Exhibit 1 

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(12) United States Patent 

Dobbins 

US007779983B2 

US 7,779,983 B2 

*Aug. 24, 2010 

(10) Patent N0.: 

(45) Date of Patent: 

(54) 

(75) 

(73) 

(*) 

(21) 

(22) 

(65) 

(63) 

(60) 

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(58) 

TWO DOOR ELECTRONIC SAFE 

Inventor: Bob M. Dobbins, Villanova, PA (US) 

Assignee: Ellenby Technologies, Inc., Woodbury 

Heights, NJ (US) 

Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 

patent is extended or adjusted under 35 

U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. 

This patent is subject to a terminal dis 

claimer. 

Appl. N0.: 12/403,029 

Filed: Mar. 12, 2009 

Prior Publication Data 

US 2009/0166152 A1 Jul. 2, 2009 

Related US. Application Data 

Continuation of application No. 10/912,753, ?led on 

Aug. 5, 2004, noW Pat. No. 7,516,832. 

Provisional application No. 60/496,515, ?led on Aug. 

20, 2003. 

Int. Cl. 

G07F 7/04 (2006.01) 

US. Cl. ..................................... .. 194/206; 194/350 

Field of Classi?cation Search ............... .. 194/206, 

194/350; 49/33, 37439, 54, 142, 306, 307, 

49/472, 501; 109/2, 24.1, 53, 67 

See application ?le for complete search history. 

(56) References Cited 

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 

1,241,279 A 9/1917 Pyle 

5,202,825 A 4/1993 Miller et :11. 

5,615,625 A 4/1997 Cassidy et a1. 

5,616,902 A 4/1997 Cooley et a1. 

5,653,436 A 8/1997 ZouZoulas 

5,740,897 A 4/ 1998 Gauselmann 

6,067,530 A 5/2000 Brooks, Jr. et a1. 

6,123,327 A * 9/2000 Holland-Letz et a1. 271/409 

6,328,208 B1 12/2001 Artino et :11. 

6,443,359 B1 9/2002 Green et a1. 

6,941,274 B1 9/2005 Ramachandran et a1. 

2002/0100399 A1* 8/2002 Young ..................... .. 109/241 

2006/0021848 A1 2/2006 Smith 

* cited by examiner 

Primary Examinerilohn Q. Nguyen 

Assistant ExamineriMark Beauchaine 

(74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiPriest & Goldstein, PLLC 

(57) ABSTRACT 

A tWo door electronic safe is described Wherein a bill accep 

tor, as Well as other electronic control circuitry, and a ban 

knote canister are partitioned in ?rst and second compart 

ments With access by ?rst and second access doors, 

respectively, so that a service call can be made to service the 

bill acceptor or other electronics Without having to alloW 

access to the banknote canister thereby facilitating service 

calls and alloWing the separation of the service call function 

from the cash collection function. 

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets 

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US. Patent Aug. 24, 2010 Sheet 1 of5 US 7,779,983 B2 

/ 

FIG. 1 

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/ 

n _ _ _ 

A a , 

/ m 

140 

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US. Patent Aug. 24, 2010 Sheet 2 of5 US 7,779,983 B2 

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US. Patent Aug. 24, 2010 Sheet 4 of5 US 7,779,983 B2 

161x 

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US. Patent Aug. 24, 2010 Sheet 5 of5 US 7,779,983 B2 

FIG. 4 

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US 7,779,983 B2 

1 

TWO DOOR ELECTRONIC SAFE 

The present application claims the bene?t of US. applica 

tion Ser. No. 60/496,515 ?led Aug. 20, 2003 Which is incor 

porated by reference herein in its entirety. 

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 

The present invention relates generally to advantageous 

aspects of an improved electronic drop safe. More particu 

larly, the present invention relates to such a safe With separate 

access to a serviceable electronics area and a stored currency 

area of the safe. 

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 

The use of electronic drop safes in applications in Which 

cash is a signi?cant payment media results in increased secu 

rity for cashiers and store managers, as Well as, reducing the 

risk of robbery or theft of the cash stored in such safes. There 

are a number of products on the market, such as the Ellenby 

Technologies, Inc. CashTrak Electronic SafeTM. Although 

this class of safe is not considered a security safe since there 

are openings in the unit to alloW access to currency or bills, it 

is effective in securing both the currency and the employees 

handling currency in attended locations. Such an electronic 

safe typically uses an electronic bill acceptor Which accepts 

currency and stacks the currency inside the safe. The safe’s 

electronic controller keeps track of the amount of currency 

deposited, Who deposited the currency, and When it Was 

deposited. In addition to the security provided by these prod 

ucts, the cost is also justi?ed by the management time saved, as money does not have to be sorted and counted by the 

manager. The electronic safe provides the reporting required 

to give the manager all the information required. Many of 

these safes are tied to a back room system or point of sale 

(POS) system and the information is directly transferred to 

the counting room, bank, or company headquarters as 

required by the particular application. 

A more detailed understanding of the operation of one such 

electronic safe can be found in US. patent application Ser. 

No. 09/960,595 ?led Sep. 21, 2001 and assigned to the 

assignee of the current invention Which is incorporated herein 

by reference in its entirety. 

One of the advantages of this class of electronic drop safe 

is its small siZe. Their small siZe alloWs them to be distributed 

or placed so that each cashier or POS system in a facility has 

one nearby. It is likely therefore for several of these safes to be 

located in a facility. A signi?cant disadvantage of these safes 

is that in the event of a failure or bill jam, the electronic safe 

is out of service and cashiers either have to use another safe 

thus sloWing doWn the time to complete a transaction or 

Worse, a cashier may be forced to leave excess cash in the cash 

draWer. Of course, such a nonsecure buildup of cash, defeats 

the purpose of the electronic safe. 

Adding to the problem is that unless the facility has the 

technical expertise to service the safe, an outside service 

provider has to be contacted to repair or replace the defective 

component. In many cases, the problem is centered on the bill 

acceptor as it has the only moving parts and suffers from Wear. 

The high volume of bills many of these electronic safes 

receive Will result in expected Wear and tear issues, and pre 

ventive maintenance may typically be expected in six months 

to a year. 

Even if repair or replacement can be done by the staff on 

premises, the current generation of electronic safes requires 

the safe to be opened to provide access to the bill acceptor and 

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other electronic components that may be internal to the safe. 

This present arrangement has several problems. First, open 

ing the safe door alloWs access to the cash. At the very least, 

the service person Will have to Wait to have a manager present 

to insure the money remains secure. Second, in many cases, 

just opening the door signals the electronic controller of the 

safe that a “collection” is being made. That is, that the money 

is being collected. In order to maintain the integrity of the 

system, the money Will have to be collected in actuality at this 

time even if it is not a scheduled collection time. Such 

unscheduled collections result in cash sitting in the manager’ s 

o?ice, or being put in another safe on the premises. If an 

armored carrier service is used and is responsible for collect 

ing and counting all the cash, that service may have to be 

called to make an unscheduled and expensive pickup. Alter 

natively, the service person Will have to schedule his or her 

service visit to coincide With availability of the appropriate 

manager, to coincide With a pickup of an armored carrier 

service, or the like, to have access to the safe for cash collec 

tion. 

There are also other disadvantages of the current typical 

approach. These include the typical requirement that the 

keeper of the safe key be present When a service person 

arrives. The control of keys of course is critical to the security 

and accountability of the system. Even if an electronic lock is 

used and a code is used to access the safe, the keeper of the 

code is required to be present. Usually, this person is a man 

ager or the collection service. Many retail operations require 

service to their equipment in a timely manner. Equipment 

going out of service impacts their business. It is not uncom 

mon for a service company to have to respond Within a day 

and in as little time as four hours. The current service issues as 

described above makes such rapid response dif?cult or even 

impossible. If the manager or collection service must also be 

present for a service person to have access to the safe, the 

available time for service is usually limited to the Working or 

available hours of the manager or collection service. Typi 

cally, this period is during normal daytime Working hours. 

Unfortunately, this period is also When these retail outlets are 

busiest. Such daytime access to the electronic safes by service 

persons disrupts normal business operation. 

In addition to forcing access to the currency and the result 

ing complications as discussed above, most of the electronic 

safes manufactured today require tools to disassemble the bill 

acceptor from the safe and therefore it takes some time to 

complete a service call at the safe. 

As discussed above, the security of current electronic safes 

is limited by the requirement that the bills are fed through an 

opening in the safe. In the event a thief Wants access, this 

opening is the obvious place to attempt to gain access. Even if 

not successful, destroying the bill acceptor in an attempt to 

gain access results in a costly repair. The bill acceptor is the 

most costly component in the electronic safe. Peripheral dam 

age to the safe box and other components adds to the cost of 

the repair. 

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 

Among its several and varied aspects, one objective of the 

current invention is to provide an electronic drop safe With 

separate access to the electronic components of the safe 

including the bill acceptor, on the one hand, and to the cassette 

housing the collected currency, on the other. 

Another objective of the current invention is to provide an 

electronic drop safe in Which service personnel’s access to 

serviceable components is isolated or separated from access 

to collected currency stored in the electronic drop safe. 

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US 7,779,983 B2 

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Yet, another objective of the current invention is to provide 

different electronic or mechanical keying for service person 

nel access from the keying for cash collection. 

Another objective of the current invention is to provide an 

electronic drop safe With easy access and removal of service 

able components. 

Yet, another objective of the current invention is to provide 

an electronic drop safe With easy access and quick removal of 

the cash canister. 

It is also an objective of the current invention to alloW 

access to the bill acceptor Without access to collected cash for 

clearing of bill jams often Without the use of tools. 

Another objective of the current invention is to provide 

increased security against theft of the cash canister by elimi 

nating the bill entry holes from the cash canister access door. 

A further objective of the current invention is to provide 

access to the cash canister Without alloWing access to the 

electronics. 

Other features and advantages of the present invention are 

described further beloW and Will be readily apparent by ref 

erence to the folloWing detailed description and accompany 

ing draWings. It being recogniZed that the claims de?ne the 

invention, and a given embodiment according to the claims 

may accomplish none, one, or several of the above discussed 

objectives more or less successfully, and that such objectives 

should not be seen as critical or essential absent their embodi 

ment in the claims. 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 

FIG. 1 shoWs a perspective vieW of a presently preferred 

embodiment of an electronic drop safe in accordance With the 

present invention; 

FIG. 2A shoWs the electronic drop safe With its access 

doors open; 

FIG. 2B shoWs another vieW of the electronic drop safe 

With its access doors open; 

FIG. 3 shoWs the electronic drop safe With only the service 

access door open; and 

FIG. 4 shoWs the electronic drop safe With only the cash 

access door open. 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 

Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic drop safe 100 in accor 

dance With the present invention is shoWn in a perspective 

vieW. The safe 100 is typically made from 1/s" to 1A" steel With 

the doors constructed from 1A1" to 1/2" steel. The siZe of the safe 

is designed so that it Will conveniently ?t under a counter near 

a cash register or POS terminal, although any convenient 

location is suitable. In a presently preferred embodiment, the 

safe height Will be less than 20", its Width about 6", and its 

depth about 15". 

The electronic drop safe 100 is designed to be bolted in 

place With the bolts extending up into the safe from the 

?ooring or base cabinetry. For this purpose, the safe base has 

multiple bolt clearance slots 190 and 191 best seen in FIGS. 

2A and 2B. It Will be recogniZed that other methods of mount 

ing the safe can be used, and the particular approach to mount 

ing does not serve as a limitation of this patent. 

The electronic drop safe 100 is equipped With at least tWo 

doors 101 and 102 as shoWn in FIG. 1. Doors 101 and 102 

provide independent access to each of the tWo major regions 

requiring access. Upper door 101 provides access to the bill 

acceptor module and safe electronics. Access thereto is con 

trolled by a lock 110. The lock 110 can suitably be either a 

mechanical lock requiring a key or an electronic lock requir 

ing a code, key or other access mechanism. Bill acceptor 

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intake 181 extends through the access door 101 and is the inlet 

for inserting bills to be stored in a secure cassette as described 

further beloW. 

The bill acceptor intake 181 Will typically include indicator 

lights 182 and 183 to both draW attention to the bill intake 

region, and to provide some feedback to the user that the bill 

acceptor is poWered and operational. The internal operation 

of the bill acceptor is outside the scope of this invention and 

several manufacturers provide suitable bill acceptor products. 

One such product is the MEI Cash?oW SC Series Bill Accep 

torTM product. 

The second loWer door 102 provides access to the cash 

canister. The operation and use of the cash canister Will be 

discussed in further detail beloW. The cash access door 102 

has its oWn lock 120 Which can be mechanical or electronic 

Which is generally keyed or coded differently than the lock 

110 in door 101. Door 102 is preferably designed to have 

minimal or no openings to make forced entry di?icult. 

In many cases, it is desirable to alloW the deposit of cash, 

checks, food stamps and the like Without using the bill accep 

tor entry 181. To such ends, an envelope drop slot 140 can be 

provided for this purpose as shoWn in FIG. 1. In a preferred 

embodiment, envelopes or items deposited through the enve lope drop slot 140 Will also presently be accessible through 

the cash access door 102. Of course, a separate door can be 

provided for access to the manually dropped items if so 

desired. 

The bill acceptor and other electronic components housed 

inside the safe 100 require poWer and control signals to oper 

ate. A cable access panel 150 is used to interface the internal 

components to poWer and other external components. Several 

types of interfaces can be provided and representative 

examples of these are shoWn in FIG. 1. Power for safe opera 

tion such as 120 VAC can be provided through an appropriate 

poWer connector that Would be provided through an opening 

1 63. In many cases, users of the electronic safe Will enter their 

identi?cation code through a separate control box located 

conveniently to the user. For example, the control box may sit 

on a checkout counter next to Where the store employee 

stands. The electronic interface to such a separate control box 

can be through a connector such as an R] 11 phone style jack 

mounted in hole 160 or through a connector such as a DB9 

computer style connector mounted in hole 161 or hole 162. 

Additional connections to peripheral devices such as a 

printer, a POS terminal or a backroom computer can also be 

made through connectors mounted in one of several openings 

such as the holes 160, 161, or 162. It should be clear that the 

number of openings provided for connectors can vary by 

application and need not be limited to those shoWn. It should 

also be clear that the external control box could include 

sophisticated electronics or be limited to a keypad and display 

orboth. Also, the display and keypad can be mounted atop the 

safe and interconnected to an internal controller through 

openings not shoWn. Additional techniques for providing 

control signals to alloW user access and peripheral interfaces 

are further described in US. patent application Ser. No. 

09/960,595 assigned to the assignee of the present invention. 

The access doors 101 and 102 are secured to the safe 100 

With the use of hinges 130 and 131, respectively. Care must be 

taken to insure the integrity of these hinges so that they do not 

alloW easy forced entry into the safe. The hinges used in a 

presently preferred embodiment are designed into the case of 

safe 100 so that the hinge pins are not accessible from outside 

the safe. 

Referring noW to FIG. 2A, the safe 100 of the current 

invention is shoWn With both doors 101 and 102 open. 

Mounted inside the safe is a bill acceptor unit 200 Which 

consists of three major sections. These major sections are a 

bill acceptor module 201, a mounting frame 202 and a cash 

canister 203. The mounting frame 202 is securely fastened 

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US 7,779,983 B2 

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into the safe body. Depending on the manufacturer of the bill 

acceptor, the mounting may vary, but is not critical to the 

current invention. Bill acceptor units most suitable to the 

current invention Will have a mounting frame, a bill acceptor 

module Which includes the bill inlet, and a cash canister or 

cassette module each separately accessible as described 

herein. Several manufacturers provide such products. 

Referring again to the bill acceptor mounting frame 202, 

the mounting of this module in safe 100 is arranged such that 

the bill acceptor module is separated from the cash canister 

module along a dividing plate Which is part of the mounting 

frame 202. This dividing plate is positioned by the safe design 

to be aligned With the bottom of the top door 101 and the top 

of the bottom door 102. Further, the cash access door 102 is 

provided With a reinforcement shelf 270 Which is designed to 

minimiZe the opening betWeen the bill acceptor module 201 

and the cash canister module 203 When the door 102 is closed. 

The bill acceptor module 201 can be removed form its 

frame 202 by lifting a rod 240 Which in its doWnWard position 

locks the bill acceptor module 201 in place inside slots 221. 

Once the rod 240 is lifted, the bill acceptor module can be 

removed by pulling outWard on the assembly. Once removed, 

the bill acceptor module 201 preferably alloWs complete 

access to the bill path for the purpose of cleaning or clearing 

jams Without the use of tools. Hence, once the bill acceptor 

module 201 is removed, it can easily be cleaned, cleared or 

replaced Without tools very quickly. 

The cash canister 203 is removable from the frame module 

202 by pulling outWardly on the cash canister module 203 

using its handle 204. It is replaceable by aligning the cash 

canister module 203 to guide rails, not shoWn, on the frame 

module 202 and pushing inWard until it snaps in place. The 

removal and replacement of the cash canister module 203 is 

fast and simple and requires no additional tools or skills. 

Referring noW to open door 101 in FIG. 2A, a preferred 

embodiment of the construction is described. The door 101 is 

made from a ?rst metal component 203 Which is typically 1/s" 

steel.A second metal component 206 is also made typically of 

1/s" steel. Thus the total door thickness is 1A" in the current 

example. Of courses other thicknesses and material can be 

used to achieve thicker or thinner total door material. The 

current tWo part design approach alloWs the various mounting 

studs shoWn typically as lock 210 mounting studs 207 and 

hinge 230 mounting studs 208 to be mounted into the second 

metal component 206 Without having access from the outside 

of the safe as these studs are covered by the ?rst metal com 

ponent 205. Thus, Whether PEM studs, bolted standoffs or 

Welded standoffs are used to achieve the studs shoWn, these 

potential access points are not discemable by a vandal from 

the outside of the safe. The ?rst metal component 205 and the 

second metal component 206 can be Welded together at the 

openings in the second metal component 206 as shoWn at 

multiple positions 209.An opening 280 in the access door 101 

aligns With the bill inlet slot of the bill acceptor module 201 

When the door is closed. 

The hinges 230 and 231 are shoWn in their mounted posi 

tions on each ofaccess doors 101 and 102 in FIG. 2A. The half 

of each of these hinges connecting to the safe box is prefer 

ably Welded inside the safe box. The door halves of these 

hinges are shoWn mounted to their respective doors on the 

studs 208 discussed previously. This approach alloWs for 

manufacturing tolerances for each assembly by using nuts on 

the studs as shoWn. Additionally, doors can easily be replaced 

to alloW for other options, locks, or the like Without having to 

unbolt the entire safe. 

The assembly and mounting of the cash access door 102 is 

similar to that described above for bill acceptor access door 

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101. Each of the access doors 101 and 102 have locks 

mounted to them on the studs 207 described above. As men 

tioned earlier, the type of lock used is not restricted by the 

current invention and any suitable lock can be used. In a 

presently preferred embodiment, the locks used are manufac 

tured by LaGard Locks With mechanical key barrels manu 

factured by Medeco Locks. 

Referring noW to FIG. 2B, another perspective vieW of the 

safe 100 of the current invention is shoWn. Each of doors 101 

and 102 Will close resting on rail or stop 290. Mounted to rail 

290 are lock protectors 291 and 292. These lock protectors 

shield the locking tongues of each of locks 210 and 220 

respectively. When locked, the shields prevent the use of tools 

from the top or front of the safe from retracting the locking 

tongues and opening the safe. 

The electronic components required to operate the elec 

tronic safe are shoWn mounted behind the bill acceptor access 

door 101. A housing 260 for the electronic components is 

shoWn mounted behind the bill acceptor module 201 and may 

be suitably mounted on the inside Wall using Velcro, not 

shoWn. Any easy disconnect mounting mechanism can be 

used to alloW easy removal of the electronic control module. 

The interface betWeen the module 201, the bill acceptor unit 

200 and the external components including the poWer input 

Will be connected through connection plate 250. Wiring 

cables and speci?c connectors are not shoWn and are not 

speci?c to the current invention. 

Referring to FIG. 3, the bill acceptor access door 101 is 

shoWn in its open position and the cash canister access door 

102 is shoWn in its closed position. The bill acceptor mount 

ing frame 202 can be seen as separating access to the bill 

acceptor module 201 from access to the cash canister module, 

Which is locked behind the closed cash canister access door 

102. Additionally, the reinforcement shelf 270 effectively 

blocks access to the cash canister by eliminating regions 

Wherein tools may be used to gain access When the bill accep 

tor access door 101 is open. 

The bill acceptor module 201 can be readily removed for 

service or replacement by pulling out this module once the 

release rod 240 is lifted. Replacing the bill acceptor module 

201 is achieved by simply pushing the unit back in on guide 

rails provided for that purpose. Control electronics, poWer 

supplies, and harnessing are all also housed in this upper 

region of the electronic safe. No currency is stored in this 

region of the electronic safe. Unlike conventional electronic 

safes, this unique con?guration alloWs servicing of the elec 

tronic safe through the bill acceptor access door 101 by ser 

vice personnel or anyone authoriZed to service the equipment. 

The key used to gain access to the upper region of the elec 

tronic crop safe 100, Whether it is mechanical or electronic is 

different from the key used to gain access to the cash canister 

door 102, insuring the security of cash in the safe. AuthoriZed 

service personnel With access to the cash acceptor access door 

201 can be alloWed to service the electronic safe Without 

having to ?rst secure or retrieve the collected money. This 

advantageous arrangement eliminates the requirement that 

the store manager or an armored collection service be called 

and their presence arranged before a service call on the equip 

ment can be made. This arrangement also alloWs service 

personnel to service equipment at their convenience, When 

ever the facility is accessible, Which can be up to 24 hours a 

day. 

FIG. 4 illustrates the safe 100 of the current invention With 

the cash canister access door 102 open and the bill acceptor 

access door 101 closed. The cash canister 203 is noW acces 

sible and a collection can be made. The cash canister 203 is 

removed by pulling on the handle 204. A replacement cash 

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canister can then be inserted by pushing the replacement cash 

canister 203 into the safe 100, so the canister 203 slides along 

the provided guide rails. The cash canister 203 snaps into 

place When fully inserted. The key used to gain access to the 

cash canister access door 102 Will be available only to those 

With authoriZation to collect the money. The authorized per 

son is usually the manager, an armored collection service, or 

the like. Of course, a lock can suitably be utiliZed as the lock 

220 Which can require tWo keys, a code and a key or tWo codes 

so that both a manager and an authorized person from the 

armored carrier service be present to gain access. Once the 

cash canister access door 102 is opened, not only is the cash 

canister 203 accessible, but also any envelops or funds depos 

ited through the envelope drop opening 140 are accessible. 

These envelopes or other deposited items Will be resting 

beloW the cash canister 203 for easy retrieval. The envelope 

slot can of course be a more sophisticated mechanism for 

accepting envelopes and the like, such as a motoriZed accep 

tor Which requires the cashier to enter their identi?cation 

before depositing the envelope. 

While the foregoing description includes details Which Will 

enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, it 

should be recogniZed that the description is illustrative in 

nature and that many modi?cations and variations thereof 

Will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the bene?t of 

these teachings. It is accordingly intended that the invention 

herein be de?ned solely by the claims appended hereto and 

that the claims be interpreted as broadly as permitted by the 

prior art. 

I claim: 

1. An electronic drop safe comprising: 

a bill acceptor for accepting bills mounted in a ?rst com 

partment Within a housing; 

a bill canister for storing bills mounted in a second com 

partment Within the housing, Wherein said bill canister is 

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30 

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located behind an access door, said access door having a 

lock Which must be opened to access the bill canister and 

isolating the bill acceptor from the bill canister When the 

access door is closed; and 

a reinforcement shelf positioned betWeen said ?rst com 

partment and said second compartment limiting the access to the canister When the door is closed. 

2. The electronic drop safe of claim 1 Where said lock can 

be mechanical or electronic. 

3. The electronic drop safe of claim 1 Where said reinforce 

ment shelf is incorporated on said access door. 

4. An electronic drop safe comprising: 

a bill acceptor mounted in a ?rst compartment Within a 

housing; and 

a bill canister for storing bills mounted in a second com 

partment Within the housing, Wherein said second com 

partment has a lockable door, Where said second com 

partment lockable door is provided With a shelf to limit 

access to the second compartment from the ?rst com 

partment When the lockable door is closed and locked. 

5. An electronic drop safe comprising: 

a bill acceptor for accepting bills mounted in a ?rst com 

partment Within a housing; 

a bill canister for storing bills mounted in a second com 

partment Within the housing, Wherein said bill canister is 

located behind an access door, said access door having a 

lock Which must be opened to access the bill canister and 

isolating the bill acceptor from the bill canister When the 

access door is closed, Where said access door is provided 

With a reinforcement shelf to limit the access to the bill 

canister When the bill acceptor is removed from the 

housing. 

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