Rear release contact retention assembly

Claim 1

An electrical connector unit comprising: a body having a plurality of passages therethrough from a front face to a rear face, each of said passages adapted to receive respective electrical contacts therein which are insertable from the rear and which have an enlarged section defining a rearwardly facing shoulder and a forwardly facing shoulder that engages a portion of said body to limit forward movement of said contact; a plurality of mushroom shaped coNtact retention members disposed between adjacent passages of said body, said mushroom shaped members integral with said body and extending generally perpendicularly from the rear face of said body, each mushroom shaped retention member including a stem portion that terminates in a free end that is cap shaped, each of said mushroom shaped retention members being resiliently and radially deflectable to permit the enlarged section of a respective contact to pass by the cap and stem portion of the retention member by deflecting the cap portion upon forward insertion of the contact into a passage, the mushroom shaped contact retention member returning to its undeflected position behind the rearward facing shoulder on the contact when the contact forward shoulder engages the portion of said body that limits forward movement of said contact so that at least a portion of the forward facing shoulder of the mushroom shaped retention member engages a portion of the rearward shoulder and the contact to limit rearward movement of the contact in said body passage, each of said mushroom shaped retention members being substantially rigid in an axial direction when in its undeflected position so as to provide a positive stop against rearward movement of the respective contact, the forward facing shoulder of each of said caps between adjacent passages are disposed to engage a portion of the rearwardly facing shoulders of at least two adjacent electrical contacts, inserted into said adjacent passages, at points on said cap that are opposite each other so that said cap is engaged at two diametrically opposed points by the rearward facing shoulders of said two adjacent contacts whereby said cap is not deflectable in the direction of said diametrically opposed points when a rearward force is applied to either of said two adjacent contacts.