Connector

Abstract

A connector housing (30) has a cavity (31) and a resiliently deformable lock (40) cantilevers forwardly from a wall (35) of the cavity (31) for engaging a locking surface (24) of a terminal fitting (10) inserted into the cavity (31). A base end of the lock (40) has a thinned portion (52). A backward pulling force on the female terminal fitting (10) creates a compressive force on the lock (40) in the longitudinal direction. Thus, the lock (40) undergoes such a resilient deformation at the thinned portion (52) that the length (L1) of the lock (40) becomes shorter than its natural length (L0). Buckling strength is enhanced by as much as the lock (40) is shortened and, as a result, a force for locking the female terminal fitting (10) is enhanced.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.