Abstract: In order to spread optical fibers emerging from an end of cable and to firmly attach the cable end with ends of protective jackets in which the spread fibers are strung, the following steps are performed by means a spreading device including mainly a grooved hollow distributor. The distributor is fastened to a sawn off end of a grooved elongated ring in the cable by pinching a central armature emerging from the cable, by jaws housed in the distributor. A split ring is strung around a grooved revolution portion of the distributor. For each fiber, a longitudinal slot of the split ring and a respective groove of the revolution portion are superposed, the end of the jacket of the fiber is entered into the groove through the slot, and the jacket is forced into the groove by partially rotating the split ring so as to superpose the slot and another distributor groove.

Abstract: An apparatus accumulating a filiform element in order to absorb differences in input and output travel speeds of the element, without tangling and damaging the element. Mechanical means located above an accumulation container draw the filiform element at the input speed and wind the filiform element in layers of coils stacked on the bottom of the container following an epicycloid or hypocycloid path. Two stationary concentric rings, respectively, attached to and suspended above the bottom of the container, guide the filiform element unwound at the output speed through the bottom of the container to the outside. The apparatus is particularly designed for a very fine and fragile filiform element such as an optical fiber, and is inserted between a multifibering machine and a cabling line.