Patent ID: 7490995

Claim:
An optical connector assembly for interconnecting two optical fibers and having a splice for holding bare ends of said fibers together while optically coupled, and two corresponding ferrules for securing said fibers to lead into said splice, said ferrules being interconnected by a sheath to form a connector body, wherein: said splice comprises a first fiber conduit with a first extremity for receiving a first one of said fiber ends and a second extremity for receiving a second one of said fiber ends, where said first fiber conduit holds and confines said fiber ends to be in end to end alignment in said first fiber conduit, where said first extremity comprises at least one aperture; and a first one of said ferrules comprising at least one fiber guiding member adapted to fit within said at least one aperture of said first extremity of said first fiber conduit for aligning said first and second fiber conduits and for guiding said first fiber end into said first fiber conduit without catching an edge, wherein said at least one fiber guiding member comprises a projection, and said at least one aperture comprises an enlargement of said first fiber conduit.