Patent ID: 6953285

Claim:
An optical fiber connector which includes a housing with a block receiving passage and a fiber block that is slideable in forward and rearward longitudinal directions in said passage, said housing having laterally opposite sides forming guide-receiving spaces for receiving guides of a mating connector device, wherein the fiber block must be in a forward position to mate to the mating connector device, and wherein the fiber block has a largely rearwardly-facing shoulder, including: a retainer for retaining said fiber block in said forward position, said retainer including a latch that lies in the path of rearward movement of said shoulder of said fiber block to resist rearward movement of the fiber block from said forward position; said retainer including at least one lifter lying in one of said guide-receiving spaces, to be lifted to a lifted position by one of said guides of the mating connector device during mating of said connector and mating connector device, said lifter being laterally spaced from said latch but being coupled to said latch to lift said latch only partially out of the way of rearward movement of said shoulder when said lifter is in said lifted position so when said lifter is in said lifted position said latch still remains in the path of rearward movement of said shoulder of said fiber block but the force required to move said fiber block shoulder rearwardly past said latch is reduced.