FR2799192A1 - Machine for the automatic distribution of banknotes from small offices, comprises banknote cassette, note extractor, conveyor and detector/counter unit all mounted on vertical panel support - Google Patents

Abstract

The banknote distributor equipment is mounted on a vertical trolley mounted support (1) and comprises stations (11,12) for loading banknote cassettes (20). The notes are extracted by a scraping unit (3) with rollers (31) and then travel along a conveyor (4) past detector/counters (60) to a paddle wheel (90) which delivers them into a bowl (95). The equipment is driven by a motor (50) and controlled by a microcomputer

Description

 The present invention relates to the field of automatic distribution of banknotes or similar objects. It has been specifically designed for the equipment of secure boxes for small bank branches or cash processing premises.

In terms of secure cash, there are so-called "secure automated cash" equipment that can distribute up to six denominations of notes and having several deposit points. In any case, these are heavy units that use complex mechanisms, which are therefore not suitable for small agencies or the treatment of small volumes of species.

For these two applications, the only equipment available to date is a box with timed opening designed to take place under a window. It does not of course ensure the automatic distribution of notes, and secondly, it is binding in its use because it is necessary to wait until the end of the time to access funds.

The present invention proceeds from a search for a solution to overcome this lack and meet the multiple objective of designing an automatic ticket dispensing device that is simple and reliable, compact and low cost.

For this purpose, the automatic dispensing device according to the invention has been more particularly designed to integrate an automatic dispensing function in a locked chest to replace the aforementioned timed box. However, it is of course likely to be used in applications other than banking, provided it is to distribute sheets or flat objects packaged batteries. And although in the rest of the description and the claims, for the sake of simplification of the wording, it will only be mentioned notes, this term implicitly mean any flat object or sheet likely to be distributed in the same way as banknotes.

Essentially, the automatic cash dispensing device according to the invention comprises in combination, assembled on a vertical panel-type support - at least one cassette intended to contain a bank of bills and provided with a pressing means for holding the front of the bank. the battery applied at the output of said cassette; an unstacking assembly associated with each cassette for extracting the bills and delivering them one by one; a conveying assembly defining a conveying path fed with bills by said unstacking assemblies, and conveying them towards a dispensing point; and - ticket detection means in said conveying path, directly downstream of each unstacking assembly, intended to count for the stop command of the associated unstacking assembly.

For banking applications, the device is designed to simultaneously receive two or three cassettes, allowing the distribution of as many different denominations.

Other important features of the invention correspond to particular or preferred embodiments of the invention. They will therefore appear optionally, alone or in combination.

According to one of these features, said cassettes are arranged in such a way that the notes are unstacked, transported and processed in the device in the direction of their length. This to take into account the new form of banknotes in Euros which will all have the same width and will be distinguished in size only by their lengths.

According to another of these features, each unstacking assembly comprises on the one hand a roller means for extracting the tickets from said cassette and introducing them into the input of the unstacker proper, which consists of a roller means constituting a peripheral ticket passage with a concave surface of a fixed part, the width of the passage and a difference between the coefficients of friction of respectively the peripheral surface of the roller means and the concave surface opposite said fixed part being chosen such that only a ticket in contact with the peripheral surface of the roller means can be outputted from said unstacker. According to another of these features, there is provided in said conveying path, downstream of all said unstacking assemblies, a ticket thickness control means, which is advantageously associated with a ticket detection means carried across. On the other hand, downstream of these means, it can then be provided in said conveying means, a switch to direct to a reject address defective tickets checked.

According to another of these features, ticket transfer means are provided between the output of said conveying path and a dispensing bowl, which comprise a paddle wheel whose blades are formed by pairs of twin fingers, which, in passing in slots of a plate of said bowl, cooperate with it to stack the notes in said bowl.

The above-mentioned features and advantages of the invention, as well as others, will become more apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a cash dispenser according to the invention, provided for two denominations; FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the rear of the dispenser of FIG. 1, representing the drive system of its various elements; FIG. 3 is a schematic front view similar to FIG. 2 a distributor with three denominations; FIG. 4 is a partial view on a larger scale, showing the lower unstacking assembly of the distributors of FIGS. 1 and 3; FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a ticket thickness control device provided in these distributors; FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view, on an enlarged scale, of a paddle wheel system stacking the notes in a dispensing bowl at the outlet of these dispensers; and FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a particular embodiment of the mounting of the optical sensors provided in these distributors.

In FIG. 1, there is shown a cash dispenser according to the invention, designed to be housed inside a safe C, which is sufficiently small to fit under a counter or desk to be used by one or two operators, and also contains one or more cassettes to receive deposits. The operators operate the dispenser via a microcomputer directly connected to its control unit.

The ticket dispensing device is thus mounted, according to the invention, on either side of a vertical support panel 1, itself carried on a carriage 10 which can be placed and locked in the operating position at the end of the inside the chest C.

The panel 1 has two superposed positions 11, 12 in each of which is fixed removably a dispensing cassette 20. This is of a type known per se and therefore will not be described in detail. It consists essentially of a parallelepiped box in which the notes are placed stacked upright on the bottom, and applied against the output end by a presser acting on the back of the stack. It also has identification means, as described for example in document FR-A-2 443 405, for transmitting by complementary means appropriate to the control unit of the distributor, information on the denomination of which it is charged. According to a feature of the invention, the charging direction of the batteries in the cassette is such that bills are extracted in the direction of their length, by an exit slot at the front of the base wall.

At each station 11, 12 for loading a dispensing cassette, corresponds to an unstacking assembly 3, more clearly visible in FIG. 4, the function of which is to extract the notes from the cassette 20 and to engage them one by one in a conveying assembly 4. According to the invention, the unstacking assembly 3 comprises an upstream part in the form of a pair of twin rollers 31 whose periphery comes into contact with the first ticket contained in the cassette to rotate it to go out down. The ticket thus extracted is engaged in the second part of the unstacking assembly 3 which comprises another pair of twin rollers 32 bordered on the bottom of its periphery, about 120, by a fixed part 33 to define a ticket passage. The circular surface of the piece 33 facing the rollers 32 is bent at each of its ends, so that the entry and exit of said bill passage are flared. In addition to the length of said banknote passage, the unstacking of the banknotes essentially results from two parameters which are the width of the banknote passage, on the one hand, and a difference between the coefficients of friction of the peripheral surface of the rollers 32 and the surface facing the fixed part 33, calculated so that only a ticket in contact with the rollers 32 can advance to the output in said ticket passage. This unstacking system has the advantage of being very simple and still very reliable. Preferably, the rollers 31 of the upstream part of the unstacking assembly are free-rotating when they are not driven, and have a flat part 31a on part of their periphery, FIG. 4, so that the training of the notes is not continuous. The bills leaving an unstacking assembly 3 are caught in the common conveying assembly 4, which consists of a plurality of endless belts 40 applied two by two to one another to form a series of sections defining a conveying path 41, in which the bills are transported in the direction of their length, interposed between adjacent strips. Each endless band 40 comprises two twin strips spaced apart from each other so as to define a median free space.

In the conveying path 41, directly downstream of each unstacking assembly 3, there is provided a ticket detector 60, in the form of a photoelectric sensor whose transmitting and accepting cells 60a and 60b are arranged on either side of the conveying path, to operate in the median free space between the bands. Each detector 60 is provided for counting tickets issued by the associated unstacking assembly, in particular to control the latter. It can also be used to control the length of banknotes that can be deduced from the concealment between its cells.

The mark 7 designates a device for controlling the thickness of the notes, also mounted in the bill conveyor path, but downstream of all the unstacking assemblies 3. In a preferred embodiment, shown schematically in FIG. 5, the device 7 is constituted by an optical reflection sensor 70, mounted on an arm 71 pivoting about an axis XX, and whose free end comprises a roller 72 mounted to rotate freely, and elastically applied against another roller 73 mounted freely rotatable in the conveying path 41 tickets B, in the median free space of the strips 40. The reflection sensor 70 is advantageously a model OPB 744 of the brand "OPTEK" which provides a precision of measure of the order of 1 lin. A slight application pressure of the roller 72 on the roller 73 makes it possible to carry out a correct measurement, even on crumpled or used notes.

It should be mentioned the advantages of such a device that are numerous despite its simplicity: its footprint is low; it offers a high speed of processing, hundreds of measurements can be made during the passage of a ticket for a conveyance speed of 1 m / s and the optical sensor also allows a continuous analog basic measurement; he is very precise; the absence of friction at the sensor eliminates wear problems; the check is made with respect to a reference empty before each ticket pass and therefore does not require frequent adjustment; the exploitable area of measurement of the sensor is sufficiently precise and thus allows a measurement without mechanical amplification, which eliminates the phenomena of significant mechanical rebounds; the reflective surface is polished aluminum, which provides maximum reflection compared to other surfaces, while being scratch resistant and insensitive to dust and reflections. The thickness control device 7 allows the detection of double bills, including defective bills (folded or glued for example). The double presence of notes may result, for example, from a bad positioning in a cassette resulting in a double hold during unstacking, or because the banknotes are new and have remained stuck as a result of being inked, or else because of a failure of the banknote. a set of unstacking.

The thickness control device 7 is associated with another optical sensor 61 for detecting the bills which are arranged transversely with respect to the conveying direction. The sensor comprises two transceiver pairs arranged frontally along the conveying path, and spaced apart transversely from one another so that the front edge of a ticket arriving at an angle creates an offset of the occultation starts. in both couples. Another function of the optical sensor 61 is to control the length of the notes.

All of the information provided by the device 7 and the optical sensor 61 are processed to control a switch 8 whose pivoting arm 80 orients the valid notes in a branch 41a of the conveying path 41, and the notes found to be defective in a branch 41b which routes them in a rejection cassette 21.

At the outlet of the branch 41a of the conveying path 41, the valid B notes are taken up by a paddle wheel 90 which stacks them in a bowl 95 open in the wall of the box C, FIG. 6. The vanes of the wheel 90 consist of paired pairs of fingers 91 of curved shape which is reflected backwards with respect to the direction of rotation. For the release of notes in the bowl 95, the wheel 90 cooperates with an inclined plate 92 having two slots for the passage of the fingers 91. Because the notes are transported in the direction of their length, it is preferable to provide, as illustrated in FIG. 6, complementary means assisting their loading in the impeller 90 at the outlet of the conveying path 41a. These means are elastic upper fingers 93 guiding the exit of the notes downwards, in the direction of an inclined flexible tab 94 resting on the hub of the impeller 90, between the fingers 91.

in a variant not shown, at the exit of the conveying path 41a, the notes are transferred to a bundling device inside the box C, the bundles once formed being conveyed to the outside. In practice, the formation of the bundles can be achieved by pinching the notes between tabs arranged in ears along a belt.

Fig. 2 shows, mounted on the back of the panel 1, the drive means of the various elements of the distributor which, according to the invention, comprise a single motor 50 to drive all the rotating parts. The motor 50 drives, by means of belts 51 to 53: a toothed wheel 54 for synchronizing and tracking the movement of the bills; a roller 55, integral with the toothed wheel 54, and driving the impeller 90 through the belt 52 and a roller 56; a roller 59 for driving an endless belt 40 of the conveying assembly: and at each unstacking assembly 3, a roller 57 coaxial with the pair of rollers 31 and coupled to that by a clutch-brake , and a roller 58 coaxial with the pair of rollers 32 and also coupled thereto by a clutch-brake. The rollers 58 also each drive a strip 40 of the conveying assembly 4. The pivoting arm 80 of the switch 8 is actuated by an electromagnet. Note that the rotation of the toothed wheel 54 is directly representative of the displacements of the ensemble elements driven by the motor 50. Therefore, a displacement in said conveyor assembly 4 can be measured accurately and reliably according to the amplitude (number of notches) of the concomitant rotation of the wheel 54, which makes it possible to overcome the parameters of time and speed, in particular in the exploitation of the concealment between the cells of the optical sensors 60 and 61 for the control of bills convoyed across and control of their length.

The dispenser of FIG. 3 is functionally designed in exactly the same way as that of Figs. 1 and 2 and will not be described in detail. It differs in only two respects: first, in that it comprises on the panel 1 three stations 11 to 13 instead of two to receive cassettes 20, to allow the processing of three denominations of notes; and in that it has been designed a slightly modified arrangement of the elements on the panel 1, including a staggered shift of the positions 11 to 13, to keep the assembly within the same limits of space imposed by the dimensions of the box C.

Fig. 7 illustrates a feature of the invention according to which the emitter and receiver cells of the optical sensors 60 and 61 previously described are mounted in respective tubes so as to allow easy and quick adjustment of their alignment in pairs. For a single sensor, each tube, such as 65, has in its wall, at a predetermined point in its length, a window 66 in front of which is mounted internally the associated cell.

 I1 further comprises a threaded end portion 65a of a certain length, intended to be received in a mounting hole of the panel 1, and fixed by means of two nuts 67 and 68. The alignment adjustment between cells Transmitter and receiver of a sensor is therefore by rotation on themselves of their respective tubes 65, and displacement in translation along their length by means of nuts 67 and 68. In FIG. 7, the tube 65 shown comprises two windows 66 arranged longitudinally aligned and spaced apart by a predetermined distance, for producing the pair of sensors 61 arranged frontally in the conveying path 41.

Claims (3)

 1) An automatic cash dispensing device, characterized in that it comprises in combination, assembled on a vertical support panel (1) - at least one cassette (20) for holding a stack of notes (B) and equipped with a pressing means for holding the front of the stack applied at the output of said cassette; an unstacking assembly (3) associated with each cassette (20) for extracting the bills and delivering them one by one; - A conveying assembly (4) defining a conveying path (41) supplied with bills by said unstacking assemblies, and routing them to a distribution point; and - ticket detection means (60) in said conveying path (41), directly downstream of each unstacking assembly (3), for counting purposes for stopping control of the associated unstacking assembly. 2) An automatic cash dispensing device according to claim 1, characterized in that said cassettes (20) are arranged such that the notes are unstacked, transported and processed in the device in the direction of their length.   3) An automatic cash dispensing device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that

    this <SEP> that <SEP> each <SEP> set <SEP> of <SEP> unstacking <SEP> (3) <SEP> includes <SEP> of a <tb> share <SEP> a <SEP> average <SEP> to <SEP> roll <SEP> (31) <SEP> for <SEP> extract <SEP> <SEP> tickets <SEP> from <tb> said <SEP> cassette <SEP> (20) <SEP> and <SEP> the <SEP> introduce <SEP> in <SEP> the <SEP> entry of <tb> unstacker <SEP> properly <SEP> says, <SEP> which <SEP> is <SEP> constituted <SEP> of a <tb> average <SEP> to <SEP> roll <SEP> (32) <SEP> constituting <SEP> a <SEP> crossing <SEP> of <SEP> ticket <tb> device <SEP> with <SEP> a <SEP> concave <SEP> surface <SEP> of a <SEP> fixed <SEP> part <tb> (33), <SEP> The <SEP> width <SEP> of the <SEP> shift <SEP> and <SEP> <SEP> <SEP> coefficients of <tb> friction <SEP> of <SEP> respectively <SEP> the <SEP> surface <SEP> device <SEP> of <tb> average <SEP> to <SEP> roll <SEP> (32) <SEP> and <SEP> the <SEP> surface <SEP> in <SEP> look <SEP> of <SEP> said <tb> piece <SEP> fixed <SEP> (33) <SEP> being <SEP> such <SEP> as <SEP> only <SEP> a <SEP> ticket <SEP> in <tb> contact <SEP> with <SEP> the <SEP> surface <SEP> device <SEP> of the <SEP> medium <SEP> to <SEP> pebble <tb> (32) <SEP> can <SEP> be <SEP> delivered <SEP> in <SEP> output <SEP> of said <SEP> unstacker. <tb> 4) <SEP> <SEP> Device <SEP> Automatic <SEP> Distribution <SEP> of <tb> tickets <SEP> according to <SEP> one <SEP> of <SEP> claims <SEP> 1 <SEP> to <SEP> 3, <tb> characterized <SEP> in <SEP> this <SEP> that it <SEP> is <SEP> expected <SEP> in <SEP> said <SEP> <SEP> path of <tb> conveying <SEP> (41), <SEP> in <SEP> downstream <SEP> of <SEP> all <SEP> said <SEP> sets <SEP> of <tb> unstacking <SEP> (3), <SEP> an <SEP> average <SEP> of <SEP> <SEP> check of <SEP> <SEP> thickness of <tb> banknotes <SEP> (7). <tb> 5) <SEP> Device <SEP> of <SEP> Automatic <SEP> Distribution <SEP> of <tb> banknotes <SEP> according to <SEP> the <SEP> claim <SEP> 4, <SEP> characterized <SEP> in <SEP> that <SEP> that <tb> said <SEP> average <SEP> of <SEP> <SEP> check of <SEP> <SEP> thickness of <SEP> banknotes <tb> includes <SEP> a <SEP> sensor <SEP> optical <SEP> to <SEP> reflection <SEP> (70), <SEP> mounted <SEP> on <tb> a <SEP> swivel <SEP> arm <SEP> (71) <SEP> whose <SEP> end <SEP> free <SEP> has <tb> a <SEP> roll <SEP> (73) <SEP> to <SEP> free <SEP> rotation <SEP> applied <SEP> elastically <tb> against <SEP> a <SEP> other <SEP> roll <SEP> (73) <SEP> mounted <SEP> to <SEP> free <SEP> rotation <SEP> in <tb> the <SEP> <SEP> Path of <SEP> Conveying <SEP> (41) <tb> 6) <SEP> Device <SEP> of <SEP> Automatic <SEP> Distribution <SEP> of <tb> banknotes <SEP> according to <SEP> the <SEP> claim <SEP> 4 <SEP> or <SEP> 5, <SEP> characterized <SEP> in <tb> this <SEP> only <SEP> average <SEP> of <SEP> <SEP> check of <SEP> <SEP> thickness of <SEP> banknotes <tb> (7), <SEP> is <SEP> associated <SEP> an <SEP> average <SEP> (61) <SEP> of <SEP> detection <SEP> of <SEP> ticket <tb> transported <SEP> from <SEP> across. 7) Automatic cash dispensing device according to one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that downstream of the means (7, 61), there is provided in said conveying assembly (4), a switch (8) enabling the defective controlled tickets to be sent to a reject address. 8) Automatic cash dispensing device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that ticket transfer means are provided between the output of said conveying path (41a) and a distribution bowl (95), which comprising a paddle wheel (90) whose vanes are formed by pairs of paired fingers (91) which, by passing through slots in a plate (92) of the bowl (95), co-operate with it to stack the banknotes in said bowl. 9) An automatic cash dispensing device according to claim 8, characterized in that complementary means are provided to assist the loading of the notes in the impeller (90) at the outlet of the conveying path (41a), these means being upper elastic fingers (93) guiding the exit of the notes downwards towards an inclined flexible tab (94) resting on the hub of the impeller (90) between the fingers (91). 10) Automatic cash dispensing device according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the drive of all the rotating parts is provided by a single motor (50), via straps (51 to 53) and drive rollers (55 to 59). 11) An automatic cash dispensing device according to claim 10, characterized in that said motor (50) further drives a toothed wheel (54) for synchronizing and tracking the movement of bills. 12) Automatic cash dispensing device according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the transmitter and receiver cells of the optical sensors (60, 61) are mounted in tubes (65), one end portion of which ( 65a) is threaded and comprises two nuts (67, 68) for fixing in a receiving hole of the support (1), to allow the alignment adjustment between the transmitting and receiving cells by rotation on themselves of their respective tubes (65). ), and by displacement along their length of said tubes by means of the nuts (67, 68).