DEVICE FOR DEPOSITING FLAT OBJECTS OR RECEIPTS

Abstract

A device (1) for example for a scan system, a deposit of documents, receipts, or similar flat objects (2) in a secured sequence in which the objects (2) are fed through a slot (9) of a rotary body (8) to a conveyer device (7) and are pushed therefrom to a stack of the receipts or objects, and the conveyer device (7) can be stopped when the rear edge of the receipt or object (2), seen in the direction of feed, is still arranged in the slot area of the rotary body (8). In this way, the rotation of the rotary body (8) can be triggered, causing the slot (9) to be rotated away from the end of the receipt (2), i.e. the end of the receipt slips out of the slot (9) or leaves it, however remains in the area of the rotary body (8), with an exterior of the body forming a hold-down unit for the end of the receipt while the next receipt (2) being fed. Any insertion of the next receipt under the previous receipt (2) is therefore prevented.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. 10 2009 014 948.1, filed Mar. 30, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates to a device for depositing flat or sheet-like objects or receipts, particularly in a constant sequences onto a stack from the bottom upwards or laterally in reference to each other, having an elastically retracting, approximately plate-shaped counter support that moves upward or sideward with increasing height or thickness of the stack against the force of a spring, and having a conveyer device acting as a hold-down unit, such as for example a conveyer belt and/or conveyer rollers, that acts in the feeding direction, grasping the top of the respectively next object or receipt, facing away from the counter support, with the side or bottom of the conveyer device, facing the counter support, causing the feed and/or serving as a hold-down unit.

Devices of this type are known and are essentially proven technology. However, problems may occur when the receipts are corrugated or bent or deformed in any way and primarily when they show bends or folds at their rear edge, seen in the feeding direction, and thus the rear edge projects in reference to the counter support, a support table, or an object already deposited. Here, it is possible that the subsequent object or receipt to be deposited can enter under said already inserted object or receipt and then cannot be grasped any longer by the conveyer device. This may lead to a backup of respective receipts or objects. Even if the object or the receipt were inserted in its entirety, here, it would be placed under the previously deposited receipt or object so that the sequence of objects within the stack was no longer correct.

SUMMARY

Therefore, the object is to provide a device of the type mentioned at the outset, by which flat objects or receipts can be stacked on top of each other or next to each other without risking any backups and without risking any change or falsification of the sequence.

In order to attain this object, the device defined at the outset is provided such that upstream in the direction of feed a rotary body is arranged in reference to the object or objects or receipts, with its rotary axis being arranged perpendicularly in reference to the direction of feed of the objects or receipts in the travel or conveyance plane. This body comprises a slot, penetrating it in the direction of feed of the objects or receipts, that allows one object or receipt to pass therethrough. The feeding motion or the feeding drive ends or is interrupted when the rear end section of the object or receipt, seen in the direction of feed, is arranged shortly prior to entering the slot or in the slot itself and the body, which is rotated after the feeding, comprises at its exterior surface a holding down area, which contacts during its rotations the top, facing the feeding device of an object or receipt moved through the slot, at its rear end section, seen in the direction of feed.

In this way, a flat or sheet-like object or receipt can first be fed to the stack and be grasped by the conveyer device and can be held down at its rear end, seen in the direction of feed, by a rotation of the rotary body, even if said end section shows certain deformations, folds, or bends, with the distance between the conveyer device and the rotary body being selected such that the rear edge section of the object or receipt, seen in the direction of feed, is still located in the slot when the conveyer device has already grasped the object or receipt and has transported it. Shortly before or after having reached at least a first end position, the most recently fed object is hindered by the rotary object from projecting upwards in the end section for any reason so that the feeding of the next object is not hindered and any such subsequent object cannot enter below the previously fed object but is placed as desired on the top or exterior outside of the already fed receipt or object.

This rotary, slotted body is decisive, here, with the object being guided through its slot and which is made to rotate and thus holds down the end section of the receipt at its exterior side when it no longer travels in the direction of feed, which simultaneously causes the end sections, initially still located in the slot, to exit the slot due to its rotary motion.

Here, it is beneficial for the feed or conveyance path of the individual objects or receipts to extend through the slot of the rotary object when the slot is limited at its interior by opposite guiding surfaces, spaced from each other, with their distance being greater than a thickness of the object or receipt, and when the objects or receipts can be individually pushed through the slot. Here, the guiding surfaces to limit the slot first guide the object or receipt during its feeding process and can already achieve a certain straightening effect if the object or receipt shows deformations; primarily they can still grasp the end section when the feed has stopped and the rotation of the body begins until by the rotary motion the slot is rotated to such an extent that the end section or rear edge of the object slips out of the slot, however it is already hindered by the hold-down section of the rotary body in its end section from allowing entry to the feed section of the next object or receipt.

The axial length of the slot can be equal or greater than the width of the objects or receipts and the dimension or width of the slot oriented in the direction of feed may be equal to the cross-sectional width of the rotary body or, if the slot is off-set from the center of the body in reference to the rotary axis, smaller than the greatest width of the body. Primarily such a slot is advantageous, comprising in its center the virtual rotary axis of the rotary body, because then the rotary body can already execute its hold-down function with half a rotation so that the next phase and/or the treatment of the next receipt can be performed with the next half rotation of the rotary body.

A beneficial embodiment may provide for the drive of the rotary body to remain controllable and/or switchable after the end of the feeding motion of the receipt, still grasped with its end section by the slot of the rotary body. In a concrete embodiment, a respective drive may also be provided for the rotary body with its control depending on the control of additional drives, particularly of the drive for the feed.

The device can be provided with a drive control controlling or switching on the drive of the conveyer device and, after stopping the drive, controlling or switching on the drive of the rotary body. Thus, a common drive control may be provided for the essential drives, which also regulates or controls the allocation of the drives in reference to each other and their temporal sequence and duration.

The rotary body with its slot could already be ready for use to guide and hold down the next object or receipt after half a rotation. However, after each use it may also perform a residual rotation to the initial position so that flat objects or receipts always must be fed through the slot in the same direction. In this case it would be sufficient if the top facing the receipt during the rotation is embodied as a pressure pad, while the other half of said body may exhibit an arbitrary shape.

It is particularly beneficial for the rotary body to have a polygonal or round cross-section and the slot extending through a diameter plane or a plane parallel thereto. This way, the rotary body approximates or actually shows the shape of a roller, which with its exterior can particularly well hold down an even slightly deformed top of a receipt. Primarily a cylindrical or roller-shaped rotary body is here advantageous due to the symmetrical embodiment of its surface.

When here the slot extends parallel in reference to a plane of the diameter through said rotary body, the greater circumferential area can then serve as the hold-down part and act the desired impingement upon the end section of a receipt over a greater rotary section. However, a shorter circumferential section may also serve as the hold-down part if the dimensional conditions of the entire arrangement are selected such that the object or receipt shall be impinged by the exterior of the rotary body for a shorter period of time. Such an eccentric arrangement of the slot is primarily beneficial for embodiments in which the receipt is always fed from the very same side through the slot and after the rotation, the rotary body is returned or rotated further with its hold-down function prior to the approach of the next object or receipt.

In the device according to the invention it is beneficial when during the rotation of the rotary body or cylinder, its exterior or surface facing the conveyer device can first be moved in the direction of feed and then diagonally or vertically in reference to the area of the receipt or object and during a last portion of a partial rotation or half rotation opposite the direction or feed of the object or receipt.

This means that for example a receipt fed by a conveyer device from the left to the right, passing through the slot of the rotary body over this path, can be impinged upon its top in the end section such that the rotary body rotates clockwise after the feeding of the receipt, resulting in the rear edge of the receipt, seen in the direction of feed, first getting slightly bent upwards by the rotation of the slot until its slides out, while simultaneously the top of the rotary body acts the desired hold-down function upon the top of the receipt.

It is beneficial for good access of an object or receipt when at the entry side the slot has a greater width than inside the rotary body. Therefore, a diagonal inlet or an inlet funnel may be provided at the slot.

One embodiment may provide that the slot at its two outlet or inlet sides shows a greater width than inside the rotary body or cylinder and after half a rotation the cross-sectional end of the slot serving first as the outlet from the slot now forming the inlet for the next object or receipt. In such an embodiment the rotary body only needs to execute only half a rotation for each object or receipt.

In the direction of feed of the objects or receipts, upstream in reference to the counter support and/or the conveyer device at least one sensor may be provided, detecting or recognizing the front end of the flat object or receipt, seen in the direction of feed, in front of or inside said slotted rotary body, controlling the drive of the conveyer device and switching it on when the fed object or receipt has been detected. This way, the sensor can start the operating cycle of the device when a receipt has reached the device such that its front end, seen in the direction of feed, has reached the area of the rotary body and thus the one of the sensor.

If applicable, here a sensor with light interruption, i.e. a sensor emitting a light beam, may be provided such that the receipt entering interrupts the light beam and thus the receiver of the light beam can forward the interruption as a control impulse. Such a sensor arrangement can also serve to control the rotary body.

This sensor or another sensor may detect the rear end of the flat object or receipt, seen in the direction of feed, and stop the drive of the conveyer device when the rear end has been detected as well as switch on the rotary drive of the slotted rotary body. This way, either a single sensor or a multitude of sensors may serve to switch on or off the drive of the conveyer device and the rotary body, so that the entire process of stacking such objects or receipts can occur automatically. It is sufficient for the object or receipt to enter the area of the slotted body and thus the sensor located there via a feeding device in order to execute the further conveyance and holding-down in an automated fashion.

Further, the device may provide such a control that by terminating the rotation of the rotary body the feeding of the next receipt can be triggered or released. The termination of the rotation of the rotary body results in the situation that the object or receipt, previously moved in the direction of feed, is no longer conveyed and is held down at its rear end, seen in the direction of feed, by the rotary body such that the path is clear for another receipt or object to pass through the slot onto the top of the previously fed receipt and/or to the side of said receipt facing the conveyer device.

In the effective range of the sensor the slotted rotary body may comprise an opening, e.g., in the form of a notch, recess, or bore, extending at least to the slot granting the sensor access to the receipt inside the slot. Primarily a sensor arranged perpendicular in reference to the rotary axis of the rotary body and the slot located in the initial position can this way detect an edge and particularly the rear edge of an object, seen in the direction of feed, and cause the provided control or regulation of the drive.

It is particularly beneficial for the slotted body to comprise off-set openings for the sensor at both sides of the slot, particularly in the direction of feed, and for an edge of the object or receipt that can be detected, particularly in the direction of feed upstream in reference to the center of the rotary body by the sensor beam using the respectively off-set opening. After each half of a rotation of the rotary body then accessibility results for the sensor, in the direction of feed slightly upstream in reference to the center of the rotary body, so that the rear edge of the object is already arranged inside the rotary body but still upstream in reference to its center, when the rotary drive is switched on for the rotary body by the sensor. If the receipt projected with its rear end, seen in the direction of feed, by a longer section from the slot at the rear, seen in the direction of feed, a coiling of the receipt by the rotary body might occur. However, if the rear edge is already located inside the rotary body, in spite of the fact that during the first part of the rotary motion it may be slightly entrained and bent upwards, during the further progression of the rotation it then automatically and independently slips out of the slot while the exterior or upper side of the rotary body then contacts the rear section of the receipt or at least hinders (it) from projecting into the traveling path of the next receipt.

It is beneficial when the guiding surfaces limiting the slot, i.e. the interior wall of the slot, exhibits a surface structure or color deviating from the one of the object or receipt. This particularly facilitates an optoelectronic detection and primarily also a differentiation of a rear section of the receipt, seen in the direction of feed, from the guiding surface it passes through. This leads to a correspondingly good detection of the edges of the object passing by during the feeding on said object.

The device may beneficially comprise an end stop for the objects or receipts, against which they can be moved by the conveyer device, and an object or receipt partially pushed onto a stack after the first stop of the conveyer device can be moved further up to this stop during the feeding process of the next object or receipt. Such an arrangement is primarily advantageous when objects or receipts of different longitudinal dimensions shall be stacked. When such an object or receipt, after the stop of the rotary body, has not yet reached the stop it is entrained during the feeding of the subsequent object or receipt by the conveyer device when said device, after the end of the feeding process and after the end of the rotation of the rotary body is reactivated when another object or receipt enters said device.

In order for the rotary body to be able to sufficiently perform its hold-down function in the end section of a fed object or receipt it is beneficial when half of the cross-sectional thickness of the rotary body or the radius of the cylindrically shaped body is approximately equivalent to the difference in height between a feeder opening into the device for a flat object or receipt and the side of the conveyer device acting as the hold-down unit. An object or receipt grasped by the conveyer device is then held down at its rear end, seen in the direction of feed, by the exterior of the rotary or cylindrical body at the same side as the one facing the conveyer device. In this way, the end section cannot project by unintentional deformations of the object or receipt into the feeding path of the next object or receipt to the conveyer device.

Primarily when combining one or more of the above-mentioned features and measures a device results by which flat objects, for example payment receipts, can be pulled successively into the feed, for example of a receipt scanner, and/or pulled off a stack. Here, the objects first travel for a certain distance, where they may be rotated for example by 180°, until they reach a station for stacking or depositing. The station forms the device according to the invention and comprises a sensor detecting the beginning or the front edge of the object or receipt seen in the direction of feed. Subsequently the object passes the slot of the rotary body until it reaches a conveyer belt of the conveyer device of the deposit station. The conveyer belt of the conveyer device is now started and transports the object until the rear end of said object or receipt, seen in the direction of feed, is detected by the sensor, causing the conveyance of the object to be stopped or interrupted. Now, the end of the object is located in a defined position in the area of the sensor, beneficially inside the slot of the rotary body, and may perhaps still slightly project therefrom. The object is guided at its top and its bottom by the width of the slot and is also held during the conveyance. The drive of the conveyer device and the slotted body can occur by a common motor drive or by two separate motors.

After the stop of the conveyer device the slotted body is driven and executes half a rotation around its own axis, for example, with a clockwise rotation occurring in a conveyance aligned from the left to the right. This results in the rear end of the object, seen in the direction of feed, being first slightly bent in the slot, but simultaneously also moved out by the relative motion and finally slipping completely out of the slot shortly before the end of half of a rotation, while simultaneously the top of the rotary body contacts and/or holds down the top of the rear edge of the receipt. In this way the object or receipt cannot rise in a disturbing fashion at the end or deform such that it projects into the feeding path of the next object or receipt because it is located underneath the rotary body. The already deposited objects are held between the elastic counter support serving as the receipt table and the conveyer device. When now another object or receipt is inserted into the slot of the rotary body it can be safely conveyed over the previously deposited object so that it is ensured that the sequence of the receipts is maintained during the depositing.

After depositing the end of all objects or receipts will always be located under the slotted rotary body such that after another deposit of an object the conveyer belt of the conveyer device can even grasp shorter receipts and can transport them to a stop located in the direction of feed. In this way, all objects or receipts of a stack can be aligned to a stop and be exactly bundled under a spring force.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, an exemplary embodiment of the invention is described using the drawing. It shows in a partially schematic illustration:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a device according to the invention, in which a number of flat objects, preferably receipts or documents, has already been stacked, one such object was fed, and another object has taken the feeding position in the device, shortly before, due to its further feeding process, the conveyer device is to be restarted;

FIG. 2 is a view according to FIG. 1, with the receipt to be fed having reached a position detected by a sensor, causing the conveyer device and its conveyer belt is to be started in the direction of feed according to an arrow;

FIG. 3 is a view of the device according to FIGS. 1 and 2, with the object fed having been conveyed by the conveyer device and has left the range of the sensor with its rear end, seen in the direction of feed, causing the slotted rotary body to be set in rotation;

FIG. 4 is a view according to FIG. 3, with the slotted rotary body having performed approximately a quarter rotation, with the rear edge section still being located inside the slot;

FIG. 5 is a view according to FIG. 4 at the moment at which the further rotation of the rotary body leads to the rear edge, similar to the situation according to FIG. 4 with the conveyer belt being stationary, slipping out of the slot while the exterior of the rotary body impinges the edge region at the exterior and upper side; and

FIG. 6 is a view of the arrangement after the stop of the rotational motion of the rotary body such that, similar to FIG. 1, now another receipt can be fed, which here cannot enter underneath the previously fed receipt.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A device marked 1 in its entirety serves to deposit flat or sheet-like objects or receipts 2, in the following also called “receipt 2”, at a constant sequence from the bottom to the top onto a stack 3 in a deposit station 4.

The illustration of FIG. 1 may also be a top view in which the individual receipts 2 are arranged during handling and after their stacking in a vertical fashion.

The device 1 comprises an elastic, approximately plate-shaped counter support 6, moving with increasing height or thickness of the stack 3 against the force of a spring 5, in the exemplary embodiment a coil spring, upward or sideward, and a conveyer device 7, acting in the insertion direction and in the direction of feed according to arrow PF1 in FIGS. 2 and 3, grasping the top of the respectively next object or receipt 2 facing away from the counter support 6, also acting as a holding-down unit, which in the exemplary embodiment is embodied as a conveyer belt and thus in the following shall also be called “conveyer belt 7.”

Here, the side facing the counter support 6, in the exemplary embodiment the bottom of said conveyer device or said conveyer belt 7, causes the feed of the receipt 2 in the direction of the arrow PF1, when the receipt 2 is grasped by the conveyer belt 7 and said (belt) is driven. Simultaneously the conveyer belt 7 also serves as a hold-down unit, here.

In all figures and particularly clearly in FIG. 1 it is discernible that, in the direction of feed of the receipts 2, a rotary body 8 is arranged upstream in reference to the conveyer device 7, which can be rotated by a rotary drive, that is described in the following, and with its rotary axis is arranged perpendicularly in reference to the direction of feed of the objects or receipts 2 in the plane of feed or conveyance, with its top also pointing to the face or the edge of a receipt 2 entering the device 1 and which would hinder the insertion of a receipt 2 if said body 8 did not exhibit a penetrating slot 9 allowing the passing of such a receipt 2 in the direction of feed of the receipts 2, which slot 9 is particularly clearly discernible in FIG. 1.

Using FIGS. 2 and 3 it is discernible that a receipt 2 entering through the slot 9 in a manner to be described sets in motion the conveyer device 7, which is indicated by the arrows PF1 in FIGS. 2 and 3. A receipt 2, inserted in a manner to be described in the following into the slot 9 via a feed marked 10 in its entirety starts the conveyer belt 7 such that the receipt 2, when grasped by the conveyer belt 7, is transported further with here the feeding motion ending or being interrupted when the end section of the receipt 2, seen in the direction of feed, has reached or is arranged in the slot 9 according to FIG. 3.

The axial length of the slot 9, not discernible in the figures, is here equivalent or greater than the width of the receipts 2 and the dimension or the width of the slot 9 oriented in the direction of feed is equivalent to the cross-sectional width of the rotary body 8 in the exemplary embodiment. However, it is also possible for the slot 9 penetrating the rotary body 8 to be slightly off-set in reference to the center of the rotary body 8.

When comparing FIGS. 2 and 3 it is discernible that the feed or travel path of the individual receipts 2 extends through the slot 9 of the rotary body 8 with the slot 9 at the inside being limited by opposite guide surfaces, which have some play in reference to the receipt 2 such that the receipt 2 can easily glide between said guide surfaces of the slot 9.

The already mentioned drive of the rotary body 8, not shown in greater detail, can still be controlled or switched on after the end of the feeding motion of the receipt 2 with its end section still grasped in the slot 9 according to FIG. 3. Here, the device 1 may comprise a drive control (not shown), which controls or switches on the drive of the conveyer device 7, and after the stop of the conveyer device 7 controls or switches on the drive of the rotary body 8 such that the movements according to the arrows PF1 in FIGS. 2 and 3 and according to the arrows PF2 in FIGS. 4 and 5 occur successively.

The rotary body 8 can exhibit a polygonal cross-section, for example, however, in the exemplary embodiment it shows an evenly round cross-section, i.e. it is embodied cylindrical or roller-shaped. Here, the slot 9 extends through the plane of the diameter of said roller-shaped or cylindrical body 8; however it could also extend through a plane parallel thereto.

Based on FIGS. 3 through 5 it is discernible that during the rotation of the rotary body 8 its top, facing the conveyer device 7, is first moved in the direction of feed and then diagonally or vertically in reference to the surface of the receipt 2 (FIG. 4), and during a last portion of half of a rotation (FIG. 5) opposite the direction of feed of the receipt 2. In the side view shown, with the feed of the receipts being from the left to the right, the rotary body 8 rotates in the clockwise direction.

After half a rotation, according to FIG. 6, a status is reached where the device 1 is ready for accepting another receipt 2 according to FIG. 1 and for its conveyance according to FIGS. 2 through 5.

At its inlet side, the slot 9 has a greater width than inside, namely at both inlet and outlet sides such that a receipt 2, when entering the slot 9, always finds an insertion slope and an insertion funnel facilitating the travel of the receipt 2 through the rotary body 8.

In the exemplary embodiment, for the already-mentioned control of the drive or drives, a sensor 11 is arranged in the direction of feed of the receipts 2, upstream in reference to the counter support 6 and the conveyer device 7, particularly an optoelectronic one, recognizing or detecting the front edge of the receipt 2, seen in the direction of feed, in the slotted rotary body 8, and controlling the drive of the conveyer device 7 and switching it on when detecting the fed object or receipt 2 (FIG. 2). The receipt 2 is then displaced through the feed 10 until it is grasped by the conveyer device 7 and bridges the gap between the body 8 and the beginning of the effective range or strand 7a of the conveyer belt 7.

The sensor 11 or, if applicable another such sensor, particularly an optoelectronic one, may additionally detect the rear end of the receipt 2, seen in the direction of feed, and stop the drive of the conveyer device 7 when said rear edge has left the sensor range, causing simultaneously also to switch on the rotational drive of the rotary body 8. By the termination of the rotation of the rotary body 8, in turn the feeding of the next receipt 2 can be triggered, with FIG. 6 showing this situation, however no additional receipt is arranged in the feed 10. If according to FIGS. 1 and 2 another receipt 2 is conveyed through the feed 10 to the rotary body 8, the above-described motion process occurs anew, described in FIGS. 2 through 6.

By the rotation of the rotary body 8 simultaneously its slot 9 is rotated such that according to FIG. 3 the end of a receipt 2 located therein is first slightly bent (FIG. 4) before it slips out (FIG. 5) during a further rotation with the receipt 2 being stationary, however simultaneously the surface of the rotary body 8 impinges the receipt at its exterior and upper side and holds it down according to FIG. 6, even if the end of the receipt 2 was actually projecting upward by unintentional deformations. Thus, the feeding path for the next receipt cannot be hindered by the previous receipt 2 because it is held down by the rotary body according to FIG. 6.

According to FIG. 1, in the effective range of the sensor 11, the slotted rotary body 8 has an opening 12, embodied as a bore and extending at least to the slot 9, for the measuring beam emitted and received by the sensor 11, particularly a light beam. Through this opening 12, the receipt 2 inside the slot 9 is accessible for the sensor 11. In the exemplary embodiment, the slotted body 8 comprises openings 12 for the sensor 11 on both sides of the slot 9, off-set in reference to each other in the direction of feed, with the off-set being selected such that one edge of the receipt 2 can each be detected by the sensor beam in the direction of feed upstream in reference to the rotary axis, equivalent to the center of the rotary body 8. This way a relatively wide edge section of the receipt according to FIG. 3 can be present in the slot 9 when the rotation of the rotary body 8 is triggered by the sensor 11. After having slipped out of the slot 9 the edge section of the receipt is grasped and held down appropriately securely by a further rotation of the rotary body.

The second opening 12 is arranged at an analog off-set position in reference to the center of the rotary body such that after half a rotation said opening 12 is once more arranged, in the direction of feed, upstream in reference to the center of the rotary body 8.

In order for the sensor 11 to clearly detect, particularly by optoelectronic means, if a receipt is arranged in the slot 9 and/or when the front edge of the receipt 2 reaches its effective range, seen in the direction of feed, and the rear edge leaves the effective range of the sensor 11, seen in the direction of feed, the guide areas limiting the slot 9 may comprise a surface structure or color deviating from the one of a receipt 2, particularly clearly deviating therefrom.

Alternatively or in addition to the sensor 11 a sensor, not shown, with an interrupted light beam and a receiver for the light beam emitted by the sensor may be provided. When an object or receipt reaches the path of the light beam and interrupts it, the interruption triggers an appropriate control impulse in the receiver to address the rotary body 8.

It is discernible in the figures that in the deposit station the device 1 comprises a stop 13 for the receipts 2, formed by its limits, against which they can be transported by the conveyer device 7 in order to form an aligned stack 3. Here, FIGS. 1 through 6 show clearly that a receipt 2, after a first stop of the conveyer device 7, is initially only partially pushed onto the stack 3 can be pushed further up to the stop 13 during the feeding of another receipt 2. This further displacement of a receipt with a simultaneous detection of the next receipt is clearly discernible in FIG. 3. Here, the next receipt has been inserted into the wedge-shaped space between an inlet 7b of the conveyer device 7, arranged diagonally in reference to the direction of feed, and the previously supplied receipt 2 or the counter support 6 until it is grasped by the conveyer device 7 and is then entrained. Here, simultaneously the previously inserted receipt has been further transported and thus reaches the end stop 13 according to FIG. 4.

On the one hand, for a good guidance of the fed receipt 2 to the conveyer device 7 and its inlet 7b and a good holding-down of the receipt 2 after the rotation of the rotary body 8 it is provided in the exemplary embodiment that half of the cross-sectional thickness of the rotary body 8, i.e. the radius of the body 8, in the exemplary embodiment shown cylindrical or roller-shaped, is approximately equivalent to the difference in height between a feeder opening 14 in the device 1 and/or also into the deposit station 4 and the side of the conveyer device 7 acting as a holding-down unit. Practically the extension of the conveyer device 7 backwards, opposite the direction of feed, is approximately equivalent to a tangent to the bottom of the rotary body 8 or has a slight distance from such a tangent in the exemplary embodiment according to the invention.

The device 1, for example, can cause a deposit of documents, receipts or similar flat objects 2 in a secure sequence for a scanning system such that the objects 2 are fed through a slot 9 of a rotary body 8 to a conveyer device 7 and are pushed therefrom onto the stack of receipts 3, with the conveyer device 7 can be stopped when the rear edge of the receipt or object 2, seen in the direction of feed, is still arranged in the slot area of the rotary body 8. This way, the rotation of the rotary body 8 can be triggered, resulting in the slot 9 being rotated away from the edge of the receipt 2, i.e. the end of the receipt slipping out of the slot 9 or leaving it, however remaining in the area of said rotary body 8, with its exterior forming a holding-down unit for said end of the receipt, while another receipt 2 is fed. Any introduction of the next receipt underneath of a previous receipt 2 is therefore prevented.

Claims

1. A device (1) for depositing flat or sheet-like objects or receipts (2) in a consistent sequence from bottom to top on a stack (3) or laterally in reference to each other, comprising an elastic, approximately plate-shaped counter support (6) that can be moved upward or sideward with an increasing height or thickness of the stack (3) against a force of a spring (5), a conveyer device (7) acting in a direction of feed to engage a top of a respective next one of the flat or sheet-like objects or receipts (2) facing away from the counter support (6) and acting as a holding-down unit, the conveyor device including at least one of a conveyer belt or conveyer rollers, with a side facing the counter support (6) or a bottom of the conveyer device (7) at least one of affecting the conveyance or acting as the holding-down unit, a rotary body (8) is arranged upstream in the direction of feed in reference to the conveyer device (7), with a rotary axis of the rotary body being arranged perpendicularly in reference to the direction of feed of the objects or receipts (2) in a plane of feed or transportation, the body (8) comprises a slot (9) which penetrates therethrough in the direction of feed that allows a respective one of the objects or receipts (2) to pass, and a feeding motion ends or is interrupted when the an end section of the object or receipt (2), seen in the direction of feed, is arranged shortly in front of an inlet into the slot (9) or in the slot (9) itself.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein an axial length of the slot (9) is equivalent or greater than a width of the objects or receipts (2) and a dimension or width of the slot (9) is equivalent to a cross-sectional width of the rotary body (8), oriented in the direction of feed, or in case of the slot (9) being off-set, out of the center of the body (8) in reference to the rotational axis, is smaller than a greatest width of the body (8).

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein a feeding and travel path of the individual objects or receipts (2) extends through the slot (9) of the rotary body (8) such that the slot (9) is limited inside by opposite and spaced apart guide surfaces and the objects or receipts (2) can be pushed individually through the slot (9).

4. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a drive for the rotary body (8), which, after an end of the feeding motion of the receipt (2), still being grasped with the end section by the slot (9) of the rotary body (8), is controlled or switched on.

5. The device according to claim 4, further comprising a drive control, which controls or switches on a drive of the conveyer device (7) and after stopping controls or switches on the drive of the rotary body (8).

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the rotary body has a polygonal or round cross-section and the slot (9) extends through a cross-sectional plane or a plane parallel thereto.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein during the rotation of the rotary body (8) a top thereof facing the conveyer device (7) first moves in the direction of feed and then diagonally or vertically in reference to a surface of the receipt (2) and during a last portion of half a rotation, against the direction of feed of the object or receipt (2).

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the slot (9) has a greater width at the inlet side than inside the rotary body (8).

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the slot (9) has a greater width at the inlet and outlet sides than inside the rotary body (8) and after half a rotation the end of the slot previously serving as the outlet of the slot (9) now is positioned as the inlet for the next object or receipt (2).

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein at least one sensor (11) is provided in reference of the direction of feed of the objects or receipts (2) upstream in reference to at least one of the counter support (6) or the conveyer device (7), that is adapted to recognize or detect a frontal edge of the flat object or receipt (2), seen in the direction of feed, upstream in reference to the slotted rotary body (8) or therein, which controls a drive of the conveyer device (7) and switches it on when the fed object or receipt (2) has been detected.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein the at least one sensor (11) or another sensor detects the end of the flat object or receipt (2), seen in the direction of feed, and stops the drive of the conveyer device (7) when detecting the end section and switches on a rotational drive of the slotted body (8).

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein by terminating the rotation of the rotary body (9) the feed of the next receipt (2) can be triggered.

13. The device according to claim 10, wherein the slotted rotary body (8) has an opening (12) extending at least to the slot (9) in an effective range of the at least one sensor (11), rendering the receipt (2) inside the slot (9) accessible for the at least one sensor (11).

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the slotted body (8) has openings (12) for the at least one sensor (11) at both sides of the slot (9), that are off-set in the direction of feed, and an edge of the object or receipt (2) can be detected by the sensor beam upstream in reference to the center of the rotary body (8), seen in the direction of feed.

15. The device according to claim 14, wherein guiding surfaces limiting the slot (9) have a surface structure or color deviating from a color of the object or receipt (2).

16. The device according to claim 1, further comprising an end stop (13) for the objects or receipts (2), against which they can be transported by the conveyer device (7), and after an initial stop of the conveyer device (7) an object or receipt (2) partially pushed onto the stack (3) is adapted to be pushed further up to the stop when a next one of the objects or receipts (2) is fed.

17. The device according to claim 1, wherein half of a cross-sectional thickness of the rotary body (8) or a radius of the cylindrically embodied body (8) is approximately equivalent to a difference in height between an inlet (14) into the device (1) for a flat object or receipt and a side of the conveyer device (7) acting as a hold-down unit.