Patent ID: 8356947

Claim:
An optical connector comprising: a housing that is connected to a mating optical connector; a supporting member that is mounted in said housing in a manner capable of being inserted and removed in a state in which a ferrule which holds an optical fiber wire is held therein, said supporting member including a supporting member main body which is accommodated in said housing, and an operating portion which is provided on said supporting member main body; and retaining means for preventing said supporting member main body from being removed from said housing when said supporting member main body is accommodated in said housing; wherein: said operating portion protrudes out from said housing to enable an operation for releasing a state in which the supporting member main body is fixed to the housing by the retaining means when said supporting member main body is accommodated in said housing; said retaining means comprises protrusions which are formed on said supporting member main body in a manner protruding toward said housing, and holes which are formed in said housing and are engageable with said protrusions; said supporting member main body comprises a pair of elastic deformation portions which are opposed to each other across a receiving space for receiving an optical fiber cord and which are elastically deformable in a direction toward each other, and a connection portion which receives said ferrule and connects said pair of elastic deformation portions to each other; a set of said protrusions is formed on said pair of elastic deformation portions; a set of said holes is formed in said housing; and said operating portion comprises a pair of plate portions which are continuous with said pair of elastic deformation portions.