Patent ID: 7883276

Claim:
An optical coupling comprising: a body having an input for allowing a first optical device to become semi-permanently attached thereto, said optical device transmitting potentially damaging optical transmission; said body having an output for allowing a second optical device to be inserted therein and quick-attached thereto; means for allowing said damaging optical transmission to pass from said first optical device to said second optical device when both of said optical devices are attached to said body; and means for preventing damaging optical transmission from escaping said body when said first optical device is attached to said body and said second optical device is detached from said body, and withdrawn either partially or fully from said body even though said damaging optical transmission is being transmitted into said body from said first optical device, wherein said preventing means comprises sequentially operating optics blocking gates, and wherein said gates comprise means for allowing each said gate to be moved non-rotationally out of an optics transmission path through said body only when said second optical device is properly positioned within said body.