PROCEDE ET APPAREILLAGE POUR LA FABRICATION DE FAISCEAUX DE FIBRES DE VERRE UTILISABLES EN COMMUNICATION OPTIQUE

L'invention a pour objet un procédé et un appareillage pour la fabrication de faisceaux de fibres de verre. Des tiges 2 sont tenues espacées par des plaques appropriées 4, 13, 14, 5 avant leur passage dans un four 1 où elles sont ramollies pour être étirées en fibres 3 que l'on réunit en faisceau 3' ; on impose aux plaques 4, 13, 14, 5 une rotation à l'aide d'un organe moteur 8 afin d'imposer une torsion de 1/2 à 2 tours par mètre aux fibres composant le faisceau. L'invention est utile pour la réalisation de câbles optiques présentant peu de points de rupture des fibres dans les faisceaux constitutifs de ces câbles. To reduce breakage of fibres in optical glass fibre bundles during manufacture caused by formation of loops in the fibre during sheathing, a twist is imparted to the fibre bundle during its formation. The apparatus of the invention includes a furnace, a retaining member for holding clad glass rods in a predetermined spaced relationship one to the other, a guide member adjacent the furnace for maintaining the rods in said spaced relationship, said retaining member being movable with respect to said guide member and connected to a drive means for passing the rods into the furnace, means for drawing the rods into fibres and forming the drawn fibres into a fibre bundle and means for causing relative rotation of the said retaining member and said guide member with respect to said means for drawing the rods into fibres, so as to impart a twist to the fibre bundle as the fibres are drawn from the rods and formed into the bundle.