another at their respective end faces are in perfect axial alignment with one another in order to avoid light losses at the juncture of the sections.
To achieve this axial alignment of the light-conductive fibers of the sections, it has already been proposed to mount three clamping bars in a support sleeve in such a manner that the axes of these clamping bars are located at the vertices of an imaginary isosceles triangle so that the clamping bars define between themselves a passage in which the light-conductive fibers to be joined or coupled are received. Then, the clamping bars are pressed inwardly against the end portions of the light-conductive fibers received therebetween, thereby clampingly engaging the two end portions in a perfect axial alignment with one another. Usually, the inward pressing is performed by deflectable members which are acted upon, in the axial direction, by actuating elements which are introduced into the support sleeve through the respective end portions thereof.
The coupling arrangement of the above-mentioned type excellently solves the problem of precisely aligning the end portions of the light-conductive fibers with one another and of arresting the end portions in their aligned positions. However, experience with this conventional arrangement has shown that, particularly in view of the relatively small transverse dimensions of the light-conductive fibers, it is very difficult to introduce the end portions of the light-conductive fibers into the passage defined between the clamping rods. Another problem which has been encountered in the above-discussed conventional coupling arrangement is that, in some applications, it is necessary to disassemble the connection of the light-conductive fibers. The above-mentioned conventional arrangement is not capable of disassembly without a complete dismantling of the coupling arrangement, which is a rather serious drawback in the above-mentioned applications inasmuch as it involves a very time-consuming disassembling and assembling operation.