Electrical connector

Claim 1

An electrical connector, comprising: a main body which houses and holds a plurality of contact pieces in parallel with one another, said main body having a rear portion and lateral sides, both lateral sides being provided with longitudinally extending engagement grooves; a shield frame unit surrounding the rear portion of said main body, said shield frame unit being divided into an upper frame and a lower frame, each with a left- and right-hand leg portion and with the end edges of each of the left- and right-hand leg portions being provided with inwardly turned engagement pieces which are inserted into respective engagement grooves of said main body when the upper frame and lower frame overlap each other, said upper frame and lower frame forming an inside space when they overlap, in which projections formed on said upper frame and lower frame are located; locking levers housed in said inside space at lateral sides of said shield frame unit arranged in the parallel direction of said contact pieces, said locking levers being rotatably supported by said projections, said locking levers having operating portions formed at one end and engagement pieces formed at their other end, said engagement pieces being adapted to be engaged with an disengaged from engagement portions formed at a counter electrical connector when said locking levers are forwardly and reversely rotated around said projections; and biasing means disposed between said locking levers and said shield frame unit and adapted to resiliently bias said locking levers in the forward rotation direction where said engagement pieces of said locking levers are engaged with said engagement portions; wherein said operating portions are adapted to displace said locking levers in the reverse rotation direction where said engagement pieces of said locking levers are disengaged from said engagement portions against the resilient biasing forces of said biasing means.