Apparatus for handling paper sheets

Paper sheets transported from a transporting line are stacked successively into a receiving station by a vane-wheel type receiving and guiding device. The paper sheets stacked in the receiving station are taken out to a subsequent transporting line one by one by a friction pick-up and separating and feeding device. The friction pick-up and/or the vane-wheel type receiving and guiding device are rotatable. The friction pick-up is retracted from the surface of the stacked paper sheets when the paper sheets are stacked and when the paper sheets are taken out and is moved to abut the surface of the stacked paper sheets to thereby permit the taking out of the paper sheets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a handling apparatus for stacking paper 
sheets transported into a receiving station and for taking out the thus 
stacked paper sheets one by one from the receiving station as needed, and, 
more particularly, to an apparatus suitable for a paper cash handling 
station in an automatic cash transaction machine. 
2. Related Art Statement 
A prior art handling apparatus for paper sheets utilizes a vacuum drum as 
means for taking out paper sheets stacked in a receiving station of the 
apparatus in order to draw the respective paper sheets by the action of 
the vacuum, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open 
Publication No. 58-220043. With such a prior art method, a device for 
generating vacuum is required and makes the size of the apparatus 
undesirably large. The vacuum drawing action of the paper sheets tends to 
be unstable because folds or broken portions are formed in the paper 
sheets and cause malfunctioning of the apparatus in taking out the paper 
sheets. Thus, the performance of taking-out of the paper sheets of the 
apparatus is deteriorated. Further, fluctuation in the pressing force on 
the paper sheets will occur in the device for taking out the paper sheets 
depending upon the accummulation of stacked paper sheets in the receiving 
station thereby rendering the taking-out of the paper sheets unstable. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for handling 
paper sheets in which the stability of operations of stacking the paper 
sheets in the apparatus and of taking out the paper sheets one by one from 
the apparatus is improved. 
The apparatus according to the present invention utilizes vane-wheel type 
stacking wheel as a receiving and guiding means of paper sheets, and a 
friction taking out means as the taking out means thereof, with at least a 
pick up means of the taking out means being pivotable. When the paper 
sheets are stacked, the pick up means is retracted from the uppermost 
surface of the stack of paper sheets to permit the stacking of the paper 
sheets. When the paper sheets are successively taken out, the pick up 
means which has been retracted from the uppermost surface of the stack is 
pivotally moved to abut against the uppermost surface to permit the 
respective paper sheets to be successively taken out. The pressing force 
between the stacking wheel and the stacked paper sheets and between the 
pick up means and the stacked paper sheets are maintained substantially 
constant, and further the position of the stacked paper sheets to a 
separating and feeding portion of the taking out means is also controlled 
within a constant range.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Presently preferred specific embodiments of the apparatus for handling 
paper sheets of the present invention will be described hereinafter 
referring to the drawings. 
FIG. 1 shows a cash handling section of an automatic cash transaction 
machine including the present invention for handling paper sheets such as 
bill or notes. In this figure, the cash handling section is provided with 
a cash slot 2 at the front side of a machine frame 1. A separator 3 for 
receiving the bills B received in the apparatus is provided at one side of 
the cash slot 2, while a pushing fork 4 for pushing outgoing bills B 
toward the cash slot 2 is provided at the other side thereof. A bill 
checking station 5 is provided at the center in the machine frame 1. The 
bill checking station 5 checks whether the bills B received into or to be 
paid out from the apparatus are genuine or fake. A reject box 6 is 
provided at the center of the rear side of the machine frame 1 for 
collecting bills which can not be discriminated. An inverting station 7 
for turning the bills B upside down is arranged above the reject box 6, 
i.e., at the upper portion of the rear side of the machine frame 1. 
Stackers 8 of the vane-wheel type are provided near the previously 
described pushing fork 4. There are provided at positions from the center 
to the lower side of the machine frame 1 a first classified money box 9 
for recycling the bills received therein, a second classified money box 10 
for recycling the bills received therein, a cash box 11 for supplying and 
collecting bills B at the commencement and the end of the work and for 
collecting the bills B deemed to be improper for paying out, and further a 
temporary stacking station 12 for temporarily keeping therein the received 
bills B. A collecting box 13 for collecting the bills which were not 
properly received is provided under the temporary stacking station 12. At 
the upper portions of the previously described first classified money box 
9, the second classified money box 10, the cash box 11 and the temporary 
stacking station 12, stacking wheels 14 of the vane-wheel type, separating 
and feeding mechanisms 15 and picking mechanisms 16 are respectively 
provided. The above described stations are coupled to transporting means, 
and gating stations are provided at branched portions in the transporting 
means. A slip-card handling mechanism and a bankbook printing mechanism 
are provided above the previously described cash handling section. 
The above described cash handling section serves to temporarily keep the 
bills B inserted through the cash slot 2 by customers in the temporary 
stacking station 12 and subsequently to deliver them to the first 
classified money box 9, the second classified money box 10 and the cash 
box 11 according to the classification of the bills. And, upon demand of 
customers, the bills B received in the first classified money box 9 and 
the second classified money box 10 can be taken out through the cash slot 
2 with the front side of each of bills being faced in the same direction 
by the inverting station 7. 
The structure of the above described stacking wheel of the vane-wheel type 
and the separating and feeding mechanism will be described hereinafter by 
referring to FIGS. 2-5. 
In these figures, two feed rollers 20 serve as means for feeding out the 
paper sheets to the succeeding transporting line or passageway. Each 
roller 20 is provided at a portion on the circumference thereof with a 
friction member 21. The rollers 20 are mounted on a shaft 23 which is, in 
turn, rotatably supported by a frame 22. At both sides of the two feed 
rollers 20, stopper rollers 24 are coaxially provided on shaft 23. The 
stopper rollers 24 are made of a material having a low coefficient of 
friction such as metal. The feed rollers 20 and the stopper rollers 24 are 
formed with circumferential grooves 20A, 24A, respectively. Gate rollers 
25 made of a friction material are aligned within the grooves 20A, 24A, 
respectively. In other words, the feed rollers 20 and the gate rollers 25, 
the stopper rollers 24 and the gate rollers 25 are opposingly arranged in 
fitted relationship with each other. The gate rollers 25 serve as means 
for separating the paper sheets one by one by applying friction resisting 
force. 
A timing pulley 26 is mounted at one end of the shaft 23. A timing belt 27 
is stretched around the pulley 26. The belt 27 is rotated by a motor (not 
shown). Thus, the rotational speed of the shaft 23, and, hence, those of 
the feed rollers 20 and the stopper rollers 24 are controlled. A gear 28 
is secured to the shaft 23 between the two feed rollers 20, 20. The gear 
28 is meshed with a gear 30 rotatably mounted to an arm 29 which is 
pivotally supported about the shaft 23. A cam 31 is supported by the arm 
29 coaxially with the gear 30 at the side of the gear 30. The cam 31 
rotates together with the gear 30. A rubber roller 33 engaging with the 
cam 31 and pick-up rollers 34 made of a rubber of a high coefficient of 
friction for providing a transporting force on the bills and serving as 
pick up means thereof are secured to a freely rotatable shaft 32 mounted 
on the arm 29. The pick-up rollers 34 are so arranged that they abut 
against a bill B at the longitudinal central portion of the bill when it 
is fed by the pick-up rollers 34. When the gear 28 rotates one revolution, 
the cam 31 abuts against the rubber roller 33 by a predetermined 
rotational angle to thereby intermittently rotate the pick-up rollers 34. 
In other words, the feed rollers 20, the stopper rollers 24 and the 
pick-up rollers 34 are synchronously driven with each other by the action 
of the cam 31 as the shaft 23 rotates. A detecting lever 81 for detecting 
the existence of a bill beneath the pick-up rollers 34 is pivotally 
mounted on the arm 29. One end of the detecting lever 81 is disposed to 
abut against the surface of a bill while the other end is coupled to a 
switch 82 to thereby switch between the ON-OFF condition by the pivoting 
movement of the detecting lever 81. The switch 82 is turned ON and rotates 
the shaft 23 when a bill is present on a pushing plate 62 which is 
described later. 
Rollers 72 serving as first deformation regulating means of the bills are 
further provided on arm portions 29a of the arm 29 to thereby abut against 
the bill B at both longitudinal side portions thereof when the bills are 
fed. The rollers 72 are driven in the same manner as the central pick-up 
rollers 34. In other words, each of the side rollers 72 is intermittently 
driven in synchronism with the pick-up rollers 34 through a gear 35, a cam 
36 and a rubber roller 37 rotatably mounted on the side of each arm 
portion 29a. In this embodiment, guide rollers 39 serving as second 
deformation regulating means of the bills are also rotatably mounted on 
the tip end of each arm portion 29a of the arm 29. The guide rollers 39 
are disposed at the rear side in the feeding direction of the bill with 
respect to the pick-up rollers 34, and when the bills are fed by the 
pick-up rollers 34, they come into contact with the bill B at a level 
substantially equal to or higher than the surface of the pick-up rollers 
34 contacting the bill B. Thus, the guide rollers 39 prevent the forward 
inclination toward the feeding direction of the bill due to the swelling 
effect of the stack of the bills when the pick-up rollers 34 pressingly 
come into contact with the stack of the bills, so that the stability of 
the attitude of the stack of the bills is maintained. 
The positions of the pick-up rollers 34 are obtained by detecting the 
position of the other end of the arm 29, which is pivotally mounted on the 
shaft 23, by means of a sensor such as a photosensor 40. The ON-OFF signal 
from the photosensor 40 is applied through a control circuit 41 to a 
driving motor 42 such as a stepping motor. In the vicinity of the 
photosensor 40, a stopper 43 is provided which defines the lower limit of 
the pick-up rollers 34. 
The arm 29 is coupled to a spring 44 for rotating the same in the 
counterclockwise direction about the shaft 23. By the action of the spring 
44, the pick-up rollers 34, the rollers 72 and the guide rollers 39 are 
pressingly abutted against the bills B stacked in the receiving station 
such as the cash box 11 and the classified money boxes 9, 10. The arm 29 
is provided with a roller 46 at the end portion where is opposite to the 
pick-up rollers 34 and the like with respect to the shaft 23, and the 
roller 46 is engages a cam 45 driven by other driving means, not shown. 
The arm 29 is swung to the position shown in FIG. 5 by the action of the 
cam 45. Stopper 47 supported by the frame 22 and serving as an arresting 
means for the stacked bills is connected to the arms 29 through links 48. 
Thus, the stopper 47 swings together with the arm 29 by the swinging 
movement thereof. It is evident that the pressing force on the bills B may 
also be obtained by utilizing the weight of the arms 29 and the members 
supported thereby instead of the spring 44. 
Arms 49 for pushing back the bill are provided near the position where the 
feed rollers 20 opposingly fit or mesh with the gate rollers 25. The arms 
49 are mounted on a rotatable shaft 50 and serve to return the bill 
sandwiched between the feed rollers 20, the stopper rollers 24 and the 
gate rollers 25 to the receiving station at the time when the taking-out 
of the bills terminates. The shaft 50 is rotated by driving means (not 
shown) such as a DC motor. 
A shaft 51 is rotatably supported by the frame 22 in parallel to the shaft 
23. The shaft 51 is driven by a motor (not shown). An arm 52 is rotatably 
supported on the shaft 51. Shafts 53 are mounted on the tip end of the arm 
52 in the cantilever fashion. A vane-wheel type stacking wheel 54 serving 
as bill receiving and guiding means is rotatably mounted on each shaft 53. 
Each of the stacking wheels 54 is rotated by the engagement of a gear 55 
secured to the shaft 51, an intermediate gear 56 provided on the arm 52 
and a gear 57 mounted integrally on the stacking wheel 54. 
A plurality of vanes 54A for receiving the bills are mounted on the 
circumference of each vane-wheel type stacking wheels 54 with equiangular 
spaced relation, and the bills fed out from a transporting passage (not 
shown) are clamped between rollers 58, 59 and pushed in between adjacent 
two vanes 54A of the vane-wheel type stacking wheel 54. Since the arm 52 
is pivotable with respect to the shaft 51, each stacking wheel 54 can be 
pivotingly moved in the same manner as the pick-up rollers 34. The 
movement of the arm 52, i.e., the movement of the stacking wheels 54 is 
detected by a sensor such as a photosensor 60 positioned opposite against 
the end of the arm 52. The ON-OFF signal issued by the photosensor 60 is 
fed to a motor 42 through a control circuit 61 in order to control the 
level of the pushing plate 62. A stopper 67 is provided in the vicinity of 
the photosensor 60, which defines the lower limit of the stacking-wheel 
54. As shown in FIG. 5, the bills B transported and received by the 
stacking wheels 54 are fed toward the side of the receiving station as the 
stacking wheels 54 rotate and are separated from the stacking wheels 54 
when the respective bill B abuts against the stoppers 47. 
The pushing plate 62 receives the bills B in the receiving station. The 
pushing plate 62 is supported by a guide rod 63 and a screw shaft 64 
mounted on the frame 22, and is driven in the upward and downward 
direction. In other words, when the rotation of the driving motor 42 is 
transmitted to the screw shaft 64 through a belt 65, the screw shaft 64 is 
rotated in the one direction or the reverse direction to thereby push a 
nut 66 engaging therewith to move the pushing plate 62 upwardly or 
downwardly. 
The operation for taking out the bills B stacked in the receiving station 
will first be described by referring to FIG. 4. 
In the taking out of the bills B stacked in the receiving station, the arm 
29 is set in the substantially horizontal position by the cam 45 and the 
roller 46. At this time, the detecting lever 81 mounted on the arm 29 is 
moved upwardly by the bill or bills B to thereby put the switch 82 in the 
ON position and the shaft 23 is rotated. The guide rollers 39 mounted on 
the tip ends of the arm portions 29a of the arm 29 come into contact with 
the uppermost bill B stacked in the receiving station to thereby suppress 
the upward swelling of the stack of the bills B at the rear side thereof 
which is opposite to the side at which they are fed. In the similar 
manner, the rollers 72 at both sides of the receiving station come into 
contact with the sides of the uppermost bill B of the stack, thereby 
suppressing the upward swelling of the both longitudinal sides of the 
bills B. 
When the feed rollers 20 are subsequently rotated by the rotation of the 
shaft 23, the power from the gear 28 secured to the shaft 23 is 
transmitted to the cam 31 to thereby intermittently rotate the pick-up 
rollers 34 in synchronism with the feed rollers 20. As a result, the 
uppermost bill B in the receiving station is fed into the separating and 
feeding portion formed by the feed rollers 20, the stopper rollers 24 and 
the gate rollers 25. At this time, if a plurality of bills B are 
simultaneously fed into the separating and feeding portion, they are 
separated from each other and fed out in the downstream direction by the 
frictional resistance of the gate rollers 25. 
As the separation and feeding of the bills B decreases the amount of the 
bills between the pick-up rollers 34 and the pushing plate 62, the pick-up 
rollers 34 gradually rotate in the counterclockwise direction about the 
shaft 23, and the arm 29 including the pick-up rollers 34 also rotate in 
the counterclockwise direction. Thus, the photosensor 40 is put in the ON 
condition, and the driving motor 42 is actuated to rotate the screw shaft 
64 through the driving belt 65, so that the pushing plate 62 is raised and 
the bills B are urged against the pick-up rollers 34. As the pushing plate 
62 is raised, the arm 29 is rotated in the clockwise direction. When the 
arm 29 is rotated to the predetermined position, the photosensor 40 is 
placed in the OFF condition, and the pushing plate 62 is stopped. As 
described above, since the pick-up rollers 34 press the bills B with a 
substantially constanc force, and, further, since the operating height of 
the stacked bills can be always maintained within a determined range with 
respect to the separating and feeding portion formed by the feed rollers 
20, the stopper rollers 24 and the gate rollers 25, misfeeding never 
occurs and the stable operation of the taking out the bills B can always 
be achieved. 
When all the bills B on the pushing plate 62 have been fed out, the tip of 
the detecting lever 81 falls in a hole portion (not shown) on the pushing 
plate 62 to thereby render the switch 82 in the OFF position. Thus, the 
driving means (not shown) coupled to the shaft 23 is stopped and also the 
rotation of the pick-up rollers 34, the feed rollers 20 and the stopper 
rollers 24 are stopped, thereby terminating the operation of taking out of 
the bills. 
At the time when the operation of taking out of the bills terminates, a 
bill is held sandwiched between the feed rollers 20, the stopper rollers 
24 and the gate rollers 25. Under these conditions, it is impossible to 
stack the bills B in the receiving station by means of the stacking 
wheels. Therefore, the previously described returning operation for 
returning the bills B sandwiched between the feed rollers 20, the stopper 
rollers 24 and the gate rollers 25 into the receiving station is carried 
out. 
The returning operation will be described hereinafter by referring to FIGS. 
4 and 5. The pushing plate 62 is first moved downwardly by a desired 
amount by the driving motor 42. Then, the arm 29 is rotated by the 
rotation of the cam 45 to retract the pick-up rollers 34, the rollers 72 
and the guide rollers 39 upwardly. Under these conditions, the feed 
rollers 20 and the stopper rollers 24 are rotated in the direction 
opposite to that in which they are rotated when the taking out of the 
bills is effected. Thus, the bill sandwiched between the feed rollers 20, 
the stopper rollers 24 and the gate rollers 25 is moved back into the 
receiving station. In order to carry out the returning operation of the 
bill more positively, the arm 49 for pushing back the bill is rotated in 
the counterclockwise direction from the position indicated by the solid 
line in FIG. 4, so that the bill sandwiched between the feed rollers 20, 
the stopper rollers 24 and the gate rollers 25 is returned into the 
receiving station positively. 
Next, the operation for stacking the bills B into the receiving station 
will be explained. 
The arm 29 having the pick-up rollers 34, the rollers 72 and the guide 
rollers 39 is rotated around the shaft 23 to a position where the outer 
circumference of the guide rollers 39 provided at the tip end of the arm 
29 cannot interfere with the stacking operation of the stacking wheel 54, 
namely, at the inside of the disc of the stacking wheel 54. Therefore, the 
bills B fed between the vanes 54a are prevented from abutting against the 
guide rollers 39. 
At this time, the stopper 47 is already set to a position in front of the 
feed rollers 20 due to the above-mentioned rotation of the arm 29. Then 
the pushing plate 62 is moved upwardly, so that the stacking wheels 54 are 
pushed upwardly to rotate about the shaft 51. The photosensor 60 arranged 
in opposing relationship to one end of the arm 52 is put in the ON 
condition and feeds the signal to the control circuit 61 which in turn 
applies a signal to reverse the motor 42. Thus, the pushing plate 62 is 
moved downwardly. On account of this downward movement of the pushing 
plate 62, the arm 52 is rotated in the counter-clockwise direction, so 
that the photosensor 60 is put in the OFF condition and the pushing plate 
62 is stopped. 
By the operations described above, the initial position of the bills B is 
determined regardless of existence or non-existence or a greater or a 
lesser amount of the stacked bills on the pushing plate 62. 
Under these conditions, the stacking operation of the bills B is commenced. 
The stacking wheels 54 are rotated in the counterclockwise direction in 
FIG. 5 in synchronism with the feeding of the transporting means, and the 
respective bills B nipped between the transporting rollers 58, 59 are 
pushed into the stacking wheels 54. The bill B is held and rotatingly 
transported by the stacking wheels 54 until it engages with the stoppers 
47. The respective bills B abut successively against the stopper 47 to 
thereby move apart from the stacking wheels 54, and they continue to be 
successively stacked on the pushing plate 62 or on the previously stacked 
bills B on the pushing plate 62. During the above operation, the pushing 
plate 62 is held stationary. However, as the amount of the stacked bills B 
increases to thereby push the stacking wheels 54 upwardly, the arm 52 is 
rotated in the clockwise direction to actuate the photosensor 60. By the 
ON signal from the photosensor 60, the driving motor 42 is actuated to 
move the pushing plate 62 downwardly. As the pushing plate 62 descends, 
the arm 52 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction to thereby put the 
photosensor 60 in the OFF condition. As a result of this, there is 
provided an appropriate space between the stacking wheels 54 and the 
stacked bills B or a condition of a stack having a slight pressing force 
such that the respective bills B can be pushed in by the clamping force of 
the stacking wheels 54 and stacked successively. In other words, when the 
bills B are stacked to such an amount that the stacking wheels 54 are 
forcibly pushed up, the pushing plate 62 is moved downwardly, thereby 
always maintaining the condition under which the bills B are stacked in 
the stable state. 
When the bills B are to be successively taken out from the receiving 
station after the series of stacking operations of the bills terminates, 
the pick-up rollers 34, the rollers 72, the guide rollers 39 and the 
stoppers 47 are moved onto the upper surface of the stack of the bills B 
to thereby permit the bills to be successively taken out. The above 
described taking out operation of the bills B is repeated. In the taking 
out operation, since the bills B are regulate their deformation due to the 
upward swelling at both sides thereof by virtue of the rollers 72 disposed 
at the sides of bills B, the interference between the end of the bill and 
the guide means at the separating and feeding portion of the bill can be 
reduced. Further, since the rollers 72 are rotationally driven, a large 
transporting force can be given to the bills. And, since the upward 
swelling deformation at the rear side of the bills is suppressed by the 
guide rollers 39, the position of the bills can be maintained constant to 
thereby permit the bills to be picked up toward the separating and feeding 
portion in the stabilized condition. In other words, the interference of 
the bills with other guide members located thereabove can be reduced to 
thereby decrease the resistance to the transportation of the bills. As a 
result, misfeeding or skew feeding of the bills can be prevented. 
In the above described embodiment, the pick-up rollers 34, the rollers 72 
and the guide rollers 39 are retracted from the operational position when 
stacking the bill. The vane-wheel type stacking wheels also, however, may 
be retracted from the operational position thereof when taking out the 
bills. 
In the above described embodiment, the rollers 72 are positively rotated by 
a driving system. However, the rollers 72 may be also an idle running 
structure without being coupled to a driving system as shown in FIG. 6. 
Although the embodiment of FIG. 6 an idling structure, similar 
effectiveness can be achieved as that obtained by the previously described 
embodiment. The size of the apparatus can be made more compact due to 
elimination of the driving system while the cost can be lowered. Further, 
when the rollers 72 are made of a material having a low coefficient of 
friction with respect to the bills, they may be a stationarily supported 
structure instead of the idle running structure. Further, a plane guide 
means may be used instead of the rollers in order to achieve similar 
effectiveness. 
In the above described embodiment, the positions of the pick-up rollers 34, 
the rollers 72, the guide rollers 39 and the stacking wheels 54 are 
detected by two-value control action. However, three-value control action 
for detecting the upper and lower limit positions may also be effected to 
control the pressing force. Further, the positions of the pick-up rollers 
34 and the stacking wheels 54 and the pressing force may be continuously 
controlled by using a continuous control system. In the above described 
embodiment, the stacking wheels 54 are made pivotable and the stacked 
bills are moved downwardly according to the ON-OFF position of the 
photosensor 60 when the bills are being stacked. Instead of the above, it 
is also possible to fix the arm 52 of the stacking wheels 54 stationary 
and to detect the height of the bills being stacked to thereby move the 
stacked bills downwardly. 
The above described embodiment has been described as having the structure 
in which the bills are stacked or fed out horizontally. However, it is 
evident that the present invention is also applicable to the case wherein 
the bills are handled in the vertical position. 
In each of the embodiments described above, the paper sheets are described 
as being the bills. However, it is clear that similar effectiveness can be 
obtained when slip and other paper sheets are handled. 
According to the present invention, since the stacked paper sheets 
including those having folds and broken portions can be separated and fed 
out always with a constant pressing force by the friction picking means 
and the separating and feeding means, the performance of taking out of the 
paper sheets can be enhanced.