GB2105507A - Automatic money receiving and disbursing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic money receiving and disbursing machine 13 includes a receiving section 17 and a disbursement section 7. The notes 2 received in the receiving section are delivered through a discriminating device and discriminated thereby. One specific kind of notes 2A or 2B within the notes judged as being normal notes by the discriminating device are stored in one of two disbursing boxes 1, 6. The disbursement section is used for disbursing notes from the disbursing boxes. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Automatic money receiving and disbursing machine The present invention relates to automatic money receiving and disbursing machines for receiving and disbursing notes.

Automatic money receiving and disbursing machines are required to exercise a money receiving function and a money disbursing function. In the conventional automatic money receiving and disturbing machines, these functions are accomplished, for example, by the following operations shown in Fig. 1. At the time of receipt of money, notes inserted into a money receiving inlet in a piled state are separated and fed one by one to a discriminating section by a separating and feeding section. In the discriminating section, the genuineness and kind of notes or other factors are examined, and notes judged as being true notes are temporarily stored in a pool section while notes judged as being not true are returned to a return outlet. After completion of the discrimination, the notes temporarily stored in the pool section are fed to the return outlet or a receiving box in the machine.For accompiishing this money receiving operation, there are disposed a delivery passage for delivering notes to the discriminating section, a delivery passage extended to the return outlet from the pool section and a delivery passage extended to the receiving box from the pool section.

At the time of disbursement of money, notes contained in a disbursing box in the machine are separated and fed one by one to the other discriminating section by the other separating and feeding sections, and in the other discriminating section, incorporation of a different kind of a note or double feeding is detected and the fed notes are temporarily stored in the other pool section. When a predetermined number of notes are stored without detection of disorder, the notes are fed to a disbursing outlet from the other pool section.

When disorder is detected before a predetermined number of notes are stored, the note judged as being not normal and the notes stored before detection of disorder are fed to a reject box from the other pool section. For accomplishing this disbursing operation, there are disposed a delivery passage for feeding notes to the other discriminating section, a delivery passage extended to the disbursing section from the other pool section and a delivery passage extended to the reject box from the other pool section.

Furthermore, at the disbursing operation, a receipt is issued from a receipt issuing section and is temporarily stored in a receipt pool section, and the receipt is fed to the other pool section from the receipt pool section and is disbursed together with the notes to be paid.

In the conventional automatic money receiving and disbursing machine, independent money receiving and money disbursing mechanisms are contained in one machine body. Accordingly, pluralities of discriminating sections, pool sections and delivery passages are arranged in the machine. Therefore, the size of the machine is inevitably increased and the structure is complicated. Furthermore, a large space is necessary for containing all the received notes in the receiving box, and another large space is necessary for preliminarily containing all the kinds of hardly wrinkled notes required by customers in the disbursing box. However, increase of the sizes of the receiving and disbursing boxes is limited and the quantities of notes to be contained in these boxes are therefore restricted.Accordingly, the operation of taking out notes from the receiving box and the operation of supplying notes into the disbursing box must be performed frequently and the operation efficiency is reduced.

The invention provides an automatic money receiving and disbursing machine comprising a receiving section for receiving notes, a plurality of disbursing boxes for storing notes, a disbursing section for disbursing the stored notes, a discriminating device for discriminating notes fed from the receiving section, a pool section for temporarily storing a specific kind of notes judged as being normal notes by the discriminating device, and a delivery device for delivering the notes temporarily stored in the pool section into the disbursing box where the same kind of notes are contained.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a flow chart showing the operations in a prior art automatic money receiving and disbursing machine; and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatical side view showing the structure of the embodiment of the automatic money receiving and disbursing machine of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 represents a first disbursing box. Notes (1000-yen notes) 2A are stored in a vertically piled state in the first disbursing box 1 and a feed roller 1 a is disposed in the first disbursing box 1 to feed out the notes 2A.

A feed section 3A for feeding out the notes 2A one by one is formed in the outlet portion of the first disbursing box 1. In the rear of this feed section 3A, there is disposed a disbursed note delivery passage 4A for delivering the notes 2A to a disbursed note discriminating delivery passage 5. A disbursed note discriminating device 5a for detecting double feeding of notes 2A and 2B or incorporating of a different kind of note is arranged in the disbursed note discriminating delivery passage 5. Furthermore, above the first disbursing box 1 , there is disposed a second disbursing box 6 for containing notes (10000-yen notes) 2B, of a kind different from that of the notes 2A, in a horizontally piled state.The notes 2B contained in the second disbursing box 6 are fed into the disbursed money discriminating delivery passage 5 through a feed section 3B and a disbursed note delivery passage 4B. In the outlet portion of the disbursed discriminating delivery passage 5, first and second disbursing delivery passages 8 and 9 are arranged to feed notes to a disbursement section 7. A gate 11 is mounted at the outlet of the disbursing delivery passage 8 to distribute the notes into the second disbursing delivery passage 9 or a pool section 10 formed above the second disbursing box 6. Between the .gate 11 and the pool section 10, there are disposed a feed roller 1 a for receiving notes fed out from the first disbursing delivery passage 8, a feed belt 11 b and an accumulating wheel 12 for piling the notes in the pool section 10.

For example, "a note containing device" proposed by the application of the present invention in Japanese Patent Application No.

67068/69 is arranged in the disbursement section 7, and this disbursement section 7 comprises a bottom plate 7a for placing notes thereon, a gathering plate 7b for gathering notes while having contact with ends of the notes and a shutter 7c for opening and closing an opening 1 3a of the machine proper 1 3. The bottom plate 7a is divided into two parts so that when it is urged downward, the divided parts are separated from each other and that the bottom and that the bottom plate 7a can slide to the left and right in the closed state. The gathering plate 7b and shutter 7c are arranged so that they can slide in the vertical direction. A pressing device 1 4 is disposed above the disbursement section 7 and a containing box 1 5 is disposed below the disbursement section 7.A pressing plate 1 4a is mounted on the pressing device 1 4 to press notes 2 on the bottom plate 7a downward, and a placing plate 1 5a is arranged in the containing box 1 5 to receive notes from the bottom plate 7a. This placing plate 1 5a is urged upward to a position indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings by a spring or the like.

The pool section 10 comprises a bottom plate 1 Oa to place notes 2B thereon and a gathering plate 1 Ob having contact with end faces of the notes 2B. The bottom plate 1 Oa slides in the horizontal direction to let the notes 2B on the bottom plate 1 Oa fall down on a lift plate 1 6a of a delivery device 1 6 located below. This lift plate 1 6a moves in the vertical direction in the second disbursing box 6 and also slides in the horizontal direction to contain the notes 2B in the second disbursing box 6. The gathering plate 1 Ob of the pool section 10 slides in the horizontal direction on the bottom plate 1 Oa to feed the notes 2B to the disbursement section 7.

Above the disbursement section, there is disposed a receiving section 1 7 for receiving notes 2. Notes 2 thrown into the receiving section 1 7 are fed into a received note discriminating delivery passage 1 8 through a feed section 3c.A received money detecting device 1 boa for detecting the genuineness or kind of notes 2, such as a magnetic sensor or optical sensor, is disposed in the received note discriminating delivery passage 1 8. In the outlet portion of the received money discriminating delivery passage 18, there is disposed a gate 1 9 having a guide face for guiding notes 2 upward along a belt roller 1 8b of the received money discriminating delivery passage 18 and another guide face for guiding notes 2 downward along a belt roller 1 8e of the received money discriminating delivery passage 1 8.

Furthermore, there is disposed a gate 20 having a guide face for guiding notes 2 along the belt roller 18c to the first disbursing delivery passage 8 located in the left portion in the drawings and another guide face formed along the belt roller 5b disposed in the upper portion of the disbursed money discriminating delivery passage 5.

The notes 2 guided upward by the gate 1 9 are fed into a reversing delivery passage 21 for delivering the notes 2 to the receiving section 1 7.

This reversing delivery passage 21 comprises an upward delivery passage 21 a and a horizontal delivery passage 21 b, and this reversing delivery passage 21 and the receiving money discriminating delivery passage 18 from a reversed c - shaped delivery passage as a whoie sj that the head and tail of the rote on the horizontal portion 21 b of the reversing delivery passage 21 are reverse to those of the note on the received money discriminating delivery passage 18.

In the upper portion of the receiving section 17, a stopper 22 is disposed so that the notes 2 fed from the reversing delivery passage 21 impinge against the stopper 22 and further leftward movement of the notes 2 is inhibited, and a pool shelf 23 is arranged to receive the notes 2 which impinge against the stopper 22 and fall down therefrom. This pool shelf 23 slides to the right in the drawings and the pool shelf 23 is rotated about a pin 23a so that the notes 2 can fall down into the receiving section 1 7.

The disbursing operation of the automatic money receiving and disbursing machine having the above-described structure will now be described.

When the arnount of money (the number of notes) is indicated by a customer, the feed section 3B takes out notes (10000-yen notes) 2B stored in the second disbursing box 6 and feeds them to the disbursed note discriminating delivery passage 5 through the disbursed note delivery passage 4B, and after completion of the discrimination, the notes 2B are guided to the first disbursing delivery passage 8 by the gate 20 in the state indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings. Then, the notes 28 are guided to the second disbursing delivery passage 9 by the gate 11 in the state indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings and they are piled on the bottom plate 7a of the disbursement section 7. When a predetermined number of notes 2B are piled without detection of disorder, the shutter 7c is slid upward and the bottom plate 7a is slid to the left, as indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings, whereby the notes 2B are discharged. If disorder is detected before a predetermined number of notes 2B are piled, feeding of the notes 2B is stopped and the note detected as being not normal is contained in the disbursement section 7. Then, the pressing plate 1 4a is brought down to press down the notes 2B on the bottom plate 7a, and by this pressing force, the bottom plate 7a is divided into two separate parts and the notes are urged onto the placing plate 15a in the elevated state indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings.

This placing plate 15a is brought down together with the notes 2B, and the notes 2B are fed into the containing box 1 5. The placing plate 15a can be brought down to the position indicated by solid lines in the drawings, and after containing the notes 2B in the box 15, the pressing plate 1 4a is lifted and the disbursing operation is carried out again and is repeated until a predetermined number of normal notes 2B are stored. After a predetermined number of 10000-yen notes 2B have been piled according to the indicated amount of money, notes (1000-yen notes) 2A are fed out from the disbursing box 1 according to need, and they are piled on the 10000-yen notes 2B.When disorder is detected during delivery and feeding of the 1000-yen notes 2A, the already accumulated 10000-yen notes 2B and 1000-yen notes 2A are discharged into the containing box 15, and 10000-yen notes 2B and 1000-yen notes 2A are disbursed again in the above-mentioned manner.

After the customer receives the notes, the bottom plate 7a is returned to the position indicated by solid lines in the drawings, and the shutter 7c is brought down to close the opening 13a. Thus, a next disbursing operation is now ready.

The money receiving operation will now be described.

When a customer throws notes 2 (including 1000-yen notes and 500-yen, 5000-yen or 10000-yen notes) into the receiving section 17, the feed section 3c takes out the notes 2 and feeds them to the received money discriminating delivery passage 1 8 to effect discrimination. Any note 2 judged as being not normal by this discrimination is fed into the reversing delivery passage 21 by the gate 19 in the state indicated by solid lines in the drawings and is returned to the receiving section 1 7. The notes judged as being normal are fed to the first disbursing delivery passage 8 while being guided by the gate 1 9 in the state indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings and the gate 20 in the state indicated by solid lines in the drawing.The notes 2A judged as being 1000-yen, 5000-yen or 500 yen notes, or 10000-yen notes 2B judged as being not usable again are guided by the gate 11 in the state indicated by solid lines in the drawings and are fed into the disbursement section 7 through the second disbursing delivery passage 9.

The notes 2B judged as being usable (10000-yen notes) are guided by the gate 11 at the position indicated by solid lines in the drawings and they are temporarily stored in the pool section 10. The notes 2 thus stored in the pool section 10 and disbursement section 7 are received or returned in the following manner. When the notes 2 are returned, the gathering plate 7b of the disbursement section 7 is slid upward as indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings, and the gathering plate 1 Ob of the pool section 10 is slid to the left in the drawings, whereby the notes 2B on the bottom plate 10 are fed on the notes 2A (or 2B) in the disbursement section 7.Then, the shutter 7c is opened as indicated by two-dot chain lines, and the bottom plate 7a and gathering plate 1 Ob are slid to the left as indicated by two-dot chain lines to feed out the notes 2A and 2B. When the notes 2 are received, the bottom plate 1 Oa of the pool section 10 is slid to the right as indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings so that the notes 28 are let to fall down on the lift plate 1 6a at the elevated position indicated by solid lines in the drawings. Then, the lift plate 1 6a is brought down as indicated by solid lines in the drawings and is slid to the right as indicated by two-dot chain lines in the drawings, whereby the notes 2B are contained in the second disbursing box 6.The notes 2A (2) are fed and contained in the containing box 1 5 in the same manner as described above with reference to the discharging step of the disbursing operation. The reason why only 10000-yen notes that can be used again are contained in the second disbursing box 6 is as follows. Any received note should be received by a bank so far as it is not a forged or counterfeit note, but from the viewpoint of service, disbursed notes should be good quality notes free of wrinkles of stains and from the utilization efficiency of notes, it is preferred to use 10000-yen notes having a large face value again.

The notes 2 in the disbursement section 7 are fed into the containing box 1 5 in the same manner as described above with reference to the discharging step of the disbursing operation, and the lift plate 1 6a is elevated and slid to the left to the position indicated by solid lines in the drawings. Thus, the receiving operation is completed. After return of the notes, the bottom plate 7a of the disbursement section 7 and the gathering plate 1 Ob of the pool section 10 are slid to the right in the drawings and the gathering plate 7b of the disbursement section is brought down.

Thus, a next receiving operation is now ready.

The note 2 that is judged as being not a true note and fed into the reversing delivery passage 21, is fed from the horizontal delivery passage 21 b in the state where the head and tail are reverse to those of the note 2 when it has been fed through the received note discriminating delivery passage 18, and the note 2 impinges against the stopper 22 and is allowed to fall down and accumulate on the pool shels 23. The pool shelf 23 is turned and the note 2 on the pool shelf 23 is returned to the customer in the horizontal state as indicated by broken lines in the drawings. Alternatively, the pool shelf 23 is slid and the note is allowed to fall down in the receiving zone 1 7 as indicated by two-dot chain lines, and the note is subjected to the discrimination again in the state where the head and tail are reversed.

For the disbursed note discriminating device 5a, there is used a low-grade detecting device for optically detecting disorders such as double feeding, abnormal length, slant feeding and proximity feeding and mechanically detecting abnormal thickness, and for the received note discriminating device 18a, there is used a high grade detecting device performing photo-pattern transmission detection, photo-pattern reflection detection and magnetic pattern detection in addition to the above-mentioned detecting operations.

As will be apparent from the foregoing description, according to the described arrangement, notes received in the automatic money receiving and disbursing machine are subjected to discrimination, notes judged as being normal notes of a specific kind are temporarily stored in the pool section, the notes stored in the pool section are fed to the disbursing box for storing notes of the same kinds and they are used as disbursing notes. Accordingly, the sizes of both the receiving box and disbursing box can be diminished and the frequency of withdrawal of notes from the receiving box or supply of notes into the disbursing box can be reduced, with the result that the operation efficiency can be increased.

Claims (4)

1. An automatic money receiving and disbursing machine comprising a receiving section for receiving notes, a plurality of disbursing boxes for storing notes, a disbursing section for disbursing the stored notes, a discriminating device for discriminating notes fed from the receiving section, a pool section for temporarily storing a specific kind of notes judged as being normal notes by the discriminating device, and a delivery device for delivering the notes temporarily stored in the pool section into the disbursing box where the same kind of notes are contained.

2. A machine as set forth in Claim 1 further comprising a reversing delivery passage for returning notes judged as abnormal notes by the discriminating device onto an upper portion of the receiving section, and a pool shelf for temporarily storing the returned notes thereon and allowing the notes to fall down into the receiving section, the fallen notes being delivered through the discriminating device and re-discriminated thereby.

3. A machine as set forth in Claim 2 wherein the notes judged as abnormal notes are returned to the receiving section with reversed sides.

4. An automatic money receiving and disbursing machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2 of the accompanying drawings.