This application is a 371 U.S. National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/EP2007/050386, filed Jan. 16, 2007 and published in German as WO 2007/082884 on Jul. 26, 2007. This application claims the benefit of DE 10 2006 002 885.6, filed Jan. 20, 2006. The disclosures of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a device for the stacked depositing of sheets, specifically [vouchers] such as bank notes or check forms in accordance with the preamble of claim 1, such as are used specifically for cartridges/cassettes in automated money and check deposit machines.
A device of this kind for depositing sheets is known from DE 103 31 018 A1. It comprises at least two carrying faces for depositing one stack of sheets each and a rolling apparatus to create the stack of sheets.
The rolling apparatus comprises a unit which can be moved along the two stacks of sheets having a first roller and a second roller which are located adjacent each other and around each of which a belt is led.
The belts are supported at their one end in a storage roller having a winding shaft and at their other end are articulated to an attachment point. The two stacks of sheets are each pressed from below against the first and second belts so that the stacks of sheets are held securely. The rolling device takes a sheet to be deposited from a transfer device and takes it with its edge to one end of the stack face. The sheet thus taken is then rolled onto the specific stack face by the rolling device, wherein the rolling device is moved to the specific stack of sheets by the rolling and unrolling action of the two belts.
A known device of this type is especially suited to for the stacked depositing of banks notes in a cash drawer of money deposit automats. It operates reliably, relatively quickly and is also economical of space so that it can be housed easily in cash drawers. However, when the drawer is full, it has to be emptied by an authorized person, which involves cost and effort, because the deposit unit has to be taken out of operation at this time.
A dispensing unit is known further from DE 101 01 565 C1 for dispensing sheets comprising a box-shaped container to receive a stack of sheets which can be moved with a stack end face towards a front end of the container, a module to receive the container and a stripping device for removing individual sheets from the stack end face through a delivery opening in the container. The stripping device has a specific strip-off roller which can be driven to abut the stack end face, a transport roller disposed parallel to said strip-off roller which can be driven in the same direction and a counter-roller assigned to said transport roller which can be driven in the opposite direction which, with the transport roller, forms a roller slot, with the strip-off roller located inside the container.
The object of the invention is to further refine the device of the type described initially such that it permits both the stacked depositing of sheets and the removal of a sheet from the stack, thus reducing the operating and maintenance costs of a unit in which the device is used. In particular, it should be possible to use the device in the limited confines of cash drawers.
This object is achieved in a device of the type described initially by arranging a center roller and at least one guide element between the first and second roller and additional strip-off means to remove one sheet from the stack face in accordance with the descriptive part of claim 1. The location of a center roller creates a transport device which is suitable both for transporting the stripped-off sheet to a transfer device and for accepting the sheet from the transfer device and stacking it.
The rolling and stripping apparatus is suitable both for rolling sheets onto a sheet stack and for isolating sheets from a sheet stack, creating a very compact unit and allowing it to be used in cassettes with tight installation space. The device in accordance with the invention for stacking sheets and removing said sheets can be used, for example, in the operating cycle of a unit for depositing and dispensing money in which bills deposited are stacked and notes to be dispensed are pulled from the stack face. If approximately as many notes are issued as are deposited, the cash box needs to be emptied only very infrequently, which reduces operating costs.
Preferably the means for withdrawing one sheet comprises at least a strip-off wheel which contacts the stack surface with its circumference such that, as a result of its rotation, one sheet is pulled from the stack of sheets. The strip-off wheel consists advantageously of a rubber-like material and is provided on its circumference with nubs in order to achieve high adhesive friction with the sheet to be pulled off. Preferably the second roller and the at least one strip-off wheel are carried jointly on a second shaft. The second roller is preferably free to rotate and the strip-off wheel is assembled rotation-free on the second shaft. As a result of this arrangement, the individualizing function and the roll-on function can be combined simply and in a manner that saves space.
Preferably in the area of the first end of the adjustment path, a ramp element with a rising flank is located in such a manner that a sheet pulled off by the strip-off means is pushed up the ramp with its forward end. Preferably the device comprises at least one counter roller whose circumferential surface extends from below into the plane of the flank of the ramp element and which can be driven such that it brakes a sheet being pushed up the ramp. The function of the counter roller consists of preventing double strip-offs.
Preferably the device further comprises pressure means to press sheets against the counter roller. This amplifies the braking effect of the counter roller. In an advantageous refinement, the pressure means are formed by at least one spring, specifically an arcuate spring plate which is located on a rotatable carrier such that said spring is moved towards or away from said counter roller as a result of the rotation of the carrier. By suitable rotation of the carrier, the pressure force can be generated at precisely the moment when it is needed. If, however, the braking effect of the counter roller is not desired, said effect can be almost entirely canceled by swinging the spring away, as will be explained below in more detail using an embodiment of the invention.
The center roller of the rolling and strip-off devices forms a central element for further transporting a pulled-off sheet. The center roller is located between the first and the second roller, and the sheet is transported along its circumferential surface. The center roller can preferably be driven in both directions, and the center roller and the second roller can preferably be coupled such that they rotate in the same direction as the result of a common drive.
Furthermore, the center roller also forms a central element for the deposit of a sheet on the stack face. One sheet is taken from the transfer device around the circumferential surface of the center roller to the stack face. Transporting the sheet is the requirement for being able to roll the sheet in a known way on the stack face.
The center roller acts both to transport the sheet to the stack face and to roll the sheet on the stack face. This is because the rotational direction of the center roller suitable for the transportation of the sheet coincides with the directions of rotation of the first and second rollers. This represents a substantial advantage, for example, compared with the rolling apparatus from the aforementioned DE 103 31 018 A1 which is formed by a vertical belt transportation. Since, with belt transportation, the oppositely located belt rollers always rotate in the opposite direction, one of them is always rotating counter to the roll-on direction. This roller, or the belt transported thereon, should not come into contact with the stack face because the topmost sheet on the stack face could be jammed by friction against the belt. In contrast, the center roller in accordance with the invention serves both to transport the sheet to the stacking surface and to roll the sheet onto the stack face.
In an advantageous refinement, guide plates are provided on both sides of the center roll to conduct a sheet so that a sheet can be deposited both from the left and from the right side onto the stack face. This makes it possible to deposit sheets alternately from both direction onto the stack face. This can double the speed of deposit.
In this respect, the refinement of the present invention goes in the opposite direction to the aforementioned DE 103 31 018 A1 with two transfer devices at the ends of the adjustment path. While only one transfer device was provided in the latter case to deposit one sheet selectively on one of several carrier surfaces, two transfer devices are provided here to deposit sheets from both directions on only one carrier surface, depositing twice the number of sheets overall in the same time as a result.
The transportation device is preferably set up to transport the sheet at a transportation speed which is the same as the adjustment speed of the adjustable unit along the adjustment track. In this the transportation device differs from those transportation devices which include the first or the second belt as part of a belt transport and whose transportation speed is naturally only one half of the adjustment speed of the adjustable unit along the adjustment path.
Additional advantageous embodiments of the invention are cited in the dependent claims.
Additional advantages and features of the present invention can be found in the following description in which the invention is explained using an embodiment with reference to the attached drawings.
The device comprises an adjustable unit 10 with a rear side part 12 and a front side part 14. A first shaft 16, a second shaft 18, a center shaft 20, a third shaft 22, a fourth shaft 24 and a carrier 26, which can be rotated about a shaft 28, are carried between the side parts 12 and 14.
Five first rollers 30 are carried freely rotatable on the first shaft 16 (refer specifically to
In a similar way, five additional rollers 38 are carried free to rotate on the second shaft 18. Around each of the second rollers 38, a second belt 40 is placed and taken parallel to the stack face 34 to a second attachment point 42 in the area of a second end of the adjustment track of the adjustable unit 10 to which said belt is attached (refer to
On the center shaft 20, four center rollers 46 are installed fixed in terms of rotation which can best be seen in
The adjustable unit 10 comprises further a first guide element 56 and a second guide element 58 (refer to
The device further comprises a ramp element 70 which is located fixed in the area of the first end of the adjustment path in a housing, for example in a banknote box (not shown). The ramp element 70 has a rising flank 72 (refer to
In what follows, the function of the device described using
In the illustration in
At the time shown, the leading end of the sheet 80 has already passed the roller gap 54 (refer to
Note that the section 62 of the second guide element 58 extends downward far enough that it lies opposite one section on the lower half of the center roller 46. In this way, the sheet 80 is bent suitably to be rolled onto the stack face 34.
After the sheet 80 has reached the first end of the stack face 34 with its leading edge, the movement of the adjustable unit 10 towards the second end of the adjustment track, i.e. to the right, is started by rolling the second belt 40 up on a storage roll 92 and unrolling the first belt 32 from a storage roll 92. The sheet is initially rolled by the center roller 46 onto the stack face 34 (refer to
In the snapshot from
The device shown is thus suitable for depositing one sheet as the adjustable unit 10 moves back and forth, i.e. stacking in both directions. In this the device differs from known devices of the type mentioned initially in which the adjustable unit has to be returned regularly to a starting position prior to each new deposit of a sheet. The efficiency in depositing can be essentially doubled, which however requires a second transfer device 96 and a switch (not shown) where a transport path divides to take sheets alternately to the first transfer device 88 and the second transfer device 96.
In what follows, with reference to
By further shifting of the strip-off wheels 44, the leading end of the sheet 100 arrives at the roller gap 52 between the first pressure roller 48 and the center roller 46. The sheet 100 is picked up in this roller gap 52 again and taken by the clockwise rotation of the center roller 46 through the first vertical transport slot 66 upwards out of the adjustable unit 10. A receiving device (not shown) may be located above the first vertical transport slot 66 which receives and passes on the sheet 100. The receiving device can be formed specifically by the first transfer device 88 which in this case is operated in the opposite direction than is the case in the transfer of a sheet to the adjustable until 10.
In order to prevent double pick-ups, the counter-roller 76 rotates continuously at a slow speed in a clockwise direction as the sheet 100 is pulled from the sheet stack. A sheet which was pushed to the left by the pull-off wheel 44 together with the topmost sheet 100, comes into contact with the counter-roller 76 and is stopped by said roller. The topmost sheet 100, on the other hand, slides over the sheet that was stopped and is taken as described above from the adjustable unit 10. The braking effect of the counter-roller 76 is reinforced by the arcuate spring plate 78 (refer to
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10 2006 002 885 | Jan 2006 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2007/050386 | 1/16/2007 | WO | 00 | 1/26/2009 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2007/082884 | 7/26/2007 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5116037 | Gerlier et al. | May 1992 | A |
5139149 | Gerlier | Aug 1992 | A |
20060119027 | Landwehr | Jun 2006 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
EP 0 508 040 | Oct 1992 | DE |
103 31 018 | Feb 2005 | DE |
0 508 040 | Oct 1992 | EP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20090166951 A1 | Jul 2009 | US |