EP0172759A1 - Bank note distributing device - Google Patents

Abstract

At the exit of a cassette (100) of notes to be distributed, and of its note extraction equipment, there are provided immediately means (120) of gripping, of verification and of sorting, in the form of blade wheels, which will test whether a note is true or not true (that is to say a duplicate or a folded note). True notes are released into a stacking station (190) while a reject conveyor returns the non-true notes into a return box (180). When the required number of notes is reached, the pile of notes is taken by its short side and passes through the slot (10) of a safe (1) before being delivered to the user. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to banknote dispensers, and more particularly their internal devices which are responsible for constituting a stack of notes, representing the amount requested by the user.

• - vérifier les billets un par un, afin d'assurer qu'ils ne sont ni doubles; ni pliés, car il est à l'heure actuelle difficile de distinguer deux billets "collés" d'un billet plié.
• - écarter les billets non conformes;
• - constituer, en un poste d'empilement, une pile dénombrée de billets vérifiés.

It is known that a device for distributing banknotes comprises at least one cassette, which houses a stack of distributable banknotes, of a determined face value, and comprises equipment intended to extract the banknotes one by one, on command, from the cassette. There are also means of handling these banknotes, which fulfill several tasks:

• - check the tickets one by one, to ensure that they are not duplicates; nor folded, because it is currently difficult to distinguish two "glued" tickets from a folded ticket.
• - discard non-conforming tickets;
• - constitute, in a stacking station, a counted stack of verified banknotes.

This stack is then transferred to the user, who can seize it through a system of the lock type.

For security reasons, an enclosure or safe is used, which surrounds the entire cash dispenser, and from which the bills exit through a slot.

A problem then arose for the Applicant: the known cash dispensers do not allow an exact follow-up, in value, of the tickets which leave the cassette, since these can be either a conform ticket, or a conform ticket but simply folded, double. The object of the present invention is in particular to provide a solution to this problem.

The invention also aims to provide a banknote handling device which is both simple, flexible in its applications, and with the aid of which the value of the banknotes remaining inside the bank can be checked at any time. enclosure safe, as well as those of the tickets that came out.

Yet another object of the invention is to allow the realization of a banknote dispenser in which the exit slot of the safe enclosure is as small as possible.

• - une cassette, qui loge un empilement de billets distribuables, et comporte un équipement prévu pour en extraire les billets un par un, sur commande,
• - des moyens de manipulation de ces billets, propres à constituer, en un poste d'empilement, une pile dénombrée de billets vérifiés, tout en écartant les billets non conformes;
• - des moyens pour le transfert de cette pile vers l'usager, et
• - une enceinte formant coffre-fort, qui contient la cassette, les billets sortant de cette enceinte par une fente.

The proposed banknote dispensing device is of the general type comprising:

• - a cassette, which houses a stack of distributable tickets, and includes equipment designed to extract the tickets one by one, on order,
• - Means for handling these banknotes, capable of constituting, in a stacking station, a counted stack of verified banknotes, while discarding non-conforming banknotes;
• means for transferring this battery to the user, and
• - an enclosure forming a safe, which contains the cassette, the banknotes leaving this enclosure through a slot.

• - l'enceinte entoure la cassette, ces moyens de manipulation et leur boite de retour, sa fente de sortie étant parallèle au petit côté du poste d'empilement des billets, et
• - les moyens de transfert comprennent des moyens de préhension de la pile de billets par son petit côté, à travers ladite fente de sortie.

According to a general definition of the invention, the means of manipulation; who check the banknotes as soon as they leave the cassette, are mounted to immediately constitute said enumerated stack, and discard the nonconforming banknotes in a return box close to the cassette;

• the enclosure surrounds the cassette, these handling means and their return box, its outlet slot being parallel to the short side of the banknote stacking station, and
• - The transfer means comprise means for gripping the stack of banknotes by its short side, through said outlet slot.

According to another aspect of the invention, the transfer means comprise a toothed belt, which supports at least one controlled clamp, and engages through said slot inside the enclosure. These transfer means can in particular release the stack of tickets in a housing which can be made accessible to the user.

Very advantageously, said clamp cooperates with a cam fixed at the stacking station, to grip the stack of banknotes.

According to another aspect of the invention, the handling means comprise wheels each comprising a blade for transporting a ticket from the outlet of the cassette to the stacking station, means for checking the ticket during its journey on these paddle wheels, said paddle wheels normally carrying their load at the stacking station, while they may, on command, send it to the return box.

In a preferred embodiment, the impellers have a common hollow shaft, which houses a translation rod, which is moved to take hold of the bill and allows its release on command at the stacking station or towards the return box.

In a particular embodiment, the path to the return box includes a conveyor accessible behind a tilting side wall of the stacking station. Advantageously, this conveyor comprises two conveyor belts in a closed circuit, capable of closing one over the other.

The driving of the handling means and of the transfer means is preferably carried out by stepping motors under the control of at least one control unit.

Finally, the invention also provides that the bill dispensing device comprises several bill manipulators as defined above, the cassettes of which contain banknotes of different face value, the various stacks of banknotes being finally assembled to be presented to the user.

• - la figure 1 est un schéma de principe général d'un distributeur de billets selon l'invention;
• - la figure 2 illustre schématiquement la structure classique d'une cassette de billets à distribuer;
• - les figures 3 et 3C sont deux vues générales schématiques en perspective d'une partie du distributeur de billets selon l'invention;
• - la figure 3A est un premier détail du dispositif schématisé sur la figure 3;
• - la figure 3B est un seond détail du dispositif schématisé sur la figure 3;
• - la figure 4A est une vue de dessus montrant mieux certains éléments du dispositif selon l'invention, tel qu'illustré à la figure 3;
• - la figure 4B est une autre vue de dessus montrant une partie différente du dispositif de la figure 3; et
• - les figures 5A et 5B sont deux vues qui se correspondent et illustrent le reste du dispositif de l'invention.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on examining the detailed description below, as well as the appended drawings, in which:

• - Figure 1 is a general block diagram of a cash dispenser according to the invention;
• - Figure 2 schematically illustrates the conventional structure of a cassette of tickets to be distributed;
• - Figures 3 and 3C are two general schematic views in perspective of part of the cash dispenser according to the invention;
• - Figure 3A is a first detail of the device shown schematically in Figure 3;
• - Figure 3B is a second detail of the device shown schematically in Figure 3;
• - Figure 4A is a top view better showing certain elements of the device according to the invention, as illustrated in Figure 3;
• - Figure 4B is another top view showing a different part of the device of Figure 3; and
• - Figures 5A and 5B are two views which correspond and illustrate the rest of the device of the invention.

In FIG. 1, the thick dashed line referenced 1 designates an enclosure which forms a safe and encloses a part of the cash dispenser elements.

This enclosure 1 here contains a cassette 100 of tickets to be distributed, gripping, ordering and sorting members denoted 120 as a whole, a return box for rejected tickets denoted 180, and a station for stacking conforming notes denoted 190 The assembly can be placed under the control of a local control unit 110, which is also housed inside the enclosure 1. By an interface 115, the unit 110 communicates with a general control unit 200 which, for its part, is placed outside the enclosure 1. A variant consists in providing a single control unit, internal or external, to the enclosure 1, while retaining an interface for crossing this enclosure.

With the aid of detection means which may be of known type, the control inside the enclosure 1 targets the number of tickets leaving the cassette, the result of the verification of the ticket at the level of the organs 120, the number of tickets stacked at post 190, and the number of tickets returned to the box 180, in particular.

Outside, a device 210 transfers the stack of tickets available at post 190 to the user, via the front face 250 of the device. The passage of the tickets takes place at a slot 10 of the enclosure 1.

The external control unit 200 controls the transfer of the stack of banknotes to the user by the member 210, as well as the operations conventionally inherent in the distribution of banknotes, using means incorporated in the front face of the banknote. 'device (magnetic card reader, control keyboard, display, etc.).

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a cassette, which consists of a parallelepipedic box 100, in which a presser 101 urges a stack of banknotes 102 towards an outlet orifice. An extraction mechanism by swivel suction arm 104 allows the extraction, in principle one by one, of banknotes such as 103. The banknotes are immediately taken up by two cooperating rollers 105 and 106. The cassette used according to the invention can be of known type or, preferably, of the type described in French patent application No. 83 18 420, in the name of the Applicant.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3. Between side walls 107 and 108, which house the cassette 100 (not shown here), there are provided a set of shafts which support cooperating members for carrying out the handling of the ticket (we use hereinafter the word "ticket" although it may be a duplicate).

We recognize in Figure 3 the shaft 104 and its suction arms. We also see the rollers 105 and 106 which realize the immediate taking of the ticket to advance it. Kinematic control of this advance is known up to now.

According to an important aspect of the invention, the ticket is then supported by a row of paddle wheels, 121, 121A and 121B; mounted on a common shaft 130. This shaft is driven by a roller 131, driven by a stepping motor (not shown) and provided with an exhaust mechanism 132. The rollers 133 to 135 drive the other trees already mentioned.

Below the paddle wheels 121, and towards the front, there is a banknote stacking station 140. On the side of the paddle wheels 121; the station 140 is delimited by a side wall formed by a comb of teeth 145, which are retractable. The retraction of these teeth opens the passage to a banknote ejection conveyor, one of the elements of which is seen in 170.

Finally, at the bottom right of the figure, there is a toothed belt 211, which will be described below. We note for the moment that the belt 211 comes to pass near the small side of the stacking station 140.

Figure 3A, which is partial, better shows some elements of Figure 3. There are the rollers 105 and 106. We see one of the wheels 121 on the shaft 139, and the two parts 122 and 123 of the 'dawn that includes this wheel. An incoming ticket will be introduced between the two blades 122 and 123 of the dawn, where it is pinched, either by the intrinsic relative elasticity of these two blades or, preferably, by the intervention of auxiliary gripping means that will be described below.

After turning the paddle wheel 121, the ticket will either be placed, to start or continue a stack, at the extension 140, if it has been checked and recognized as compliant, or on the contrary introduced into the reject conveyor, if it has been recognized as non-compliant. It is known in fact that a ticket leaving a cassette such as that described above has in principle the good face value, with which the cassette is associated. On the other hand, this note can be folded either from the origin, or more often, following its extraction from the cassette. The other annoying possibility is that two tickets were checked out at the same time. The banknote recognition detectors used so far make it possible to ensure that a banknote is in single thickness; on the other hand, they do not make it possible to distinguish duplicates from banknotes folded over a more or less large part of their surface . It is then conventional to discard a ticket thus recognized as non-compliant. However, up to now, it has not been possible to keep exact accounts of non-compliant tickets.

According to the invention, on the contrary, the tickets are checked immediately, at the paddle wheels 121, using means which may be of known type. If the ticket is recognized as being true, it is therefore placed as previously indicated at stacking station 140. Otherwise, it goes to the reject conveyor.

This conveyor consists of a lower belt 175, supported by two end rollers 175A and 175B, the axes of which are fixed. Above, the second part of the conveyor consists of a belt 170, supported by end rollers 170A and 170B mounted on an arm 172, secured to a perpendicular rod 171. The rod 172 pivots around the axis 170A roller.

Furthermore, the left wall of the stacking station 140 is therefore defined by the tooth comb 145, which is integral with a lower plate 141 which can pivot about an axis located under the bottom of the stacking station 140 Thus, the wall 145 can retract to pass through the intermediate position 145A and lead to the final position 145B, where it opens the passage of the ticket between the two belts 170 and 175 of the conveyor. The roller 170B then approaches the roller 175B to drive the rejected banknote (s) to the return box 180 (FIG. 1), the shape of which can be chosen as required.

In FIG. 3B, we see at 176 a wheel carrying a cam 177, which can come to urge down an arm 178. The cam is urged in the presence of a non-conforming note, to push down the arm 178 , which then lowers the rod 171 and consequently the end roller 170B, after having pulled down, by its end 179, the tooth comb 145. To better fix the relative positions of the elements, the following is also shown: shaft 130 of the paddle wheels 121.

FIG. 3B also shows the belt 211, which carries a clamp 220, intended for gripping the stack of banknotes (FIG. 3C), after a desired number of banknotes have been brought to the stacking station 140.

In FIG. 4A, the roller 131 can be recognized for driving the paddle wheels 121, 121A and 121B. The 121A paddle wheel is shown in partial section. We also recognize the trees 104 and 106 already mentioned, as well as the stacking station shown diagrammatically in 140.

The shaft 130 of the paddle wheels 121 is hollow, as illustrated in 150. It internally houses a control rod, denoted 151, and capable of being actuated by an end pusher 159. At each of the paddle wheels 121, the rod has a notch 152 in which is housed the foot of a rod 153 provided with a stud 154 which is flush with the periphery of the wheel 121A, and is biased radially inwards by an elastic return defined in 155. The control unit 110 (FIG. 1) jointly actuates the drive stepper motor by rotation of the wheels 121 and the pusher 159 to achieve, after the insertion of the ticket between the two blades 122 and 123 (FIG. 3A) of the wheel, the firm grip of the latter, since the rod 151 is then moved axially. the inside of the shaft 130 so that the stud 154 protrudes slightly, and thus closes the blade 123 on its counterpart 122 in the manner of pliers. This pinching action remains either until the level is reached stacking station 140., if the ticket is recognized as compliant, or up to the entry of the reject conveyor if the ticket is recognized as non-compliant, with in the latter case prior actuation of the cam 177 which has just been described with reference to FIG. 3B, to first retract the side wall which forms a tooth comb 145, and then close the two parts of the reject conveyor one on the other (the two belts 170 and 175).

FIG. 4B better illustrates certain details which will help understanding of the above: there we see the upper belt 170, the control rod 171, which passes through sleeves such as 171A formed between two pairs of arms 172 which support the rollers ends such as 170A and 170B of the belt 170.

We also see the arm 178, whose pivoting under the effect of the cam 176 will allow, by the end 179, to retract by descent the tooth comb 145, using a lug 146 of one teeth of it. Then, the lower face 174 (FIG. 3B) of the arm 178 comes to urge the rod 171 to close the two belts 170 and 175 of the reject conveyor towards each other.

Also seen in Figure 4B the belt 211, with the clamp 220 which it carries, in the open position, and waiting for gripping the stack of notes.

FIG. 5A again shows the clamp 220 in the standby position. This position is obtained by cooperation of a lateral lug 240 (FIG. 3C) of this clamp with the surface cam 215. The clamp is therefore here open. FIG. 3C also shows that the clamp 220 is mounted on the belt 211 by its pivoting articulation, against springs 241 on a rider'242 which overlaps the belt transversely. Lateral extensions such as 243 of this rider engage in guide rails such as 245 and 246; when the clamp 220 passes opposite the stacking station 140 (FIG. 3C and 5A); it is during this passage that the clamp opens under the effect of the cam 215.

When it is released, it will take the stack of banknotes, which has the desired number of banknotes (this number is obtained by counting the number of paddle wheel actuations, for which the banknote has been recognized as compliant). The stack of banknotes can be taken naturally by the clamp 220, or pushed into it. When it escapes the cam surface; the clamp grips the stack of banknotes, and then takes position 220A, to continue its journey with the movement of the belt 211, which is now moved. In 220B is illustrated the position of the clamp when passing through the two walls of the slot 10 of the safe enclosure. Note that the belt 211 is wound on a lower roller 221; and passes over a guide roller 222 to provide a minimum of volume at the level of the passage of the slot 10. The center line TA allows the superimposition of FIGS. 5A and 5B. After this superimposition, it will appear that the stack of banknotes is now out of enclosure 1, to pass over another roller 224, then over roller 225, while the belt closes its circuit by going over a another idler roller 223, located at the same vertical level as the roller 222.

For its part, at the roller 225, the clamp which supports the stack of banknotes, illustrated at 220C, will open under the effect of a cam surface 218, which results in the removal of the stack of tickets in a receptacle 255.

The movement of the belt T 21i is obtained by means of a stepping motor, which is mounted on one of the rollers of this Note that the slot 10 can be made very narrow, since the stack of notes crosses this slot passing through its short side (transverse to the plane of Figures SA and 5B), the long side of the slot is therefore slightly greater than the small side of tickets. The short side of the slot 10 is only defined by the requirements for the passage of the belt 211, in double thickness, and the maximum thickness of the stack of banknotes which it may be necessary to deliver to the user. . The transfer mechanism of FIGS. 5A and SB is particularly simple, and flexible to apply, since it is easy to subject any toothed belt to any desired path, and to adjust the control of the stepping motor drive accordingly. , at the level of the control unit 200.

For its part, the banknote handling unit described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 is also extremely simple, since it adds to the conventional structure only the paddle wheels, the stacking station, its side comb. outlet, and the reject conveyor. This assembly can be housed in a minimum volume at the end of the banknote cassette, which is accompanied by a reasonable size of the safe deposit box 1. Again the device is also flexible to use, since the internal control unit 110 can easily be adjusted to take account of the particular characteristics of the tickets, as well as of the other factors involved in the distribution of the tickets.

Finally, and above all, the present invention makes it possible to provide, inside the local control unit 110, precise control of the number of tickets remaining in the cassette 100, of the number of tickets delivered (certainly per unit) to outside, to be given to the user, and finally the number of questionable tickets, which return to the return box 180. It is then possible to design a strict accounting of the number of tickets remaining inside the safe, which has many advantages for transaction control.

Claims (10)

1. Device for dispensing banknotes, of the type comprising: - a cassette (100), which houses a stack of distributable tickets, and includes equipment (104) provided for extracting the tickets one by one, on command: - means (120) for handling these banknotes, capable of constituting, in a stacking station, a counted stack of verified banknotes while removing non-conforming banknotes, - means (210) for transferring this battery to the user, and - an enclosure (1) forming a safe, which contains the cassette, the tickets leaving this enclosure through a slot (10),
characterized in that: the handling means (120), which check the banknotes as soon as they leave the cassette, are mounted to immediately form said enumerated stack (190) and discard the nonconforming banknotes in a return box (180) close to the cassette, the enclosure (1) surrounds the cassette, these handling means (120) and their return box (180), its outlet slot (10) being parallel to the short side of the banknote stacking station, and - The transfer means (20) comprise means for gripping the stack of banknotes by its short side, which pass through said outlet slot (10). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the transfer means (210) comprise a toothed belt (211), which supports at least one clamp (220) controlled, and engages through said slot (10) to inside the enclosure (1). 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the transfer means (210) release the stack of banknotes in a housing (255) which can be made accessible to the user, 4. Device according to one of claims 2 and 3, characterized in that said clamp (220) cooperates with a cam (215) fixed at the stacking station, for gripping the stack of tickets. 5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the handling means (120) comprise wheels (121) comprising a blade (12, 123) for transporting a ticket from the outlet of the cassette ( 100) at the stacking station (140), means for checking the ticket during its journey on these paddle wheels, said paddle wheels normally bringing their load to the stacking station (140), while they are capable, on order, send it to the return box (180). 6. Device according to claim 5 ,. characterized in that the paddle wheels have a common hollow shaft (130) which houses a translation rod (151), which is moved to take hold of the bill and allows it to be released on command at the stacking station or to the return box. 7. Device according to one of claims 5 and 6, characterized in that the path to the return box comprises a conveyor (170, 175) accessible behind a tilting side wall (145) of the stacking station (140). 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the conveyor comprises two belts (170, 175) rolling in closed circuit, capable of closing towards one another. 9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the handling means and the transfer means are driven by stepping motors under the control of at least one control unit. 10. Cash dispenser device, characterized in that it comprises several devices according to one of the preceding claims, operating for different facial values of tickets.

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