Patent ID: 7445255

Claim:
A cabinet lock for selectively locking a cabinet of a kind comprising a compartment structure and a closure movable relative to said compartment structure for selectively closing an opening of said compartment structure, said cabinet lock comprising: a latch bolt assembly including a mounting and a bolt movably disposed with said mounting between a locking position and an unlocked position, a striker including a coupling region with which said bolt can couple to thereby prevent relative movement between said bolt and said striker in at least one direction lateral to the direction of movement of said bolt between its locking position and said unlocked position, wherein said striker is engagable with one of said compartment structure and closure and said latch bolt assembly is engagable with the other of said compartment structure and closure in a manner to place such in coupling proximity when said closure is in closing relation with said opening of said compartment structure, said latch bolt assembly including a passive biasing means to bias said bolt to said locking position, and said latch bolt assembly including an electromagnetic means actuable to move said bolt from the locking position to the unlocked position against the bias of the biasing means, said striker including an interference means selectively movable to interfere with the movement of said bolt into coupling engagement with said coupling region of said striker to thereby prevent coupling.