Method of receiving and paying out bills

A method of receiving and paying out bills including the steps of providing a bill passage in about the central portion of an elongate casing that extends along one side of a bill receiving chamber having a bill payback: outlet; providing a bill conveying apparatus for conveying a bill delivered to said bill passage to a predetermined position for receiving it; utilizing a bill pushing member being capable of moving in a reciprocating motion across said passage to bill receiving chamber when the bill located at said predetermined position in said passage to be received, effects receiving of the bill by pushing it with a surface of said bill pushing member across from said passage; disengaging the rearmost bill from said bill receiving chamber by operating bill extracting apparatus in the reverse direction by a predetermined amount while said bill pushing member is activated causing it to extract away and pull out from a rearmost bill leading edge retainer which holds the remaining bills in position; and, operating the extracting apparatus in the forward direction to transport said extracted rearmost bill through said bill payback outlet to said bill conveying apparatus which is operated in reverse to direct it to the customer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A bill receiving and payout device used for a vending machine or a money exchanger consists generally of a bill discrimination device for discriminating whether a deposited bill is a true bill or a false one including the denomination thereof and a bill receiving device for receiving a bill which has been accepted as a true bill by the bill discrimination device. Known in the art are various bill receiving devices. A bill receiving device capable of paying out a once received bill per se is known. Also known is a bill receiving device capable of stacking bills of two different denominations separately. These prior art bill receiving devices having special functions have a common defect that they are obliged to adopt a relatively large-scale construction. In the bill receiving device capable of paying out a once received bill, for example, a large-scale bill payout mechanism is required. A bill receiving device capable of stacking bills of two different denominations separately, require separate receiving structures and mechanisms for their respective denominations.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,523 describes a bill receiving device for storing two types of bills, one on each side of a central bill passageway and uses a bill pushing member to reciprocate from one side of the central passage to stack one type of bill, or from the other direction to stack the other type of bill. A separate motor, gear and roller arrangement is attached to and transported with the bill pushing member for paying out a bill from at least one of the bill stacks is shown. A total of three motors and two solenoids are disclosed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a bill receiving device capable of dividing bills into two kinds, and separately storing the divided bills and paying out at least one specific denomination using a very simple and compact construction.

For achieving the above described object, the bill receiving device according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises a bill passage in about the central portion of an elongate casing that extends in a first direction along one side of a first bill receiving chamber having a bill payback outlet, and redirected around and extending in an opposite second direction along the second side of said first bill receiving chamber, provides a second bill receiving chamber extending along the outer side of the said passage second direction and across from and aligned with the said first bill receiving chamber, provides a bill conveying apparatus for conveying a bill delivered to said bill passage first or second directions to a predetermined position for receiving it, utilizes a bill pushing member for moving in a reciprocating motion across said passage first direction to said first bill receiving chamber when the bill is located at a predetermined position in said passage first direction to be received, effects receiving of the bill when pushing it with a surface of said bill pushing member across from said passage first direction, receives a bill in said second bill receiving chamber that is in a predetermined position in said passage second direction by pushing it with an extendable surface from said first bill receiving chamber by activating the said bill pushing member across from said passage first direction, and, activates a bill conveying member for moving the rearmost bill from said first bill receiving chamber through its said bill payback outlet to the said bill conveying apparatus operated in reverse to direct the said rearmost bill for paying back to the customer.

It is a further object of this invention to provide very reliable method for extracting a bill for payout by extraction, and determination of extraction of the rearmost bill out from a bill stack using an upper edge retainer/deflector and a rubber cam roller operating in a first direction, and then in a second direction.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a method of receiving and paying out bills comprises the steps of providing a bill passage in about the central portion of an elongate casing that extends in a first direction along one side of a first bill receiving chamber having a bill payback outlet, and redirected around and extending in an opposite second direction along the second side of said first bill receiving chamber, provides a second bill receiving chamber extending along the outer side of the said passage second direction and across from and aligned with the said first bill receiving chamber, provides a bill conveying apparatus for conveying a bill delivered to said bill passage first or second directions to a predetermined position for receiving it, utilizes a bill pushing member for moving in a reciprocating motion across said passage first direction to said first bill receiving chamber when the bill is located at a predetermined position in said passage first direction to be received, effects receiving of the bill when pushing it with a surface of said bill pushing member across from said passage first direction, receives a bill in said second bill receiving chamber that is in a predetermined position in said passage second direction by pushing it with an extendable surface from said first bill receiving chamber by activating the said bill pushing member across from said passage first direction, and, activates a bill conveying member for moving the rearmost bill from said first bill receiving chamber through its said bill payback outlet to the said bill conveying apparatus operated in reverse to direct the said rearmost bill for paying it back to the customer.

Another method of receiving and paying out bills comprises the steps of providing a bill passage in about the central portion of an elongate casing that extends along one side of a bill receiving chamber having a bill payback outlet, provides a bill conveying apparatus for conveying a bill delivered to said bill passage to a predetermined position for receiving it, utilizes a bill pushing member being capable of moving in a reciprocating motion across said passage to bill receiving chamber when the bill located at said predetermined position in said passage to be received, effects receiving of the bill by pushing it with a surface of said bill pushing member across from said passage, disengages the rearmost bill from said bill receiving chamber by operating bill extracting apparatus in the reverse direction by a predetermined amount while said bill pushing member is activated causing it to extract away and pull out from a rearmost bill leading edge retainer which holds the remaining bills in position, and, operates the extracting apparatus in thr forward direction to transport said extracted rearmost bill through said bill payback outlet to said bill conveying apparatus which is operated in reverse to direct it to the customer.

A method is shown providing a bill validator that is adaptable for bill payback by utilizing an attachable bill hopper module to fit between the bill stacker and the bill validator.

A simplified sectional side view drawing of the bill receiving and payout device20is shown inFIG. 1having a bill validation passage22with its associated sensors and circuitry placed the general location24for the validation of inserted bills. Within the elongate portion26of the device20, a validated bill is directed upward in a passage first direction28along the one side of a first bill receiving chamber30having a bill payback outlet32. The passage first direction28is redirected around at path34and extends in the opposite passage second direction36along the rear side of the first bill receiving chamber30. The second bill receiving chamber38extends along the outer side of the passage second direction36across from, and aligned with the first bill receiving chamber30. The bill conveying apparatus for conveying a bill to the passage first or second directions28or36is accomplished by belts (not shown) moved along the passageways by pulleys40through60which support the left portion of the bills. A corresponding set of pulleys and belts (not shown and directly behind) are located to support the right portion of the said bills. The space between the left and right belt supported edges is sufficient to transfer bills out from the bill passage way28or36and into the first or second bill receiving chamber30or38, respectively. A bill pushing member62(slightly less in width than the space between the bill supported edges in the passages) moves in a reciprocating motion across the passage first direction28to place a bill in the first bill receiving chamber30when the bill is positioned in front of the bill pushing member62, and is controlled by the scissor mechanism64and driven by the motor/gear reciprocating device (not shown) in location66. A bill is pushed in the second bill receiving chamber38when it is in a predetermined position in the passage second direction36by the bill pushing member70located at the rear of the first bill receiving chamber30. The bill pushing member70is moved by the bill pushing member62pushing the stacked bills of the first bill receiving chamber30with its projection72pushing the scissor mechanism74. This moves the pushing member70(which is slightly less in width than the unsupported central portion of the bill) to move the bill from the passage36and into the second receiving chamber38.

Typically only the lowest denomination bills are stacked in the first receiving chamber30for bill payback. This is provided by removing a rearmost stacked bill96(shown inFIG. 4in more detail) from the first bill receiving chamber30by moving it through the bill payback outlet32via the path78to the passages34,28and the bill validation passage22by operating the bill conveying apparatus in the reverse direction to convey the bill out to the bill inlet80for customer payback.

The driving rollers82and84are geared together with the conveying apparatus of first and second passages28and36by pulley40to convey the bill while in the validation passage22. The idler rollers86and88maintain a bill's contact with the driven pulley82when being moved between the passages28and22. Idler roller85maintains a bill's contact with driving roller84.

The cross sectional left side view of the preferred embodiment inFIG. 2shows further details of the bill inlet80, the conveying belt90with its pulleys40and42, and pressure rollers92and94. The conveyer belt90is directed around the pulleys and rollers40,42,92,94, to convey the bill along the passage first direction28. The second conveyor belt91is positioned for the redirected passage34and the opposite passage second direction36controlled by pulleys and rollers44through60. The pulleys82and84with pressure rollers86and88are geared with the driven pulley40to transport the bill between the bill inlet80(outlet) at the validation passage22and passage first direction28. The belts, pulleys and rollers for conveying the bill's right edge is directly behind the ones shown herein for the left side. The bill pushing member62connected to the scissor mechanism64(shown in repose position) is driven by the motor/gear reciprocating device in location66to transfer a bill from the passage first direction28to the first bill receiving chamber30. The press plate95is provided for pushing bills received in the bill receiving chamber30inwardly by the force of spring97.

InFIG. 3the scissor mechanism64is shown in the extended position moving its bill pushing member62to transfer a bill96into the first bill receiving chamber30which also pushes the spring loaded press plate95with its projection72to operate the scissor mechanism74at the rear of the receiving chamber30. This moves the pushing member70and will transfer a bill when it is conveyed to the passage36for transferring into the second receiving chamber38. The rollers98,100and102will extract the rearmost bill96to the path78as will be detailed next.

FIG. 4is a cross sectional left side view just past the left conveying belts showing the bill rollers for paying out bills from the first bill receiving chamber30. The separation cam roller98is geared with driving rollers100and102and geared with the payout motor located at the location108. During the first step for bill payback, the bill stack104is pushed against the upper bill retainer106by the pusher plate62(shown inFIG. 3) and places the rearmost bill96in close relationship to the separation cam roller98which has a contact surface which consists of a material of a large coefficient of friction such as rubber.

InFIG. 5the second step for bill payback occurs with the separation cam roller98rotating clockwise (together with rollers100and102) to engage and retract the upper portion of the rearmost bill96from between the bill stack104and the upper bill retainer106until it extends around and below it to break a light beam coming from the emitting surface109and entering the sensor surface110. This guarantees that the bill96edge97has been removed from between the upper bill retainer106and the bill stack104.

InFIG. 6the third step for bill back starts by rotating the separation cam roller98in the counterclockwise direction which moves the released upper edge of the bill96upward to enter between the roller100and its idler roller112. The upper bill retainer106serves to guide the upper edge of the extracted bill96that then continues upwards to the drive roller102and its idler roller114, and outwards through the passages78,34,28and into the validation passage22(shown inFIG. 2). The diverter gate116moves to open the path to the passage way34during payback by friction from the driving roller102, and close it during the time that the bills are being directed to the bill receiving chamber38(shown inFIG. 3). The conveying belts are operated in the reverse direction during the three steps of bill payback until the bill96extends out from the bill entrance80(FIG. 2) sufficiently to be received by the customer yet retained to prevent accidental discharge.

FIG. 7is a side view showing the modularity feature of the preferred embodiment with its center module118having the first bill receiving chamber30, with the payback and conveying provisions. The bill validation and stacking module120consists of the bill entry80, microprocessor, primary stacker plate62, conveyor assembly, interconnection fingers121and other associated components. The left module122is the bill receiving chamber38with its spring biased bill plate and has simple means to be attached to the center module118attachment fingers119. This feature provides for the conversion of the bill validator with bill payback to one without, by simply disconnecting the center module118, and connecting only a bill receiving module like the left module122. The right and left surfaces124and126of the center module118are at the passage first direction28along the one side of a first bill receiving chamber30having a bill payback outlet32, and the opposite passage second direction36along the rear side of the first bill receiving chamber30. When the center module118is not used, and the bill receiving module38is attached to the bill receiving and validation module120, only the passage first direction28is reinstated with the primary stacker plate62stacking the bills directly into the bill receiving module38. In this instance the bill receiving module may be of a larger expandable type.

Conversion from validating and stacking of bills only, to include the bill payback provision of module118, is likewise made very easily.

The forgoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by the details of the embodiments presented in this description. The above specification, examples provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the invention. Many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.