Patent ID: 6746159
Filing Date: 2004-06-08
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
An optical connector system for connecting together the ends of first and second sets of optical fibers that each includes a plurality of optical fibers that each have tips, comprising:first and second housings that each has a mating face and that each has a plurality of parallel fiber-receiving bores extending in a longitudinal direction through the corresponding housing to the mating face thereof, with each bore having a front end portion that extends to the mating face of the housing, with said fibers of said first set each extending through a different one of said bores of said first housing and with said fibers of said second set each extending through a different one of said bores of said second housing, with each fiber having an end fixed in position in the corresponding bore; for each of said housings, the tip of the fiber lying in the housing and the mating face of the housing, lie precisely flush and in a common optical plane; a quantity of potting material lying in each of said bore front end portions and around a fiber portion that lies in the bore front end portion; each of said bore front end portions has an inside diameter that is less than twice the outside diameter of the fiber portion lying therein; said first and second housings are substantially identical, with each housing having opposite first and second sides and having first and second opposite flanges with first and second holes in each flange wherein each first hole lies closest to said first side and each second hole lies closest to said second side; a pair of panel mount screws, each lying in the first hole in a first of said flanges and the second hole in the second of said flanges of first housing, for mounting said first housing on a panel.