A reinforcing apparatus for reinforcing a fusion-splicing part between optical fibers includes a main body part, a heater that heats a heat-shrinkable tube covering the fusion-splicing part, and a pair of clamp parts that are provided at opposite sides of the heater and respectively hold an optical fiber or an optical connector. The pair of the clamp parts respectively include a storage part that stores the optical fiber or the optical connector, and a clamper that is rotatably supported in the main body part and can be disposed in an open state where an upper portion of the storage part is opened and in a closed state where the optical fiber or the optical connector stored in the storage part is sandwiched. A clamp part of at least one part of the pair of clamp parts includes a sliding part that is slidably mounted on a storage part.

A fusion splicer includes: a device main body including a heater that heats a pair of optical fibers that each include a glass part and a coated part; a pair of glass holders each including a groove on which the respective glass part is disposed; a pair of first clamps that each clamp the respective glass part against the respective glass holder; a pair of second clamps that each clamp the respective coated part from above; a third clamp that is fixed to the device main body and that restricts movement of at least one of the optical fibers in a closed state; and a windproof cover that covers the heater, the glass holders, the first clamps, the second clamps, and the third clamp.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring the temperature of optical fibers during fusion splicing or thermal processing, said method comprising: a) measuring, using an interferometric method, a change in an optical path length in an optical fiber due to temperature dependent properties of the optical fiber during fusion splicing or thermal processing; and b) determining the temperature of the optical fiber based on the measured changes in the optical path length.

A fusion splicing apparatus includes a fusion splicing unit, a clock unit that outputs a current date and time, and a fusion control unit that controls an operation of the fusion splicing unit and stops the operation of the fusion splicing unit when a remaining period of use known on the basis of the current date and time output from the clock unit and a usable period input from the outside in advance is zero or less. The fusion control unit records information on the number of times of electric discharge per unit period when the clock unit is normal and determines the remaining period of use assuming that the unit period has elapsed when the number of times of electric discharge has reached the number of times of electric discharge per unit period in a case in which an abnormality of the clock unit is detected.

A storage case including a fusion splicer accommodating portion, an optical fiber cutter accommodating portion, an optical fiber cutter holder, and a support portion. The fusion splicer accommodating portion includes a first placement surface. The optical fiber cutter holder has a second placement surface configured to fix a bottom surface of an optical fiber cutter, and is supported to be rotatable around a rotating shaft separated from a plane including the first placement surface. The support portion is disposed between the fusion splicer accommodating portion and the optical fiber cutter accommodating portion. The support portion is in contact with the optical fiber cutter holder which has rotated such that an angle formed by a line normal to the first placement surface and a line normal to the second placement surface is an acute angle, to support the optical fiber cutter holder.

A method of re-splicing a splice-on connector (“SOC”) includes at least five steps: (1) stripping insulation from an end portion of a first optic fiber; (2) stripping insulation from an end portion of a second optic fiber having a connector body fixed to an opposite end portion thereof. One end portion of the connector body is sized and configured to be inserted into an end portion of an elongated hollow member. The method also includes: (3) splicing together the first and second fiber optic end portions to produce either an SOC or a re-spliced splice-on connector (“RSSOC”). The SOC has a predetermined length to enable cutting at three predetermined locations spaced from the connector body. The method further includes: (4) if an operational fault is caused in a system using the SOC or RSSOC, cutting the SOC or the RSSOC at one of the three predetermined regions; and (5) repeating step (3).

Optical fiber mass splice methods and assemblies are provided. A method may include securing a fiber clamp to a fiber setting fixture, the fiber setting fixture including a fiber alignment block and a backstop. A plurality of fiber grooves may be defined in the fiber alignment block. The method may further include inserting a plurality of optical fibers into the fiber setting fixture such that each of the plurality of optical fibers is disposed in one of the plurality of fiber grooves and contacts the backstop. The method may further include loading, after the inserting step, each of the plurality of optical fibers into the fiber clamp. The method may further include clamping the plurality of optical fibers in the fiber clamp.

A fusion splicer includes an irradiation unit to irradiate an optical fiber with first wavelength light and second wavelength light; a light receiving unit; a processing unit to extract first feature data from first luminance information based on the first wavelength light and to extract second feature data from second luminance information based on the second wavelength light; a determination unit to determine whether the first feature data and the second feature data are within a predetermined range; and a drive unit to move one optical fiber on the basis of the luminance information from which the feature data is extracted so as to arrange the axes of the optical fibers in a predetermined positional relationship when the feature data is determined to be within the predetermined range. The processing unit extracts the second feature data when the first feature data is not within the predetermined range.

An optical fiber fuse protection device includes an upstream optical fiber disposed on an upstream side, a downstream optical fiber disposed on a downstream side, and a wall interposed between a part of the upstream optical fiber and a part of the downstream optical fiber. The downstream optical fiber is fusion-spliced to the upstream optical fiber and is made of a single optical fiber or a plurality of optical fibers fusion-spliced to each other.

A tray for fusion splicing work is a tray used for fusion splicing work for an optical fiber, and includes a tray main body and a first body contact member. The tray main body includes a pair of long wall portions extending along a first direction, and a pair of short wall portions extending along a second direction. The first body contact member includes an outer surface configured to come into contact with a body of an operator using the fusion splicer and is attached to the tray main body on a side of one long wall portion of the pair of long wall portions. The first body contact member is able to be transitioned between an unfolded state in which the outer surface is unfolded in a third direction and a housed state in which the first body contact member is housed from the unfolded state.