The present invention relates to a banknote receipting and dispensing module for an equipment of automatic deposit and withdrawal of banknotes.
More specifically, the invention relates to a banknote receipting and dispensing module or box for equipments of automatic deposit and withdrawal of banknotes and a respective equipment of automatic deposit and withdrawal of banknotes according to the introductory portions of the main claims.
Equipments for the automatic deposit and withdrawal of banknotes are used in banking sites, as help for tellers or as “self service” equipments operable by customers, for banking transactions comprising the deposit and the withdrawal of cash. These equipments provide banknote receipting and dispensing modules or boxes, having function of recycling, mountable with possibility of replacing in respective housings, and in which each module or box is provided of a seat associated to a given typology of banknotes. For high storing capacity, modules or boxes are often preferred in which the banknotes are arranged as a stack with horizontal extension and support on a longer edge.
The number of employed housings and modules or boxes determines denominations and/or typologies of the banknotes to be handled, as well as dimensions and cost of the equipment. Therefore, in the case of vertically overlapped boxes, the number of the housings affects the overall height of the equipment. As an example, an equipment which proposes to recycle banknotes of the EURO system should provide seven modules or boxes, respectively, for the denominations of: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 Euro, and seven respective housings.
In the use, the boxes associated with the denominations or typologies of banknotes of reduced circulation, for instance the boxes for banknotes of 200 and 500 Euro, are generally subject to a limited number of storage and dispensing operations, for small quantities and reduced occupation of the seats. On the contrary, the boxes lodging the denominations of banknotes of greater circulation, for instance banknotes of 20 and 50 Euro, should satisfy high requests of storage and dispensing, often varying in the time.
The room provided in the equipment for the deposit of banknotes is therefore used in a non optimal way. Moreover, the boxes for the banknotes of greater circulation can easily reach the conditions of full box or empty box and blocking of the equipment: The emptying and recharging operations of the boxes should be frequent with increasing of the overheads. On the other hand, the addition of housings for the boxes of banknotes with greater circulation is expensive and it is often impracticable in view of current rules on the limits of height of the equipments.
Banknote processing equipments are known which use double modules for the deposit and the automatic withdrawal of banknotes, with function of recycling. These modules include a banknote seat with arrangement of the banknotes in superimposition and subdivision in two banknote stacks, and a couple of insertion and extraction devices. The stacks occupy together the banknote seat; the insertion and extraction devices are adjacent to terminal sections of the seat and insert and extract the banknotes by means of the transport mechanisms of the equipment. The room of the banknote seat is used in optimized way, but the equipment should provide, by opposite sides of the housings, two transport mechanisms for the two stacks of banknotes of the common seat. It creates problems of access in one or in both transport mechanisms, when an inspection is necessary or in the case of jam of the banknotes in movement.
An object of this invention is to accomplish a receipting or dispensing module or box for equipments of automatic deposit and withdrawal of banknotes which allows to process two different typologies of banknotes, which results reliable, of relatively contained cost, and in which the operations on the modules or boxes are easy.
According to a characteristic of the present invention, the banknote receipting and dispensing module is employable in an equipment for the deposit and the withdrawal of banknotes and includes a banknote seat for storing banknotes with arrangement in superimposition and subdivision in two banknote stacks along a given stacking direction and a pair of insertion and extraction devices for the insertion and the extraction of the banknotes. The banknote seat is usable by each one of the stacks and the insertion and extraction devices are arranged at the ends of the seat. The module includes: a single input-output passage for the banknotes regarding the two stacks; and a diverting member controllable for making the banknotes to selectively transit between the input-output passage and the one or the other insertion and extraction device. Guiding and moving elements are provided for guiding and moving the banknotes between the diverting member and at least one of the insertion and extraction devices.
According to another characteristic, a double box includes a reference surface for the stacks of banknotes in vertical and supporting belts, associated with each one of the two stacks, projecting of a little with respect to the reference surface. The supporting belts of a given stack extend from the pressing element to a respective terminal section of the seat, returning toward the other terminal section and in which each belt has an end fixed to the pressing element and an opposite end arranged underneath the reference surface. Restoring members are provided for maintaining in tension the belts during the movement of the pressing elements.
Further, according to another characteristic, the banknote stacks have vertical arrangement with support of the banknotes on the longer edges and a double box comprises a pair of pressing elements to push, in independent way, the banknote stacks against the insertion and extraction devices. The pressing elements include respective carriages having a moving member on board and specular configuration for minimum dimensions in condition of maximum filling of the banknote seat.
The characteristics of the invention will become clear from the following description given purely by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the appended drawings in which:
The
The equipment 31 includes, vertically overlapped, an upper body 33 and a lower body 34: The upper body is of interface for the operator, while the lower body is defined by a store-safe 36 in which the boxes 321, 322, . . . , 32-n are mounted. The equipment 31 can process flexible documents different by the banknotes, as checks and notes. Anyway, from now onwards, the term banknotes will also designate these flexible documents. The boxes include the box 32-i, similar to the other boxes 321, 322, 32n but having components and functions specific of the present invention.
The upper body 33 includes, in a conventionally frontal portion, an input port 37 for depositing and introducing the banknotes, an output port 38 for their dispensing, a forgery vane 39, a deposit rejection vane 41 and a withdrawal rejection vane 42. The input port 37 and the output port 38 are open and are accessible to the user, while the vanes 39, 41 and 42 are accessible through keys. Moreover, are in evidences inside the body 33: a validation device 43 in a rear portion, an interface transport mechanism 44, an electronic control unit 46 and an input-output port 47, of connection with the store-safe 36.
The input port 37 and the output port 38 are provided for receiving banknotes introduced by the user as a deposit stack 49 and, respectively, for receiving the banknotes requested by the user as a withdrawal stack 51. The forgery vane 39 receives the banknotes suspect of forgery, the deposit rejection vane 41 is provided for receiving the components of the stack 49 rejected by the equipment 31 in phase of deposit, while the withdrawal rejection vane 42 normally receives the banknotes discarded by the equipment in the phase of withdrawal. The interface transport mechanism includes passive diverters and controlled diverters to connect the transaction ports and the vanes banknotes with the validation device 48 and with the input-output port 47.
The store-safe 36 has a front opening 66, side walls 67l and 67r, a rear wall 68, a door 69 for the opening 66 and a plurality of housings for the boxes 32-1, 32-2, . . . , 32-i, 32-n. In the store-safe 36 are mounted a store transport mechanism 72, a transport moving member for the store transport mechanism and a plurality of stacking moving members 74-1, 74-2, . . . 74-n (
In the store-safe, the housings for the boxes are arranged in vertical on a column and lodge each one a respective box 32. The store transport mechanism 72 has substantially vertical path and comprises diverting members 75 for the boxes 32. Through the diverting members, the transport mechanism 72 moves the banknotes 48 between the door 47 and the boxes 32. The door 69 has a safety lock, not shown in the figures, and it makes to access to the transport mechanism 72 and the boxes 32-1, 32-2, . . . , 32-i, 32-n.
Respective guides 76 are mounted on the walls 67l and 67r in the space provided for the housings of the boxes and support the boxes 32-1, 32-2, . . . , 32-i, 32-n (
The boxes 32-1, 32-2, . . . , 32-i, 32-n have dimensions and functionality similar to the dimensions and the functionality of the boxes for deposit and withdrawal of banknotes described in the Italian Patent Application TO2006A00094 filed on Oct. 2, 2006 in the name of the Applicant CTS Cashpro S.p.A. and whose contents are herein included as reference. The boxes 32-1, 32-2, . . . , 32-i, 32-n have substantially parallelepiped shape, lengthened in depth, and generically present a seat 78 for the banknotes 48 and an insertion and extraction device 79. Each box 32 shows a bottom, and a front wall 81 with an opening 82, adjacent to the bottom, of passage for the banknotes in input or in output. The banknotes 48 are arranged in vertical according to a stack 83, with extension overposed in horizontal.
In synthesis, the insertion and extraction device 79 (
Respective configuration motors 88 (
Similarly to what described in the cited Italian Patent Application TO2006A00094, the separation member 86 for each box 32 includes two insertion spiral elements for banknotes, represented with 94l and 94r, extended in the sense of the stacking, for overposing the banknotes to be deposited on a terminal surface of the stack 83: The spirals 94l and 94r are rotated by the driving gear 91 of the respective motor 88, through the taking gear 90 (
The spirals 94l and 94r are mounted on a carriage 95-4, which also supports the conic gears 95-3. The carriage 95-4 is moved between the operational position of the spirals 94l and 94r and the non-operational position (
In the operational position, the spirals 94l and 94r (
In the non-operational position of the spirals 94l and 94r (
The store transport mechanism 72 (
The transport moving member 73 includes a transport motor and a motor pinion, not shown, mounted in the store safe 36. The individual sections 96-1, 96-2, . . . , 96-i, 96-n include each one one a taking gear in an upper portion of the box 32 and, in a lower portion, a transmission gear, which is connected in the rotation with the taking gear. In the operational position of the boxes 32, the sections 96-1, 96-2, . . . , 96-i, 96-n take the motion or by the motor pinion or by the transmission gear of the upper section, while these sections are disengaged by the transport mechanism in the positions of service of the boxes.
The individual sections 96-1, 96-2, . . . , 96-i, 96-n include each one a series of box transport rollers 102 supported in the rotation by the front wall 81, a frame 103 fulcrumed in correspondence of the passage opening 82 of the box 32 and a series of counter rollers 104 supported in the rotation by the frame 103. The transport rollers 102 are connected in the rotation with the taking gear of the box. The frame 103 is shiftable between a position of transport, adjacent to the wall 81 and in which the counter-rollers 104 oppose the transport rollers 102 and a position of access in which the counter-rollers 104 are spaced away from the rollers 102.
In the position of transport of the frame 103 and for the operational position of the box 32, the box transport rollers 102 and the counter-rollers 104 define fractions of path and shifting of the banknotes in front of the boxes 32-1, 32-2, . . . , 32-i, 32-n, together with corresponding guide elements of known type. Under these conditions, a banknote in movement along this fraction of the section 96-1, 962, . . . , 96-i, 96-n can proceed toward the upper or lower box 32 or be deviated toward the banknote seat 78 by means of the member 75. Likewise, a banknote 48 emerging from the box 32 can be deviated by the member 75 toward the rollers 102 and the counter-rollers 104 along the fraction of the section 96-1, 96-2, . . . , 96-i, 96-n and toward the opening 82. In the position of service of the box 32, the frame 103 can be moved away from the wall 81 for the possible removal of banknotes clogged in the section 96-1, 96-2, . . . , 96-i, 96-n and in condition of liberty of the transport rollers and the diverting member 75.
The boxes 32-1, 32-2, . . . , 32-n, for instance the box 32n, can be of removable type, as described in the cited Patent Application TO2007A000721, comprising a base structure 109 and a recycling container 111. in which is defined the seat 78 for the banknotes 48. The container 111 is mountable and removable with respect to the structure 109 and it is coupable with respect to the insertion and extraction device 79 of the box. The device 79 interfaces the transport mechanism 72, while the box 111 is engageable with the stack 83 for entering the banknotes in the box and, in alternative, for singularly extracting the banknotes. The container 111 is removable from the insertion and extraction device 79 and it is coupable with the device 79 in the position of service of the respective box 32.
According to the invention, the box 32-i comprises an envelope 230 (
The box 32-i stores, in the seat 234, banknotes 48 (
Thus, the insertion and extraction devices 241f and 241r are arranged in correspondence of the terminal sections 237f and 237r and provide to the orderly stacking of the banknotes on the insertion and unstacking surfaces of the stacks 238f and 238r and to the unstacking operation. The devices 241f and 241r are identical each the other and similar to the above described insertion and extraction device 79. Specifically, each device 241f, 241r includes the introduction-extraction rollers 84 for moving the entering banknotes and the emerging banknotes, the separation member with the spiral elements 94l, 94r for stacking the entering banknotes, the separation roller 87 for separating the stacked banknotes and the cyclical actuating mechanism 100 (See
In each stack 238f, 238r, the cyclical actuating mechanism 100 moves the spiral elements 94l, 94r between the operational position, downstream of the separation roller 87 in the sense of the stacking, for the configuration of deposit and a non-operational position, upstream of the separation roller, for the configuration of dispensing. In the condition of deposit (
Two configuration taking members 243f and 243r, (
The equipment 31 (
According to the invention, the double box 32-i (
In the herein described embodiment, the insertion and extraction device 241f is considered as a reference device with respect to the devices 241f and 241r. The diverting member 246 (
In synthesis, the guiding and moving elements 247 (
Suitably, the counter-frame 256 is fulcrumed on the frame 233 in proximity of an front end, with possibility of opening for the access to the alternative path 249°, as represented in dots and dashes in
For the moving of the banknote stacks 238f, 238r, the box 32-i includes a pair of pressing elements 266f and 266r (
Each belt 268f, 268r extends, with a higher branch, from the carriage 267 of the pressing element 266f, 266r up to a window of the plate of base 235 in a terminal area 269f and 269r, as represented in
Specifically, each belt 268f, 268r is supported between the higher branch and the lower branch by a fixed pulley 274, rotatable in correspondence of the window of the terminal area 269f and 269r. The restoring member 273 includes a movable pulley 276 and a respective spring 277 arranged below the plate of base 235. The pulley 276 engages the lower branch of each belt, while the respective spring 277 is operative on the same pulley 276. The opposite end 272 of each belt 268f, 268r is fixed to the lower portion of the area 269f and 269r, while the spring 277, of rectilinear action, is extended between the pulley 276 and the lower portion of the area 269r, 269f.
With this structure, the belts 268f, and 268r can support and follow, without mutual interferences, the movement of the stacks 238f, 238r of different extensions through the useful space of the seat 234. The corresponding stroke of the movable pulley 276 and the deformation of the spring are the half of the stroke of the carriages 267.
The upper branches of the pairs of belts 268f and the upper branches of the pairs of belts 268r are lodged in a pair of common sliding seats 278 (
Moreover, the movement of the banknote stacks 238f, 238r is made easier by feeding rollers 279f and 279r (
In the double box 32-i, the walls 236 (
A motor 284 is mounted on board of each carriage 267 and actuates the pairs of gears 282 and 283 through a return group 286 and the shaft 285. Thus the carriages 267 advance in view of the rotation of the gears with respect to the racks 281h and 281l. Such structure ensures a balanced moving, devoid of jams, also in the case of banknote stacks 238f, 238r in condition of maximum extension.
Conveniently, the components mounted on the carriages 267 have a specular configuration for minimum dimensions in condition of maximum filling of the banknote seat. In detail, as shown in the plan view of
The condition of full box for the stack of banknotes 238f, 238r is recognized by sensors 287f, 287r mounted on the respective carriages 267, which are actuatable by corresponding actuating elements 288f, 288r. The active components of the carriages 267 are connected with a connector of the box (not shown) through cables carried in symmetrical way by corresponding chain supports (also not shown) adjacent to the walls 236. Other sensors (not numbered in the figures) are arranged along the paths of the banknotes for verifying the transit thereof in predetermined sections of the guiding and moving elements 247.
A double box with this arrangement can be used in an equipment for the automatic deposit and withdrawal of banknotes, having a general structure with frontal door store safe and vertically overlapped housings for the boxes. The respective store transport mechanism is unique for the two stacks of banknotes of the box and has substantially vertical path, adjacent to the door safe and is easily accessible for inspections and for the elimination of possible jams.
Naturally, the principle of the invention remaining the same, the embodiments and the details of construction of the equipment for the automatic deposit and withdrawal of banknotes and the relative receipting and dispensing boxes can broadly be varied with respect to what has been described and illustrated, by way of non-limitative example, without departing from the ambit of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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TO2007A000723 | Oct 2007 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB08/54537 | 10/1/2008 | WO | 00 | 4/1/2010 |