Appeal No. 2003-2153 Page 5
Application No. 09/632,160
being installed is protected from rodent damage due to the existence of glass fibers in
the reinforcing jacketing.
Keller
Keller's invention relates to an indoor/outdoor optical fiber cable that meets
various competing industry standards such as peak flame, peak smoke, average
smoke, compression and cold temperature bend tests. Keller teaches (column 3, lines
12-35) that:
In its broadest sense, the present invention provides a cable having an
optical fiber, a buffer tube having the optical fiber arranged therein, and a
thermoset material for frictionally-connecting the optical fiber to the buffer tube.
A thermoset material is capable of becoming permanently solid when
heated or cured and is also known in the art as a crosslinked polymeric material.
(Compare: A thermoplastic An material that is capable of softening or fusing
when heated and of hardening again when cooled.) In the present invention, the
thermoset material may be a flame-retardant product of Dow Corning named
SYLJRD Silguard 184 silicone elastomer, base and curing agent, or a Liquid
Rubber--Rubber Molded Compound (PMC-121/40, Parts A and B), which is not
flame-retardant, but may be applied about every 0.5-30 meters. The thermoset
material will not melt or appreciably soften and will maintain basic elastomeric
flexibility in a temperature range from -40 to +85 degree Celsius. The thermoset
material allows for fiber helix movement as the cable expands and contracts in
the temperature range from -40 to +70 degrees Celsius, and is cyclically placed
for frictionally-connecting the optical fiber to the buffer tube at intervals of about
every ½ meter, as well as at intervals of about every 10 meters or longer to 30
meters.
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