Patent ID: 8818157

Claim:
An optical fiber or cable storage module for installation at a customer premises, comprising: a back wall, and a number of resilient mounting fingers extending from the back wall inside the module, and a fiber optic connector adapter supported inside the module; a supply spool having a hub with a first axial end face, a second axial end face, and an axial bore with an inner circumference dimensioned and formed to (a) receive the mounting fingers when the bore in the hub is centered over the fingers, and (b) engage the mounting fingers when the spool is urged toward a mounted position adjacent the back wall of the module so that the spool is restrained from axial movement away from the mounted position, and the spool includes: a first winding section for containing a first length of a given fiber or cable for routing the fiber or cable between a service terminal located outside a customer premises where an end of the fiber or cable is connected to the service terminal, and a location inside the premises where the module is mounted, and a second winding section for containing a second length of the given fiber or cable for connecting the opposite end of the fiber or cable to a proximal end of the connector adapter when the supply spool is placed at the mounted position inside the module; a first set of circumferentially spaced retaining flanges extending radially outward from the first axial end face of the spool hub, a second set of circumferentially spaced retaining flanges extending radially outward from the second axial end face of the hub opposite the first set of flanges, and the first and the second sets of retaining flanges define the first winding section of the supply spool; a third set of circumferentially spaced retaining flanges extending radially outward with respect to the spool hub and at a certain axial offset from the second set of retaining flanges, and the second and the third sets of retaining flanges define the second winding section of the supply spool; and wherein the mounting fingers have corresponding catches, and the inner circumference of the axial bore in the hub of the supply spool has an annular groove dimensioned and formed to seat the catches for restraining the spool from said axial movement away from the mounted position.