Method for production of plastic ferrule for optical connector

Abstract: A method for producing a plastic ferrule for an optical connector, which is bottomed and cylindrical, has one end open to define an optical fiber guide hole and has the other end forming an opening for serving as an optical fiber insertion hole, characterised by comprising: injection molding a resin composition in molds composed of a movable-side mold (31) and a fixed-side mold (32), characterised in that a core pin (35a) is fixed to said fixed-side mold (32), said core pin (35a) having a thin pin (35) for forming an optical fiber insertion hole; a pin catcher (34) is fixed to said movable-side mold (31), said pin catcher (34) having at the tip thereof a cylindrical depression (33) having a core pin holding hole (33a); and the tip of the thin pin (35) is held in the core pin holding hole (33a) in a non contact state during clamping of the molds.

Description: This invention relates to a ferrule for an optical connector to be used in connecting single-mode fibers together. More specifically, the invention relates to an economical plastic ferrule for an optical connector, the ferrule being very small in the amount of eccentricity and in the dimensional change of the outer diameter of its cylinder, and the ferrule being capable of achieving reduction in the assembly cost and parts cost; and a method for the production of the ferrule. With the progress of optical communication technologies, it is becoming possible to introduce optical fibers into the household level and provide varieties of communication services. To realize such an optical communication network for use among general subscribers, there is need for a low cost, economical optical connector. In connecting together optical fibers for use in optical communication, two ferrules 01A and 01B having optical fiber cords 03A and 03B inserted therein are arranged and aligned in a split alignment sleeve, as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a ferrule used for this purpose, and shows a schematic structure of the ferrule. The ferrule has a coated optical fiber guide hole 04, and a fiber insertion hole 05 at the front end. The ferrule also includes a cylindrical portion 06 directly related to connection, a holding portion 07 for allowing the ferrule to be stably held in an optical connector, and an inserting portion 08 for allowing an optical fiber to be inserted into the ferrule. The ferrule serves as a guide for holding an optical fiber and inserting it into an optical connector when the optical fiber is connected to another optical fiber. Very high dimensional accuracy as shown in Table 1 is required in the diameter of the optical fiber insertion hole, the amount of eccentricity of the optical fiber insertion hole, the outer diameter of the ferrule, and the roundness of the outer diameter. Dimensional requirements for ferrule Item Dimensional Tolerance Outer diameter 2.499 ± 0.0005 mm Amount of eccentricity of optical fiber insertion hole <0.7 µm Size of optical fiber insertion hole 125 + 1 µm - 0 µm Roundness of outer diameter <0.5 µm Cylindricity of outer diameter <0.5 µm Surface roughness <0.5 µm So far, a ferrule has been prepared by precision cutting and grinding a ceramic or metal material piece by piece. This has posed the problems of a low manufacturing efficiency and high parts costs. To solve these problems, there have been attempts to produce a ferrule by plastic molding. For example, Yoshizawa et al. prepared a plastic ferrule by transfer molding of a phenolic resin (Research & Development Report, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 831-842, 1983). Back then, a multi-mode fiber with a large core outer diameter of about 50 µm was mainly used, and such a plastic ferrule was applicable in connecting multi-mode fibers. The plastic ferrule, however, cannot be applied to a single-mode fiber with a core outer diameter of 8 to 10 µm which is in current use for communication. Moreover, the ferrule, prepared by transfer molding, requires post-treatment such as flash trimming or heat-treatment after molding. From the viewpoint of economy during a manufacturing process, therefore, the plastic ferrule has not been fully satisfactory. An attempt was made to prepare a plastic ferrule by the use of a cost-effective injection molding technique. For this purpose, plastic materials such as PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) with relatively high thermal resistance and fluidity were considered. For example, the following ferrules were investigated: 1. Biconical connector (ATT: W.C. Young et al., Proc. IWCS, 1981, p. 411-418) Prepared by transfer molding of an epoxy resin. As in the study by Yoshizawa et al., the molding cycle was long, and required post-treatment such as deflashing. The manufacturing efficiency was too low to achieve cost reduction. For a single-mode fiber, the connecting properties were unsatisfactory. 2. A ferrule whose contour material was a hollow pipe and whose inside was fitted with a resin by transfer molding (Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.: K. Kashihara et al., Proc. IWCS, 1987, p. 379-381) Prepared by insert molding. Too laborious to prepare an economical ferrule at a low manufacturing cost.Since the 1980's, the molding accuracy of injection molding has improved. Thus, a study was initiated using a more economical injection molding method (continuous production is easy and no post-treatment such as deflashing is required). Frequently studied molding materials were liquid crystal polymers (LCP) and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). 3. A ferrule by injection molding using LCP (Du Pont: M.H. Johnson et al., SPIE Proc., vol. 1992, p.47-53, 1993) Required the removal of a core pin from the ferrule after each molding shot, thus incapacitating continuous production. In addition, reliability in various environments was not entirely satisfactory. 4. A plastic ferrule configured to have a concave groove in the end face of the ferrule (NEC Corp.: K. Harada et al., Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 1-243005) Has a concave groove in the ferrule end face, thus making the grinding of the ferrule end face difficult, and decreasing the strength of the fiber insertion hole portion. The foregoing ferrules did not satisfy the dimensional accuracy, mechanical strength, or reliability for various parameters, capable of accommodating the connection of single-mode fibers. For example, the dimensional accuracy of a ferrule that is required for the connection of single-mode fibers has been shown to have to take the values listed in Table 1. Such a highly accurate ferrule has not been put into practical use. The connecting properties of an optical connector can be evaluated by the connection loss and the return loss of the ferrule end face. The connection loss has to be not more than 0.5 dB, and the return loss must be 25 dB or more (Physical Contact (PC) grinding conditions) or 40 dB or more (Advanced Physical Contact (AdPC) grinding conditions). Reliability tests have pointed out deterioration of the connecting properties that occurred in a high temperature or high humidity environment. The cause of this problem has been presumed to be that since a plastic ferrule has an optical fiber insertion hole length as shown in Fig. 2 of 1 to 2 mm (about 8 mm for a zirconia ferrule) according to the molding method, the adhesion between the optical fiber and the ferrule is insufficient under high temperature or high humidity conditions. US-A-5439370 (Lalaouna et al) describes a device for moulding plastic material ferrules for optical fiber connectors. The device comprises a moulding cavity defined by a cylindrical bush together with a cover. A peg joined to the cover extends axially into the moulding cavity and includes at its free end a needle defining the inside diameter of the ferrule. A backing member extending axially into the moulding cavity from the opposite end relative to the peg comprises a bore for guiding the needle when the backing member moves towards the peg so as to render the needle and the bush concentric. The present invention has been accomplished in the light of the above-described problems. The object of the invention is to provide a plastic ferrule for an optical connector to be used in connecting single-mode fibers together. More specifically, its object is to provide a plastic ferrule excellent in the dimensional accuracy of the ferrule outer diameter, mechanical strength, connecting properties, and economy. In the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a plastic ferrule for an optical connector, which ferrule is cylindrical, has one end opened to define an optical fiber guide hole and has the other end forming an opening for serving as an optical fiber insertion hole, the method comprising: injection molding a resin composition in molds composed of a movable-side mold (31) and a fixed-side mold (32), wherein a core pin (35a) is fixed to one of said molds, said core pin having a thin pin (35) for forming an optical fiber insertion hole; a pin catcher (34) is fixed to the other of said molds, said pin catcher having at the tip thereof a cylindrical depression (33) having a core pin holding holes (33a); and the tip of the thin pin (35) is held in the core pin holding hole (33a) in a non contact state during clamping of the molds, the method being characterised in that the core pin is fixed to said fixed-side mold and the pin catcher is fixed to said movable-side-mold. Here, the resin composition may be a resin composition containing at least a thermotropic liquid crystalline total aromatic polyester and an additive for reducing the orientation of the thermotropic liquid crystalline total aromatic polyester. The mechanism for controlling the flow of resin may be provided in part of a resin flow channel through which the resin composition is injected into the molds. The central axis position of the cavity portion of the mold which forms the ferrule cylindrical portion may be movable relative to the central axis of the thin pin forming the optical fiber insertion hole. Preferably, said ferrule further comprises a cylindrical portion having said insertion hole for fixing an optical fiber and directly related to connection, a holding portion for allowing the cylindrical portion to be stably held in an optical connector, and said guide hole for allowing an optical fiber to be guided into the ferrule, said thin pin being provided inwardly of the tip of the cavity portion which forms the ferrule cylindrical portion; and the tip of the pin catcher having an outer wall extending toward the cavity tip beyond the inside pin holding hole to take a tubular form so as to surround from the surroundings the thin pin to be inserted in the pin holding hole during mold clamping. The above objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a view showing the state of connection of conventional ferrules in a split alignment sleeve; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional plastic ferrule; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a conventional mold for molding a ferrule; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a mold for ferrule molding which is used in the present invention; Figs. 5A and 5B are sectional views of a mold for plastic ferrule molding which is used in the present invention; Figs. 6A-6C are views illustrating a mechanism for controlling the flow of a resin used in the present invention; Fig. 7 is a view showing the structure of a mold on the fixed side which is used in the present invention for controlling eccentricity; Fig. 8 is a graph showing the eccentric position of a ferrule; Fig. 9 is a sectional view of a ferrule according to the present invention; Figs. 10A and 10B are graph showing the connection loss characteristics; and Fig. 11 is a graph showing the return loss characteristics. We, the inventors, have closely investigated the conventional methods and their problems, and have accomplished the present invention. The object of the invention is attained by a ferrule of a particular shape prepared by the use of a mold having a structure as described below. (1) Selection of a mold structure To reduce the amount of eccentricity in a plastic (resin) ferrule is the biggest technical challenge. The amount of eccentricity depends greatly on the structure of a mold to be employed. Fig. 3 shows a conventional typical mold structure, while Fig. 5 shows an example of the structure of a mold used in the present invention. A ferrule prepared by using the mold shown in Fig. 5 can attain the object of the invention. A mold 21 of Fig. 3 has a structure in which a core pin 22 for forming a coated optical fiber guide hole and an optical fiber insertion hole is provided in a movable-side mold 23, and is held by clamping in a pin receiving portion 26 within a cavity of a fixed-side mold 24. In Fig. 3, the numeral 27 denotes a resin inflow portion, and the numeral 28 denotes a parting line. As shown in Fig. 3, the core pin 22 is set accurately in the center of the cavity, but moves by about 10 to 20 µm when clamped. Between a thin tip 22a of the core pin 22 and the pin receiving portion 26, a clearance measuring at least several µm is necessary. Thus, when the resin becomes fluid during molding, the core pin vibrates, and eccentricity of several µm occurs in the resulting ferrule. To solve this problem, the mold structure of Fig. 4 is intended to fix a core pin 35a to a fixed-side mold 32. With this structure, the fixed core pin 35a does not move during molding, and a thin pin 35 fixed to the fixed core pin 35a does not move. By making the eccentricity of the mold small, therefore, a molded ferrule with minimal eccentricity can be obtained. The mold structure of Fig. 4 is also configured to have a hollow cylindrical space in which the tip of the thin pin 35 is held in a core pin holding hole so as to give a moderate clearance between it and a pin catcher 34, and the thin pin 35 is the axial center of the space. Thus, a resin which has flowed in through the resin inflow portion (gate) 37 and has moved toward the cylinder tip passes through a first cavity 36. Then, the resin fills a cylindrical space 33 around the thin pin defined by outer wall 33b, but does not fill the core pin holding hole 33a in front of the thin pin. Therefore, a ferrule having a through-hole continuously ranging from the coated fiber guide hole to the fiber insertion hole is molded. The size of the clearance in front of the thin pin tip is determined by the type of the resin filled. If the clearance is too wide, the resin reaches as far as the area in front of the thin pin, causing a flash, which makes it impossible to form the coated fiber guide hole and the fiber insertion hole continuous with each other. The problem of the flash can be solved by controlling the size of the clearance, or by selecting the type of the molding material. (2) Control of eccentricity The use of a mold of the structure shown in Fig. 5, for example, can suppress fluctuations in eccentricity during molding. However, the absolute value of eccentricity does not necessarily become zero. That is, even if the manufacturing accuracy of mold parts is maximized and their eccentricity is set at zero on the parts level, clearance of at least 1 to 2 µm is necessary to combine mold parts. Depending on the state of assembly of the molds, therefore, the amount of eccentricity that can be expected is not necessarily level zero, but some eccentricity arises. Thus, in regard to eccentricity characteristics, the provision of a mechanism for controlling the amount of eccentricity is necessary for making the present invention more effective. This invention uses the following two mechanisms for adjusting the amount of eccentricity, thereby reducing it. In figures 5a and 5b, analogous to figure 4, there are shown a fixed side mold 42 and a moveable side mold 43. Also illustrated are a core pin 45 and pin catcher 46a. (A) A mechanism for controlling resin flow is provided in part of a runner, a flow channel for a resin to be charged into a mold. Specifically, as shown in Figs. 6A to 6C, a method of pushing a small-diameter pin 51 into a runner 52 can be applied. Fig. 6A illustrates a state in which the pin is not inserted. In the order shown in Figs. 6B and 6C, the pin is inserted deep into the runner to affect the flow of the resin. This method can control the amount of eccentricity within the range of ±3 µm. (B) A mechanism for changing the relative positions of a cavity and a core pin is provided. Concretely, a cavity part is configured as in Fig. 7 to fix the position of a core pin and change the position of a cavity. By varying the thickness of a gauge 61 to be inserted, the position of a cavity center 63 of a cavity part 62 can be changed. With this technique, eccentricity can be adjusted within the range ±10 µm. In the drawing, the numeral 64 denotes an adjusting space, and 65 a mold base. The present invention may use the methods (A) and (B) jointly. As has been presented in Table 1, a zirconia ferrule requires eccentricity of less than 0.7 µm. In the case of a plastic ferrule, on the other hand, the same characteristics can be achieved with eccentricity of not more than 1 µm. This is because a highly rigid material such as zirconia undergoes no deformation of a ferrule itself, while a plastic material can be expected to exhibit certain elastic deformation, thus somewhat broadening the tolerance for the amount of eccentricity. In the present invention, a mark for indicating the position of a molded ferrule in a mold is preferably provided in part of a holding portion or guiding portion of the ferrule. The reasons are as follows: That is, as shown in Fig. 8, the eccentric position of the ferrule tends to be concentrated at a certain position. Fig. 8 presents the results of measurement of the eccentric position of a ferrule of the structure of Fig. 5 which was molded from a resin composition containing a thermotropic liquid crystalline total aromatic polyester and an additive for reducing the orientation of the thermotropic liquid crystalline total aromatic polyester, and having anisotropy of 2 to 5. Eccentricity of 3.7 µm on the average occurs, but variations in eccentricity are very small, and the deviation is 0.2 µm. The same holds true when control of eccentricity is performed. When optical PC(Physical Conatact) connection is carried out using the ferrule of the present invention, for example, there is a case in which two ferrules are opposed to each other in the same positional relationship with their positions in the mold as a reference. In this case, the relative positional relationship of optical fibers becomes the closest, decreasing the connection loss. After the ferrule is pushed out of the mold and the sprue and runner are treated, nothing indicates the position of the ferrule in the mold. Thus, if the aforementioned mark is provided in part of the ferrule other than the cylindrical portion, its position is referred to so that the ferrules can be opposed to each other. This "aligning procedure" can be realized only by the plastic ferrule of the present invention provided with a registration mark. With a conventional ferrule, the eccentricity of each ferrule mounted with a fiber is measured individually, the ferrule is marked based on the results, and alignment is performed with reference to the marked position. The use of a ferrule with a marking as in the invention requires no such a conventional procedure, and thus enables an optical connector to be provided at a low cost. In molding production, attention should be paid to the surface accuracy of the mold surface and the registration accuracy on the parting surface. To increase the registration accuracy, a structure with a spigot joint portion is available, or a taper pin or a cotter block may be provided. Either method can be selected where necessary. The type of a gate for introducing a resin into a mold is a pin point gate, a ring gate or a film gate, and any of them can be selected according to the gate position. As the injection conditions, "a fast injection molding technique (injection pressure is decreased)" involving a higher injection speed, or "a slow injection molding technique" involving as low an injection speed as possible for decreasing distortion after molding can be utilized according to the need. The molding machine usable is a small injection molding machine with a relatively low mold clamping pressure (50 t or less). Normally, there can be used a publicly known hydraulic injection molding machine, an electrically actuated injection molding machine with a servomotor as a drive source, or a hybrid type device having a hydraulic system/electric feed system on the injection side/clamping side. Utmost care should be taken in the molding machine for the parallelism between a moving plate moving with the mold attached and a fixed plate. Poor parallelism results in decreased registration accuracy of the molds, which is unsuitable for precision molding. Parallelism is defined as an error in the distance between both plates, and its value should be at least within 50µm, preferably within 30µm. The plastic ferrule of the present invention can be utilized for products related to an SC connector. It is applicable to an adapter for a double ended plug cord and a junction in an optical module. Basically, this ferrule can be applied to all optical connectors (FC connector, ST connector) with a ferrule outer diameter of 2.5 mm. From now on, optical interconnection is expected to find use in various information processors, and numerous optical connectors and ferrule parts will become necessary. Example: A plastic ferrule was molded using the mold for injection molding illustrated in Figs. 5A and 5B. The resulting ferrule is shown in Fig. 9. As shown in Fig. 9, the length L of a fiber insertion hole 102 of a ferrule 101 was set at 3.5 mm, and the taper angle of a taper portion 103 of the tip was set at 40 degrees. The ferrule 101 comprised a holding portion 106 for making the ferrule stable held in an optical connector, and a guiding portion 107 for the guide of an optical fiber into the ferrule. In the instant embodiment, a mark 108 was provided on the end face of the fiber guiding portion of the ferrule 101. An example of the mark 108 is a depression provided on the periphery of the end face of the fiber guiding portion. Various other marks may be used which are easy to see and can be formed by a simple method. The molding materials used were as follows: Total aromatic thermotropic liquid Crystal polyester (type II) 50 parts by weight Silica powder (average particle size 10 µm) 50 parts by weight The linear expansion coefficient in the flowing direction was 0.92 x 10 -5 , the linear expansion coefficient in the perpendicular direction was 4.5 x 10 -5 , and the anisotropy of the resin was 4.9. The linear expansion coefficient was measured in the range of from 30°C to 150°C. The injection molding conditions are the same as shown in Table 2 below. When no eccentricity adjusting mechanism was used, the eccentricity of the fiber hole was an average of 2.8 µm. When the method (A) and/or (B) explained regarding (4) Control of eccentricity was used, the following values were obtained: Method (A): Average 1.5 µm Method (B): Average 1.2 µm Methods (A) and (B) combined: Average 0.6 µm Method (A) or (B) used alone did not reduce the average eccentricity down to 1µm or less, and a combination of both methods gave the best results. The properties of the molded product are shown in Table 3. Injection molding conditions Item Conditions Resin drying 150°C, 5 hours Cylinder Rear Portion 280°C temperature Intermediate Portion 280°C Nozzle portion 300°C Mold temperature 70°C Injection pressure 800 kg/cm 2 Screw back pressure 80 kg/cm 2 Holding pressure 1200 kg/cm 2 Injection speed 5.7 cm/sec Screw speed 300 rpm Metering time 1.20 seconds Follow-up pressure 500 kg/cm 2 Peak pressure 995 kg/cm 2 Cycle time 30 seconds Characteristics of ferrule obtained in Example Item Dimensional Tolerance Outer diameter [Method (A)] 2.499 ± 0.006 mm b) Amount of eccentricity of optical fiber insertion hole [Method (A)] Average eccentricity 1.5 µm a) Size of optical fiber insertion hole 125 + 1 µm - 0 µm Roundness of outer diameter 0.9 µm Cylindricity of outer diameter 1.2 µm b) Surface roughness 0.35 µm a): Yield of ferrule with eccentricity of 1 µm or less: 40% b): Cylindricity was determined excluding the values found in the portions from the tip to the site 1 to 3 mm apart from the tip From Table 3, it is clear that the product fulfilled such dimensional requirements as to be applicable to a single mode fiber. The roundness was 0.9 µm, a higher value than 0.5 µm required of a conventional zirconia ferrule. However, a plastic ferrule can achieve single mode connecting characteristics even when the roundness is 0.5 µm or more, if it is lower than 1 µm. The reasons are as follows: The cause of poor roundness is tiny protuberances of the resin measuring 1 µm or less. Such protuberances may be abraded during optical PC connection, and removed, thus exerting no advance influence on connecting characteristics. The cylindricity is determined except for the portions in the range 1 to 3 mm from the ferrule tip. This is because the wall thickness of the ferrule differs at sites near the tip, thereby producing a concave "necking" in the vicinity of the ferrule tip. However, this necking is located 1 to 3 mm apart from the tip, and it is not simply that a necking appears inside and a convex shape develops outside. Furthermore, the difference in outer diameter between the tip and the junction 3 mm or more apart from the tip is 1µm or less. This small difference does not exert a marked adverse effect on the connecting characteristics. In determining the cylindricity, therefore, removal of the values in the portions from the tip to the site 1-3 mm apart is substantially effective. Like the roundness, the value of cylindricity was more than 0.5 µm. For the same reasons as stated previously, however, if it is less than 1.5 µm, a substantially unproblematic ferrule is obtained. These facts were uncovered for the first time by the present invention. An optical connector (SC type) was assembled using the thus produced ferrule, and measured for the connection loss and return loss. The molded ferrule used for the optical connector had eccentricity of 1 µm or less. Grinding was AdPC grinding. Alignment was performed utilizing a mark put on the ferrule. The results of the connection loss characteristics are shown in Figs. 10A and 10B. Fig. 10A gives the connecting characteristics for connection between a zirconia master connector (eccentricity: 0.3 µm or less) and a plastic ferrule, while Fig. 10B gives the connecting characteristics for connection between plastic ferrules. With the SC connector, the value of 0.5 dB or less is required for connection with the master connector. Thus, the connecting characteristics were sufficient for connection of single mode fibers. Fig. 11 shows the return loss characteristics. An average return loss was 50 dB or more, showing that the ferrule had sufficient characteristics as an AdPC ground ferrule. Table 4 shows the results of various tests for mechanical characteristics and reliability. All the results pointed to the fulfillment of the desired properties. Results of connecting characteristics Evaluation Item Testing Conditions Desired Properties Test results O.C. Connection loss λ= 1.3 µm 0.5 dB or less Average 0.13 dB Return loss 500 times Return loss 40 dB or more Average 50 dB M.C. Mating test 500 times Return loss 40 dB or more Average 50± dB Vibration test 10-55 Hz, 2 hr Ditto Average 50± dB Surface hitting test 100G, 6 ms Ditto Average 50± dB A.D.C Temp. cycling -25 to 70°C 100 cycle Ditto Average 48 dB Left at high temp. 85°C, 960 hr Ditto Average 48 dB Temp. humidity cycling -10 to 65°C 93%RH Ditto Average 48 dB O.C.: Optical characteristics M.C.: Mechanical characteristics A.D.C.: Accelerated deterioration characteristics

Claims: A method of producing a plastic ferrule for an optical connector, which ferrule is cylindrical, has one end open to define an optical fiber guide hole and has the other end forming an opening for serving as an optical fiber insertion hole, the method comprising: injection molding a resin composition in molds composed of a movable-side mold (31) and a fixed-side mold (32), wherein a core pin (35a) is fixed to one of said molds, said core pin having a thin pin (35) for forming an optical fiber insertion hole; a pin catcher (34) is fixed to the other of said molds, said pin catcher having at the tip thereof a cylindrical depression (33) having a core pin holding hole (33a); and the tip of the thin pin (35) is held in the core pin holding hole (33a) in a non contact state during clamping of the molds, the method being characterised in that the core pin is fixed to said fixed-side mold and the pin catcher is fixed to said movable-side-mold. A method of producing a plastic ferrule for an optical connector as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said resin composition is a resin composition containing at least a thermotropic liquid crystalline total aromatic polyester and an additive for reducing the orientation of the thermotropic liquid crystalline total aromatic polyester. A method of producing a plastic ferrule for an optical connector as claimed in claim 2, which ferrule further comprises a cylindrical portion having said insertion hole for fixing an optical fiber and directly related to connection, a holding portion for allowing the cylindrical portion to be stably held in an optical connector, and said guide hole for allowing an optical fiber to be guided into the ferrule, said thin pin being provided inwardly of the tip of the cavity portion which forms the ferrule cylindrical portion; and the tip of the pin catcher having an outer wall extending toward the cavity tip beyond the inside pin holding hole to take a tubular form so as to surround from the surroundings the thin pin to be inserted in the pin holding hole during mold clamping. A method of producing a plastic ferrule for an optical connector as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that mechanism for controlling the flow of resin is provided in part of a resin flow channel through which the resin composition is injected into the molds. A method of producing a plastic ferrule for an optical connector as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the central axis position (63) of the cavity portion (62) of the mold which forms the ferrule cylindrical portion is movable relative to the central axis of the thin pin forming the optical fiber insertion hole.

Inventors: KOZAWAGUCHI HARUKI, OHNO MASYOSHI, SATO HIROTSUGU, SHUTO YOSHITO, TAMURA YASUAKI, TOHNO SHUNICHI, YANAGI SHUICHI, KOZAWAGUCHI, HARUKI, OHNO, MASYOSHI, SATO, HIROTSUGU, SHUTO, YOSHITO, TAMURA, YASUAKI, TOHNO, SHUNICHI, YANAGI, SHUICHI
Applicants: NIPPON TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
Application year: 1998
Main classification: G02B6
IPC codes: G02B6, B29C45