Patent ID: 7072560

Claim:
An apparatus for stowage, comprising: a base and a pair of spreader structures dimensioned and configured to store optical fiber in a figure 8 configuration having a center, wherein said apparatus allows for fixing spliced components and winding up excess optical fiber without twisting of said optical fiber; said pair of spreader structures dimensioned and configured to permit a desired amount of said optical fiber to be wound and unwound onto said pair of spreader structures to promote a substantially net zero twist of said optical fiber, wherein said spreader structures promote said figure 8 winding and unwinding of said optical fiber, wherein one revolution is defined by said optical fiber being wound or unwound into one completed figure 8, wherein one-half of said revolution of said figure 8 configuration produces a one-half twist of said optical fiber and wherein the other half of said revolution of said figure 8 configuration produces an opposite one half twist of said optical fiber, and wherein said optical fiber being unwound axially from said figure 8 configuration reduces potential fracture sites or kinking of said optical fiber; and each of said pair of spreader structures being tapered inward from a base for said spreader structure to an upper end for said spreader structure to approximate a truncated cone which eliminates the possibility of snagging said optical fiber when said optical fiber is unwound axially from said pair of spreader structures.