GB2171394A

GB2171394A - Sheet presenter

Info

Publication number: GB2171394A
Application number: GB08504506A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Edward Wake
Original assignee: De la Rue Systems Ltd
Current assignee: De la Rue Systems Ltd
Priority date: 1985-02-21
Filing date: 1985-02-21
Publication date: 1986-08-28
Also published as: GB8504506D0

Abstract

A sheet presenter for use in a cash dispenser, for example, comprises a sheet receiving container pivotally mounted at 8 to a housing for movement between a sheet receiving position (shown) and a present position. The container is biased towards the present position by a weight 11. A latch system is provided for holding the container in the sheet receiving position. A retainer flap (18) retains sheets in the container. Control means such as a microcomputer- controlled solenoid controls operation of the latch system and of the retainer flap (18). The arrangement is such that when a quantity of sheets 21 are present in the container, the control means releases the latch system and selectively controls actuation of the retainer flap (18) so that during clockwise pivotal movement of the container the sheets are either carried to the present position or dropped through a dump opening 23. Selective control of the flap 18 depends on detecting the number of sheets in the container. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sheet presenter The invention relates to a sheet presenter, for example for use in conjuntion with banknote feeding apparatus.

In the past, when bank tellers have dispensed banknotes, they have physically counted out the notes from a stack. More recently, automatic banknote dispensing apparatus has been developed which is responsive to an order placed by a bank teller to dispense the correct number of banknotes.

These dispensers have considerably increased the speed with which banknote tellers can complete transactions but in general suffer from the disadvantage that they have a complex construction leading to the possibility of break down and thus an increase in the time needed to dispense banknotes.

In accordance with the present invention, a sheet presenter comprises a sheet receiving container pivotally mounted to a housing for movement between a sheet receiving position and a present position, the container being biased towards the present position; a retainer for retaining sheets in the container; a latch system for holding the container in the sheet receiving position; and control means for controlling operation of the latch system and the retainer, the arrangement being such that when a quantity of sheets are present in the container, the control means releases the latch system and selectively controls actuation of the retainer so that during pivotal movement of the container the sheets are either carried to the present position or dropped through a dump opening.

We have developed a particularly simple sheet presenter which may be associated with sheet feeding apparatus such as banknotes feeding apparatus and in which the number of mechanical components has been reduced. In particular, the sheet receiving container moves from the sheet receiving position to the present position under the influence of the bias and no additional drive motor or other drive mechanism is required. The bank teller or other operator simply pushes the container back into its sheet receiving position whereupon the latch system is engaged. Furthermore, where the sheets have to be dumped this is achieved under the influence of gravity since the retainer is not actuated allowing the sheets to drop through the dump opening.

In this specification, by "unacceptable" we mean that an incorrect number of sheets has been fed to the sheet receiving container.

Preferably, the retainer comprises a flap pivotally mounted to the housing within the container and urged against a stop fixed relatively to the container whereby sheets can be fed into the container in the sheet receiving position without interference from the flap, the stop being positioned such that as the container pivots towards the present position acceptable sheets are sandwiched between the flap and a rear wall of the container and do not fall through the dump opening.

Conveniently, the flap and the sheet receiving container are pivoted about the same axis.

The flap may be urged against the stop in any convenient manner for example by using a suitably positioned counter weight or by suitably positioning a resilient member between a part of the flap and the housing.

Conveniently, when unacceptable sheets are received by the container, the control means is adapted to cause the flap to pivot with the container without clamping the sheets so that the unacceptable sheets drop through the dump opening.

Typically, the flap will be fixed relatively to the container by the control means as soon as or shortly after the container starts to pivot towards the present position.

Conveniently, the latch system comprises one or more latches mounted on the sheet receiving container which, when actuated, engage part of the housing. It is particularly convenient if the latch system may engage a part of the flap, where this is provided, so as to lock the flap to the container when unacceptable sheets are to be dropped through the dump opening.

Preferably, the control means comprises one or more solenoids for controlling actuation of the or each latch of the latch system. in this case, the or each solenoid may include a spindle which constitutes the or each latch.

The sheet receiving container may be biased towards the sheet receiving position in any suitable manner but preferably by a suitably positioned weight. The use of a weight again simplifies the construction and reduces the risk of malfunction which might occur when a resilient element has been subjected to frequent wear.

As has been previously mentioned, the sheet presenter is particularly useful for presenting banknotes and indeed other security documents such as cheques or vouchers. It is therefore particularly useful if the housing includes a secure wall having an opening through which the container pivots from the sheet receiving position on a first side of the wall to the present position on the other, second side of the wall, the arrangement being such that unacceptable sheets are dumped before they become accessible from the second side of the wall.

With this arrangement, if unacceptable sheets are contained in the sheet receiving container they cannot be retrieved by a bank teller or other user on the second side of the wall.

Security can be increased still further if when the container is in the sheet receiving position, a front wall of the container is flush with the secure wall.

Typically, the control means will comprise a microcomputer which may conveniently be constituted by a microcomputer of apparatus for feeding sheets to the sheet presenter. In this case, the microcomputer can determine when the correct number of sheets have been fed and then actuate the latch system accordingly.

An example of banknote dispensing apparatus incorporating a presenter in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates the apparatus with the presenter in the loading position; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the presenter; Figure 3 illustrates the presenter in the sheet receiving position in more detail; Figure 4 illustrates the presenter in the dump position; and, Figure 5 illustrates the presenter in the present position.

The apparatus illustrated in Figure 1 comprises a pair of banknote cassettes 1, 2, a power supply 3 and a feed system 4. This apparatus is of a conventional form similar to a combination of our 1300 type 2 dual feed model and 1343 dispenser. A microcomputer (not shown) determines from operator instructions the quantity and denominations of banknotes to be withdrawn from the cassettes 1, 2 and these are fed singly by the feed system 4 to an output station 5. A sheet presenter 6 is positioned at the output station 5.

The presenter 6 comprises a container 7 which is pivoted on a pin 8 (Figure 3) to a wall 9 of a housing. The container 7 may be pivoted about the pin 8 from a sheet receiving position shown in Figure 1 to a present or dispense position shown in Figure 5 through an opening 10 in the wall 9. The container 7 is biased towards the present position by a weight 11 secured in the container. A rear wall 12 of the container 7 has an upper rectangular portion 13 integrally formed with a pair of legs 14 pivoted to the pin 8. The legs 14 surround a short platform 15 fixed to a guide tube 24. When banknotes are fed from the output station 5 into the container 7 they rest initially on the platform 15 as seen in Figure 1.

A solenoid 16 is mounted on a flange part 17 of the container 7 and has a spindle (not shown) forming a latch which may be extended under spring action into a hole (not shown) in part of the housing. When the solenoid 16 is deactivated, actuation of the latch occurs and the spindle enters the hole in the housing to hold the container 7 in its sheet receiving position. When the solenoid 16 is activated the spindle is withdrawn from the hole allowing the container 7 to pivot about the pin 8 towards the present position.

A clamp or flap 18 is also pivotally mounted about the pin 8 within the container 7. The flap 18 has a pair of legs 19 (Figure 2) by which the flap is pivotally mounted. A weight 20 is fixed to the flap 18 via a flange 22 to urge the flap in an anti-clockwise direction (as seen in Figure 3). The flap 18 cannot pivot fully in the anti-clockwise direction since it engages a stop constituted by the platform 15 as shown in Figure 3. Thus the banknotes illustrated at 21 can be easily fed into the container 7 in the sheet receiving position as shown in Figure 3.

The feed system 4 includes a conventional double detect arrangement (not shown) for detecting the passage of banknotes to enable the number of banknotes to be counted by a controlling microcomputer but also for detecting the passage of two or more banknotes simultaneously leading to an incorrect feed. In this situation, where unacceptable banknotes are present in the container 7, the presenter operates as follows. The solenoid 16 is activated to withdraw the spindle and release the container 7. However, the microcomputer which controls activation of the solenoid deactivates the solenoid shortly after releasing the container 7 so that the spindle of the solenoid is urged under spring action to engage the flange 22 of the flap 18. Since the solenoid 16 moves with the container 7, the flap 18 will also move with the container 7 without clamping the banknotes within the container.Movement of the container 7 about the pin 8 pushes the banknotes 21 along the platform 15 until they pass over a dump opening 23 defined by an upper end of the guide tube 24 leading to a dump bin 25. Since the banknotes 21 are not clamped within the container 7, they drop through the dump opening 23 into the dump bin 25. This is illustrated in Figure 4.

If an acceptable quantity of notes has been fed into the container 7 the presenter operates as follows. In this case, the solenoid is activated for a relatively long time to withdraw the spindle and remains activated thereafter. The rear wall 13 of the container thus pushes the banknotes along the platform 15 until they are gripped between the flap 18 and the wall 13. Since the flap 18 is urged towards the wall 13 they will continue to be gripped during further clockwise movement of the container 7 and the flap 18 and thus will pass over the dump opening 23 through the opening 10 in the wall 9 to the present position shown in Figure 5. In this position, they are still gripped but can be withdrawn by the bank teller. At this stage the solenoid 16 is deactivated allowing the spindle to return to its latched position.

In both the dump and dispense movements, the container 7 becomes finally positioned in the present position and is then pushed in an anti-clockwise direction by the bank teller back into the sheet receiving position where the spindle of the solenoid 16 relatches the container.

In some cases, it may be preferable to provide two solenoids and associated spindles to hold more securely the container 7 in the sheet receiving position. In addition, it may be preferable additionally to provide a movable platform such as a platform of spring steel attached to a portion of the flap 18. This additional platform may be attracted magnetically to part of the (metal) rear wall 13 of the container 7 when the rear wall approaches the flap so as to positively prevent acceptable banknotes from inadvertantly dropping through the dump opening 23.

It should be noted that the front wall 26 of the container 7 is flush with the wall 9 when the container 7 is in the sheet receiving position (Figure 1).

This considerably reduces the chances of unauthorised access to the container 7.

Claims

1. A sheet presenter comprising a sheet receiving container pivotally mounted to a housing for movement between a sheet receiving position and a present position, the container being biased towards the present position; a retainer for retaining sheets in the container; a latch system for holding the container in the sheet receiving position; and control means for controlling operation of the latch system and the retainer, the arrangement being such that when a quantity of sheets are present in the container, the control means releases the latch system and selectively controls actuation of the retainer so that during pivotal movement of the container the sheets are either carried to the present position or dropped through a dump opening.

2. A presenter according to claim 1, wherein the retainer comprises a flap pivotally mounted to the housing within the container and urged against a stop fixed relatively to the container whereby sheets can be fed into the container in the sheet receiving position without interference from the flap, the stop being positioned such that as the container pivots towards the present position acceptable sheets are sandwiched between the flap and a rear wall of the container and so not fall through the dump opening.

3. A presenter according to claim 2, wherein when unacceptable sheets are received by the container, the control means is adapted to cause the flap to pivot with the container without clamping the sheets so that the unacceptable sheets drop through the dump opening.

4. A presenter according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the control means comprises one or more solenoids for controlling actuation of the or each latch of the latch system.

5. A presenter according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the container is biased towards the sheet receiving position by a suitably positioned weight.

6. A presenter according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the housing includes a secure wall having an opening through which the container pivots from the sheet receiving position on a first side of the wall to the present position on the other, second side of the wall, the arrangement being such that unacceptable sheets are dumped before they become accessible from the second side of the wall.

7. A presenter according to claim 6, wherein when the container is in the sheet receiving position, a front wall of the container is flush with the secure wall.

8. A sheet presenter substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

9. A cash dispenser comprising banknote feeding apparatus for feeding banknotes under operator control from one or more stores to an output station; and a sheet presenter according to any of the preceding claims positioned such that the sheet receiving position of the sheet receiving container is adjacent the output station of the banknote feeding apparatus.