Patent ID: 8364000

Claim:
A method of maintaining the relative axial locations of a cable sheath, furcation tubes and a cable strength member in an optical cable, the method comprising: providing a fiber optic cable including a plurality of optical fibers and a strength member protruding from a cable sheath; clamping a strength member clamp to the portion of the strength member protruding from the cable sheath; clamping a sheath grip member to the cable sheath; installing a cable fiber separator onto the plurality of optical fibers, the cable fiber separator comprising: (a) a plurality of plates including at least a first plate connected to the sheath grip member and a fiber retention plate adjacent to the first plate, the fiber retention plate including openings sized to grip furcation tubes of a fiber optic cable and the first plate including complementary openings to receive the furcation tubes; and (b) a plurality of cable fiber openings located through each of the plurality of plates and sized to retain furcation tubes encasing separated fibers, wherein the installing of the cable fiber separator results in one or more of the plurality of optical fibers passing through the plurality of openings of the cable fiber separator; and installing a furcation tube over one or more of the optical fibers and into an opening of the cable fiber separator.