Patent ID: 6953366

Claim:
A connector comprising a housing having opposite front and rear ends, at least one cavity extending between the front and rear ends along an inserting and withdrawing direction, at least one lock cantilevered forward in the housing from a deformation support so that said lock is resiliently deformable relative to the deformation support along a deforming direction substantially normal to the inserting and withdrawing direction, a deformation space on a side of the lock opposite the cavity for accommodating deformation of the lock in the deforming direction, the deformation space being defined between a wall and the lock, the wall being substantially parallel to the inserting and withdrawing direction, the lock having a surface facing the wall, the surface including a rear section extending forward from the deformation support substantially parallel to the inserting and withdrawing direction when the lock is not deformed, a middle section extending forward from the rear section and sloped away from the wall when the lock is not deformed and a front section extending forward from the middle section and sloped more steeply than the middle surface away from the wall of the deformation space such that a reinfocement bulges from the surface of the lock and towards the wall, the reinforcement extending from the deformation support to an intersection of the front and middle sections of the surface of the lock, the reinforcement being configured so that a cross-sectional area of the lock normal to the inserting and withdrawing direction is greater at the intersection of the middle and rear sections of the surface of the lock than at other locations on the lock and so that the middle section substantially abuts the wall when the lock is deformed a predetermined maximum amount in the deforming direction for preventing deformation of the lock beyond its resiliency limit, the intersection of the middle and rear sections of the surface of the lock being forward of the support by a distance between ¼ and ⅓ a total length of the lock.