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Fiberoptic Periscope

 Use a really fat fiberoptic cable as a periscope.
 
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I was playing around with our new fiberoptic cable and getting a thrill out of seeing it transmit light from one end to another when I thought of this. Hey, it would make a great Christmas present for a really spoiled kid who would want this kind of thing.
—Ahmil, Feb 02 2004

Fiber optic spy camera http://www.spooktec...lvideosystems.shtml
Is 1 meter long enough? [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

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       What do you mean by really fat? Do you mean big enough to look in the end without any lenses/viewfinders? That would be interesting, but very heavy and not very flexible.
—kropotkin, Feb 02 2004
   

       Flat, perhaps.
—DrCurry, Feb 02 2004
   

       i checked it out and it seems like it is used in endoscopes, blissmiss, and it is flexible, kropotkin.
—Ahmil, Feb 02 2004
   

       What would the benefit be? Effectively perfect light transmission by way of mirrors, or less-than-perfect light transmission by fiber-optic? If you can afford to have a periscope assembly, then why choose the fiber route instead of mirrors?
—suctionpad, Feb 02 2004
   

       Actually, that point is rather obvious - fiberoptic cable is very flexible, and would not need a straight line path between the end points. But this stuff is all done by digicams these days according to a quick Google.
—DrCurry, Feb 02 2004
   

       Totally baked.
—RayfordSteele, Feb 02 2004
   

       Sorry [DrC], I thought the idea referred to a "traditional" periscope as found in submarines and the like. Of course if you want to go awkward places then you would use an endoscope, like doctors (sic) already do.
—suctionpad, Feb 03 2004
   

       I was thinking of this very idea, and was surprised at the chilly reception it got here. The key, I think, would be to use a durable plastic fiber for the fiberoptic, and very long. The overall goal would be to make this really cheap. It could then be sold to kids. I envision hoisting it on a kite or other juvenile spy activities. Not batteries, no electronics.
—bungston, Jul 19 2004
   

       //I envision hoisting it on a kite// Now that is a bunworthy idea.
—Worldgineer, Jul 19 2004
   

       A single fat fiberoptic cable will not give you adequate image transmission. You can transmit the light, but the repeated and varied internal reflections will destroy any recognizable image. Instead, you need a bundle of thousands (or millions) of individual fibers. A lens at the top of the periscope (or endoscope, as the case may be) focuses the image onto the cleanly cut end of the fiber optic bundle. Each individual strand transmits the light that falls on it, and when you look at the other end of the cable, you see the image. The more densely you can pack your fibers, the higher resolution the image can be.
—Freefall, Jul 19 2004
   

       Do you think this could be done with plastic polymer (something like fishing line?) I am not sure glass fibers would be good for use as a kids toy.
—bungston, Jul 19 2004
   


 

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