Patent ID: 7186035

Claim:
An optical fibre connector, comprising: a housing; an optical socket within the housing; a cylindrical ferrule at an internal end of the socket having a cylindrical axis defining a connection direction; an annular split sleeve inside the socket and extending around the ferrule to locate the ferrule with respect to the socket; and an optical fibre held within the ferrule and secured thereby with respect to the socket; wherein the optical socket has an opening for receiving a matching optical plug along the connection direction to make an optical connection with said optical fibre; the optical fibre has a fibre end for receiving and/or transmitting optical radiation when said optical connection is made and said fibre end being at a recessed location within the socket; the annular split sleeve extends in the connection direction from the ferrule towards the socket opening for receiving a similar ferrule of said matching optical plug to align said received ferrule with respect to said optical fibre to make said optical connection; and the housing has at least two portions that are removably secured to one another, wherein at least one of said at least two portions is removable from the remainder of the housing to access the ferrule and the fibre end for cleaning thereof, and wherein the annular spilt sleeve makes a sliding fit with an inside surface of a bore of both the removable portion of the housing and the remainder of the housing.