US Patent Issued to 3M Innovative Properties on March 4 for "Apparatus and method for maintaining optical ferrule alignment during thermal expansion or contraction" (Minnesota Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,242,119, issued on March 4, was assigned to 3M Innovative Properties Co. (St. Paul, Minn.).

"Apparatus and method for maintaining optical ferrule alignment during thermal expansion or contraction" was invented by Michael A. Haase (St. Paul, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An optical ferrule has a different thermal expansion coefficient than a substrate to which a optical device is mounted, the ferrule optically coupling the device to one or more optical fibers. The optical ferrule includes and/or a cradle in which the ferrule is mounted include lateral and longitudinal engagement feature that ensure alignment with the optical device...