Patent ID: 6935789

Claim:
An optic fiber connector which includes a housing having a front surface and having a plurality of through passages each passage having a terminus-holding rear passage portion and a front passage portion that holds an alignment sleeve, said connector including a plurality of optic fiber termini that each is slideable in forward and rearward directions in the corresponding passage, each terminus having a rear terminus portion lying in a corresponding rear passage portion and a ferrule projecting into said sleeve, and said connector including a plurality of springs each lying in one of said rear passage portions and around at least part of a corresponding terminus and biasing the terminus forwardly, said housing including a stop that limits forward movement of each terminus to a predetermined forward initial ferrule position, wherein; each ferrule has a front tip, and the lengths of said sleeves and of said ferrules result in said ferrule front tips lying forward of said alignment sleeves and sufficiently forward to lie at least flush with said housing front surface in said forward initial ferrule position; said housing has a peripheral housing portion that projects forward of said ferrule front tips in their forward initial positions.