Fiber-tech history

In 1880, Alexander Graham Bell created the optical telephone system, called photophone.

In 1898, American David Smith applied for a patent on a dental illuminator using a curved glass rod.

Heinrich Lamm, however, was the first person to transmit an image through a bundle of optical fibers in 1930.

In 1951, Hogler Moeller applied for a Danish patent on fiber optic imaging in which he proposed cladding glass or plastic fibers with a low index, transparent material but was refused because of the Braid’s patent.

Nothing more was reported on fiber bundles until 1954, when Abraham van Heel of the Technical University of Delft in Holland and Harold.

The laser was introduced in 1958 as a efficient source of light.

Kao and Hockham's detailed analysis was published in the July 1966 Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

The first non-experimental fiber-optic link was installed by the Dorset (UK) police in 1975.

Incorporated in 1983, Fiber-Tech Industries, Inc. has grown to become the largest supplier of Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic Panels to the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Other long-distance carriers also built their national networks with single-mode fibers, and by the time TAT-8 was turned on in December 1988, single-mode fiber systems operating at 1300 nm were standard for telecommunications.

Also in 1991, the photonic crystal fiber was developed.

However, 1550-nm transmission was used to stretch repeater spacing in submarine cables starting with TAT-10, which began service in 1992.

The first all-optic fiber cable, TPC-5, that uses optical amplifiers was laid across the Pacific Ocean in 1996.

By 1998 it was followed by other submarine systems that could transmit 2.5 Gbit/s signals at four or eight wavelengths through a single pair of fibers - a total of 10 or 20 Gbit/s.

In 1999, the Fibertech Inc. brand of bulk containers was introduced to the industry as one of the most durable, longest-lasting containers on the market.