1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical connector. More specifically, the present invention relates to a structure of a component for mounting an elastic member, such as a coil spring, in the optical connector to, when optical connectors are connected to each other, maintain a state in which a ferrule of one of the connectors and a ferrule of the other optical connector are physically pushed against each other, and keep optical fibers optically coupled to each other, the elastic member applying a force that at least causes the ferrule of one of the optical connectors to push the ferrule of the other optical connector at all times.
2. Description of the Related Art
An existing optical connector of a type that optically couples optical fibers to each other by inserting a guide pin protruding from an end surface of a ferrule of the optical connector into a guide hole in an end surface of a ferrule of a mating optical connector, by positioning the ferrules with respect to each other, and by physically pushing the ferrule end surfaces against each other is available. In order to keep the ferrule end surfaces pushed against each other at all times, such an optical connector includes an elastic member, such as a coil spring, therein. The elastic member, such as a coil spring, is formed so as to push out the ferrule in a front end direction. By an elastic force (an urging force), the elastic member, such as a coil spring, allows the ferrule end surface to be pushed against the ferrule end surface of the mating optical connector at all times.
For example, a rectangular optical connector described in Japanese Patent No. 5518979 has a structure in which movement towards a back end side of a spring (coil spring) that urges a ferrule from a back end side to a front end side is restricted by a pushing member (spring pusher) to push out the ferrule in a front end direction. The spring pusher is a rectangular pushing member including bent sections that are vertically bent at two respective sides. By engaging retaining lugs protruding from outer surfaces of the bent sections at the two respective sides with engaging sections in inner surfaces at two respective sides of the housing (receptacle housing) of the optical connector, the spring pusher is fixed to the housing of the optical connector.
As in the related art described above, if an optical connector is a rectangular optical connector, the retaining lugs on the outer surfaces of the bent sections of the rectangular pushing member, such as the above-described spring pusher, at the two respective sides can firmly engage with the engaging sections in the inner surfaces at the two respective sides of the housing of the optical connector. However, if an engaging structure including retaining lugs and engaging sections such as that of the related art is applied to a cylindrical optical connector, the retaining lugs and the engaging sections need to be formed in accordance with the curved surface of the housing of the cylindrical optical connector, as a result of which it is troublesome to produce the optical connector compared to the optical connector of the related art. Therefore, this engaging structure is not a structure that is suitable for the cylindrical optical connector.
In addition, if the housing of the cylindrical optical connector to which an engaging structure such as that of the related art is applied is twisted clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to an axial direction, rotation generated by the twisting of the housing is restricted only by the engaging structure including the retaining lugs and the engaging sections. This causes a force that is generated by the rotation to concentrate in the engaging structure, as a result of which the pushing member and the housing of the optical connector are disengaged from each other. This may cause the optical connector to become disassembled.