Bill containing box apparatus of bill receiving and dispensing machine

A bill containing box apparatus used in a bill receiving and dispensing machine having a dispensation bill containing box mounted on the front of the machine body in an inclined condition for improving the handling of bills contained within the machine body. The dispensation bill containing box detachably mounted on the frame members in an inclined condition with the engaging members of the box snapped into the upper and lower notches formed in the frame members. The dispensation bill containing box can be tilted forward with the front door opened and the engaging members of the box disengaged from the upper notches for loading bills into the box or taking them out from the box. The dispensation bill containing box can be also separated from the frame members with the engaging members of the box disengaged from both the upper and lower notches of the frame members. This makes it possible to carry the box to any place for loading or removal of the bills. Since the bills contained in the box are stacked in an inclined condition, they tend to be obliquely pushed out from the box by gravity and are fed to the dispensation bill feeding-out apparatus through the bottom opening of the box.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a so-called "circulation type" bill 
receiving and dispensing machine for containing received bills and 
dispensing bills, and more particularly to a bill containing box apparatus 
used in the bill receiving and dispensing machine having a dispensation 
bill containing box mounted on the front of the machine body in an 
inclined condition for improving the handling of bills contained within 
the machine body. 
In general, the circulation type bill receiving and dispensing machine is 
required to efficiently carry out the bill receiving and dispensing 
operations and to improve the handling of bills contained within the 
machine body. 
For example, such a circulation type bill receiving and dispensing machine 
is disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No.059492/1985. The 
bill receiving and dispensing machine of this prior art is provided with a 
front door and a horizontally drawable bill containing box positioned 
behind the front door to improve the handling of bills. However, in the 
bill receiving and dispensing machine of the prior art, since the bill 
containing box of the drawer type must be fully drawn out from the machine 
body each time the machine is charged with bills or to remove accumulated 
bills at the start and finish of work each day, with additional bill 
charging operations during working hours, the work efficiency is markedly 
lowered. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bill receiving 
and dispensing machine in which the bill containing box is mounted in an 
inclined condition within the machine body at the front thereof for easily 
carrying out the inspection and charging of bills merely by tilting the 
box toward the front of the machine body and which is also easily detached 
from the machine body. 
According to the present invention, there is provided a bill containing box 
apparatus of a bill receiving and dispensing machine which is so adapted 
that bills inserted into a bill port are relayed to a bill discriminating 
path and the bills discriminated as genuine are accepted into the bill 
receiving and dispensing machine, said apparatus being provided with a 
dispensing bill containing box within the machine body in the vicinity of 
a front door of the machine body, the bill containing box apparatus 
comprising frame members spaced apart from each other at the right and 
left sides of the machine body in the vicinity of the front of the machine 
body, a pair of lower notches facing upward and a pair of upper notches 
facing to the front of the machine body, each pair of notches being formed 
in the frame members, and a dispensation bill containing box having an 
upper opening for insertion and removal of the bills therefrom and a 
bottom opening communicating with a dispensation bill feeding-out 
apparatus and being detachably engaged with the lower and upper notches 
via engaging members mounted on the sides of the box, the dispensation 
bill containing box being usually held within the machine body in a 
condition whereby the bottom opening is positioned at an obliquely lower 
position relative to the upper opening so as to contain the bills in an 
inclined stacked condition within the box. 
Bills that are received are transferred to the bill discriminating path to 
discriminate that the bills are genuine. The bills discriminated as 
genuine are contained in the dispensation bill containing box. The 
dispensation bill containing box is detachably mounted on the frame 
members in an inclined condition with the engaging members of the box 
snapped into the upper and lower notches formed in the frame members. The 
dispensation bill containing box can be tilted forward with the front door 
opened and the engaging members of the box disengaged from the upper 
notches for filling the box with bills or removing bills from the box. The 
dispensation bill containing box can be also separated from the frame 
members with the engaging members of the box disengaged from both the 
upper and lower notches of the frame members. This makes it possible to 
carry the box to any suitable place for charging or removal of bills. 
According to the present invention, since the bills contained in the box 
are stacked in an inclined condition, they tend to be obliquely urged out 
from the box by the force of gravity and are fed to the dispensation bill 
feeding-out apparatus through the bottom opening of the box.

First, the general arrangement of the bill receiving and dispensing machine 
in which the dispensation bill containing box of the present invention is 
incorporated will be described with reference to FIG. 4. Of the various 
denominations of bills received, the bill receiving and dispensing machine 
shown in this embodiment is designed for circulation and reuse for 
dispensation of only 10,000 yen bills. 
When a person selects the bill reception designation, a shutter 3 of a bill 
port 2 mounted on a machine body 1 is opened to expose a bill receiving 
and dispensing port 4. When bills are inserted into the bill port 2, the 
received bills are transferred by a received-bill feed apparatus 5 to a 
discriminating section 7 via a discriminating path 6. The discriminated 
bills are guided into a common route 9 by a first fork 8. Bills 
discriminated as genuine at the discriminating section 7 are guided by a 
second fork 10 into an accumulating route 11. Bills discriminated as 
spurious are guided into a rejection route 12. The genuine bills on the 
accumulating route 11 are continuously fed via a temporary pooling and 
accumulation wheel 14 of a bill delivering apparatus 13 to a bill 
supporting plate 16 of a bill accumulating and transferring mechanism 15, 
and the counterfeit bills on the rejection route 12 are fed to a rejection 
port 17. 
The bills accumulated on the bill supporting plate 16 are transferred to a 
position above the bill receiving and dispensing port 4 and dropped 
thereon. The bills dropped onto the port 4 are then transferred to the 
discriminating path 6 through the received-bill feed apparatus 5 with the 
bills pressed down by a bill pressing-down apparatus (not shown). The 
bills discriminated as 10,000 yen bills at the discriminating section 7 
are guided into a bill receiving route 18 by the first fork 8 and then fed 
into a circulating-bill pooling section 21 by a third fork 19 via a 
circulating-bill accumulation wheel 20. Bills other than 10,000 yen bills 
are guided into a received-bill containing apparatus 22 by the third fork 
19 and are housed in a received-bill box 24 via an accumulation wheel 23. 
When a person selects the bill dispensation designation, the 10,000 yen 
bills are fed to a bill dispensing route 26 from the circulating-bill 
pooling section 21 by a circulating-bill feeding-out apparatus 25. Bills 
other than 10,000 yen bills, for example, 1,000 yen bills or 5,000 yen 
bills, are placed beforehand in a dispensation bill containing apparatus 
(a bill containing box apparatus) 27 and fed by a dispensation bill 
feeding-out apparatus 28 to the bill dispensing route 26. During these 
operations, abnormalities are checked for, such as for example whether the 
bills to be dispensed are doubled over. When any such abnormality is 
detected, such bills are routed back to the received-bill box 24 of the 
received-bill containing apparatus 22 via a fourth fork 29, the 
received-bill route 18 and the third fork 19. If there is no abnormality, 
the bills are guided to the common route 9 by the fourth fork 29 and then 
guided by the second fork 10 to the accumulating route 11. The bills on 
the accumulating route 11 are then continuously accumulated on the bill 
supporting plate 16 of the accumulating and transferring mechanism 15 by 
the bill temporary pooling and accumulation wheel 14. Finally, the shutter 
3 can be opened to allow the bills to be removed from the port 4. 
Details of the bill containing box apparatus (the dispensation bill 
containing apparatus) 27 of the present invention will be described below 
with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. 
The bill containing box apparatus 27 comprises a pair of frame members 31 
mounted on the machine body 1 behind a front door 30 (FIG. 4), the frame 
members being positioned spaced apart from each other at the right and 
left sides within the machine body 1, and a bill containing box 32 for 
housing the bills (e.g. 10,000 yen bills in this embodiment) to be 
dispensed. The bill containing box 32 has an upper opening 50 through 
which the bills are inserted and removed and a bottom opening 51 through 
which the bills are fed to the dispensation bill feeding-out apparatus 28. 
Each of the frame members 31 is formed with a lower notch 33 facing upward 
to form a pivot for the bill containing box 32 as hereinafter explained in 
detail, and is also formed with an upper notch 34. Each of the lower and 
upper notches 33 and 34 is provided with a joint member 35 for detachably 
mounting the box 32. The joint member 35 comprises a spring 36 secured to 
the frame member 31 and head members 37 each of which is secured to the 
ends of the spring 36. 
The bill containing box 32 is provided with engaging members 38 for 
permitting a snap engagement of the box 32 with the lower and the upper 
notches 33 and 34 via the spring 36 and the head members 37. Each of the 
engaging members 38 comprises a lever 39 which can also be used as a 
handle of the box 32 and a shaft 40 which is projected from the sides of 
the box 32 to secure the lever 39 thereto and is adapted to be snapped 
into the lower and upper notches 33 and 34 via the joint member 35, i.e. 
the spring 36 and the head members 37. When the bill containing box 32 is 
held by the notches 33 and 34 with the shafts 40 of the engaging members 
38 snapped thereto as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the box 32 is in an inclined 
position so that the center of gravity is at the right hand side (FIGS. 1 
and 2) from the plumb line through the lower notch 33 so as to stably hold 
the box 32 by a turning moment clockwise around the pivotal center (lower 
notches 33). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the box 32 is held within the 
machine body 1, the bottom opening 51 is positioned obliquely lower 
relative to the upper opening 50 so as to contain the bills in an inclined 
stacked condition within the box 32. The bill containing box 32 can be 
held in a substantially horizontal condition by pulling out the box 32 
forward around the lower pivotal center 33 until the bottom wall of the 
box 32 abuts against a stop 41 secured to the frame members 31 by 
releasing the upper shafts 40 from the upper joint members 35. The bill 
containing box 32 can be also separated from the frame members 31 by 
releasing both the upper and lower shafts 40 of the box 32 from the upper 
and lower joint members 35 of the frame members 31. 
The inside structure of the bill containing box 32 will now be described 
with reference to FIG. 3. Within the box 32 there are provided a pair of 
side support members 42 projecting from the right and left walls of the 
box 32 for preventing lateral movement of the stacked bills contained 
within the box 32, a bottom plate 43 for sliding the stacked bills in an 
inclined condition toward the dispensation bill feeding-out apparatus 28, 
a groove 44 formed substantially at the center of the bottom plae 43, a 
sliding block 46 supported by a guide rod 45 passing through the bottom 
plate 43 within the groove 44, and a pressure plate 47 mounted on the 
sliding block 46 for pressing down by its own weight the contained bills 
"M" (shown by a phantom line in FIG. 2) toward a feeding-out roller 52 of 
the dispensation bill feeding-out apparatus 28. A numeral 48 denotes a 
screw for securing the pressure plate 47 to the sliding block 46 and a 
numeral 49 denotes a spacer for enabling a smooth sliding motion of the 
pressure plate 47. 
The other components will now be described. 
The dealing port 2 includes a bill suppporting plate 4a descending from the 
shutter 3 and a vertical plate 4b forming the bill receiving and 
dispensing port 4. A feedingout port 4c is formed between the plates 4a 
and 4b. 
The discriminating route 6 is positioned behind the received-bill 
feeding-out mechanism 5 via a bill introduction portion 54. The 
discriminating route 6 discriminates genuine bills and the type of bill 
and counts the number of bills transferred one by one between the belts 
53A, 53B. 
The received-bill route 18 comprises the lower transferring belt 53A 
forming the discriminating route 6 and another transferring belt 54 
opposed to the lower belt 53A. The bills are held between these belts 53A 
and 54 and transferred reversely to the discriminating route 6 and then 
fed out either to the circulating-bill pooling section 21 or to the 
received-bill containing apparatus 22 by the third fork 19. 
Then, dispensation operation of 1,000 yen bills and 10,000 yen bills, the 
charging of the bills in the bill containing box apparatus and the bill 
recovery operation will now be described. 
With respect to the dispensation operation of 1,000 yen bills, the 1,000 
yen bills are charged beforehand into the bill containing box 32. When an 
order to dispense 1,000 yen bills is made, the dispensation bill 
feeding-out apparatus 28 starts and the feeding-out roller 52 forming a 
part of the dispensation bill feeding-out apparatus 28 feeds out the 
bottom bill through the bottom opening of the bill containing box 32, 
toward the upper right in FIG. 2. Thus, the bills are fed out to the bill 
dispensing route 26 and transferred along this route 26 as previously 
described. During this time a check is made for any abnormality such as 
double-feeding. When any abnormality is found, the bills concerned are 
returned to the received-bill box 24 of the received-bill containing 
apparatus 22 via the fourth fork 29, the bill receiving route 18 and the 
third fork 19. When no abnormality is found, the bills are guided to the 
common route 9 by the fourth fork 29 and then guided by the second fork 10 
to the accumulating route 11. The bills on the accumulating route 11 are 
then continuously accumulated on the bill supporting plate 16 of the 
accumulating and transferring mechanism 15 by the bill temporary pooling 
and accumulating wheel 14. Finally, the shutter 3 is opened to permit the 
user to take out the bills from the port 4. 
When an order for dispensing 10,000 yen bills is made by the user, the 
10,000 yen bills are fed out to the bill dispensing route 26 from the 
circulating-bill pooling section 21 via the circulating-bill feeding-out 
apparatus 25 and then are fed out to the bill receiving and dispensing 
port 4 similarly to the above dispensation operation for 1,000 yen bills. 
Dispensing of both 1,000 yen and 10,000 yen bills can be done by combining 
the dispensation operations of 1,000 yen and 10,000 yen bills. 
To charge bills, the front door 30 is opened, exposing the front side of 
the received-bill containing apparatus 22 and the dispensation bill 
containing apparatus 27. In this condition, the bill containing box 32 can 
be tilted toward the front by pulling out the lever 39 and disengaging the 
upper shafts 40 of the engaging members 38 from the springs 36 and their 
head members 37 of the upper notches 34. The bill containing box 32 pivots 
around the joint members 35 of the lower notches 33 until the bottom of 
the box 32 abuts the stop 41 and is held in a substantially horizontal 
condition. In this condition, the 1,000 yen bills can be loaded through 
the upper opening 50 of the box 32 which is now exposed to the outside of 
the machine body 1. The bill containing box 32 can be also separated from 
the machine body 1, by further disengaging the lower shafts 40 from the 
joint members 35 of the lower notches 33. Thus it is possible to carry out 
the charging operation of the 1,000 yen bills at a convenient place. 
After charging of the 1,000 yen bills, the bill containing box 32 is reset 
in the machine body 1 by reengaging the shafts 40 with the joint members 
35, and the charging operation of the 1,000 yen bills is completed by 
closing the front door 30. 
10,000 yen bills can be directly charged to the circulating-bill pooling 
section 21 by opening the front door 30 when the received-bill 
accumulating wheel 23 and the received-bill box 24 are mounted on the 
front door 30. It is also possible to charge the 10,000 yen bills through 
the bill receiving and dispensing port 2. In such a case, it is also 
possible to count the number of the 10,000 yen bills. 
Regarding bill recovery, the amount of bills other than 10,000 yen bills 
are detected by a sensor (not shown). When the sensor detects that the 
amount of the bills other than 10,000 yen bills contained in the 
received-bill containing apparatus 22 exceeds the upper limit, the front 
door 30 is opened to remove the received-bill box 24 from the machine body 
1 to recover the bills from the received-bill containing apparatus. 
The operation of recovering bills such as 10,000 yen bills contained in the 
circulating-bill pooling section 21 and 1,000 yen bills contained in the 
received-bill containing apparatus 27 can be done by utilizing the bill 
recovering function of the bill receiving and dispensing machine itself. 
In the case of 10,000 yen bill recovery, the bill recovering operation is 
carried out by feeding out the bills in the circulating-bill pooling 
section 21 to the bill dispensing route 26 via the circulating-bill 
feeding-out apparatus 25 and then introducing the bills to the 
received-bill route 18 via the fourth fork 29, and feeding out the bills 
to the received-bill accumulating wheel 23 by the third fork 19 and 
finally housing them in the received-bill box 24. Thus, the 10,000 yen 
bills contained in the received-bill box 24 can be recovered together with 
the box 24. 
Similarly, the 1,000 yen bills can be recovered in the received-bill box 24 
by introducing them to the bill dispensing route 26 via the dispensation 
bill feeding-out apparatus 28. The 1,000 yen bills can also be recovered 
by opening the front door 30 and separating the bill containing box 32 
from the machine body 1. 
Since the inside of the machine body 1 is easily exposed by opening the 
front door 30, inspection or maintenance servicing can also be carried out 
from the front of the machine body 1 during these bill charging and 
recovering operations or at any other appropriate time. 
The preferred embodiment described above may be modified as follows. 
(i) The desired type of bill pooled in the circulating-bill pooling section 
may be selected. 
(ii) The number of the circulating-bill pooling sections may be increased. 
The bill receiving and dispensing machine of the present invention has the 
following effects. 
(1) Since the bill containing box is supported by the frame members 
arranged at the front inside of the machine body, it is possible to easily 
carry out the inspection, charge and recovery operations of bills by 
merely opening the front door and exposing the bill containing box. 
(2) Since the bill containing box can be tilted toward the front or 
separated from the machine body, it is possible to improve the handling of 
the bill containing box itself and the bills. 
(3) Since the bill containing box is held in an inclined condition within 
the machine body and thus the bills are stacked in an inclined condition 
within the bill containing box, the bills can be smoothly introduced to 
the dispensation bill feeding-out apparatus by the action of gravity and 
the mechanism can be thus simplified.