JP2009282674A - Card dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card dispenser which smoothly delivers and separates a card from a cassette without increasing a delivery motor load or increasing the height of the dispenser even though the number of cards in a cassette is increased, and which therefore has increased attaching/detaching operability of the cassette, and stabilizes the conveyance property of the laid card. <P>SOLUTION: This card dispenser includes: a device body 10 for extracting and delivering a plurality of card type storage media C from a card storage means 2 storing those card type storage media C in a vertical posture; a card extraction mechanism 11 for extracting the card type storage media C from a card extraction part, and for delivering those storage media C to the outside of the card storage means in a vertical posture; a card inclination mechanism 15 for inclining the extracted card type storage media in the vertical posture to put it in a horizontal posture; and a card conveyance mechanism 30 for conveying the card type storage media inclined in the horizontal posture by the card inclination mechanism 15 to an ejection port 35. The card inclination mechanism 15 includes a holder 16 supported so as to be freely rotated between the erected posture and the laid posture for holding the card delivered by the card extraction mechanism 11 when the card is put in the erected posture. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of a card dispenser having a function of issuing and collecting various cards including an IC card.

As a card dispenser that issues IC cards for entering trains and boarding trains, and IC cards for entering and using theme parks and amusement parks, the one shown in Fig. 5 is known. ing.
This card dispenser detachably supports a vertically long cassette 101 that accommodates a large number (for example, 500 to 1000) of IC cards C stacked in a vertical orientation in a horizontal posture and a lower portion of the cassette 101. The apparatus main body 110 is comprised. The apparatus main body 110 transports the card separated by the card separation unit 111 in the horizontal direction, and a card separation unit 111 having a feed roller that separates the IC card at the bottom from the take-out port at the bottom of the cassette 101 and separates it into one sheet Then, the conveyance unit 112 that discharges from the discharge port 113, the reader / writer 114 that is arranged in the conveyance path by the conveyance unit and writes necessary information to the IC card or reads the recording data, and is determined to be a writing error, is switched back and conveyed. And a recovery box 115 for dropping and recovering the IC card.
However, the cassette 101 on which IC cards are stacked horizontally not only increases the overall height of the dispenser, but also makes the cassette mounting / dismounting operation difficult because the cassette is positioned at the innermost part due to the layout. Furthermore, when the collection | recovery store | warehouse | chamber 115 is provided, there exists a fault that an apparatus height increases further.
In addition, when 500 to 1000 IC cards are stacked in a flat state, an overload is applied to the feed roller constituting the card separation unit 111, the motor load during feeding separation is excessive, and power consumption is increased. This raises the problem of reduced durability. Further, when a large number of IC cards are stored in the cassette 101, the load applied to the lowermost IC card increases, so that it is necessary to increase the motor output required for feeding and separating, while the remaining number is reduced. In this state, it is necessary to reduce the motor output required for feeding separation, but such control is very difficult. For example, if the motor output is set strongly on the premise of a large load from a large number of IC cards, a method such as increasing the load applied to the card separating unit by applying pressure with a weight when the number of cards has been greatly reduced. It is necessary to adopt, and the configuration becomes complicated.

In Patent Document 1, an IC card group positioned above a predetermined number from the bottom of the IC card group stacked in a cassette in a horizontal posture is locked by a protrusion projecting from the inner wall of the cassette, and a space below the protrusion is provided. A configuration is disclosed in which the load applied to the feed roller from the IC card is always constant even when a large number of IC cards are stacked.
However, since a large space is formed inside the cassette, if the number of cards stored in the cassette is increased, the cassette height may be further increased by the space. Further, since a sufficient load cannot be applied to a small number of cards located below the space, there is a possibility that the feeding separation force by the feed roller will be insufficient.
Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a card hopper that stores a plurality of cards arranged in the front-rear depth direction of the card issuing machine, a card feeding mechanism that feeds the cards one by one from the card hopper, and an issuing port for the fed cards. A card transport path that transports the card to the card, and the payout mechanism includes a guide mechanism that guides the card so that the card feed direction from the card hopper is orthogonal to the card transport direction in the card transport path The issuing machine is disclosed. FIG. 6 of Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which a card fed out from a card hopper is nipped by two rollers and then transferred to a card transport path by moving this roller pair. Since it is necessary to move the pair of rollers through a long path, there is a problem that the configuration is complicated and the size is increased. Further, FIG. 8 shows that the lower end of the card descending vertically from the card hopper is seated in a recess provided in the horizontal guide surface, and then one surface of the card is pressed by the link mechanism to be horizontal on the guide surface. However, there is a problem in that the posture and direction of the card after tilting on the guide surface is not constant, and the transport on the transport path is not stable.
JP 2001-52118 A JP 2006-163767 A

As described above, in the conventional card dispenser, a large number of cards stacked in the vertical direction in a horizontal posture (flat state) are accommodated in the cassette, so that a large load on the entire card is applied to the feed roller. The motor was heavily loaded. Further, since it is necessary to change the output of the feed roller according to the decrease in the number of cards or pressurize the card with a weight, the configuration may be complicated. Further, when a space is formed below the protrusion by locking a card at a predetermined height by a protrusion provided on the inner wall of the cassette as in Patent Document 1, an increase in cassette height or a feed roller There arises a problem of feeding failure due to a decrease in load applied to the upper card. Further, when configured as in Patent Document 2, there is a problem that the configuration becomes complicated, and the posture of the card after tilting varies and the conveyance becomes unstable.
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and even if the number of cards stored in the cassette is increased, the load on the feeding motor is not increased, and the height of the apparatus is not increased. An object of the present invention is to provide a card dispenser capable of smoothly feeding and separating cards and further improving the detachability of the cassette.
It is another object of the present invention to solve the problem that the conveyance becomes unstable due to the complication of the structure or the variation of the posture of the card after the tilting.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a card storage means for storing a plurality of stacked card-type storage media so that the main surface is in the vertical direction, and the card-type storage medium from the card storage means. A card dispenser comprising: a device main body for taking out and sending it to a discharge port, wherein the device main body takes out at least one card-type storage medium from a card take-out portion of the card containing means and stores the card in a vertical position. A card take-out mechanism to be sent out of the means, a card tilt mechanism in which the vertical card-type storage medium taken out by the card take-out mechanism is tilted to be in a horizontal position, and a card type in a horizontal position by the card tilt mechanism A card conveying mechanism that conveys the storage medium one by one toward the discharge port, and the card tilting mechanism rotates between a standing posture and a recumbent posture. A holder that holds the card fed by the card removal mechanism when it is freely supported and is in an upright position, an elastic member that constantly urges the holder in an upright position, and the holder that lies against the elastic member And a drive mechanism for moving to a posture.
Since the cards in the card storage means are stacked in the vertical direction in the horizontal direction, no load is applied to the card removal mechanism from the card group, and the durability does not decrease. Pressurization according to the change in the remaining amount of the card may be performed using an arbitrary backup member. Further, since the card taken out from the card accommodation means is once accommodated in the holder and is supplied to the card conveying mechanism by being tilted together with the holder, there is no variation in the posture of the card, and the conveying posture is stabilized. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the card transport mechanism feeds the card to the transport path by rotating while contacting the one surface of the card held by the holder when the holder is in a lying position. It is characterized by having.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a nip roller is rotatably supported by the holder, and when the holder is in a lying posture, the nip roller nips a card held by the holder with the feed roller. It is characterized by doing.
Since the card in the holder is supplied to the card transport mechanism side while maintaining the posture when dropped from the card accommodating means, the posture after shifting to the lying posture is constant. Moreover, since the pressure is held between the nip roller and the feed roller, the posture does not vary due to the momentum when lying down.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elastic member that constantly urges the holder in a standing posture, and a drive mechanism that moves the holder to a lying posture against the elastic member.
The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the card accommodating means is a cassette which is detachable from the apparatus main body.

The invention of claim 6 is characterized in that the writer means for writing to the card type storage medium is arranged on the transport path of the card transport mechanism.
The card movement locus formed by the card storage medium stacking direction of the card accommodation means, the card removal mechanism, the card tilting mechanism, and the card transport mechanism is substantially U-shaped. It is characterized by being.
Since the overall shape is substantially U-shaped, the height dimension can be reduced.
The invention according to claim 8 is characterized in that the drive mechanism includes a wire having one end fixed to the holder, a rotating member for moving the wire forward and backward, and a motor for driving the rotating member. .
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the drive mechanism includes a position-fixed pinion that is integrated with a rotation shaft that rotatably supports the holder, and a rack that meshes with the pinion and advances and retracts. It is characterized by that.
The invention of claim 10 is characterized in that a recovery cassette is disposed below the card transport mechanism, and the card transport mechanism is configured to drop the recovery card into the recovery cassette.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is provided with a horizontally long cassette that accommodates a plurality of IC cards stacked in a horizontal direction in a vertical posture, and an apparatus main body that detachably mounts the cassette in a horizontal posture. Therefore, even if the number of cards stored in the cassette is increased, the load of the feeding motor is not increased, the height of the apparatus is not increased, and the card can be always fed out and separated smoothly from the cassette. In addition, the detachability of the cassette can be improved.
Also, since the card taken out downward from the card storing means is once held in the holder in the vertical position and shifts to the lying position while being held in the holder, the posture of the card fluctuates after shifting to the lying position. And will not vary. For this reason, the subsequent transport posture is stabilized.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a card dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a principle diagram of the configuration and operation.
The card dispenser 1 is a device that issues an IC card (card-type storage medium) required for entering a train station and getting on a train, for example. When the amount is specified from the operation panel, the amount data corresponding to the specified amount is written on the IC card and issued.
The card dispenser 1 has a horizontally long cassette (card storage means) 2 for storing a plurality of IC cards C (IC card group C ′) stacked horizontally in a vertical posture, and the cassette 2 is attached and detached in a horizontal posture. And an apparatus main body 10 to be freely mounted.
The card handled by the card dispenser 1 of the present invention is not limited to an IC card and includes all types of card-type storage media.

The cassette (card storage means) 2 is configured to discharge the IC cards C one by one from the card take-out unit 3 provided at the tip part to the outside of the cassette, and the IC card group C ′ (IC The other end of the card stack is configured to be elastically biased in the discharge direction by a backup member 5 such as a spring. The cassette 2 is mounted on the apparatus main body 10 in a horizontal posture, and when removing the cassette, a user positioned in front of the apparatus pulls it out to the front side in the horizontal direction indicated by the arrow A. When installing, reverse the operation. For this reason, it becomes unnecessary to extend a hand like the conventional card dispenser, and the detachable operability of the cassette can be improved. Further, since the IC cards are stacked in the horizontal direction, even when a large number of IC cards of about 500 to 1000 are stored in the cassette, the large load is not applied to the apparatus main body 10 side.
In the present embodiment, the cassette that can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body is illustrated as the card accommodating means, but a card accommodating means that cannot be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body may be used.

As the backup member 5, an elastic member such as a coil spring is used. When the remaining number of IC cards is large, the card group is taken out and pressed against the separation roller 12 by the strong elastic force of the compressed elastic member. When the remaining amount becomes small, the card group is taken out with a light force and pressed against the separation roller by the elastic force of the elastic member lowered by the extension.
The apparatus main body 10 sequentially takes out at least one IC card C from the card take-out portion 3 at the front end of the cassette, and takes it out by the card take-out mechanism 11 and the card take-out mechanism 11 that send out the cassette in the vertical position (downward). A card tilting mechanism 15 that tilts the IC card into a horizontal position, a card transport mechanism 30 that transports the IC cards that are in the horizontal position by the card tilting mechanism 15 one by one in a discharge direction parallel to the cassette, and card transport There are provided a writer 40 that is arranged in the transport path by the mechanism 30 and writes to the card, and a collection cassette 45 that collects a collection card (error card, used card).
As shown in the figure, the cassette 2, the card tilting mechanism 15, and the card transport mechanism 30 are substantially U-shaped, so that the height dimension can be greatly reduced.
The card take-out mechanism 11 includes a take-out separation roller 12 that is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown). The card take-out mechanism 11 rotates in contact with the IC card surface exposed to the card take-out portion 3 of the cassette 2 so that one IC card is held in a vertical position. The card is slid downward and sent to the card tilting mechanism 15.
The card tilting mechanism 15 is rotatably supported between a standing posture that accepts an IC card sent from the card removal mechanism 11 and a recumbent posture that is tilted (rotated) 90 degrees forward. The card tilting mechanism 15 resists the holder 16 that holds the IC card fed from the card removal mechanism 11 when in the standing posture, the elastic member 17 that constantly biases the holder 16 to the standing posture, and the elastic member 17. And a drive mechanism 21 for moving the holder to a recumbent posture.

The holder 16 receives an IC card sent from the card removal mechanism 11 when it is in a standing posture into an internal space, and when it is in a lying posture, the holder 16 has an opening 16a at the upper end portion to discharge the IC card to the transport path. And a roller support member 18 that rotatably supports the nip roller 22. The holder 16 keeps the fed card in a stable vertical posture without causing the card to fluctuate in the inside thereof, and when the holder is tilted, the holder 16 can lie down without causing the card to vary in posture. It is comprised so that a card | curd can be hold | maintained in the inside. The roller support member 18 rotatably supports the nip roller 22, and is supported by a shaft support portion 16 b provided on the back surface of the holder so that a lower end portion thereof is pivotable in the front-rear direction and is urged forward by a spring 19. Yes. The nip roller 22 communicates with the internal space through the opening 16c provided on the back surface of the holder, and is in pressure contact with the back surface of the IC card held in the internal space. An opening 16d is formed on the front surface of the holder facing the opening 16c. The holder can be maintained at a predetermined angle by the stopper 20 provided on the apparatus main body side coming into contact with an appropriate position on the back side of the holder in a state where the holder 16 stands up.
The card transport mechanism 30 includes a feed roller 31 that sends the IC card to the transport path 32 by rotating while contacting the front surface of the IC card held by the holder 16 when the holder 16 is in the lying position. When the holder is in the recumbent posture, the feed roller 31 comes into contact with the front surface of the IC card exposed from the opening 16d on the front surface of the holder. Accordingly, the nip roller 22 can nip the IC card held by the holder 16 with the feed roller 31 when the holder 16 is in the lying position, and when the IC card in the holder is taken out by the rotation of the feed roller 31. To help.

The card transport mechanism 30 has a plurality of transport rollers 33 along the transport path 32, and the IC card C is discharged from the discharge port 35 to the outside by driving these transport rollers 33.
The writer 40 that is arranged on the transport path by the card transport mechanism 30 and writes to the IC card, when the card dispenser user inserts a predetermined amount of money and performs an operation of specifying the amount on the operation panel, Write the amount in the IC card memory. In addition, when a writer (reader / writer) having a reading function for reading recorded data of an IC card is used, data for determining whether the card is an error card or the like is read. A control unit (CPU) (not shown) controls the motor and the like constituting the card transport mechanism 30 based on a signal indicating the reading result from the reader / writer, and reversely drives the transport roller 33 in order to collect in the collection cassette 45. Take measures.

  FIGS. 3A and 3B are a front view and a side view of the drive mechanism. The drive mechanism 21 according to this embodiment includes a wire 23 secured to one end of the holder 16 and an intermediate portion of the wire 23. , A rotating member 25 that is fixed to the other end portion of the wire 23 and rotates to move the wire forward and backward, and a motor (not shown) that drives the rotating member 25. The rotary member 25 is driven to rotate 360 degrees in one direction around the rotary shaft 25a, and the holder 16 is moved up and down through the fixed roller 24 to move the holder 16 in a standing posture and a lying posture. Move forward and backward. When the rotating member 25 is at the stop position 1 indicated by the solid line, the holder 16 is in a standing state by the urging force of the elastic member 17, and when the rotating member 25 is at the stop position 2 indicated by the chain line, the holder 16 is in a lying position. It becomes.

Next, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a drive mechanism according to another embodiment. This drive mechanism 21 includes a fixed pinion 26 integrated with a rotary shaft 26 a that rotatably supports the holder 16. And a rack 27 that meshes with the pinion and advances and retreats. An elastic member that holds the holder 16 in a standing posture or a tilting posture may be provided.
By driving the rack 27 back and forth in the direction of the arrow, the pinion 26 rotates, and the holder 16 integrated with the pinion is rotated in the direction of the arrow.
In the above embodiment, the IC cards are supplied from the cassette 2 to the holder 16 one by one. However, a plurality of IC cards may be supplied to the holder and separated and conveyed one by one when the holder is in a lying position. Good.
Further, the direction of taking out the IC card from the cassette 2 is not limited to the downward direction, and may be the upward direction or the horizontal direction. For example, when the apparatus main body 10 is arranged above the cassette 2, the IC card taken out from the cassette is slid upward. Further, when the apparatus main body is arranged in the lateral direction of the cassette, the IC card is slid in the lateral direction.

  As described above, the card dispenser 1 of the present invention takes out the card-type storage medium from the card storage means 2 that stores a plurality of stacked card-type storage media so that the main surface is in the vertical direction, and the card storage means. An apparatus main body 10 for sending out to the discharge port, and the apparatus main body takes out at least one card-type storage medium from the card takeout portion of the card accommodation means and sends it out of the card accommodation means in a vertical position. The card tilting mechanism 15 that tilts the card-type storage medium in the vertical position taken out by the card removal mechanism to the horizontal position, and the card-type storage medium in the horizontal position by the card tilting mechanism is directed toward the discharge port. And a card transport mechanism 30 that transports the sheets one by one. Further, the card tilting mechanism 15 is rotatably supported between a standing posture and a recumbent posture, and holds the card sent by the card removal mechanism when in the standing posture, and the holder is always in a standing posture. An elastic member 17 to be urged, and a drive mechanism 21 that moves the holder in a recumbent posture against the elastic member are provided. For this reason, the posture of the card-type storage medium taken out from the card storage means 2 is always constant by the holder, and shifts to the lying posture while maintaining the posture as it is.

It is a front view showing a schematic structure of a card dispenser concerning one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a principle diagram of the configuration and operation of FIG. 1. (A) And (b) is the front view and side view of a drive mechanism. It is a figure which shows the structure of the drive mechanism which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Card dispenser, 2 ... Cassette (card accommodating means), 5 ... Backup member, 10 ... Apparatus main body, 11 ... Card taking-out mechanism, 12 ... Separation roller, 15 ... Card tilting mechanism, 16 ... Holder, 16a ... Opening part, 16b: shaft support, 16c ... opening, 16d ... opening, 17 ... elastic member, 18 ... roller support member, 19 ... spring, 20 ... stopper, 21 ... drive mechanism, 22 ... nip roller, 23 ... wire, 24 ... fixed roller, 25 ... Rotating member, 25a ... Rotating shaft, 26 ... Pinion, 26a ... Rotating shaft, 27 ... Rack, 30 ... Card transport mechanism, 31 ... Feed roller, 32 ... Transport path, 33 ... Transport roller, 35 ... Discharge port, 40 ... writer, 45 ... collection cassette

Claims (10)

A card provided with card storage means for storing a plurality of stacked card-type storage media so that the main surface is in the vertical direction, and a device main body for taking out the card-type storage medium from the card storage means and sending it out to the discharge port A dispenser,
The apparatus main body includes a card take-out mechanism that takes out at least one card-type storage medium from the card take-out portion of the card containing means and sends it out of the card containing means in a vertical position, and a vertical take-out taken by the card take-out mechanism. A card tilting mechanism that tilts the card-type storage medium in a posture to be in a horizontal posture; and a card transport mechanism that transports the card-type storage medium in a horizontal posture by the card tilting mechanism one by one toward the discharge port. Prepared,
The card tilting mechanism is rotatably supported between a standing posture and a recumbent posture, and holds the card sent by the card removal mechanism when in the standing posture, and moves the holder to a recumbent posture. A card dispenser comprising a drive mechanism.   The card transport mechanism includes a feed roller that sends the card to the transport path by rotating while contacting one surface of the card held by the holder when the holder is in a lying position. The card dispenser according to claim 1.   A nip roller is rotatably supported by the holder, and the nip roller nips a card held by the holder with the feed roller when the holder is in a recumbent posture. Item 3. A card dispenser according to item 1 or 2.   The elastic member which urges | biases the said holder to a standing posture always, and the drive mechanism which moves the said holder to a recumbent posture against the said elastic member, The any one of Claim 1 thru | or 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The card dispenser according to item.   The card dispenser according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the card storage means is a cassette that is detachable from the apparatus main body.   6. The card dispenser according to claim 1, wherein writer means for writing to the card-type storage medium is disposed on a transport path of the card transport mechanism.   The card movement trajectory formed by the card-type storage medium stacking direction of the card accommodation means, the card removal mechanism, the card tilting mechanism, and the card transport mechanism is substantially U-shaped. The card dispenser according to any one of claims 1 to 6.   8. The drive mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising: a wire having one end fixed to the holder; a rotating member that moves the wire forward and backward; and a motor that drives the rotating member. The card dispenser according to claim 1.   The drive mechanism includes a fixed pinion that is integrated with a rotary shaft that rotatably supports the holder, and a rack that meshes with the pinion and moves forward and backward. The card dispenser according to any one of 1, 5, 6, and 7.   The collection cassette is disposed below the card transport mechanism, and the card transport mechanism is configured to drop the collection card into the collection cassette. The card dispenser according to item.

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