GB898715A - Banknote handling machine - Google Patents

Abstract

898,715. Feeding and delivering sheets. DE LA RUE INSTRUMENTS Ltd. March 25, 1960 [April 2, 1959], No. 11289/59. Class 100(1) [Also in Group XIX] A bank note handling, e.g. feeding, sorting or counting machine comprises means for supporting a stack of bank notes on edge, an oscillating arm connected to a source of suction for feeding notes sequentially from the stack to a pair of primary feed rollers, two or ,more pairs of secondary feed rollers, means for detecting during its passage between the primary feed rollers or between any but the final pair of secondary feed rollers a note or notes exceeding a predetermined thickness, and means controlled by the detecting means which can prevent a note or notes from entering the nip of the final pair of secondary feed rollers. A platform 8 mounted between side plates 1, 2 of the machine carries a stack 9 of bank notes the lower edges of which are retained by an angled projection 11. A wheeled, weighted member 10 provides a constant thrust against the rear side of the stack 9. A suction arm 13 is mounted on a hollow shaft 12 which is oscillated by a cam. In operation the arm 13 moves towards the stack 9, engages the foremost note thereof near its lower edge, and then moves away from the stack, carrying the lower edge over the projection 11 and into a position where it can be gripped between the primary feed rollers 24, 25, 26, the rollers 26 being cut-away to facilitate insertion of the sheet edge. Further cut-away rollers 27, 28 ensure that curled edges of the notes are passed into the roller system. After leaving the primary feed rollers each sheet or note is fed between guides 98, 100 by two pairs of secondary feed rollers 29, 30 and 31, 32 and then between a third pair of secondary feed rollers 33, 34 which with the aid of a rubber covered friction roller 36 deliver it on to a platform 38. The sheets are held in position on the platform 38 by means of arms 63, 64 rigidly mounted on a stationary shaft 65 and which carry end stops 66, 67; the platform 38 is pivoted at 39 and biased upwards by a spring 40. The machine is powered by an electric motor 54. Any desired number of notes may be counted off from the stack 9 and fed to the platform 38 the number being selected by means of two telephone-style dials one for tens and one for units, which set two counters (see Group XIX) to the appropriate number and when dialling is completed automatically start the motor 54. An electric circuit completed through the surfaces of the rollers 33, 34 is interrupted every time a note passes between the rollers and sends an impulse to the counters which reduces the number shewn thereon by one until the counters finally register zero whereupon the motor 54 is stopped and an electromagnetically operated brake is applied to the suction separator. Alternatively the passage of notes between the rollers 33, 34 may actuate a microswitch to provide the impulses. The member 10 carries an electric contact which completes a circuit with a stationary contact on the machine frame when the last sheet has been fed from the stack 9 and stops the machine; if the selected number of notes has not then been fed to the platform 38 the number outstanding is shewn on the counters. Issue of a batch of a hundred notes is controlled by a key separate from the dials. Faulty feed detectors. If the arm 13 feeds more than one sheet between the primary feed rollers the shaft 16 carrying the rollers 24, 25 is raised slightly, its journal block 69 being slidable in a slot 70, Fig. 3, in the side plate 2. This movement is transmitted by bell-crank levers 72, 74 to a microswitch 76 which completes the circuit of a solenoid 79. The solenoid 79 moves a pivoted deflector plate 80 anticlockwise from the position shown in Fig. 1 to a position wherein it deflects a note or notes emerging from between the rollers 31, 32 over the top of the roller 33 and into a hopper 88. A cam 91, driven by gears 89, 90 from the shaft 16 resets the microswitch 76 and hence the deflector plate when the faultily fed sheets have cleared the deflector plate. During deflection of sheets the brake for the suction arm 13 is momentarily applied so as to provide a gap in the flow of notes until the deflector plate has been returned to inoperative position. An alternative form of deflector is shown in Fig. 7 and consists of a number of plates 101 secured to a shaft 102. The plates can be swung downwards from the position shown by means of the solenoid 79 so as to deflect a note or notes leaving the nip of the rollers 31, 32 round the periphery of the roller 31, between the nip of that roller and a roller 104 and into a hopper 88.