"Rail travel at high speeds is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia."
Dionysius Lardner, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London ; 1830
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5546180 | Apparatus for inserting light signals into, or receiving light signals from, one of a series of optical paths and usuable as optical time domain reflectometry apparatus A method and apparatus is provided for injecting an optical test pulse mid-stream into an optical path to be tested by providing a switch that in normal transmitting and receiving of data includes two lenses separated by a gap. Data is usually transmitted... | 08/13/1996 |
| 5542012 | Multi-functional photometer with movable linkage for routing optical fibers A multi-functional photometer includes a scanning mechanism having a housing (10) that bears a movable linkage (12). The linkage is coupled to an optical scanning head (18) and incorporates optical fibers for transmitting radiant energy to and from the sc... | 07/30/1996 |
| 5537497 | Optimized electrode geometries for digital optical switches An X-geometry optical switch includes primary and secondary input branch waveguides merging at a junction, and first and second output branch waveguides optically coupled to the input branches at the junction. In a dual electrode configuration, one electr... | 07/16/1996 |
| 5500910 | Passively aligned holographic WDM A passively aligned optical interconnect is described for use as a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) and demultiplexer. The device makes use of silicon waferboard for a low cost interconnect. Computer generated holograms are used to effect the multipl... | 03/19/1996 |
| 5483608 | Optical switch for switching plural optical fibers The present invention is to provide an optical switch that enables size reduction of the switch, facilitation of positioning of an optical fiber, simplification of the structure of an actuator, improvements in assembly operability and reliability of the a... | 01/09/1996 |
| 5479541 | 1×N electromechanical optical switch An improved optical switch having a first optical fiber and a plurality of N optical fibers. The first optical fiber forms an optical path with any one of the N optical fibers by an alignment of a longitudinal axis of an end of the first optical fiber wit... | 12/26/1995 |
| 5465310 | Optical hybrid switch with electroptically active waveguide structure formedfrom an NLO polymer An optical hybrid switch is indicated, which guides a voltage-controlled light flux supplied by an incoming passive optical waveguide (1), to at least one of two outgoing passive optical waveguides (1, 1a). The hybrid switch according to the invention pre... | 11/07/1995 |
| 5463704 | Fiber optic switch A rotary fiber optic switch switches a first optical fiber among a plurality of second optical fibers. The switch is calibrated with a control mechanism such that movement of the rotated fiber to a prescribed position achieves a maximum power transmission... | 10/31/1995 |
| 5461684 | Y-branch digital optical switch In a digital optical switch an input waveguide and two divergent output waveguides constitute a guide structure. A median gap between the two output waveguides constitutes a guide gap. Electrodes control the refractive indices of the two output waveguides... | 10/24/1995 |
| 5461683 | Apparatus and method for aligning optical fibers A ganged optical switch is provided for switching a first optical fiber into and out of axial alignment with a second optical fiber. The fibers are secured to first and second carriages respectively. By relatively moving the carriages, the optical fibers ... | 10/24/1995 |
| 5450508 | Apparatus and method for optical fiber alignment using adaptive feedback control loop A servo-feedback method with elements for dynamically aligning a pair of mating ends of optical fibers supported in a pluggable connector. At least one of the mating ends in the pair receives light from the other mating end. The light-receiving end is mec... | 09/12/1995 |
| 5448667 | Waveguide type optical device with optical receptacles Optical device to optically connect an outside optical fiber with an optical waveguide through the connecting medium of an optical fiber with ferrule located within the hole of the optical receptacle that is fixed at the optical waveguide. The optical wav... | 09/05/1995 |
| 5446810 | Optical switch, optical fiber arranging member and method of manufacturing the optical fiber arranging member The present invention relates to an optical switch comprising a fiber arranging member having a substrate 1 with a plurality of fiber fixing grooves formed in an upper surface thereof, first optical fibers 2 fixed in the fiber fixing grooves, and a convey... | 08/29/1995 |
| 5446811 | Thermally actuated optical fiber switch A micromachined device for selectively switching an optical fiber between a first and a second position includes a working leg that undergoes a greater degree of thermal expansion than a second leg with the conduction of an electrical current through the ... | 08/29/1995 |
| 5434756 | Distributed lighting system with fiber optic controls A vehicle lighting system includes one or more central light sources, a plurality of optical loads including headlight lenses, an optical fiber network that extends from the light sources to illuminate the headlight lenses and other optical loads, and opt... | 07/18/1995 |
| 5434936 | Mechanical optical switch A first pair of optical fibers are held and fixed to a supporting member in a cantilever form, and oppositely connected to a second pair of the optical fibers that are fixed to a square hole of the alignment material. A magnetic body is adhered to each of... | 07/18/1995 |
| 5425115 | Polarization insensitive optical switch A Fabry-Perot etalon 10 is located in the light path 30 between a light sourcesinks 40 and 44. The etalon is polarization insensitive, and its optical path length and transmission wavelength(s) is controlled by a bias source 60. When light at the desired ... | 06/13/1995 |
| 5422968 | Optical demultiplexing system with optical amplifiers In an optical demultiplexing system comprising a plurality of optical demultiplexers for separating the component optical signals respectively having predetermined wavelengths of an input wavelength-multiplexed optical signal, a first optical amplifier is... | 06/06/1995 |
| 5420946 | Multiple channel optical coupling switch An optical coupling device for coupling light into a selected output fiber. The input fiber is optically aligned with one of a plurality of output fibers via a reflector. By rotating a reflector about an axis, the input light beam can be reflected to a se... | 05/30/1995 |
| 5390266 | Optical element The optical element provides for the displacement of two end sections having slanted end faces. The slanted end faces have such an angle to the optical axis of the fiber, that the limit angle for total reflection is exceeded. The displacement remains subs... | 02/14/1995 |
| 5372625 | Method of manufacturing a multiferrule for optical fibers The method of manufacturing a multiferrule for optical fibers, the method consisting in fiber drawing a preform of silica that includes a plurality of mutually parallel channels, the method being characterized by the fact that said preform is made from a ... | 12/13/1994 |
| 5359683 | 1×N electromechanical optical switch An improved optical switch having a first optical fiber and a plurality of N optical fibers. The first optical fiber forms an optical path with any one of the N optical fibers by an alignment of a longitudinal axis of an end of the first optical fiber wit... | 10/25/1994 |
| 5337378 | Optical fiber switch including partitions for restricting surplus fibers An optical matrix switch includes a first guide mechanism having plural guide portions arranged in parallel, a first slider for holding an optical fiber, the first slider being freely slidably mounted along a guide portion of the first guide mechanism, a ... | 08/09/1994 |
| 5317659 | Conical fiberoptic switch The end portions of a number of optical cables each having one or more optical fibers are fixed onto the conical surface of a supporting frame. The end portion of a movable cable with one or more optical fibers is rotated about the axis of the conical sur... | 05/31/1994 |
| 5305402 | Tunable optical filters A tunable optical filter includes an array of optical fibre located within a capillary tube and mounted on a solenoid movable support and positioned in front of a lens and diffration grating. The filter provides simultaneous tuning filtering between fibre... | 04/19/1994 |
| 5268975 | Optical fiber switching system for laser welding A switching system for selectively distributing a laser beam from a laser source to one of a plurality of welding stations for laser welding thereat. The system includes a first optical fiber directing the laser beam therethrough, and a pair of second opt... | 12/07/1993 |
| 5255334 | Directional coupler type optical device and a driving method therefor A 1-input/2-output or 2-input/2-output directional coupler type optical device comprising a junction including two optical waveguides arranged parallel to each other and each fitted with an electrode for controlling a propagation constant, the incidence e... | 10/19/1993 |
| 5214727 | Electrostatic microactuator An electrostatic microactuator for moving an optical fiber is described and includes an actuator plate with opposed major surfaces and interspersed conductive and nonconductive portions. The actuator plate is physically engaged with the optical fiber so t... | 05/25/1993 |
| 5166991 | Electro-optic switch with resonator electrode An optical switch biasing flow of light between a main optical waveguide and one or the other of a pair of secondary waveguides extending from one axial end of the main waveguide to define a Y structure with the secondary waveguides symmetrically position... | 11/24/1992 |
| 5166993 | Molded polymeric resin-filled optical coupler A molded polymeric resin-filled coupler comprising two low-refractive index plastic molded subassemblies. One subassembly has an optically finished mixing region, with a channel that has a V shaped lower portion. The mixing region subassembly is covered w... | 11/24/1992 |
| 5148505 | Optical semiconductor waveguide switch An optical switch includes at least one input optical semi-conductor waveguide. Two output optical semiconductor waveguides are connected at a branch point to the input optical waveguide, and diverge from the branch point with a preset angle θ (degree) b... | 09/15/1992 |
| 5121450 | Fiber optical Y-junction A fiber optical Y-junction device includes a l×N optical fiber coupler connected to N fiber optic amplifier module structures constructed from a doped optical fiber. When the optical Y-junction structure contains a fiber optic amplifier, the fiber optica... | 06/09/1992 |
| 5107534 | Flat panel display system and method A flat panel display system is provided in which the pixels thereof are illuminated by optical fibers. Economy and compactness are achieved by using micromechanical light modulators to demultiplex light from a limited number of LED's to a large number of ... | 04/21/1992 |
| 5090824 | Fast optical switch having reduced light loss An electrically controlled optical switch uses an electro-optic crystal of the type having at least one set of fast and slow optical axes. The crystal exhibits electric field induced birefringence such that a plane of polarization oriented along a first d... | 02/25/1992 |
| 5090791 | Self-illuminated fibre optic switch A fibre optic switch for controlling the electrical power to a load or for logical applications is disclosed in which the switch has a secondary guided light beam to provide status indicator light. The moulded plastic components of the switch are used to ... | 02/25/1992 |
| 5017206 | Method of providing a 1xN fiber optic coupler A fiber optic coupler is formed by assembling a coupler preform having two concentric glass tubes having a gap between them. The shape and/or size of the inner tube relative to the shape and/or size of the outer tube is such that a plurality of output opt... | 05/21/1991 |
| 5007699 | Fiber optic reflective tree architecture The fiber optic network of the present invention is within a structure having a plurality of bulkheads. The network comprises a plurality of terminal groups, each terminal group having at least one terminal. The network includes a reflective star coupler ... | 04/16/1991 |
| 4998791 | Integrated optical switches with very high extinction ratios A 1×2 integrated optical switch is a monolithic integration of two high-extinction cascaded coupled-waveguide modulators, one of said modulators being a bar-type modulator to provide a straight-through path and the second being a cross-type to provide a ... | 03/12/1991 |
| 4932736 | High-extinction 1×2 integrated optical switch A 1×2 integrated optical switch with a high extinction ratio is obtained from the monolithic integration of three integrated waveguide couplers. The waveguide couplers are designed such that the output of the first waveguide coupler is directly coupled t... | 06/12/1990 |
| 4896935 | Fiber optic switch Two fixed input optical fibers may be aligned with two movable output optical fibers. The two output fibers are moved by exchanging the positions so that either output fiber may be optically aligned with either input fiber. In another optical switch eithe... | 01/30/1990 |