Apparatus for connecting metal tubes covering optical fiber cables and method of joining or splicing two optical fiber cables

An appartus for connecting metal tubes covering optical fiber cables includes : at least two clamp units 10, 10' for holding the metal sleeve(C5) and two metal tubes(C2, C2') covering two optical fiber cables(C, C') in close position. A laser welding head is placed between two adjecent clamp units. Each clamp unit has a gear as a rotation body to be driven by a drive gear(38), clamp device (28, 33, 34) for clamping the metal tube covered optical fibers which are introduced in inserting hole(31, 35) where the metal tube covered optical fiber cables are inserted. The clamp device is supported by the rotation body so as to be movable together with the rotation body. The rotation body and the clamp device each are provided with a radially extending selectively open or blocked extraction path (36, 22') to remove, in a radial direction, the metal tube optical fiber cable which has been connected by the apparatus.