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EP-3457187-B1 - TAB FOR OPTICAL CONNECTOR

EP3457187B1EP 3457187 B1EP3457187 B1EP 3457187B1EP-3457187-B1

Inventors

  • WATANABE, YASUHIRO

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20180830

Claims (7)

  1. A tab (2) for an optical connector for engaging and disengaging an optical connector plug with and from an adapter (21), the optical connector plug including a ferrule (12); a housing (18) which receives at its end the ferrule (12); a coupling (13) which is externally fitted in a slidable manner in forward and backward directions onto the housing (18), and is elastically urged all the time in the forward direction; and a spring bush (11) which is internally inserted into the rear end of the housing (18), wherein an engagement of the optical connector plug with an elastic engaging part (22) within the adapter (21) being held by advancing the coupling (13) in the forward direction, and the engagement with the elastic engaging part (22) within the adapter (21) being disengaged by retreating the coupling (13) in the backward direction to allow the optical connector plug to be pulled out, the tab (2) for the optical connector comprising: an operating member (3) which is provided at its end with a plurality of arms (5) so as to detachably attach and hold in each of a plurality of engaging holes (13a) formed at the rear end of the coupling (13); and a gripping member (4) which is extendingly provided from a back of the operating member (3), wherein the coupling (13) is able to advance or retreat with respect to the housing (18) by an operation of the operating member (3) in association with the advance and retreat of the gripping member (4), and is able to prevent disengagement of the optical connector plug from the elastic engaging part (22) of the adapter (21) by advancing and to allow disengagement of the optical connector plug from the elastic engaging part (22) of the adapter (21) by retreating, wherein an engaging part (5a) at a tip of the respective arms (5) is formed of an engaging claw (5b) which is provided at the tip of the arms (5) in vertical and horizontal directions with the engaging claw (5b) outwardly facing away from each other, characterized in that the arms (5) have at least four arms in total, and the respective arms (5) are provided at predetermined intervals in vertical and horizontal directions, through an upper side concave part (7a) and a left and right sides concave part (7b), so as to present a substantially U-shape when viewed from the both plan and side views in order for the arms (5) to insert into the inside of the coupling (13) of the optical connector plug and hold therein.
  2. The tab (2) for an optical connector according to claim 1, wherein the respective arms (5) comprise the engaging part (5a) which presses the rear end of the coupling (13) and disengageably engages in the engaging holes (13a) from the inside of the coupling (13) after advancing the coupling (13), and a pressing part (6) which presses the rear end of the optical connector plug excluding the coupling (13), and disengageably engages with the adapter (21) after advancing the optical connector plug.
  3. The tab (2) for an optical connector according to claim 1, wherein the engaging claw (5b) of the engaging part (5a) is configured to press the rear end of the coupling (13), and is provided at the tip of the arms (5) so as to engage in the engaging holes (13a) of the coupling (13), and the pressing part (6) is provided in the back at predetermined intervals in the middle of the arms (5) so as to press the optical connector plug simultaneously with an engageable insertion of the engaging claw (5b) of the engaging part (5a).
  4. The tab (2) for an optical connector according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the pressing part (6) of the respective arms (5) is formed of a pressable pressing projection (6a) whose end is configured to abut against a portion other than the coupling (13) of the optical connector plug.
  5. The tab (2) for an optical connector according to claim 1, wherein the operating member (3) is folded and linked in a substantially chevron shape at the end of the gripping member (4), arranged at a lower position with respect to the griping member (4), and is provided at a lower portion with a curved inserting part (9) so as to be configured to linearly hold up to a multi-core optical fiber cord (FT) at the rear end of the optical connector plug.
  6. The tab (2) for an optical connector according to claim 1 or 5, wherein a folding adjustment material (42) such as a wire is configured to be inserted into the gripping member (4) which is extendingly provided at the rear end of the operating member (3) or into the inside of the gripping member (4) which is extendingly provided at the rear end of the operating member (3) through an intermediate member (4d).
  7. The tab (2) for an optical connector according to claim 1, 5 or 6, wherein the griping member (4) is provided at the lower side thereof with a holding part (41) which is configured to hold a multi-core optical fiber code (FT) at the rear end of the optical connector plug.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a tab for optical connector according to the preamble of claim 1 suitable for disengageably attaching a plug body of a MPO type push-pull system optical connector plug (hereinafter, referred to as a plug body) to be mainly connected to an optical connector adaptor (hereinafter, referred to as an adaptor). BACKGROUND ART In view of the improvement of connection workability of an optical connector ferrule, it has been recently provided a so-called MPO connector (optical connector having a structure in which a multi-core connector ferrule, which is stipulated in the JIS-C5982 standard etc., is received within a plastic housing). Conventionally, as shown in Figs. 17A and 17B to be described later, the MPO type plug body 1 receives at the end (front end) of a sleeve-like housing 18 a ferrule 12 which is fitted to a head of a multi-core optical fiber cord FT. Within the housing 18, there is provided a spring 15 which elastically urges the ferrule 12 toward the front side of the plug body 1. Further, the MPO type plug body 1 includes a housing 18 with a spring receiving recess 17, a cylindrical coupling 13 which is externally fitted in a slidable manner within a movable range reserved in an axial direction thereof with respect to the housing 18, and is elastically urged toward the front side of the plug body 1 by the action of a spring 16 received in the recess 17 of the housing 18, a spring bush 11 which is attached to the rear end opposed to the front end at which the ferrule 12 of the housing 18 is provided, and a boot 19 which is externally inserted into the rear end of the spring bush 11. It is configured such that fitting of the plug body 1 to an adaptor 21 is carried out by inserting a portion positioned in a rearward direction of the coupling 13 in the plug body 1, e.g. the boot 19 toward the adaptor 12 with a finger of an operator. Meanwhile, it is configured such that extraction of the plug body 1 from the adaptor 21 is carried out by pulling in the coupling 13 to the boot 19 side against an elastic urging force of the spring 16. For example, as shown in Fig. 17B, when the end side of the housing 18 of the plug body 1 is first forcibly inserted into the adaptor 21, the end of the coupling 13 is pushed by an elastic engaging part 22 of the adaptor 21, and the coupling 13 is once retreated. At this time, a space 22b into which the end of the coupling 13 is entered becomes empty within the adaptor 21 and gets into a free state where the elastic engaging part 22 is free to vertically move. Therefore, inserting the plug body 1 into the adaptor 21 upwardly moves an engaging projection 22a of the elastic engaging part 22 within the space 22b and gets into a state where the plug body 1 can be engaged with the adaptor 21. However, when the plug body 1 is forcibly pulled out in this state, the engaging projection 22a of the elastic engaging part 22 upwardly moves within the space 22b at this rate, resulting in that the adaptor 21 easily comes off. Then, the space 22b is closed by advancing the coupling 13 to block up the space 22b. Thus, the coupling 13 is engaged with a spring stopper 13b as is already mentioned, and is urged all the time toward the front side of the housing 18 by the action of the spring 16 received in the recess 17. Therefore, the coupling 13 is kept in condition of being held at an advance position. This shields and holds the space 22b of the elastic engaging part 22 of the adaptor 21 by the end of the coupling 13, and prevents upward movement of the engaging projection 22a. Therefore, an engaging convex portion 31 of the plug body 1 is engaged with the elastic engaging part 22 of the adaptor 21, thereby preventing the plug body 1 is being pulled out therefrom. When the plug body 1 is removed, the coupling 13 is forcibly retreated from a state where the coupling 13 is held at an advancing position by hooking a finger on the coupling 13 to put a space 22b within the adapter 21 for receiving the end of the coupling 13 into a free state. Namely, when the coupling 13 is slid backwardly, a hooking part 31a in a state where the engaging projection 22a of the elastic engaging part 22 of the adaptor 21 is engaged and the engaging convex part 31 are exposed. When the plug body 1 is forcibly pulled out therefrom in this state, the engaging projection part 22a of the elastic engaging part 22 which bites into the hooking part 31a, and is engaged with the engaging convex part 31 gets over the engaging convex part 31 and is released while expanding by virtue of the space 22b. After the plug body 1 is pulled out from the adaptor 21, a finger is taken off from the coupling 13, thereby elastically advancing and returning the coupling 13 to an initial position by the action of the spring 16. Recently, as shown in Fig.16, under the circumstances where the densification of a communication system in the various data centers has become essential, insertion of the plu