JPS6237436B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention can be used to sell products, tickets, and pseudo coins,
Relating to equipment for handling banknotes, etc., used in conjunction with machines that control ticket gates or provide other transactions that can be carried out by the machine, in particular when the equipment handles banknotes inserted by the customer. The present invention relates to an apparatus for receiving banknotes and storing them in stacks, including a temporary storage section for temporarily holding the banknotes until commanded to complete or cancel the transaction. When instructed to carry out a transaction, the device transports the banknotes to a storage container,
Providing products, services, etc. to be traded by generating a sales signal. When a cancellation command is given, the temporary deposit unit returns the inserted banknotes.

The device of the present invention receives a banknote from a customer, confirms that the banknote is genuine and of the correct denomination, and then generates an electric signal indicating that the banknote is valid. Work together. The device according to the invention feeds the banknotes edgewise into the banknote receiving area, hereinafter referred to as the "pre-accumulation" section or the "pre-accumulation" chamber. The banknotes then move in a lateral direction from this reserve storage chamber to a storage section, hereinafter referred to as a "deposit" chamber or "deposit" container. If more than one bill is involved in the same transaction, subsequent bills are stacked in the deposit bin. Once a sufficient amount of banknotes for a transaction has been entered and found to be valid and has been accumulated in the holding receptacle, the customer can command the device to sell, or cause the device to carry out a previous sales command. As a result, the device issues a sales signal to effectuate the sale of goods or services. The banknotes stacked here are further moved from the temporary storage container to the storage box in the plane direction, and are stored there until they are collected from the device. At any time prior to a sale order when one or more bills are stored in the holding receptacle, the customer can command the device to cancel the transaction and issue a refund. When a cancellation command is issued, the temporary storage container is lowered by the elevator mechanism while containing the stacked banknotes, and when the stacked banknotes are removed, it is raised again to the normal position. The removed banknotes are sent to a refund container within the reach of the customer. This refundability is important to the popularity of vending machines because the customer is free with his money until he decides to complete the transaction.

It is already known that it is desirable to provide a temporary storage section in a banknote vending machine. For example, U.S. Pat.
No. 3108680 discloses a temporary storage unit that accepts banknotes and returns them sequentially. Also, U.S. Patent No.
No. 3851744 describes a temporary depository for stacked banknotes. The present invention aims to process banknotes at high speed. To this end, the device of the invention comprises a container in which each inserted banknote is fed to a substantially horizontal fixed position, receives the banknote from this fixed position, and holds one or more inserted banknotes in a stack. The banknote handling device is arranged such that the banknotes are normally located at the fixed position below, the storage box being placed at a first position and located below the container for receiving banknotes from the container, and a storage box for receiving banknotes from the container from the fixed position. and a pusher for moving the stacked banknotes from the bottom of the container to a storage box in a direction perpendicular to the banknote surface. In this specification and claims, the term "bank banknotes" includes all types of banknotes and their equivalents, and the term "side" of a banknote refers to either the front or back side.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The main elements are a bill receiving section, a reserve storage section, a temporary storage container, a storage box, a refund section, a control circuit, etc., and these will be explained individually.

Although it is common to use a discrimination device in combination with the device of the present invention, the discrimination device itself is not included in the present invention.

A discriminator used in conjunction with the illustrated embodiment is manufactured by National Rejectors, St. Louis, Missouri.
This is a commercially available device sold by NRI Inc. (NRI) with the following improvements.
This discriminator accepts a bill horizontally from the narrow edge in the bill insertion slot, and feeds the bill longitudinally into the discriminator housing to verify the validity and denomination of the bill. The banknote is passed through a series of sensors, such as a magnetic read head, positioned to scan a portion of the banknote in order to read the magnetically encoded information on the banknote. The output signal of the sensor is processed by the logic circuit of the discriminator to determine whether the banknote is valid. The banknotes are ejected from the rear of the discriminator through the banknote outlet 107 in a horizontal position. In the figure, only a portion of the discriminator is shown (see FIG. 2). The discriminator emits an electrical signal output signifying that the bill is valid. The banknotes that are determined to be inappropriate by the discriminator are ejected from the banknote insertion slot by reversing the feeding mechanism of the discriminator. The feed mechanism of the discriminator is activated for a sufficient period of time to completely eject the bill from outlet 107.

The banknotes discharged from the discriminator are conveyed from the edge through the inclined neck 109 to the pre-accumulation section 270 by three sets of drive means. As shown in FIG. 2, the leading edge of the bill is first moved between the two upper rubber belts 601 and the lower two Delrin rollers 602 in the sloping neck. It is clamped by a retracting portion 110 formed in. A belt 601 disposed approximately 1 cm from both sides of the center line of the banknote path is externally driven by a motor 599 via a belt drive system (not shown), and a roller 602 is driven by a spring 60.
9, it is brought into pressure contact with the belt 601. To tension the bill longitudinally, the belt speed is set such that the velocity of the bill when under control of the belt is greater than the velocity of the bill as it exits the discriminator. In one example, the discharge rate from the discriminator is 16 m/min and the belt drive speed is approximately 30 m/min. This increases the bill speed by about 10% to about 18 meters per minute.

After proceeding several centimeters further along the inclined neck, the banknote is clamped by the second retracting portion 111. The upper half of this second retracting part 111 is the belt 6
01 and two rubber rollers 604 placed coaxially with the belt support roller and approximately 3 cm from both sides of the banknote path, and the lower half of the retraction portion 111 is formed by four coaxial rubber rollers 604 of the same size as the rollers 602. Consists of Delrin Roller 603. Each Delrin roller 603 is connected to a belt 601 or rubber roller 6
04 and is in pressure contact with it.

After passing through the second draw-in portion 111, the banknotes are deflected horizontally by the bottom wall 605 of the net and continue horizontally to the reserve storage chamber 270 located below the pusher 610. This reserve storage chamber 2
In the process of horizontal movement to 70, the bill is supported on both edges by shelves 606 which overhang approximately 1 cm from its centerline. The window at the bottom of the pre-accumulation chamber 270 is open, leaving the shelf 606, and the pre-accumulation chamber 270 is open.
The length of 70 is slightly longer than the average length of banknotes. As in the previously described embodiments, the reserve storage chamber 270 in this embodiment is adapted to accommodate only one bill. When approximately two-thirds of the bill enters the pre-accumulation chamber 270, propelled by the rollers and belts of the first and second draw-in portions of the net 109 and then by the rollers and belt of the second draw-in portion alone, the bill is The front edge has two coaxial drive brushes 608
and a shelf 606 . In the example described here, the drive speed of the brush 608 is about 60 m/min, so the bill is also stressed here and the bill speed increases by about 10% once it has fully entered the reserve chamber.

The movement of banknotes into reserve storage chamber 270 through net 109 is monitored by a plurality of light emitting diodes and phototransistors used in a light reflective manner. Here, as in the previous embodiment, the banknote and discriminator feed mechanism is time-sequenced by a control circuit connected in a suitable manner to the phototransistor.

As soon as a bill enters reserve storage chamber 270 , pusher assembly 610 operates in short strokes under the action of motor 615 to transfer the bill to temporary storage container 70 .
Push down until it reaches 0. In this embodiment, the pusher assembly 610 includes a horizontal rectangular plate 611
and the upright bar 612 attached to the rear of this board,
It consists of a Z-shaped member 613 mounted on the top of bar 612 so as to engage rollers 616 and 621 eccentrically connected to pusher motors 615 and 620 via arms 617 and 622, respectively. When motor 615 is activated, arm 617 rotates about shaft 618 at an angular velocity determined by a gear assembly interposed between the shaft and the motor. As the arm 617 rotates, the roller 616 moves closer to the Z-shaped member 61.
3 and lowers the pusher assembly against the upward force of the tension coil spring 614. The length of the plate 611 is 3 times longer than the average length of banknotes.
It is ~5 mm shorter, and the width corresponds to about 2/3 of the average width of banknotes. When the plate 611 is lowered, the bill is curved and the window 2
71 until the edge of the bill slips off the shelf. The plate 611 is further moved and the temporary storage container 7 is located below the reserve storage chamber as described below.
Enter 00.

The temporary storage container 700 has a window 350 at its top that is the same size as the window 271 provided at the bottom of the reserve storage chamber 270. When a banknote is inserted into the device, the safe deposit container 700 assumes a position such that its window 350 is aligned with the window 271 of the reserve storage chamber 270. The bottom of the storage container 700 is mounted along both sides thereof and consists of a pair of pivoting doors 351 and 352 that are spring biased upwardly toward a horizontal, normally closed position. In this normally closed position, the doors 351 and 352 are ejected from the reserve storage chamber 270 and are located beneath and supporting the stack of banknotes. The closed doors 351 and 352 are rotated downward from the window of the holding container by an angle of approximately 90° against the spring bias by the pusher plate 611 as the pusher pushes the banknotes out of the reserve storage chamber. It can be rotated to

The temporary storage container 700 stores the banknotes that are determined to be appropriate by the discriminator until the amount necessary for the transaction is reached and the customer selects whether to proceed with or cancel the transaction. When a customer commands the device to complete a transaction, the pusher assembly 610 is actuated over a long stroke by a motor 620 to move the banknotes stored in the deposit bin through the pivot doors 351 and 352.
While pushing open the lower storage box 800 (first
Figure) Press down inward. The door that is pushed open acts as a guide for the banknotes entering the storage box, ensuring that the banknotes are properly stacked within the box. The storage box in this embodiment is essentially the same as the storage box in the previous embodiment, except that it receives banknotes from above.

As is particularly clear from FIG. 1, the temporary storage container 700 in this embodiment is provided between two movable chains 641 and 642 that are parallel to each other. Chain 641 is driven by a reversible motor 650 connected to drive sprocket 643. Chain 642, which in this embodiment is located immediately after chain 641 and is therefore not visible in FIG. 1, is not connected to the motor and follows essentially the same path as chain 641 to the other side of holding container 700.
Each chain has sprocket pairs 644,6
45, 646, 647, 648 and 649, and is movable via the fixed pin 345 near the rear edge of the temporary storage container 700 and within the slot 356 provided on the side of the temporary storage container. are connected to the vicinity of the leading edge through the

When the customer instructs the device to return all temporarily held banknotes, the motor 65
0 operates in the forward direction, first placing the temporary storage container at the front of the device, then about 50 minutes below the bill insertion slot.
Move it downward until it reaches the cm refund position. As the temporary storage container 700 changes direction,
That is, from the time when the front pin 355 passes through the sprocket pair 647, the rear pin 354 passes through the sprocket pair 6.
48, the pin 355 slides within the slot. By sliding the pin 355 in this way, even if the temporary storage container 700 changes direction, the main body of the container 700 remains in the chain 641 and 64.
2 can be maintained in the attached state.

As the holding container 700 approaches the refund position at the lowest point of vertical movement, the solenoid 670 is activated. The refund position is illustrated in detail in FIG.

A holding mechanism element is attached to the solenoid armature 671 by a member 675 to hold the returned banknotes in a folded and bundled state in a light and secure manner within the refund slot. This clamping mechanism consists of two scrapers pivotally connected to the shaft 679.
It consists of plates 681 and 682 and two Teflon clamps connected to plates 681 and 682 via leaf springs 685 and 686, respectively. The shaft 679 is fixed to the machine frame, and the plate 6
81 and 682 are attached to bars 687 and 688, respectively, which are fitted into the inclined holes of member 675. In a preferred embodiment, the bars 687 and 6
88 is connected by a tension coil spring (not shown).

When the solenoid 670 is activated, the first thing that happens is that the protective shield 673 fixed to the armature 671 is activated.
rises from its alignment with refund slot 674. At the same time, the member 675 rises and the bar 68
7 and 688 to the upper right in FIG. 5, and scraper plate 68 attached to these bars.
1 and 682 rotate clockwise (plate 681) and counterclockwise (plate 68) around shaft 679, respectively.
2) to open the passage from the temporary storage container to the refund slot. Clamps 683 and 684 also move slightly to the right.

At the same time, a blade-shaped piece 660, which has approximately the same width as the banknote, has a tip covered with rubber, and is arranged horizontally is driven to the right by a motor 665. The blade-shaped piece 660 now assumes a vertical position on the doors 351 and 352.
along the width of the banknote through the slot 353 of
That is, it engages with it along its short axis, folds into a bundle along this short axis, and pushes it into the return slot.
The clamps 683 and 684 act to clamp the bundle of banknotes, but as the blade-shaped piece 660 moves, the midpoint of the banknote bundle is pushed out of the refund slot into a position within the reach of the customer. Next, the blade-shaped piece 660 reverses its direction and gradually retreats to the standby position shown in FIG. 5, that is, to the rear of the temporary storage container movement path. Scraper plates 681 and 682 lightly grip the bill in the repayment slot to prevent it from being retracted with the retracting blades.

When the blade-shaped piece 660 retreats to the standby position, the power supply to the solenoid 670 is cut off, so that the protective shield 6
73 is again lowered to a position behind the return slot 674 and the plates 681 and 682 are closed again by the tension coil springs. Further, the temporary storage container 700 is returned to its normal position below the pre-storage chamber 270 by the reversing motor 650.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view showing the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the temporary storage container of the embodiment of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a cutaway rear view showing the temporary storage container of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway side view showing the refund section of the embodiment of FIG. 109... Inclined neck, 270... Reserve storage room, 271... Window, 350... Window, 351,35
2...Swivel door, 610...Putshiya, 620
... Pusher motor, 641, 642 ... Chain, 650 ... Reversible motor, 660 ... Blade-shaped piece, 681 ... Scraper plate, 700 ...
...Container, 800...Storage box.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An individual inserted banknote is fed to a fixed position, and when the movable container is in a first position related to the fixed position, receives the banknote from the fixed position, and one or more banknotes are received from the fixed position. a storage box disposed in relation to the container so as to hold the inserted banknotes in a stacked state and to be able to receive banknotes from the container when the container is in the first position; a return port that is aligned with the container when the container is in the second position; and when the container is in the first position, after one inserted banknote arrives at the certain position, the next banknote arrives at the certain position. The individual banknotes are moved from the fixed position into the container in a direction perpendicular to the banknote surface, and further, as the transaction is carried out, the stacked banknotes are moved through the container in a direction perpendicular to the banknote surface. a first means for pushing the banknotes into a storage box; and a second means for moving the container to a second position and pushing the stacked banknotes through the container to a return port in accordance with the transaction cancellation. A banknote handling device characterized by: