Patent ID: 7357670

Claim:
A connector mounting to a substrate having at least one through-hole, the through-hole having an inside diameter, the connector comprising: a housing for mounting on the substrate, at least one fixing part having a proximal end at the housing, a distal end projecting from the housing, a slot extending from the distal end towards the proximal end and defining at least two legs that are elastically deformable into said slot, side edges extending along each of said legs substantially from the proximal end towards the distal end and adjacent the slot, the side edges on each said leg being spaced apart by a distance no greater than the diameter of the through-hole, a lock substantially adjacent the distal end of each of said legs, each of said locks having a locking surface facing away from the distal end, a maximum cross-sectional dimension of the fixing part at the locking surface exceeding the diameter of the through-hole, a tapered sliding-contact surface extending from the locking surface towards the distal end of each of said locks and tapering to smaller cross-sectional dimensions towards the distal end, each of said locks having two noncontact surfaces formed respectively at opposite circumferential ends of each of the sliding contact surfaces and substantially adjacent the slot, the two noncontact surfaces of each said lock being spaced from one another at the slot by distances that are no greater than the diameter of the through-hole and each of said noncontact surfaces becoming gradually narrower towards the distal end, whereby the noncontact surfaces do not contribute to insertion forces for inserting the fixing part into the through-hole.