JP2003246527A - Medium hopper mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medium hopper mechanism containing the medium in the hopper in the order of being taken in. <P>SOLUTION: A medium taking-in gap E is formed between a picker roller 2 and a medium 3 of the most upper layer loaded on a stage 4 at the time of taking in the medium. A second gap F which is narrower than the medium taking-in gap E is formed between a roller 5 and the medium 3 of an uppermost layer. Even if the tip of medium 3 taken in the gap E and F with the picker roller 2 and a separation roller 10 abuts on an inner wall 1a of the hopper 1, deformation expanding in arch is prevented by abutting on the roller 5, a slip is generated with the picker roller 2 and is directly dropped to a stage 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medium hopper mechanism for loading and storing a medium in a hopper for storing the medium and feeding the medium out of the hopper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some devices provided with a medium hopper mechanism, for example, ticket vending machines, have a first-in / first-out function. For example, if you use a commuter ticket from station A to station B to station B, purchase a ticket to station C, board at station D, and then pay at the ticket vending machine, first insert the commuter ticket into the ticket vending machine, Then insert the ticket.

The ticket vending machine reads the magnetic data of the commuter pass and the train ticket and temporarily stores them in the hopper in the order of the commuter pass and the train ticket, and determines the amount of money from A station to D station to A station to C station. After deducting and displaying the payment, the passenger pays the payment, and then the hopper pays out the ticket and then the commuter pass in that order, and the fare is returned to the passenger as a scrapped ticket box.

In this case, if the commuter pass and the boarding pass are temporarily taken into the hopper, the commuter pass may be taken into the scrap ticket box and the scrap ticket may be returned to the passengers. In the medium hopper mechanism having the post-delivery function, when the medium is temporarily taken into the hopper, the order should not come.

The medium hopper mechanism has a stage in the hopper which is movable toward a picker roller for feeding / taking in a medium.

The picker roller applies a frictional force to the feeding / taking-in medium to feed / take-in the medium. At the time of feeding the medium, the picker roller is pressed against the uppermost medium mounted on the stage, and the picker roller is normally rotated to feed the medium.

At the time of taking in the medium, a medium taking-in gap is provided between the stage or the uppermost medium mounted on the stage and the picker roller, and the picker roller is reversed to take the medium into the medium taking-in gap.

When the medium is taken in, the tip of the medium is brought into contact with the inner wall of the hopper at the front side in the medium taking-in direction, and the frictional force acting on the medium surface causes the medium to bulge and deform. A material with a low coefficient of friction, such as plastic, is used, and a material with a large coefficient of friction, such as rubber, is used. Even if a medium is bulged and deformed by the frictional force of the rubber part, the plastic part causes slippage. I am trying to return to the shape of.

[0009]

In the conventional medium hopper mechanism, depending on the condition of the medium, when the medium is taken in the hopper at the time of taking in the medium, and when the medium bulges and deforms to the original shape, , A strong repulsive force acts between the leading edge of the medium and the inner wall of the hopper to repel it, and the trailing edge of the medium does not fit inside the hopper, leaving a gap at a position displaced from the medium already stored in the hopper. There is a problem that the medium that is taken in after being taken in enters from the gap and becomes below the medium taken in first, and the media is taken in in the hopper in order. .

An object of the present invention is to provide a medium hopper mechanism in which media are stored in a hopper in the order in which they are taken.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, in the medium hopper mechanism of the present invention, between the inner wall of the hopper and the picker roller on the front side in the medium take-in direction,
A medium deformation prevention unit that prevents the medium from expanding and deforming by providing a second gap that is narrower than the medium intake gap is provided.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Elements common to the drawings are given the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the medium hopper mechanism according to the embodiment (when the medium is taken in), and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the medium hopper mechanism according to the embodiment (when the medium is fed out). Inside the hopper 1, there is provided a stage 4 which is mounted with a medium 3 (indicated by a one-dot chain line) with respect to a picker roller 2 for feeding / taking in the medium and is movable in the directions of arrows AB.

The picker roller 2 is rotatably provided on a bracket 7 which is rotatable about a spindle 6 extending in a direction orthogonal to the direction of arrow AB in the direction of arrow CD.

That is, the bracket 7 has a U-shaped cross section consisting of arms 7b and 7c (7c is not shown) parallel to the main body 7a, and the support shaft 6 is supported at both ends by a side frame (not shown). The arms 7a and 7b are rotatably supported by the. Then, the shaft 2a of the picker roller 2 is rotatably supported by the arms 7a and 7b, and the roller 5 as a medium deformation preventing portion is provided between the picker roller 2 and the inner wall 1a of the hopper 1 on the front side in the medium take-in direction. Both ends of a roller shaft 5a, which is rotatably supported, are pivotally supported.

As shown in FIG. 1, the limiter 8 provides a medium taking-in gap E between the picker roller 2 and the uppermost medium 3 mounted on the stage 4 at the time of taking in the medium and the roller 5 and the uppermost medium. The bracket 7 is stopped at a position where a second gap F that is narrower than the medium intake gap E is provided between the bracket 7 and the medium.

A torsion spring (not shown) is provided on the support shaft 6, one end of which is hooked on a side frame (not shown) and the other end of which is hooked on the bracket 7 to urge the bracket 7 in the direction of arrow D. ing. Therefore, normally, the bracket 7
Is urged in the direction of arrow D by a torsion spring so that its end portion is in contact with the limiter 8.

An optical sensor 9 including a light emitting element 9a and a light receiving element 9b (not shown) is provided on the side frame (not shown).
Is provided, and the position of the picker roller 2 for feeding the medium 3 mounted on the stage 4 is determined by detecting the bracket 7.

A belt wound around a pulley (not shown) is fixed to the stage 4, and is moved in the direction of arrow AB by driving the driving pulley side.

Adjacent to the medium hopper mechanism, the medium 3 fed from the medium hopper mechanism is separated into individual sheets at the time of feeding the medium, and the uppermost medium of the medium 3 mounted on the stage 4 and the picker roller 2 at the time of taking in the medium. A medium separation mechanism for feeding the medium into the medium intake gap E provided between and is provided.

The medium separating mechanism has a separation roller 10 fixed to a shaft 10a whose both ends are rotatably supported by a side frame (not shown), and a one-way shaft 11a whose both ends are supported by a side frame (not shown). The reverse roller 11 is provided via a clutch and is rotatable in the arrow G direction.

The shaft 2a of the picker roller 2 and the separation roller 10
A gear train (not shown) is provided between the shaft 10a and the shaft 10a to rotate in synchronization.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the medium hopper mechanism shown in FIG. A stage drive motor 13 that moves the stage 4, a medium feeding motor 14 that rotates the picker roller 2, and an optical sensor 9 are connected to the control unit 12.

Next, the operation will be described. At the time of feeding the medium, the controller 12 causes the stage drive motor 13 to rotate in the forward direction to move the stage 4 in the direction of arrow A, and the optical sensor 9 detects the bracket 7.

When the stage 4 moves in the direction of arrow A, first, the medium 3 mounted on the stage 4 contacts the roller 5 to rotate the stage 4 in the direction of arrow C, and then contacts the picker roller 2. When the bracket 7 is rotated to the position shown in FIG. 2, the optical path of the optical sensor 9 is blocked (turned on) by the bracket 7, and the control unit 12 stops the stage drive motor 13.

Next, the control unit 12 controls the medium feeding motor 13
Turn forward. When the medium feeding motor 13 is rotated in the normal direction, the picker roller 2 and the separation roller 10 rotate in the arrow H direction to feed the uppermost medium 3 one by one in the arrow I direction, as shown in FIG. At this time, the reverse roller 11 does not rotate because the one-way clutch meshes with the shaft 11a.

During this period, when the sensor 9 is turned off, the controller 12 causes the stage drive motor 13 to rotate normally, and when the sensor 9 is turned on, the operation of stopping the stage drive motor 13 is repeated during the medium feeding operation.

Next, when the medium is taken in, the controller 12 rotates the stage drive motor 13 in the forward direction to move the stage 4 in the direction of arrow A until the sensor 9 is turned on, and then rotates the stage drive motor 13 in the reverse direction. Predetermined movement amount arrow B
Move in the direction.

The stage 4 has a predetermined movement amount arrow B.
When the bracket 7 is moved in the direction, as shown in FIG. 1, the bracket 7 is urged by the torsion spring in the direction of the arrow D so that the end of the bracket 7 abuts against the limiter 8 and the picker roller 2 and the stage 4 move.
It is stopped at a position where a medium take-in gap E is provided between the medium 3 and the medium 3 of the uppermost layer mounted on the sheet, and a second gap F narrower than the medium take-up gap E is provided between the roller 5 and the medium of the uppermost layer.

Next, the control unit 12 controls the medium feeding motor 1
Reverse 3 When the medium feeding motor 13 is rotated in the reverse direction, the picker roller 2 and the separation roller 10 move to the positions shown in FIG.
As shown in, the medium 3 is rotated in the direction of arrow J and the medium 3 is taken in from the direction of arrow K. At this time, the one-way clutch of the reverse roller 11 is disengaged from the shaft 11a and the arrow G
I'm following you around.

After the tip of the medium taken into the gaps E and F by the picker roller 2 and the separation roller 10 comes into contact with the inner wall 1a of the hopper 1 in the front in the medium taking direction K,
The medium 3 further tries to be deformed into an arc shape due to the frictional force acting between the medium 3 and the picker roller 2, but the medium 3 is prevented from being deformed so as to bulge in an arc shape due to contact with the roller 5, and a slip is generated between the medium 3 and the picker roller 2. It falls on the stage 4 as it is.

Therefore, the taken-in medium 3 is not shifted and stored with respect to the medium 3 already stored in the hopper, and the medium taken in later is below the medium 3 taken in earlier. There is no fear.

In the present embodiment, the medium deformation preventing portion is a roller rotatably provided on the bracket, but a part of the bracket may be used.

[0034]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

A second gap, which is narrower than the medium take-in gap, is provided between the picker roller and the inner wall of the hopper, which is in front of the medium take-in direction and comes into contact with the tip of the taken-in medium, to prevent the medium from bulging and deforming. Since the medium deformation prevention unit is provided, the medium is prevented from bulging and deforming, slipping occurs between the medium and the picker roller, and the medium falls onto the stage as it is. There is no fear of becoming a medium, and the media are stored in the hopper in the order in which they are taken.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a medium hopper mechanism according to an embodiment (when a medium is taken in).

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the medium hopper mechanism according to the embodiment (when the medium is fed out).

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the medium hopper mechanism shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 hopper 2 picker rollers 4 stages 5 Medium deformation prevention unit 7 bracket 8 limiter

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Katsunori Tanaka             1-7-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Oki Electric             Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Imaoka             Gunma Prefecture Takasaki City Futabacho 3-1 Oki Co., Ltd.             Information Systems (72) Inventor Takahiro Amada             Gunma Prefecture Takasaki City Futabacho 3-1 Oki Co., Ltd.             Information Systems (72) Inventor ▲ Yanagi ▼ Katsuyuki Sawa             Gunma Prefecture Takasaki City Futabacho 3-1 Oki Co., Ltd.             Information Systems (72) Inventor Masami Nagaoka             Gunma Prefecture Takasaki City Futabacho 3-1 Oki Co., Ltd.             Information Systems (72) Inventor Mitsunaga Kumagai             Gunma Prefecture Takasaki City Futabacho 3-1 Oki Co., Ltd.             Information Systems (72) Inventor Masatoshi Akutsu             Gunma Prefecture Takasaki City Futabacho 3-1 Oki Co., Ltd.             Information Systems (72) Inventor Ryuji Ishii             Gunma Prefecture Takasaki City Futabacho 3-1 Oki Co., Ltd.             Information Systems F term (reference) 3F049 AA01 AA08 CA31 DB01 LA08                       LB04                 3F100 AA06 BA24 CA02                 3F101 FA01 FB12 FC00 FC12 FE02                       FE11 LA10 LB12                 3F343 FA04 FA15 FB07 GA01 GB01                       GC01 GD01 JA01 JA14

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A medium hopper mechanism having a stage movable in a hopper toward a picker roller for feeding / taking in a medium, and taking the medium into a medium taking-in gap provided between the picker roller and the picker roller. In the above, a medium deformation preventing portion is provided between the inner wall of the hopper and the picker roller on the front side in the medium take-in direction, and a second gap that is narrower than the medium take-in gap is provided to prevent bulging deformation of the medium. A medium hopper mechanism characterized by. 2. The medium hopper mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the medium / media deformation preventing portion is a roller rotatably provided on a bracket on which the picker roller is rotatably provided. 3. The medium hopper mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the medium medium deformation preventing portion is a part of a bracket on which the picker roller is rotatably provided.