EP1331185B1 - Apparatus for aligning sheet-like objects - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for aligning notes such as banknotes, checks, bank documents and sheet-like objects in a transport path for the bills with a transport path delimiting and directed parallel to the transport direction guide edge and at least one alignment element for simultaneously conveying a bill in the transport direction and in the direction on the leading edge.

In many devices for processing of sheet-shaped objects, they must be accurately positioned within the transport path, for example, to be able to read or print certain fields on the object. For this purpose, the leaves are moved when entering the device by means of the alignment element against the guide edge, which is used as a reference line. Such a device of the type mentioned is for example from the DE 35 00 986 C2 known. In this device, as in other similar devices, the sheet-like object is placed on a flat support surface and transported, for example, with a friction roller whose axis is at least temporarily inclined at an angle different from 90 ° relative to the guide edge. With this role, the sheet is moved in the transport direction and at the same time in the direction of the guide edge until it rests with an edge on the guide edge and then advanced only in the transport direction. A disadvantage of this design is that depending on how close to the leading edge or how crooked the sheet is inserted into the device, a relatively long way for the alignment of the sheet is needed. There is Equipment in which there is no space for such an alignment track.

An apparatus of the type discussed above is known, for example, from EP-B1-0 496 398 known. This document shows a sheet transport device in which a sheet to be supplied is pushed by means of inclined transport rollers against a directed parallel to the feed direction alignment edge. This device has the disadvantages discussed above.

The DE-A1-101 17 712 shows a device for aligning a print carrier in a printing machine, said sheet-shaped print carrier is guided over a drum whose axis of rotation is transverse to the transport direction and which has on one of its front sides over the circumference of the drum vertically upstanding peripheral stop edge. Again, with the aid of inclined rollers, the paper sheet guided over the drum is displaced against the stop edge and subsequently guided away from the circumference of the drum. Since only a part of the circumference of the drum is available for aligning the paper sheet, either only relatively small directional corrections are possible, or the circumference of the drum must be selected to be correspondingly large, so that a correspondingly high space requirement for the alignment device results.

From the document US 3,646,532 a device for processing of sheet-shaped magnetic cards is known. This device has a drum-shaped transport path with a guide edge and alignment means for conveying and aligning the sheet-shaped cards along the guide edge, wherein the magnetic cards can be read / written by an integrated magnetic read / write head. After magnetic processing, the cards can leave the drum-shaped transport path via a controlled outlet.

From the documents US 4,056,263 and US 3,941,375 are in principle similar devices as from US 3,646,532 However, in which instead of a magnetic read / write head, an OCR scanner is integrated. After the OCR scanning process, the sheet-shaped data carrier is also ejected here via a signal generated by the OCR scanner for a controllable outlet.

The invention has for its object to provide a Ausrichtdetektor for outlet control for a generic device.

According to the invention, the transport path is curved about an axis parallel to it and perpendicular to the guide edge and annularly closed and has a bill inlet and a controllable in terms of its permeability Schein outlet.

In the solution, the bill to be aligned is introduced through the bill inlet into the annular closed transport path, aligned in the transport path and then led out through the dummy outlet from the transport path. The annular closed transport path requires much less space than a flat transport path of the same length. In addition, the solution according to the invention has the further advantage that the bill transported in the transport path has a high rigidity in relation to a displacement in the direction of the guide edge due to its curvature corresponding to the curvature of the transport path. While in the case of planar alignment sections of the type mentioned at the outset, there is a risk that the ticket, which is laterally displaced in the direction of the guide edge, runs upwards at the guide edge and thus disturbances cause the device, such a run-up is reliably prevented in the inventive solution by the curvature of the glow. As a result, even relatively soft leaves or bills can be securely aligned on the guide edge.

In this case, the transport path is drum-shaped with a cylindrical inner shell and a co-axial surrounding with radial distance cylindrical outer shell having an inlet gap for at least approximately tangential insertion of notes in the annular gap between the inner shell and outer shell and an outlet gap for leading out bills from the annular gap Has. This ensures safe guidance of the notes to be aligned while they are within the transport path.

The dummy outlet is controllable by, for example, the outlet gap is associated with a controllable switch, which selectively blocks the outlet gap or the same with respect to the transport direction of the bills in the annular gap upstream section of the same. If the bill to be aligned is not completely aligned within one revolution in the annular gap, the outlet gap can be blocked by the controllable outlet and the bill sent to another circulation in the transport path. Thus, in principle, the alignment can be extended as desired, without the alignment must be made greater for this purpose. In general, it can be assumed that within two, a maximum of three rounds a bill is aligned at the leading edge, whereupon the outlet gap is released and the bill is released from the alignment path.

For detecting the alignment state of a bill located in the transport path according to the invention is a detector provided by the output signal then the dummy outlet is controllable. The detector has two sensors responsive to the presence of a ticket in the transport path, which are arranged in the immediate vicinity of the leading edge with a distance measured in the direction of transport, which is smaller than the shortest expected apparent dimension in the transport direction. The sensors are formed by light barriers. If both sensors respond, this is an indication that the bill to be aligned with its edge facing the guide edge is directed parallel to the guide edge and is advanced along this. The detector will in this case generate a signal which causes the release of the dummy outlet. If the detector fails to detect the alignment condition after one round of the bill, the dummy outlet remains closed and the bill is sent to another circuit.

In order to be able to reliably align bills whose length in the direction of transport relative to the length of the transport path is comparatively small, a plurality of alignment elements are expediently distributed over at least part of the transport path circumference. The alignment can each have a drivable Ausrichtrolle in a conventional manner, which is rotatably mounted about an axis inclined to the drum axis and engages through an opening in one of the shells in the annular gap, and each associated with a freely rotatable counter-roller, which by a Opening in the other shell in the annular gap engages. Preferably, the alignment rollers are arranged together with their drive inside the inner shell and the counter-rollers outside the outer shell. In this way, the interior of the inner shell is used for accommodating the roller drive.

In addition to the alignment rollers, at least one drivable transport roller can be provided, which engages through an opening in one of the shells in the annular gap, whose axis is directed parallel to the drum axis and which cooperates with a counter-roller which passes through an opening in the other shell in the Ring gap engages. The counter-rollers can in both cases to rest against the circumference of the respective alignment or transport roller elastic be biased, so that a reliable engagement with the bill or sheet to be transported is always guaranteed. If necessary, it is also possible to dispense with the counter-rollers interacting with the alignment rollers and transport rollers.

The transport rollers are preferably arranged along the part of the transport path extending from the latter to the outlet gap relative to the transport direction of the bills in the annular gap downstream of the inlet gap, while the alignment rollers are arranged along the part of the transport path following from the outlet gap to the inlet gap. Like the alignment rollers, the transport rollers can be arranged together with their drive motor within the inner shell, so that no additional space is required for the drive motor.

Conveniently, the outer shell is divided into at least two partial shells, of which at least one for releasing the annular gap is removable or adjustable. As a result, any disturbances caused by a jam of notes in the annular gap can be eliminated quickly.

Figur 1

einen schematischen Schnitt durch einen Teil einer Vorrichtung zur Entgegennahme von Banknoten und Schecks, die zum Einbau in einen Bankautomaten bestimmt ist und die die erfindungsgemäße Ausrichtvorrichtung enthält,

Figur 2

eine perspektivische, teilweise schematische Gesamtansicht der erfindungsgemäßen Ausrichtvorrichtung mit geschlossener Außenschale,

Figur 3

eine perspektivische Gesamtansicht der erfindungsgemäßen Ausrichtvorrichtung mit halb geöffneter Außenschale,

Figur 4

eine perspektivische, teilweise schematische Darstellung der Ausrichtvorrichtung, wobei ein Teil der Außenschale und die Innenschale entfernt sind,

Figur 5

eine perspektivische, teilweise schematische Endansicht der in den Figuren 2 bis 4 dargestellten Ausrichtvorrichtung, wobei ebenfalls die Innenschale und eine der Stirnwände der Vorrichtung entfernt sind,

Figur 6

einen schematischen achsnormalen Schnitt durch die Ausrichtvorrichtung zur Erläuterung von deren Arbeitsweise und

Figur 7

einen die Achse enthaltenden Teilschnitt durch die Ausrichtvorrichtung.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, which explains the invention with reference to an embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Show it:

FIG. 1

a schematic section through part of a device for receiving banknotes and checks, which is intended for installation in a cash machine and containing the alignment device according to the invention,

FIG. 2

a perspective, partially schematic overall view of the alignment device according to the invention with a closed outer shell,

FIG. 3

an overall perspective view of the alignment device according to the invention with half-opened outer shell,

FIG. 4

a perspective, partially schematic representation of the alignment device, wherein a part of the outer shell and the inner shell are removed,

FIG. 5

a perspective, partially schematic end view of the in the FIGS. 2 to 4 shown alignment device, wherein also the inner shell and one of the end walls of the device are removed,

FIG. 6

a schematic axis normal section through the alignment device to explain the operation and

FIG. 7

a partial section containing the axis through the alignment device.

In FIG. 1 is a generally denoted by 12 vault, which serves to hold notes of value, in particular banknotes, indicated, which is located in a cash machine. Above the vault 12 is a module, generally designated 14, for accepting banknotes and check forms which a customer can insert as a bundle in the automatic teller machine. The module contains a transport route for collection and possibly also for the return of bills or billets. The bills are singulated in a separating device 20 and fed to an alignment device 22, which is described below with reference to FIGS FIGS. 2 to 7 will be explained in more detail. From the alignment device 22, the bills are fed to a reading device and a bill validator. From there, they first arrive via a second transport route in a buffer store designed as a winding store in which the bills of an input bundle are collected until the last bill has also been checked. If it turns out that one of the bills is not in order, and that the customer wants to cancel the entire entry process for this reason, for example, the bills entered must be returned to the customer as a whole. In this case, the bills collected in the buffer are collected again in a collecting compartment into a bundle, which is then returned to the customer closed via the input / output unit. If, on the other hand, all bills are in order, then they are successively introduced via a third transport path through an opening 36 in the ceiling of the vault 12 in this and handed over from there in a conventional manner cassettes for storage.

The representation in FIG. 1 shows that the units in the module are packed extremely tight, so that there is no room for an alignment line of conventional type in such a module. On the other hand, the exact alignment of check forms in particular is essential, otherwise the check forms can not be read reliably. But customers can not be expected Knowing these problems, they carefully arrange a bundle of notes and place them neatly on an edge, so as to obviate the need to align the notes. For this reason, the above-described drum-type alignment device 22 has been developed, which will now be described below with reference to FIGS FIGS. 2 to 7 will be explained in more detail.

The in the FIGS. 2 to 5 generally indicated 22, comprises an outer frame 38 and an alignment drum 40 enclosed therein which forms the transport path for the bills to be aligned. The frame 38 has two perpendicular to the drum axis directed side walls 42, each having a lower wall portion 44 and an upper wall portion 46. The lower wall portions 44 are connected by an axially parallel strut 48 and the upper wall portions 46 by an axially parallel cover plate 50.

The alignment drum 40 comprises a cylindrical outer shell 52 and a co-axial inner shell 54, which has a smaller outer diameter than the inner diameter of the outer shell 52, so that an annular gap 56 remains between the inner shell 54 and the outer shell 52 (FIG. Fig. 6 ), through which the bills to be issued are transported.

The outer shell 52 is divided into a lower portion 58 and an upper portion 60 ( Fig. 3 and 5 ). The lower shell portion 58 is rigidly connected to the lower wall portions 44, to which also the cylindrical inner shell 54 is attached. The upper shell portion 60 is connected to the upper wall portions 46 and, together with these, about a pivot axis 62 parallel to the drum axis with respect to the inner shell 54, the lower Bowl portion 58 and the lower wall portions 44 pivotally, like this FIG. 3 shows. In the FIG. 2 illustrated closed position, the pivotable shell portion 60 is locked to the lower shell portion 58 by a pawl 59 which is pivotally mounted on the upper wall portion about an axis 61 and is in engagement with a pin 63 on the lower wall portion 44.

Between the lower shell portion 58 and the upper shell portion 60 is in each case an axially parallel inlet gap 64 and 66 to introduce aligned notes into the annular gap 56 or to lead out of the annular gap 56. The outlet gap 66 is controllable by a switch 68 ( Fig. 5 ), as will be explained later.

The transport of a bill in the annular gap 56 is effected on the one hand by two sets of transport rollers 70, which are arranged on parallel to the drum axis shafts 72 and driven by them by a motor 74 via a toothed belt 76 (see, in particular Fig. 5 ). The shafts 72 are mounted in the lower wall sections 44. The motor 74 and the transport rollers 70 are disposed within the inner shell 54. The transport rollers 70 each engage through an opening 78 formed in the inner shell 54 into the annular gap 56 so that they can come into contact with a billet located in the annular gap 56 in order to transport it.

The transport rollers 70 is associated with a respective counter or pressure roller 80 which is freely rotatably mounted on a pivot lever 82, which in turn on a between the upper wall portions 46 parallel to the drum axis extending shaft 84 is pivotally mounted. The pivot levers 82 are biased by springs, not shown, that the pressure rollers 80, which engage in each case through an opening 86 in the upper shell portion 60 of the outer shell 52 in the annular gap 56, rest under spring pressure on the respective transport roller 70. Thus, the transport rollers 70 and their associated pinch rollers 80 each form a nip for conveying the bills located in the annular gap 56.

On a support plate 88, which is arranged within the inner shell 54 obliquely to the drum axis and connected by struts 90 with a lower wall portion 44 ( Fig. 4 Also, alignment rollers 92 are supported such that their axes of rotation 94 are skewed toward the drum axis. The alignment rollers 92 are driven by a flanged to the support plate 88 motor 96 via a toothed belt 98. They protrude through formed in the inner shell 54 openings in the FIGS. 2 to 5 are not shown, as well as the transport rollers 70 in the annular gap 56. The driven alignment rollers 92 are associated with pressure rollers or counter-rollers 100, each free on a pivot lever 102 on the outside of the lower shell portion 58 about an axis parallel to the respective Ausrichtrollenachse 94 104 are rotatably mounted. The respective pivot lever 102 in turn is pivotally mounted about an axis 104 parallel to the pivot axis 106, so that the respective pinch roller 100 through an opening 108 in the lower shell portion passes under spring pressure to the respective alignment roller 92, as the Figures 2 and 5 reveal. The from the respective alignment rollers 92 and the them assigned pinch rollers 100 formed pairs of rolls transport in the annular gap notes not only in the circumferential direction of the drum 40 but also in the axial direction against the annular gap 56 axially occluding guide edge 110 ( Fig. 3 ).

The switch 68 comprises a comb-like element which is pivotably mounted on the lower shell section 58 about a pivot axis 112 parallel to the drum axis ( Fig. 5 ) and protrudes with its comb teeth in the annular gap 56. At its end located outside the lower shell portion 58, the comb-like member is connected to one end of a two-armed lever 114 which is pivotally mounted about a pivot axis 116 on the wall portion 44 and at the other end of the lever 118, a plunger 120 of an electromagnet 122 engages, so that the switch 68 can be pivoted by actuation of the electromagnet 122.

The function of the alignment device described so far is now based on the FIGS. 6 and 7 be explained in more detail. In these figures, only the essential elements for the function are shown schematically and with the same reference numerals as in FIGS FIGS. 2 to 5 designated. In addition, one recognizes in the FIGS. 6 and 7 two more first photoelectric barriers 124 and 126, which are arranged in the immediate vicinity of the guide edge 110 so that their light path extends through the annular gap 56, as this particular FIG. 7 recognize. The light barriers 124 and 126 form an alignment detector and have in the circumferential direction a distance from one another, which is smaller than the smallest measured in the circumferential direction dimension of a bill to be aligned, so that both light barriers 124 and 126 can be darkened simultaneously by the same glow when it is on the guide edge 110 and thus aligned.

Furthermore, a further light barrier 128 between the axial ends of the annular gap 56 is arranged so that the light path also passes through the annular gap 56 and the narrowest entering into the annular gap 56 regardless of its axial position within the annular gap 56 is detected by this light barrier 128.

If the control, not shown, of the alignment device 22 is signaled by a further light barrier 130 arranged in the transporting direction upstream of the inlet gap 64, which is arranged, for example, at the outlet of the separating device 20, the arrival of a ticket appears, the motors 74 and 96 for driving the transport rollers 70 and 70, respectively ., the alignment rollers 92 turned on. The switch is located in the FIG. 6 represented by solid lines position in which the outlet gap 66 is blocked and a bill is passed through the annular gap 56. The in FIG. 6 The bill entering the annular gap 56 through the inlet gap 64 passes through the annular gap 56 in the counterclockwise direction. While the bill is detected by the alignment rollers 92, it is moved on the one hand in the circumferential direction and on the other hand in the direction of the guide edge 110. If it already fully abuts the guide edge 110 during this one-time pass, the two first light barriers 124 and 126 are simultaneously darkened. If the bill then reaches the photocell 128 and the controller receives the information that all three photocells 124, 126 and 128 are dark, the switch 68 is by the electromagnet 122 in the dashed blocked and the outlet gap 66 is released so that the bill can leave the alignment device 22. If, however, the bill reaches the light barrier 128 and at the same time at least one of the light barriers 124 and 126 does not report interruption of the light beam, the switch 68 remains in its blocking position and the bill to be aligned turns another round through the annular gap 56. In this way, the Ausrichtstrecke be extended in principle arbitrarily. In general, however, a bill is aligned at the latest two to three rounds on the guide edge 110. The controller may be configured such that, after a predetermined number of revolutions, the bill is in any case discharged out of the annular gap 56, in order to avoid that due to any disturbance a bill infinitely circulates in the annular gap and the device is blocked.

Claims (10)

1. Apparatus for aligning paper sheets such as banknotes, cheques, banking documents and sheet-like articles in a transporting path for the paper sheets, having a guide edge (110) which bounds the transporting path and is directed parallel to the transporting direction, and having at least one aligning element (92, 100) for conveying a paper sheet simultaneously in the transporting direction and in the direction of the guide edge (110),

   - in which the transporting path is curved, and closed in annular form, around an axis parallel to it, and perpendicular to the guide edge (110), and has a paper-sheet inlet (64) and a paper-sheet outlet (66), which can be controlled in respect of allowing items to pass through,

   - in which the transporting path is designed in the form of a drum with a cylindrical inner shell (54) and a cylindrical outer shell (52) which encloses the inner shell coaxially, at a radial distance therefrom, and, as paper-sheet inlet, has an inlet gap (64) for the at least more or less tangential introduction of paper sheets into the annular gap (56) between the inner shell (54) and outer shell (52) and, as paper-sheet outlet, has an outlet gap (66) for guiding the paper sheets out of the annular gap (56),

   - in which an aligning detector (124, 126) senses the state of alignment of a paper sheet located in the transporting path, it being possible for the paper-sheet outlet (66) to be controlled by a detector signal,

   characterized

   - in that the aligning detector has sensors (124, 126) which react to the presence of a paper sheet in the transporting path and are spaced apart from one another, in the immediate vicinity of the guide edge (110), by a distance, as measured in the transporting direction, which is smaller than the shortest paper-sheet dimension which is to be expected in the transporting direction,

   - in that the sensors are formed by light barriers (124, 126),

   - in that the aligning detector generates a signal for releasing the paper-sheet outlet when the two light barriers (124, 126) are blacked out at the same time.
2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that the outlet gap (66) is assigned a controllable diverter (68), which optionally blocks the outlet gap (66) or connects to the upstream portion of the same, as seen in the transporting direction of the paper sheets in the annular gap (56).
3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that one or more aligning elements (92, 100) are distributed over at least one part of the circumference of the transporting path.
4. Apparatus according to either of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that one or more aligning elements have a respective drivable aligning roller (92) which is mounted for rotation about an axis (94) inclined in relation to the drum axis and which engages into the annular gap (56) through an opening in one of the shells (52, 54) and is assigned a respective freely rotatable mating roller (100), which engages into the annular gap (56) through an opening (108) in the respective other shell (54, 52).
5. Apparatus according to Claim 4, characterized in that the aligning rollers (92), together with their drive (96), are arranged within the inner shell (54) and the mating rollers (100) are arranged outside the outer shell (52).
6. Apparatus according to Claim 4 or 5, characterized by the provision, in addition to the aligning rollers (92), of at least one drivable transporting roller (70) which engages into the annular gap (56) through an opening (78) in one of the shells (52, 54), of which the axis (72) is directed parallel to the drum axis and which interacts with a mating roller (80), which engages into the annular gap (56) through an opening (86) in the respectively other shell (54, 52).
7. Apparatus according to Claim 6, characterized in that the mating rollers (80, 100) are prestressed elastically for abutment against the circumference of the respective transporting roller (70) or aligning roller (92).
8. Apparatus according to either of Claims 6 and 7, characterized in that one or more transporting rollers (70) are arranged along that part of the transporting path which extends downstream of the inlet gap (64), as seen in the transporting direction of the paper sheets in the annular gap (56) - from this inlet gap to the outlet gap (66), whereas the aligning rollers (92) are arranged along that part of the transporting path which follows, from the outlet gap (66) to the inlet gap (64).
9. Apparatus according to one of Claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the transporting rollers (70), together with their drive motor (74), are arranged within the inner shell (54).
10. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the outer shell (52) is subdivided into at least two sub-shells (58, 60), of which at least one can be removed or adjusted in order to release the annular gap (56).

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