Patent ID: 8905442

Claim:
A latch structure for attachably and detachably holding a connector in a cage, the connector comprising a connector body having an almost rectangular parallelepiped shape and an insertion part formed on a front end surface of the connector body so as to be inserted in the cage, and the cage having an engagement hole, the connector body having an upper surface, a lower surface opposing the upper surface and opposite side surfaces extending from the upper surface to the lower surface, the latch structure comprising: a latch cover rockably installed on the upper surface of the connector body, being formed of a single plate material and having a cover body for covering the upper surface of the connector body; an engagement claw formed at an end portion of the latch cover and located over the front end surface of the connector body so as to engage with the engagement hole of the cage; a spring member for always energizing the latch cover so that the engagement claw engages with the engagement hole; rocking members formed on either side of the cover body of the latch cover and formed by bending the plate material downward, the rocking members being located between the engagement claw and a rear portion of the cover body along a longitudinal direction of the connector; rocking grooves formed in the opposite side surfaces of the connector body for rockably engaging with the rocking members, wherein each of the rocking members is fitted to each rocking groove such that the latch cover is rockably installed on the connector body; and a rocking restriction part for restricting the rocking of the latch cover at a position when the cover body is horizontally oriented, the rocking restriction part being formed at an end portion of the upper surface of the connector body, wherein an inclined region of the upper surface of the connector body is formed to be diagonally inclined so as to be lowered in height toward a rear end portion of the connector body, the inclined region extends from the rocking grooves to the rear end portion of the connector body, wherein a distance between the upper surface and the lower surface at the rear end portion of the connector body is less than a distance between the upper surface and the lower surface at the rocking grooves, and wherein the latch cover and the connector body have a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole when the engagement claw engages with the engagement hole.