Abstract: A process and apparatus for filling multi-conductor cables, particularly a telecommunication cable with several insulated wires surrounded by a covering and a sheath, with a mixture of powders which expand with the absorption of moisture. The conductors are fed in spaced relation into the entrance of a casing having an interior, frusto-conical wall which decreases in diameter from its entrance to its exit. The exit is small in diameter compared to the entrance so that the conductors converge as they pass from the entrance to the exit. Intermediate the entrance and the exit, the conductors are subjected to the powders which are caused to follow a helicoidal course by a screw which directs them toward the exit. Due to the shape of the casing wall, the powders are forced toward the conductors.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for recovering a length of an electric cable from great depths of water in which a first device with a buoyancy tank and cable gripping jaws is lowered into the water and guided into position over the cable by an operator controlled submarine having manipulating arms. The tank is then released from the remaining equipment and rises to the water surface letting out a rope secured at its lower end to the remaining equipment. The operator then operates the jaws into gripping engagement with the cable. Thereafter, the rope is secured to a tensioning line on a surface ship, and a second device is lowered by the ship along the rope so as to settle in the remaining equipment, the latter being formed to fit into and with a cage at the bottom of the second device. The second device has a plurality of articulated clamping jaws which the operator operates into gripping engagement with the cable, and by raising the second device from the ship, a length of the cable is brought to the water surface.

Abstract: A valve for controlling fluid flow having a cavity divided into first and second chambers by a first bellows carrying a plunger which has one end extending into the valve outlet opening at one wall of the first chamber. A second bellows, co-axial with the first bellows, acts between the end of the plunger remote from the opening and a wall of the second chamber and forms a third chamber in communication with fluid at the outside of the opening by way of a longitudinal conduit in the plunger. Inlet fluid is supplied to the second chamber and is supplied to the first chamber by way of a manually operable flow control valve. The plunger position is dependent upon the difference in fluid pressures in the first and second chambers and varies the size of the opening. Fluid in the third chamber counter-balances the pressure of the fluid at the outlet on the end of the plunger thereat.

Abstract: A flow-meter having a sliding lamina interposed between two chambers and movable to vary the flow therethrough in response to deviations in the pressure difference between the chambers to maintain a constant preset pressure difference for accurate measurement of instantaneous flow rates over a wide range. A cam surface relates linear variation in flow rates to non-linear variation in the area of the opening for fluid passage.

Abstract: An optical fiber band comprising an optical fiber intermediate and equi-distant from a pair of metal wires, each having substantially the same temperature coefficient of expansion as the optical fiber, embedded in a synthetic thermoplastic material and cables formed therewith. In one embodiment of a cable, a plurality of bands are bunched together and surrounded by a thermoplastic sheath. In another embodiment, a plurality of bands are disposed in side-by-side relation and preferably, secured together and a plurality of such bands are wound helically in successive layers around a supporting core, such as wire rope, and are covered by a thermoplastic sheath. Also, processes for forming the bands by extruding the thermoplastic over the fiber and wires or by sealing the fiber and wires between a pair of thermoplastic films.

Abstract: An extrusion head for extruding a plastomeric or elastomeric material on at least two filaments having a diameter of the order of 0.1 mm. and having a high modulus of elasticity while maintaining a constant spacing between the filaments and a process for such extrusion. The head comprises a mandrel with a cylindrical portion and a frusto-conical portion, the mandrel having grooves equal in number to the number of filaments extending along the surfaces of both portions for guiding the filaments. The frusto-conical portion has channels between the grooves for feeding the material between the filaments. A die with an opening having parallel walls for guiding the filaments and having a conical surface spaced from the frusto-conical portion is mounted adjacent the latter to provide a space for flow of the material. A further element adjacent the die may be used to extrude further material over the filaments embedded in the material extruded therebetween.

Abstract: Apparatus for winding a pair of elongated bodies, e.g. wires, on a mandrel in which a pair of bobbins and a U-shaped cage are rotatably mounted on a fixed shaft extending horizontally from a support slidably mounted on a pair of rails supported by a base. The arms of the cage extend on opposite sides of the peripheries of the bobbins and parallel to the axis of rotation of the bobbins, and the cage is motor driven. A mandrel with its axis aligned with the axis of the bobbins is supported by a cylindrical body rotatable with respect to the mandrel and a separable threaded connection with a rotatable sleeve in the shaft, and the body carries guide arms engageable with pins on the arms of the cage. A crank arm connected to the rotatable sleeve permits disengagement of the mandrel from the sleeve.

Abstract: Apparatus for laying-up fine filaments, i.e. filaments which may be readily broken by bending, tension or torsion stresses, which comprises a rotatable platform carrying a plurality of filament bobbins, each bobbin being supported on the platform so that it can rotate about its own axis and about an axis perpendicular thereto, a drive system for rotating the bobbins about the latter axis as the platform is rotated to produce one rotation of each bobbin about the latter axis with each revolution of the platform, braking means for the bobbins which varies the braking force in accordance with radius of a filament winding on a bobbin, tubular guides extending between each bobbin and the laying-up point and supporting discs intermediate the bobbins and the laying-up point which are rotatable with the platform, the tubular guides being rotatably supported on the discs.

Abstract: An optical fiber band comprising a pair of thermally sealed thermoplastic films with a plurality of optical fibers in side-by-side relation and following undulate paths embedded therebetween, and a telecommunication signal cable formed by winding a plurality of such bands around an insulated metal rope. The thermoplastic films and the fibers are fed between rollers or cylinders while the fibers are undulated. The films are heated to their softening temperature on at least parts of their facing surfaces prior to reaching the cylinders. The films may each be composite films of different temperature characteristics or may be wider than the final band, heated only at their central portions and then trimmed to the final band size.

Abstract: A pump for pumping insulating oil for oil-filled electric cables in which a driven piston is within and spaced from a tubular bellows which is surrounded by an enclosure. The bellows forms a chamber with the enclosure which contains the cable oil, and the bellows prevents contact of the mechanical parts of the pump, other than an intake valve and a delivery valve, with the cable oil. Preferably, the space between the piston and the bellows is filled with oil to transmit motion of the piston to the bellows. The delivery valve is urged closed by a spring, and the intake valve has an element made of lightweight materials and is held closed by gravity and the cable oil pressure but opens by reason of cable oil pressure reduction and the static pressure of the cable oil fed to the intake valve. Also, a plurality of such pumps operable by a single drive mechanism and a method for evacuating gas from the pump and pump lines in which the delivery valve is operated by a magnetic field external to the valve.

Abstract: An extrusion head for extruding a plastomeric or elastomeric material on at least two filaments having a diameter of the order of 0.1 mm. and having a high modulus of elasticity while maintaining a constant spacing between the filaments and a process for such extrusion. The head comprises a mandrel with a cylindrical portion and a frusto-conical portion, the mandrel having grooves equal in number to the number of filaments extending along the surfaces of both portions for guiding the filaments. The frusto-conical portion has channels between the grooves for feeding the material between the filaments. A die with an opening having parallel walls for guiding the filaments and having a conical surface spaced from the frusto-conical portion is mounted adjacent the latter to provide a space for flow of the material. A further element adjacent the die may be used to extrude further material over the filaments embedded in the material extruded therebetween.

Abstract: A composite optical fiber element for telecommunication cables comprising an optical fiber with at least three metal filaments parallel thereto, spaced therefrom and disposed therearound in planes intersecting the fiber and at substantially equal angles to each other. The optical fiber and the filaments are surrounded by and embedded in a synthetic thermoplastic resin material. Filaments of the same diameter are equally spaced from the optical fiber. Individual elements, or groups of such elements in a sheath, may be helically wound around a supporting core to form a telecommunication cable.

Abstract: Method and a tool for accurately aligning the axis of a flexible waveguide of circular section with another similarly shaped element of a telecommunication line, such as another flexible waveguide or a terminal, in which an accurately machined tool having a first cylindrical portion expansible in diameter and a second portion with an outer cylindrical surface accurately co-axial with the first portion is inserted into the waveguide with the first portion therein and the second portion extending therefrom. The first portion is expanded until it engages the inner surface of the waveguide and then a frusto-conical sleeve is mounted around the waveguide end in accurate axial alignment with the inner surface of the waveguide using a further sleeve mounted on the second portion of the tool. The space between the sleeve around the waveguide end and the outer surface of the waveguide is filled with a purable resin, e.g.

Abstract: An optical fiber band comprising a pair of thermally sealed thermoplastic films with a plurality of optical fibers in side-by-side relation and following undulate paths embedded therebetween, and a telecommunication signal cable formed by winding a plurality of such bands around an insulated metal rope. The thermoplastic films and the fibers are fed between rollers or cylinders while the fibers are undulated. The films are heated to their softening temperature on at least parts of their facing surfaces prior to reaching the cylinders. The films may each be composite films of different temperature characteristics or may be wider than the final band, heated only at their central portions and then trimmed to the final band size.The present invention relates to an optical fiber cable for transmitting signals and which is particularly useful as a telecommunication cable.As is known in the art, optical fibers are fibers of glass or of synthetic plastic material, having a very small diameter, of the order of 0.