Meter box with vault latch

Claim 1

Apparatus for use with a coin-operated machine and comprising a box having upright side walls and an upright front wall, an opening formed through said front wall, a cash drawer having upright front and rear walls, said drawer normally being in a closed position within said box but being removable from said box through said opening, a key-operated locking mechanism mounted on one of said front walls and engageable with the other of said front walls to lock said drawer within said box, an access opening formed through one of the side walls of said box, a door normally covering said access opening and normally locked to said one side wall, and a support attached to at least one of the walls of said box, the improvement in said apparatus comprising, a latch mounted on said support and biased to a latched position, said latch having a first surface which, when said latch is in said latched position and said drawer is in said closed position, engages the rear wall of the drawer to hold the drawer in its closed position, said latch being accessible through said access opening when the latter is uncovered and being manually movable to an unlatched position releasing the rear wall of said drawer, and said latch having a second surface positioned to engage the rear wall of said drawer as the latter is moved rearwardly toward said closed position and operable as an incident to such engagement to cause camming of said latch to said unlatched position to enable movement of said drawer into said closed position whereupon the latch automatically returns to said latched position.