Patent ID: 7278283

Claim:
A padlock comprising a lock body having a housing; a lock hoop displaceably secured to the lock body; a lock cylinder accommodated in the housing; and a latching mechanism accommodated in the housing enabling a latching of the hoop to the lock body, the latching mechanism having an electrically insulating bolt and at least one blocking element, the bolt being coupled to the lock cylinder, and, in a blocking position, bringing the at least one blocking element into blocking engagement with the hoop in order to latch the hoop to the lock body, wherein the bolt can be brought by an opening actuation of the lock cylinder into a release position in which the bolt releases the at least one blocking element from the blocking engagement, and wherein the bolt is made at least partly of an electrically insulating material; wherein the latching mechanism releases at least one end of the hoop on an opening actuation of the lock cylinder such that this hoop end can be removed from the lock body; wherein the housing comprises an electrically insulating material at least at its outer side; and wherein the hoop and the lock cylinder are electrically insulated from one another by intervening placement of the electrically insulating bolt within the chain of mechanically cooperating metal components of the padlock comprising the hoop, the lock cylinder and the latching mechanism, and wherein the electrically insulating bolt is the only component within the chain that includes electrically insulating material.