Patent ID: 7736182

Claim:
An electrical connector comprising: a plurality of wafers each having a plurality of contacts, each contact having a contacting portion; and a housing comprising: an insulative base having a mating surface, a mounting surface opposite to the mating surface, and a plurality of chambers extending through the mating and the mounting surfaces; and a plurality of spacers mounted on the insulative base, each spacer comprising a plurality of finger-shaped portions each of which comprises a floor and a plurality of projecting walls projecting laterally from the floor to form a plurality of passageways, each finger-shaped portion being inserted in the chamber of the insulative base from the mounting surface to the mating surface, each passageway having an open front end and an open rear end so that the passageway extends through the spacer along a rear-to-front direction, the contacting portions of the contacts being inserted into the passageways from the open rear end toward the open front end along the rear-to-front direction; wherein the spacers are assembled to the base prior to assembling of the wafers to the base, and the wafers are assembled to the base behind the spacers for preventing backward withdrawal of the spacers from the base.