EP0157743A2

EP0157743A2 - Drawer-box for cash registers, provided with a safety drawer for the cash surplus

Info

Publication number: EP0157743A2
Application number: EP85830072A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Fiorenzo Mosele
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1984-03-29
Filing date: 1985-03-25
Publication date: 1985-10-09
Also published as: EP0157743A3; IT8420285A0

Abstract

The drawer-box for cash registers, computing machines and the like includes a conventional drawer (3) provided with compartments for receiving bank-notes of different sizes (7) as well as small money pieces and a small drawer (5) referred to as safety drawer of the moneybox type, provided with a timed opening lock (8) and with a slot (6) for introducing the cash surplus therein.

The drawer-box is used instead of the conventional drawer-box or can be connected to a conventional drawer-box as an accessory.

The timed opening lock (8) can be of the fixed or controllable time type.

Description

This invention generally relates to cash registers or similar computing machines, provided with a drawer-box whose drawer opens each time the cashier actuates the cash register in order to cash the due amount and possibly to give the change and more particularly it relates to a drawer-box for machines of this kind,which is new and improved from the standpoint of the safety requirements.
It is known that the machines of the above-mentioned type, while representing an important advance from the standpoint of the safety of the money placed in the drawer of the drawer-box, since the drawer remains closed and is opened only for the short times required to place money therein and to give the change, do not present such safety features as to be anti-robbery in the true sense of the word.
In fact, a robber can tamper with brutal methods the drawer of the cash register and take possession of the drawer contents by keeping under the threat of an arm both the cashier and the personnel working in the shop or the like.
In the Italian Patent Application No 22756-A/81 of the same applicant a safety drawer has been already proposed which includes a small safe embodied in the usual drawer of the cash register and provided with a door having a timed opening lock and remaining locked for a predetermined time even if the lock should be opened by means of the key, this door being provided with a slot for introducing into the safe the cash surplus. However, this drawer, while giving good results, is too expensive both from the standpoint of its manufacture and of the actuating and locking system of the door,what would remarkably increase the selling costs of the cash register.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a drawer-box for cash registers or the like, which is so designed as to prevent any possible robber from making a robbery and having such a structure as to be simple in operation and very inexpensive while retaining the safety features required thereto.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a safety drawer-box for cash registers or the like,which can be applied as an accessory to a drawer-box of existing cash registers.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention,which will appear in more detail in the following description, are attained by a safety drawer-box for cash registers or the like, which is characterized in that it includes at least two drawers, one of which is intended to act as a little safe of the moneybox type and is provided with a timed opening lock for winding up a timer and with a slot or the like for introducing, when the drawer is closed and locked, the cash surplus and the other(s) drawers are designed for the conventional uses of receiving cash money, possibly provided with the conventional compartments for the different money sizes, for the small change and for cheques, documents or the like.
According to a feature of the present invention, the timed opening lock is of a fixed time type.
Alternatively, the timed opening lock is of a controllable time type.
The invention will be now described in more detail in connection with two preferred embodiments thereof, given merely by way of a not limitative example, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein :

Fig.1 is a perspective view of the safety drawer-box according to the invention, shown in connection with a conventional cash register;
Fig.2 is a bottom plan view of the drawer-box which has been turned by 180⁰ and showing the timed opening device of the safety drawer, said device being illustrated merely as an embodiment thereof;
Fig.3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the timed opening device of Fig.2;
Fig.4 is a front view of the lock detail, looking from the outside;
Fig.5 is a bottom plan view similar to Fig.2 of another drawer-box according to this invention, showing the timed opening device of the safety drawer;
Fig.6 is a front view of the drawer-box of Fig.5;
Fig.7 is a partial cross-sectional view of the timed opening device of Fig.5; and
Fig.8 is a perspective view of the safety drawer-box of Fig.5, as applied to an existing cash register.

Referring now further to the drawings, it can be seen that the drawer-box according to the present invention, generally designated with 1, forms a part of a conventional cash register or the like 2. The drawer-box 1 includes the conventional drawer 3 provided with a set of compartments 4 for receiving bank-notes and money pieces and the opening of which is directly controlled by the cashier, this drawer being normally in a closed position.On one side of this drawer, a safety drawer 5 is provided, having a slot 6 for introducing the cash surplus therein, this drawer being intended to be locked in a closed position by a time lock 8 as discussed hereinbelow.
As can be seen from Figs. 2,3 and 4, the time lock 8 is applied to the drawer-box 1 in a location between the two drawers 3 and5. This lock drives a rod 9 guided in a partition 9' of the drawer-box frame and ends in a disc 10 provided with an axially extending prong 11. This prong 11 can engage another prong 12 axially extending from a cam 13 secured to the shaft of a timer 14, in turn secured to the drawer-box frame. The cam 13 engages the end of a bolt 16, slidably arranged in a bushing 17 secured to a partition 15 of the drawer-box frame, which bolt is pushed against the cam by a spring 18 and the other end of which is intended to enter a hole 19 of a bracket 20 secured to the drawer 5.
The cam 13 has a recessed portion 21 intended to receive the bolt 16 in a position out of engagement with the drawer 5 and therefore in the inactive position in which the drawer 5 can be opened.
The lock 8 is of a controllable opening time type and to this purpose it is provided with a set of peripheral notches 22 permitting the key to be extracted in any angular position of the disc 10, thereby winding up the timer through the cam 13 for the desired time.
The operation is as follows :

Once the safety drawer 5 is closed, the key is inserted into the lock and then rotated through the desired angle,determined by one of the notches 22. This rotation causes the disc 10 to be rotated by the rod 9 in a clockwise direction, with the prong 11 of disc 10 engaging the prong 12 of cam 13, thereby causing also the cam to be rotated in a clockwise direction. Following this movement, - the recessed portion 21 of cam 13 is moved away from the unlocked neutral position so that the bolt 16 is pushed to the right hand, entering the hole 19 of bracket 20 and locking the drawer 5 in a closed position. If now the key is extracted from the lock, the disc 10 will be kept fixedly in the desired angular position and the prong 11 will prevent the timer from being wound down since it acts as a stop for the prong 12 of cam 13.

When the drawer 5 is locked, the cashier can introduce through the slot 6 the bank-notes 7 forming the cash surplus, thereby keeping them out of the reach of a potential robber. If he, during a robbery and under the threat of an arm, would have the key handed over by the cashier, everything he can do is to open the lock, so that the disc 10 is returned to its starting position, thereby releasing the timer 14 which starts to wind down, but in order to open the safety drawer 5, he must await that the time set on the timer has elapsed, i.e. that the cam 13 has slowly totated in a reverse direction until the recessed portion 21 is again in front of the bolt 16 which then will snap therein under the force of the spring 18, thereby leaving the hole 19 of bracket 20 and unlocking the drawer.
Since the time of the timer is set so as to permit the intervention of safety personnel, the robber would have his robbery action baffled.
As already said, the opening of drawer 3 is controlled by the cash register and its outwards movement is caused automatically by a spring 23, which can also be provided for the outwards movement of the safety drawer 5.
The drawer-box 100 shown in Figs. 5,6 and 7 is quite sirt6lar to the above described drawer with the exception that it is intended to be secured below an existing drawer-box 1 of a cash register 2, as shown in Fig.8.
Therefore,instead of the drawer 3 intended to contain the cash money in the compartments 4, another drawer 30 is provided which can be employed for any use, for example to receive cheques, documents or the like.
The timed opening device of the safety drawer 5 is substantially the same as the preceding one.
In this case,however, it is preferred to use drawers locking and unlocking by snap action obtained by exerting a pushing force on the drawer. To this purpose so-called spring release locks are used which are known per se and readily available in commerce. These locks have an arm 33 provided with a roll, said arm snapping both in a closed and an open position by exerting a pushing force thereon.
The drawers 5 and 30 on their rear wall have brackets 32 whose sides extending parallel to the rear wall of the drawer engage behind the arm 33 of the spring release locks 31. Thus, by pushing the drawers inwardly the arms 33 of locks 31 will snap in a closed position and the drawe₄will be kept locked. By exerting another push force on the drawers,the arms 33 will be unlocked and opened ( see the position shown in dashed line in Fig.5) and the drawers can be extracted.
For the timed opening of the safety drawer 5 (Fig.7) the time lock 8 is always provided and the bolt 16 has the locking end so shaped as to enter the space behind the bracket 32 under the action of cam 13, thereby preventing the drawer 5 from being pushed inwardly to unlock the arm 33 and -therefore the safety drawer 5 cannot be opened. When the timer 14 is fully wound down the bolt 16 is extracted from its locking position and the drawer 5 can be unlocked by exerting a push force thereon and then opened.
Of course, the locking device of the safety drawer here described has been given by way of example only since it is very simple in its construction and therefore very inexpensive, but it should be understood that locking devices of different kind can be provided, such as electro-mechanical and electrical devices, without departing from the scope of the present invention which is to provide a drawer-box for cash registers or the like provided with a safety drawer of moneybox type, which can be opened only after a programmed time has elapsed.

Claims

1. Safety drawer-box for cash registers,computing machines and the like, characterized in that it includes at least two drawers, one of which is intended to act as a little safe of the moneybox type and is provided with a timed opening lock for winding up a timer and with a slot or the like for introducing, when the drawer is closed and locked,the cash surplus, and the other(s) drawers are designed for the conventional uses of receiving cash money, possibly provided with the conventional compartments for the different money sizes, for the small change and for cheques, documents or the like.

2. Safety drawer-box as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the timed opening lock is of the fixed time type.

3. Safety drawer-box as claime in claim 1, characterized in that said timed opening lock is of the controllable time type.

4. Safety drawer-box as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that said timed opening lock winds up said timer by means of a rod ending in a disc engaging a cam fastened to said timer, which cam drives at the same time a bolt locking the moneybox drawer in a closed position.

5. Safety drawer-box as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the engagement of said disc with said cam occurs through prongs confronting to each other and axially extending one from said disc and the other from the cam, respectively.

6. Safety drawer-box as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that said timer, once it is wound up, is prevented from being wound down by the engagement of the cam prong with said disc prong, which disc is held in the angular position predetermined by the key by means of said lock rod.

7. Safety drawer-box as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that it is intended to be secured as an accessory to a drawer-box of an existing cash register.

8. Safety drawer-box as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that said drawers cooperate with spring release locks known per se so that they can be locked in a closed position by a pushing force and unlocked always by a pushing force, there being always provided said timed opening lock for locking said safety drawer and for winding up said timer.

9. Safety drawer-box as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said timed opening lock can include means for locking said safety drawer of electro-mechanical or electrical type.