US 11,886,018 B2
Fiber optic connectors and connectorized cable assembly with collapsing cantilevered gasket
Michael De Jong, Colleyville, TX (US); Wolf Peter Kluwe, Hagen (DE); Andrey Nikolayevich Levandovskiy, Saint-Petersburg (RU); and Daniel Leyva, Jr., Arlington, TX (US)
Assigned to CORNING RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Corning, NY (US)
Filed by CORNING RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Corning, NY (US)
Filed on Aug. 18, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/406,061.
Application 17/406,061 is a continuation of application No. 16/781,232, filed on Feb. 4, 2020, granted, now 11,099,335.
Application 16/781,232 is a continuation of application No. PCT/US2018/052409, filed on Sep. 24, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/592,143, filed on Nov. 29, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/585,387, filed on Nov. 13, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/565,455, filed on Sep. 29, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0382244 A1, Dec. 9, 2021
Int. Cl. G02B 6/38 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 6/38875 (2021.05) [G02B 6/3825 (2013.01); G02B 6/3849 (2013.01); G02B 6/3893 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fiber optic connector, comprising:
a connector body comprising a ferrule retaining portion, a pusher engagement portion, and a body cable passage extending from a cable entry end of the connector body toward the ferrule retaining portion of the connector body along a longitudinal axis extending through the pusher engagement portion of the connector body;
a ferrule assembly comprising an optical fiber bore, wherein the ferrule assembly is structurally configured to be retained by the ferrule retaining portion of the connector body with the optical fiber bore of the ferrule assembly parallel to the longitudinal axis of the connector body;
a pusher comprising a pusher cable passage, wherein the pusher is structurally configured to engage the pusher engagement portion of the connector body with the pusher cable passage in alignment with the body cable passage of the connector body; and
a collapsing elastic cantilevered gasket comprising a gasket cable passage, an anchored portion formed about the gasket cable passage at a body-engagement end of the gasket, and a cantilevered portion formed about the gasket cable passage at a pusher-engagement end of the gasket, wherein the collapsing elastic cantilevered gasket is structurally configured to form:
a compressed sealing interface at the body engagement end of the gasket about the body cable passage, between the cable entry end of the connector body and the pusher, and
an omnidirectionally compressed sealing interface at the pusher-engagement end of the gasket between the cantilevered portion of the gasket and a surface of a cable passing through the gasket cable passage of the gasket,
wherein the body-engagement end of the gasket is positioned against a stop wall of the connector body and the pusher-engagement end is positioned against the pusher when the gasket is received within the connector body, or the body-engagement end is positioned against the pusher and
the pusher-engagement end is positioned the stop wall when the gasket is received within the connector body.