Fibre optic cable assemblies typically include at least one fibre optic connector having a locking lever for releasably attaching the cable assembly to a patch panel or adaptor, and the patch panel or adapter includes at least one complementary socket for receiving the connector.
Typically patch panels include many receiving sockets (for example, tens or hundreds), and cable assemblies can be plugged into each available socket. When many cable assemblies are plugged into the sockets, it can be difficult for a user to manually remove the cable assemblies. This is because patch panels provide high density packing, which means there is limited space around each cable assembly. Thus it can be difficult for a user to manipulate the locking lever(s) of any given connector when removing that cable assembly from the panel, due to the interference of adjacent cable assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,152,385 and US 2011/0299814 have each addressed this problem by providing arrangements having two connector bodies, locking levers attached to front portion of the respective connector bodies, and an actuator lever that is arranged to actuate the locking levers simultaneously. The actuator lever is separate from the locking levers and is attached to an upper surface of a connector body. While this provides a reasonably satisfactory means of actuation for the specific arrangements disclosed, it is still necessary for the user to position his finger relatively close to the locking levers in order to operate the actuator lever, and the user is required to push downwards on the actuator, which limits the packing density that can be achieved.
Thus there is a desire to provide a fibre optic cable assembly that includes an improved means of actuating the fibre optic connector locking levers, and which can be used in patch panels having a high packing density.
Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a fibre optic cable assembly that is easy to manufacture and assemble, in order to reduce production costs, since such devices are often produced in relatively large quantities.
In data communications systems fibre optic cables having a plurality of fibre optic cables are frequently used to connect between communications nodes. Typically the fibre optic cable assembly includes a pair of optical fibres, one for transmitting and one for receiving (typically the receiving fibre is labelled A and the transmitting fibre is labelled B). The overall net effect of the data communications cabling is that the transmitting cables B have to connect with receiving ports A, and receiving cables A have to connect with transmitting ports B. However, during installation, it is not uncommon for the installers to get confused between the transmitting and receiving cables and a cross over can occur such that the transmitting cables B are not connected with receiving port A, and vice versa. For many connector types, installers are prevented from simply unplugging the duplex cable connectors and reinserting them in another orientation because the connectors are uni-directional and therefore can only be inserted into the complementary receiving ports in one orientation. Thus it is necessary for the installer to replace the existing cable or remove the connecting head from the fibres and effectively remanufacture the cable on site, which is very cumbersome and time consuming.
Thus it is desirable to provide a fibre optic cable assembly that is capable of changing polarity in a simple manner.
While these problems mainly occur in the data communications industry, the invention also has applicability to telecommunications industry, and any other situation where fibre optic cables are connected together.