JP2002512931A - Cassette for bundling banknotes - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] The cassette (2) for receiving and storing banknotes advantageously uses a movable guide (26, 27) combined with a movable actuator (30). Each of them moves toward one another so as to strip the bills received at and add the stripped bills to the stack of bills (13).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a cassette for receiving and bundling banknotes. In particular, the invention relates to cassettes with improved stacking capabilities.

[0002] Existing cassettes for bill accepting devices, such as flow currency bill validators or vending machines, first receive bills with a guide having a movable actuator positioned between the guides,
A mechanism is then provided for displacing the bill and adding it to the bundle of bills adjacent to one side of the guide. Typically, this actuator moves the bundle of bills a distance sufficient to clear the optimal bill from the guide. The guide is fixed and aligned with the cassette receiving slot. The coil spring urges the bill in one direction, and movement of the actuator causes the spring to compress.

[0003] This type of cassette requires considerable internal space to accommodate the movement of the actuator through the fixed guide in order to strip the last received bill. In addition, the actuator must have enough force to displace the bill bundle and the spring as the bill is added to the bundle. In many cases, the maximum capacity of the cassette will determine the frequency with which the cassette needs to be removed, and usually a larger capacity cassette is desired. On the other hand, space tends to be small, and there is a trade-off between cassette size and available space. Larger cassettes also require larger forces on the actuators because the size of the displaced bill bundle is also larger.

The present invention provides a structure that makes more effective use of the internal volume of a cassette.

[0005]

Summary of the Invention

The bill receiving cassette according to the invention comprises a housing having a slot for receiving bills vertically between two opposing guides, the guides engaging on both sides of the bill received. The storage arrangement is located on one side of the guide and the actuator is located on the opposite side of the guide. The actuator cooperates with the guide to engage the bill received by the guide and move the received bill into the storage structure. A drive is connected to the actuator and the guide, such that the guide and actuator move bills into the storage structure by moving the actuator through the guide in the opposite direction as the guide moves in one direction past the actuator. .

[0006] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the driving device includes a rotary cam that controls movement of both the guide and the actuator.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the actuator is a platform member that closes one side of the guide and functions as a flat support for received bills in the bill receiving position.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a drive moves the guide away from the storage structure while moving the actuator toward the storage structure.

[0009] According to yet another aspect of the invention, the storage arrangement presses the received bills held in the bundle against a stop, and the actuator, when moved through such a guide, pushes the bill into the bundle. A spring unit is provided that provides a spring force that allows such received bundles of bills to be moved to accommodate new bills.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, the banknote stop is defined by and is movable with the guide.

A bill cassette according to the present invention comprises a housing defining an enclosure having a slot opening wall through which bills can be vertically inserted into the cassette. The bill receiving device is tied to the slot opening and engages on both sides of the received bill, an opposing guide in an initial position, and a support member in an initial position disposed between and on one side of the guide, Is provided. The banknote storage structure is located on the side of the guide opposite the initial position of the support member and receives banknotes removed from the guide. The driving device moves the guide toward the initial position of the support member, moves the support member toward the initial position of the guide, removes the received bill from the guide from the guide, After arranging the received bill in the storage area, the guide and the support member are returned to the initial position.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a cassette includes a rotating cam member that controls movement of both the support member and the guide during movement from and to the initial position.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, the guide member and the support member each have their own link with a cam follower attached to the cam member, the link being supported through the guide. The guide and the support device are maintained substantially parallel while moving the member.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in the drawings.

[0015]

[Detailed description of preferred embodiments]

The cassette 2 shown in FIG. 1 has a housing 4 with a slot opening 6 which allows a bill to be inserted into the cassette. Associated with this slot opening 6 are a play wheel 8 and a drive wheel 10 which cooperately engage the bill and define it between opposing "U-shaped" guides 26 and 27. It is conveyed to the bill slot 12 formed. The drive wheel 10 and the play wheel 8 are arranged in the slot opening 6 and convey the received bills to the guides 26 and 27 without a belt.

The cassette on one side of the guides 26 and 27 includes a bill storage area 14 having a bundle of bills, generally indicated at 13. The plate 16 is attached to springs 17 and 18 and normally urges the bill bundle 13 against one side of the guide members 26 and 27. The movable support 30 is disposed between the opposing guides 26 and 27,
In cooperation with the guide, the received bill is peeled off from the guide member and added to the bundle 13 of bills.

The movement between the guides 26 and 27 and the support device 30 for stripping the bill from the guide is controlled by the rotary cam 20. The rotary cam 20 is fixed in the cassette and has two tracks, one of which engages with the cam follower 22 to move the guide, and the other of which supports the support 30. It is for the cam follower 24 that is attached. With this cam, the guide and the support can be moved relative to each other in the opposite direction, and the peeling operation is excellent.

FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 show the movements applied to the guides in the support device for stripping the bills. In FIG. 2, the guide 26
And 27 are aligned with the open slots and have just received the bill 40. Guides 26 and 27 are oversized to receive bills of different widths. In this case, the depth of the "U-shaped" guide is sufficient to receive the largest bill centered in the slot as well as the smallest bill centered in the slot. The movable support 30 in FIG. 2 is disposed on one side of the bill slot 12, and is positioned between the guides 26 and 27. The guide is in contact with a movable stop 31 controlled by a link arm 35. The stop 31 moves to the clear position when the link arm 35 rotates so that the guide can move beyond the stop 31.

In FIG. 3, the rotary cam is now moving the support device 30 towards the banknote bundle 13. In this position, the support has now formed a stop for the bundle of bills, and the received bills are now in contact with the bundle.

FIG. 4 shows how the cam 20 moves the guides 26 and 27 away from the stack of bills 13 and the received bills are stripped from the guides. In this way, the support 30 and the guides 26 and 27 move relative to each other, reducing the amount of space required to strip the bill 40 from the guides 26 and 27. Further, since the displacement of the bill bundle when the bill is added to the bundle is negligible, the energy required for the stacking operation is reduced, and becomes substantially constant regardless of the size of the bill bundle.

The movement of the guides 26 and 27 and the support 30 is controlled by a cam. In the embodiment shown, the support 30 moves first, followed by the guides 26 and 27. Other arrangements for achieving relative movement between them are possible.

FIG. 5 shows how the guide is now back in its initial position and “U-shaped”
Indicate whether stop 37 engages a bill that has now been stripped from the guide.

FIG. 6 shows how the support member 30 can now prepare for receiving bills,
Indicates whether you are returning to the other side of the guide. The bill slot 12 is now aligned with the slot 6 in the housing and is in a position for receiving further bills.

In the configuration shown in FIGS. 2-6, the guide moves essentially into the space formally occupied by the support 30 to strip the bill from the guide, and the support 30 engages the guide. Due to moving through, improved space efficiency is achieved. The space schematically indicated by A in FIG. 4 is the maximum amount of space in the cassette required for relative movement of the guide and support members. This space is less than would be required if the support members were designed to move only with respect to the fixed guides 26 and 27, which would also require a large shift of the banknote stack.

FIG. 7 shows details of the rotary cam 20. Rotary cams
The cam followers 22 and 24 can be engaged with the motor driving device 50 shown in FIG.
Gives the desired action to the guides 26 and 27 and the support 30. The motor 50 is a part of a device that accommodates the bill cassette. FIG. 7 shows a scissor-type structure used to move the guides 26 and 27 as shown in FIGS. The cam follower 22 moves within the cam channel 23, and
The desired action is imparted to the scissor-type link structure, shown at 5. The motor shaft 51 drives a rotary cam.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show the movement of the support member 30 from the bill receiving position of FIG. 8 to the extended position shown in FIG. 9 for stripping bills from the guide. The support member 30 is spring-biased, so that a force for holding the cam follower 24 in contact with the cam surface 29 at the end of the cam member 20 is supplied.

To better understand the operation of the components, the guides 26 and 27 are not shown, but they are attached to the plate 39. The plate 39 on the right side of FIG. 10 has been cut away to show the link 25.

The cam 20 has cam followers 22 and 24 located 180 degrees apart from the cam, and the cam surface 25 and the cam track 23 have similar profiles. A 180 degree phase difference causes the opposite desired movement. With this configuration, the size of the cam can be kept small. The cams also make the transmission of the desired drive actions to the links and the timing of these actions, including the harmonization of the links, much more flexible. A single cam, motor 5
Driven unidirectionally by zero, cost-effective and reliable.

In this configuration, since the support 30 moves in one direction and the guides 26 and 27 move in the opposite direction, the space in the cassette is more effectively used,
The force required to efficiently peel the bill from the guide device is reduced. As understood from this structure, since the guide moves away from the bundled bills,
The extent to which the support member has to move and displace the bundled banknotes is reduced, and the distance traveled by the bundled banknotes is reduced to approximately the thickness of the banknotes. In this way, the amount of space for moving the bundle to add bills can be almost neglected, so there is more room in the cassette for storing bills.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the action of the rotary cam controlling the support 30 and the guides 26 and 27. The support 30 is shown as a transparent component to show the components below it.

While various preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims. Let's do it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a cassette.

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram showing the guide and support device in an initial position for receiving bills.

FIG. 3 shows the initial movement of the support device through the guide to initiate bill removal from the guide.

FIG. 4 shows the relative movement of the support device and the guide, freeing the edge of the bill from the guide.

FIG. 5 shows a guide returning to an initial position.

FIG. 6 shows the movement of the support device to an initial position, such that the support device and the guide are now positioned to receive banknotes.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a cam actuator cooperating with a scissor link used to control the guide.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a cam drive that controls a support device using cooperation with a link.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8, with the support device moving to a distal position to add bills to the bundle of bills;

FIG. 10 is a simplified perspective view.

Claims (11)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A cassette for receiving and storing banknotes, comprising a slot opening for receiving banknotes vertically between two opposing guides such that the guides engage on opposite sides of the received banknotes. A housing having a storage arrangement disposed on one side of the guide, and a storage arrangement disposed on the opposite side of the guide, cooperating with the guide, engaging with the bill received by the guide, and transferring the received bill to the An actuator that moves into the storage structure, and is connected to the actuator and the guide;
Moving the actuator in one direction and moving the guide in the opposite direction causes the actuator to move through the guide, thereby moving bills into the storage structure within the guide and the actuator. A driving device for causing the cassette to be driven. 2. The cassette according to claim 1, wherein the driving device includes a rotary cam that controls movement of both the guide and the actuator. 3. The cassette according to claim 2, wherein the actuator is a platform member that closes one side of the guide and functions as a flat support for the received bill in the bill receiving position. 4. The cassette according to claim 1, wherein the drive device moves the guide in a direction away from the storage structure while moving the actuator toward the storage structure. 5. The storage area presses received bills held in a bundle against a stop and, when the actuator moves through the guide, accommodates a new bill in the bundle. The cassette according to claim 1, further comprising a spring unit that provides a spring force that enables the received bundle of banknotes to move. 6. The cassette according to claim 5, wherein said stop is defined by said guide and is moveable with said guide. 7. The guide and the actuator have a common stop device aligned with the slot for defining a bill receiving position, so that the relationship between the guide and the actuator is 5. The cassette according to claim 4, wherein said cassette and said actuator are constant when in said bill receiving position. 8. While the guide and the actuator move to the bill loading position, the actuator moves the guide for receiving bills as the guide moves to a position on the platform for receiving bills. 2. The cassette of claim 1, wherein said cassette moves to said position. 9. The cassette according to claim 8, wherein each guide for holding bills in the bill storage area and the stop surface move together with the guides. 10. A housing defining an enclosure in the wall having a slot opening through which banknotes can be inserted vertically into the cassette; and a housing associated with the slot opening and associated with both sides of the received banknote. A bill receiving device comprising: an opposed guide at an initial position, and a support member at an initial position disposed between and on one side of the guide; and the guide opposite to the initial position of the support member. And a bill storage component for receiving bills removed from the guide, and moving the guide toward the initial position of the support member, and directing the support member toward the initial position of the guide. After moving through the guide to remove the received bill from the guide and placing the received bill in the storage area, And a driving device for returning the support member and the support member to the initial position. 11. The cassette according to claim 10, wherein the driving device includes a rotary cam member for controlling movement of both the support member and the guide during movement from the initial position and movement to the initial position. .