Patent ID: 8191936

Claim:
A latch for selectively latching a door of a gaming machine to a housing thereof comprising: a slide movably mounted to said housing for movement between a raised position and a lowered position; at least two catches each having a rear portion and a nose portion and a strike engaging recess between said rear portion and said nose portion, said catches rotatably mounted on said slide, whereby each catch travels with said slide between first and second locations when said slide is moved between its raised and lowered positions and whereby at least said nose portion of each catch may move between a raised and a lowered position by each catch rotating about its mount on said slide, even when said slide is not moved; at least one biasing member corresponding to each catch and configured to bias the nose portion of its corresponding catch into its lowered position; a strike corresponding to each catch, each strike mounted to said door and having a portion configured to be accepted into said strike engaging recess of its corresponding catch; a lock mounted to said housing, said lock in a locked state preventing said slide from being moved between said lowered position and said raised position and said lock in an unlocked state permitting said slide to be moved between said lowered position and said raised position; whereby when said lock is in said unlocked state, said slide may be moved upwardly from its lowered position to its raised position, thus causing said catches mounted thereon to travel upwardly with said slide from a first location in which said strikes are located in said strike engaging recesses of said catches to a second location in which said strikes no longer engage said strike engaging recesses of said catches, thus permitting said door to be moved from a closed to an open position; whereby when said lock is in an unlocked state and said slide is in its lowered position and said door is moved from said open to said closed position, said nose portion of each catch strikes said strike corresponding thereto, each catch rotating about its mount on said slide though said slide does not move, permitting said nose portion of each catch to rotate upwardly over said strike corresponding thereto until said strikes are located in said strike engaging recesses of said catches; and whereby once said door is in said closed position and said lock is placed in said locked state, said slide is prevented from being moved upwardly, thus locking said door in said closed position.