JP2007334597A - Paper money storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper money storage device simplifying a structure thereof while ensuring the conveyance path length for identifying, sorting and storing a paper money, suppressing the height of the device, and enhancing operability for unjamming. <P>SOLUTION: A conveying unit 1 has a conveying means which receives a paper money conveyed by a conveying device of a game island in the horizontal direction to an island end in an upright posture and conveys the paper money while maintaining the direction and the posture. An accommodation block 3 has a plurality of accommodation units 3a-3d for accommodating the paper money by denomination. A selection means is provided, which selects and feeds the paper money conveyed by the conveying means based on the result of identification of an identifying means in the conveying unit 1 to the storage units 3a-3d by denomination while maintaining the conveying direction and the posture by the conveying device of the game island. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is a banknote that is installed adjacent to an island edge of a game island in a pachinko parlor or the like, accepts a banknote that has been inserted into a game medium lending machine of the game island and transported to the island edge by a transport device, and is stored in denomination The present invention relates to a storage device.

  In the banknote storage apparatus as described above, it is necessary to identify and store the banknotes denominated in denominations after identifying the denominations of banknotes that are randomly conveyed to the island edge. In order to identify and sort and store such banknotes, it is necessary to secure a somewhat long conveyance path in the apparatus in relation to the length of the banknotes.

Such banknote storage devices include those described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example. In Patent Documents 1 and 2, in order to secure the length of the internal conveyance path while suppressing the depth of the apparatus, the banknote is such that the conveyance direction and posture of the banknote are three-dimensionally changed between vertical and horizontal respectively. A storage device is described.
JP 2003-051048 A ([0013] paragraph, FIG. 1 etc.) JP 2003-296794 A ([0011] paragraph, FIG. 1 etc.)

  In the conventional banknote storage device described above, the height is considerably increased even though the depth of the device can be suppressed. In addition, the bill conveyance path is complicated in three dimensions, and the structure becomes complicated, and the operability for releasing jam (banknote jam) is also deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such points, and while simplifying the structure while ensuring the transport path length for identifying and sorting and storing bills, particularly suppresses the height of the apparatus together. An object of the present invention is to provide a banknote storage device capable of improving the operability of jam release.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides:
It is installed adjacent to the island edge of a game island including a plurality of game machines and game media lending machines and a banknote transport device, and accepts and stores banknotes that are inserted into the lending machine and transported to the island edge by the transport device. A bill storage device,
A transport means for receiving banknotes transported in an upright posture in the horizontal direction to the island edge by the transport device, and transporting the bills while maintaining the direction and posture;
Identifying means for identifying the denomination of the banknotes conveyed by the conveying means;
A plurality of storage units for storing banknotes in denominations;
Based on the identification result by the identification unit, the sorting unit that sorts and sends the banknotes conveyed by the conveying unit to each storage unit while maintaining the direction and posture,
A bill storage device is provided.

  Here, the “island edge” of the game island means the end of the game island in the horizontal longitudinal direction. Further, the “upright posture” of the banknote means an attitude in which the paper surface of the banknote is substantially vertical, and is typically an attitude in which the short side direction of the banknote is directed to the substantially vertical direction. “To maintain the banknotes that have been transported (in the horizontal direction) while maintaining the direction / the direction” means to maintain the transport path of the banknotes that have been transported in the horizontal direction at substantially the same height. As long as that is true (that is, within a range that can be said to be a horizontal direction at substantially the same height), this means that the direction change is allowed.

  According to this banknote storage device, the banknote is identified while being conveyed while maintaining the horizontal conveyance direction and upright posture of the banknote, that is, without accompanying a three-dimensional change in the conveyance direction or a change in posture. Can be sorted and stored by type. For this reason, it is possible to simplify the structure while securing the conveyance path length for identifying and storing bills, and particularly to suppress the height of the apparatus together and improve the operability of jam release.

  In this banknote storage apparatus, it is preferable that the conveying means is arranged on the rear side of the apparatus that is the island end side, and the storage unit is concentrated on the front side of the apparatus that is the opposite side of the island end.

  This makes it possible to easily take out and collect banknotes stored in the storage unit from the front side of the apparatus.

  The conveying means includes a plurality of rectilinear portions that convey bills in a substantially straight line in a horizontal direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the transport device, and a turning portion that reverses the bill transport direction between the rectilinear portions. It is preferable to form a conveyance path consisting of

  As a result, it is possible to collect the transport unit more compactly while ensuring the transport path length, and in particular, by arranging a plurality of linearly extending portions in the transport path so as to extend in the width direction of the apparatus, the depth of the apparatus can also be suppressed. It becomes possible.

  The sorting means includes a plurality of branch paths branching from the downstream side of the transport path formed by the transport means, at least one temporary storage section into which bills are fed through any of the branch paths, and the temporary storage section. It is preferable to have a sorting unit that sorts the fed banknotes into the storage units located on both sides of the temporary storage unit.

  Thereby, compared with the case where the banknotes are sorted and stored using only the branch path, the space in the apparatus can be used more efficiently.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1-10 is a figure which shows embodiment of the banknote storage apparatus by this invention. Hereinafter, the overall configuration of the present embodiment, the specific configuration of each part, the operation and the effects, and modifications will be sequentially described.

[overall structure]
1 to 9 show an embodiment of a bill storage device according to the present invention. This banknote storage apparatus D is installed adjacent to the island edge of an amusement island in a pachinko parlor as shown in FIG. 10, for example. The game island includes a banknote transport device A, a plurality of game tables (for example, pachinko machines) B arranged on both sides of the transport device A, and a game medium lending machine disposed between these game tables B ( For example, it includes a stand-by ball lending machine) C.

  And the banknote storage apparatus D is comprised so that the banknote P thrown into the lending machine C and conveyed by the conveying apparatus A to the island edge may be received and stored, as shown in FIG. The banknote transport direction by the banknote transport apparatus A on the game island is a horizontal direction facing the longitudinal direction of the game island. Moreover, the banknote conveyance attitude | position by the same conveying apparatus A is an upright attitude | position with which the paper surface of the banknote became perpendicular | vertical, especially the transversal direction of a banknote is the attitude | position which faced the perpendicular direction here. In this case, the longitudinal direction of the banknote faces the transport direction by the transport device A.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the banknote storage apparatus D includes a housing d1 (see FIG. 9) fixed to the game island and an internal unit d2 housed in the housing d1. The internal unit d2 is divided into a transport unit 1 and a storage block 3 (see FIGS. 1 to 3). The transport unit 1 is provided with transport means (described later) that receives banknotes transported in an upright posture in the horizontal direction to the island edge by the transport device A (FIG. 9) and transports the banknotes while maintaining the direction and posture. ing. In addition, the storage block 3 is provided with a plurality of storage units 3a to 3d (FIG. 1) for storing banknotes by denomination.

  And the conveyance part 1 is each arrange | positioned at the apparatus rear surface side r which is an island end side, and the storage block 3 is respectively arrange | positioned at the apparatus front side f which is an opposite side of an island end (refer FIG. 9). Thereby, the banknote storage apparatus D has the structure which arrange | positioned the conveyance means to the apparatus rear surface side r, and arrange | positioned each accommodating part 3a-3d to the apparatus front surface side f, respectively. In addition, the horizontal direction (direction parallel to the conveyance direction of the banknote by the conveying apparatus A) from the front side f of the apparatus D to the rear side r is the depth direction of the apparatus D, and the length of the apparatus D in the depth direction is the apparatus. It is the depth of D. The horizontal direction perpendicular to the depth direction is the width direction of the device D, and the length of the device D in the width direction is the width of the device D.

  The banknote storage device D includes an identification unit (described later) for identifying the denomination of the banknote conveyed by the conveyance unit in the conveyance unit 1. Further, the banknote storage device D is configured to store the banknotes transported by the transport means on the basis of the identification result by the recognition means while maintaining the transport direction and posture of the transport island A on the game island. Are provided with sorting means (to be described later) for sorting and sending the money by type.

  The internal unit d2 is supported so that it can be pulled out from the housing d1 to the front side f of the apparatus via the slide rail L. In that case, the conveyance part 1 expand | deploys in the form which can access the conveyance path | route of a banknote from the outside. Specifically, when the internal unit d2 is pulled out from the housing d1, as shown in FIG. 8, the transport unit 1 is divided into first to fourth four blocks 1a to 1d so as to expand in the horizontal direction. It has become. At this time, the second to fourth blocks 1b to 1d are deployed so as to swing horizontally (counterclockwise in FIG. 8) about the swing shaft s1 with respect to the storage block 3, respectively. Further, the first block 1a is unfolded so as to swing horizontally (in the clockwise direction in FIG. 8) about the swing shaft s2 (on the tip side) with respect to the second block 1b.

[Specific configuration of each part]
(1) Conveying Unit Next, a specific configuration of the conveying unit 1 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 to 5, the transport unit 1 is provided with an introduction portion 10 that receives a bill P (FIG. 3) that has been transported by the transport device A (FIG. 9). As shown in FIG. 4, the transport unit 1 is provided with eight transport belt devices 20 to 27 that constitute transport means. Each of the conveyor belt devices 20 to 27 has a flat belt stretched through two or more pulleys.

  These conveying belt devices 20 to 27 form conveying paths 11 to 15 as shown in FIG. The transport paths 11 to 15 include three rectilinear portions 11 to 13 that transport bills in a substantially straight line in a horizontal direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the transport device A (FIG. 9), and these rectilinear portions 11 and 11. 12; It consists of two turning parts 14; 15 which reverse the conveyance direction of a bill between 12 and 13. Each of the rectilinear portions 11 to 13 in the transport path is formed to extend in the width direction of the device D.

  Of these, the straight portion 11 is formed between the conveyor belt devices 20 and 21. Further, the rectilinear portion 12 is formed between the conveyor belt devices 20 and 23 and the conveyor belt device 22. The rectilinear portion 13 is formed between the conveyor belt devices 23 and 25 and the swing guide members 28 a and 28 b (described below) and the conveyor belt device 22.

  The introduction portion 10 forms a turning portion to the conveyance path that turns the conveyance direction by 90 degrees from the conveyance direction of the conveyance apparatus A (FIG. 9) toward the first straight traveling portion 11 of the conveyance route. Further, an identification sensor S that constitutes the identification means is disposed in the middle of the straight portion 11. And from the last straight part 13 which is the downstream of a conveyance path | route, the three branch paths 16-18 have branched toward the storage block 3 (FIG. 1).

  More specifically, two swing guide members 28 a and 28 b are provided along the straight portion 13. The branch path 16 is formed between the swing guide member 28 a and the conveyor belt device 24 and the conveyor belt device 23. Further, the branch path 17 is formed between the swing guide member 28 b and the conveyor belt device 26 and the conveyor belt device 25. The branch path 18 is formed between the conveyor belt devices 22 and 27 as an extension of the straight portion 13.

  That is, by switching the swing position of the swing guide members 28a and 28b between the branch position (position of the guide member 28a shown in FIG. 4) and the straight advance position (position of the guide member 28b shown in FIG. 4), Can be branched from the straight portion 13 of the transport path to any of the branch paths 16 to 18. In addition, rubber impellers 29f, 29b, and 29g are provided on the downstream sides of the branch paths 16, 17, and 18, respectively.

(2) Storage Block Next, a specific configuration of the storage block 3 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the storage block 3 includes four storage units for storing banknotes in denominations, a thousand yen storage unit 3a, a 2,000 yen storage unit 3b, a 10,000 yen storage unit 3c, And a 5,000 yen storage portion 3d. Between the thousand yen storage part 3a and the 2000 yen storage part 3b, a first temporary storage part 3f is provided on the 1000 yen storage part 3a side, and a reject part 3e is provided on the 2000 yen storage part 3b side. It has been. Further, a second temporary storage portion 3g is provided between the 10,000 yen storage portion 3c and the 5,000 yen storage portion 3d.

  The storage units 3a to 3d, the reject unit 3e, and the temporary storage units 3f and 3g store the banknotes P in the same direction as the transport direction and posture of the game island transport device A (FIG. 9) (temporary storage). ). Banknotes are fed into the first temporary storage unit 3f, the 2,000 yen storage unit 3b, and the second temporary storage unit 3g through the branch paths 16, 17, and 18 shown in FIG. In addition, pressing plates 35 that are urged by compression springs 34 are provided in the storage units 3a, 3d, and 3c, and the reject unit 3e of 1,000 yen, 10,000 yen, and 5,000 yen, respectively.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the temporary storage portions 3f and 3g are provided with a pair of upper and lower rotation guide members 36 and 36, respectively. These rotation guide members 36 and 36 distribute the banknotes P fed to the temporary storage units 3f and 3g to the storage units 3a and 3c; 3e and 3d located on both sides of the temporary storage units 3f and 3g. It has a function as a means.

  Each rotation guide member 36 and 36 is extended in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the bill sent to temporary storage parts 3f and 3g, respectively. Each rotation guide member 36 has a substantially semicircular cross-sectional shape and is rotated about an axis extending in parallel with the extending direction (by a drive mechanism not shown). The pair of upper and lower rotation guide members 36 and 36 sandwich the bill P from the upper and lower sides at the standby position shown in FIG. 6, and the storage units 3a (3c) and 3e located on both sides according to the rotation directions thereof. The bill P is pushed out toward either one of (3d).

  Note that banknote branch paths 16 to 18 (FIG. 5) selectively branch from the downstream side 13 of the transport path by switching the swing positions of the swing guide members 28a and 28b (FIG. 4) described above, and each temporary storage. The sorting means is constituted by the rotation guide member 36 as the distributing means in the portions 3f and 3g.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 7, the storage block 3 includes a housing 30 that surrounds the storage units 3 a to 3 d, the reject unit 3 e, and the temporary storage units 3 f and 3 g. A lid 32 that can be opened and closed is provided on the front side f (FIG. 7) of the housing 30. By opening the lid 32 of the housing 30, as shown in FIG. 3, the banknotes P stored in an upright posture in each of the storage units 3a to 3d and the reject unit 3e can be pulled out in the horizontal direction. .

[Operation]
Next, the operation of the bill storage device of the present embodiment configured as described above will be briefly described.

  First, the banknote P (FIG. 9) thrown into the game medium lending machine C on the game island and transported to the island edge by the banknote transport apparatus A is received from the introduction part 10 to the transport section 1 in the banknote storage apparatus D. (Figure 3). The banknotes received by the transport unit 1 are transported to the storage block 3 side through the transport paths 11 to 15 (FIG. 5) by the transport belt devices 20 to 27 (FIG. 4). In the process, the denomination of the banknote is performed by the identification sensor S arranged on the upstream side (straight forward portion 11) of the transport path (a banknote that could not be normally denominated is handled as a reject banknote).

  The banknote that has reached the downstream side (straight forward portion 13) of the transport path is switched by switching the swing positions of the swing guide members 28a and 28b (FIG. 4) according to the denomination identified by the identification sensor S. Enter one of the two branch paths 16-18. Among them, banknotes entering the branch path 16 (thousand yen or reject banknotes) go to the first temporary storage section 3f, banknotes entering the branch path 17 (2,000 yen banknotes) to the 2000 yen storage section 3b, branch path 18 The banknotes (10,000 yen or 5,000 yen banknotes) that have entered are fed into the second temporary storage unit 3f, respectively (FIGS. 5 and 1).

  Of the banknotes sent to the first temporary storage unit 3f, the thousand-yen banknotes are pushed out to the thousand-yen storage unit 3a, and the reject banknotes are pushed out to the opposite reject unit 3e by the rotation guide member 36 (FIG. 3, FIG. 3). 6). Similarly, among the banknotes sent to the second temporary storage section 3f, the 10,000 yen banknote is transferred to the 10,000 yen storage section 3c, and the 5,000 yen banknote is transferred to the opposite 5,000 yen storage section 3d. (FIGS. 3 and 6).

  The banknotes sorted and stored in the storage units 3a to 3d and the reject unit 3e as described above are extracted by a staff member with the cover 32 of the housing 30 opened, for example, after the end of the store business on that day.

[Function and effect]
Next, the effect of this embodiment comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated.

  According to the bill storage device D of the present embodiment, the bill P is transported while maintaining the horizontal transport direction and the upright posture of the bill P, that is, without accompanying a three-dimensional change in the transport direction or a change in posture. However, they can be identified and sorted and stored by denomination. For this reason, it is possible to simplify the structure while securing the length of the conveyance path for identifying and sorting and storing the bills P, and particularly to suppress the height of the device D and improve the operability of jam release. Become.

  Moreover, since the conveyance means in the conveyance part 1 has the structure arrange | positioned collectively on the apparatus rear surface side r and each storage part 3a-3d on the apparatus front side f, respectively, it accommodated in storage part 3a-3d. It becomes possible to easily take out and collect the bills P from the front side f of the apparatus.

  Moreover, the conveyance means in the conveyance unit 1 includes a plurality of rectilinear portions 11 to 13 that convey banknotes in a substantially straight line in a horizontal direction substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the conveyance device A, and these rectilinear portions 11 and 12; The conveyance path which consists of the turning parts 14; 15 which reverse the conveyance direction of a banknote between 12 and 13 is formed (FIG. 5). Thereby, the conveyance part 1 can be put together more compactly, ensuring the conveyance path length. In particular, since the plurality of rectilinear portions 11 to 13 in the transport path are arranged so as to extend in the width direction of the device D, the depth of the device D can also be suppressed.

  In addition, when the internal unit d2 is pulled out from the housing d1 to the front side f of the apparatus, the transport unit 1 can access the bill transport path from the outside (first to fourth blocks 1a to 1d) in the horizontal direction. It was made to expand | deploy (FIG. 7 and FIG. 8). As a result, it is possible to improve the maintainability such as further improving the operability of releasing the jam.

[Modification]
(1) Although the case where the flat belt type conveyor belt devices 20 to 27 are used as the banknote transport means in the transport unit 1 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, instead of the transport belt device, a transport roller device using a plurality of rollers may be used, or a transport belt device and a transport roller device may be used in appropriate combination.

  (2) Regarding the case where three branch paths 16 to 18 and the two temporary storage units 3f and 3g provided with the distribution unit 36 are used as a selection unit that sorts and sends banknotes into a plurality of storage units. Although described, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, depending on the type of banknote to be sorted, the number of branch paths and the number of temporary storage units can be changed, respectively, and only one of the branch path and the temporary storage unit can be used.

  However, when there are a certain number of types of banknotes to be sorted (at least three types), it is preferable to use sorting means that combines a plurality of branch paths and at least one temporary storage unit provided with sorting means. . By doing so, compared to the case where banknotes are sorted and stored using only the branch path, the space in the apparatus can be used more efficiently.

The horizontal sectional view of the internal unit which shows one Embodiment of the banknote storage apparatus by this invention. The perspective view which shows the external appearance of the internal unit shown in FIG. The perspective view which shows the internal structure of the internal unit shown in FIG. The figure which expands and shows the conveyance part of the internal unit of FIG. The figure which shows the conveyance path | route and branch path | route of the banknote in the conveyance part of FIG. The front view which shows typically the principle of the distribution means in the storage block of the internal unit shown in FIG. The perspective view which shows the state which pulled out the internal unit of the banknote storage apparatus shown in FIG. 1 from the housing | casing of the apparatus. The top view which shows the expansion | deployment state of the conveyance part in the banknote storage apparatus of the drawer state shown in FIG. The perspective view which shows typically the relationship between the banknote storage apparatus shown in FIG. 7, and the lending machine and conveyance apparatus of a game island in which this is installed adjacently. The horizontal sectional view which shows typically a part of game island where the banknote storage apparatus shown in FIG. 9 is installed adjacently.

Explanation of symbols

A bill transport device B game machine C game medium lending machine D bill storage device d1 housing d2 internal unit f front side r rear side 1 transport unit 1a first block 1b second block 1c third block 1d fourth block s1, s2 Oscillating shaft 10 Introduction part 11, 12, 13 Straight part (conveyance path)
14,15 Turning part (conveyance route)
16, 17, 18 Branch route (sorting means)
20-27 Conveying belt device (conveying means)
28a, 28b Swing guide member (sorting means)
29b, 29f, 29g Rubber impeller S Identification sensor (identification means)
3 storage block 3a thousand yen storage part 3b 2000 yen storage part 3c 10,000 yen storage part 3d 5,000 yen storage part 3e reject part 3f first temporary storage part 3g second temporary storage part 30 housing 32 lid 34 compression spring 35 pressing Plate 36 Rotation guide member (sorting means / sorting means)
P bills

Claims (4)

It is installed adjacent to the island edge of a game island including a plurality of game machines and game media lending machines and a banknote transport device, and accepts and stores banknotes that are inserted into the lending machine and transported to the island edge by the transport device. A bill storage device,
A transport means for receiving banknotes transported in an upright posture in the horizontal direction to the island edge by the transport device, and transporting the bills while maintaining the direction and posture;
Identifying means for identifying the denomination of the banknotes conveyed by the conveying means;
A plurality of storage units for storing banknotes in denominations;
Based on the identification result by the identification unit, the sorting unit that sorts and sends the banknotes conveyed by the conveying unit to each storage unit while maintaining the direction and posture,
A bill storage device comprising:   2. The banknote storage device according to claim 1, wherein the transport means is arranged on the rear side of the device which is the island end side, and the storage portion is concentrated on the front side of the device which is the opposite side of the island end. . The conveying means is
A plurality of rectilinear portions that convey banknotes substantially linearly in a horizontal direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the transport device;
A turning part that reverses the conveyance direction of the banknotes between the straight parts;
The banknote storage device according to claim 1, wherein a transport path is formed. The selecting means includes
A plurality of branch paths branching from the downstream side of the transport path formed by the transport means;
At least one temporary storage unit into which banknotes are fed through any of the branch paths;
Sorting means for sorting banknotes fed into the temporary storage unit to the storage units located on both sides of the temporary storage unit;
The bill storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein

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