BREMERTON — An idea drawn on a napkin by a worker at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard five years ago is now a patented device with the potential to save the Navy millions of dollars and even reach beyond the military as a way to protect delicate, data-carrying fiber optic cables.
Inspiration struck Brandon Rottle, a marine electrician by trade, as his colleagues explained the growing problem on ships of metal clamps inadvertently crushing fiber optic cables — whose interwoven strands are about half a millimeter thick — that required costly, time-intensive repairs. Metal Tension Clamp
"They were talking about a crazy amount of training for every electrician," Rottle recalled. "I remember thinking, 'Why don't you just redesign the clamp?'"
Rottle went home to investigate whether he could make an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure. Taking his napkin-drawn design, he put the computer-aided drafting experience he got during his apprenticeship to use, inventing a new, 3-D printed clamp that better protects the fiber.
It took time for shipyard leaders to embrace the idea. He actually gave up on the idea for a time until a supervisor asked what had happened to the "Rottle clamp." Another manager, Mitch Van Epps, got involved and, given his experience working in 3-D printing and other shipyard innovation projects, went to bat for Rottle's idea.
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“When Brandon first approached me looking for help, I was all for it from the get-go,” Van Epps said in a shipyard news release. “When he showed me the amount of money spent on a single project due to rework from the use of the metal saddles failing, this screamed savings.”
Rottle, born and raised in Port Orchard, has always liked working with his hands. He attended automotive college before getting a job as a machinist at Boeing. But he was laid off and applied at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where he was hired in 2009. Today, he is a nuclear general foreman within the shop specializing in marine electronics.
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If you think the network of cables behind your TV are a mess, just imagine the miles of fiber optic cable that snakes through one of the country's 560-foot-long Ohio-class submarines or 1,092-foot-long aircraft carriers.
Rottle said that even one of the crushed cables, damaged during ship maintenance, requires workers to remove them entirely to make a fix, as they cannot be "spliced," or fused back together. Plus, if one of seven lines inside each cable goes to a different location, that, too, has to be ripped out.
“It becomes a giant domino effect," Rottle said.
His solution was to ensconce the cables within a 3-D printed thermoplastic clamp that has its own tongue and groove. The metal clamps can ride outside the Rottle clamp, adding a layer of protection, while still held in place by zip ties.
Already, the shipyard has printed more than 1,000 of the clamps. It's been patented and could become commonplace on all Navy ships — as well as other places with an abundance of fiber optic cable.
“I was proud to be a part of this, and to help Brandon’s idea come to life,” Van Epps said. “It was very interesting to see what it takes to get something created in the stock system and to also get in through the patent process.”
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Insulation Piercing Connector Josh Farley is a reporter covering the military and Bremerton for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-9227, josh.farley@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @joshfarley.