MEANS FOR CREASING SHEETS OF MATERIAL WHILE CONVEYING THEM

Abstract: A stack of bills or other sheets of paper, to be separated and stacked are fed to a conveyor system. The conveyor forms and creases the bills to form corrugations therein in such a way as to grossly increase the beam strength and thereby improve the handling and stacking of the bills.

Description: Method and Means for Separating and Stacking Bills and the Like There. have been numerous types of machines for separating stacks of sheets of paper for the purpose of counting, sorting or stacking. The sheets may include bank notes, checks, currency, food stamps, coupons and the like. One of the problems associated with the handling, conveying and stacking sheets of paper material is that some of the sheets have very low beam strength. This results in very poor handling characteristics. In most cases, the handling characteristics degrade as the material is used, folded or wrinkled. This is especially true of currency bills. Also, when papers sheets are worn, they tend to be torn if they are subjected to excessive stretching during the handling operation. It is an object of this invention to provide an improved method and means for handling sheets of paper, such as coupons, bills and notes. It is a further object of this invention to provide novel methods and means for treating sheets of paper to improve the handling and stacking of the sheets, especially when they are limp, torn, worn or folded. It is still a further object of this invention to provide improved methods and means for handling and stacking sheets of paper without tearing the sheets. It is still a further object of this invention to provide improved methods and means for stacking separated sheets of paper after they have been separated. In accordance with the present invention, sheets ofmaterial, such as currency notes, to be stacked are fed to a conveyor including two sets of conveyor belts. Each set of conveyor belts comprises a plurality of bands or narrow strips of belt which converge on the center line of the sheets as they are conveyed from a source to be stacked in a bin. The bands in the respective sets of belts complement and overlap each other as the sheets are conveyed. The sets of conveyor belts perform the flat sheets into semi-corrugated shapes before delivering them to a set of creaser rolls and finally to the stacker bin. The final creasing increases the beam strength of the sheets to improve their handling and stacking characteristics. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent and suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, from a reading of the following specification and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in cross-section, illus trating a conveyor system and stacker for sheets of paper or bills, in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the conveyor system and stacker illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a view taken along lines 4-4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a view taken along lines 5-5 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a view taken along lines 6-6 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 7 is a view partly in cross-section, illustrating another type of stacker bin which may be used with the present invention. Referring to Figs. 1 through 6 of the drawing, a conveyor system 10 is disposed to receive a plurality of separated bills 12 and 14, for example, from a suitable source or feed station and convey them to a stacker bin 16 where they are suitably stacked as illustrated by a stack of bills 18. The conveyor system 10 includes a top belt set including a plurality of band-like strips or belts driven by a pair of rollers 20 and 22. In like manner, a bottom belt set includes a plurality of band-like strips or belts on rollers 24 and 26 which are also suitably driven. As illustrated in Fig. 2, the top belt set or pulley system may include three belts or bands 28, 30, 32. The bottom belt set includes two belts or bands 34 and 36. The rollers 20, 22, 24 and 26 are moved in the direction of the arrows so that bills fed to the conveyor system are transported from a first station or source to a second station, such as the bin 16 used for stacking the bills 18. The bills, such as the bill 12, are delivered sufficiently close to the rollers 20 and 24 so as to be gripped by the top and bottom sets of belts being driven by the rollers 20, 22, 24 and 26. After the bills are gripped by the conveyor belts, they are conveyed, pre-shaped as they are being conveyed, and finally creased, in a manner to be described. As illustrated in Fig. 2, the outer belts 28 and 32 of the upper set of belts driven by rollers 20 and 22 converge toward each other as they leave the roller 20 and move toward the roller 22. The center band or belt 30 is maintained in a relatively straight line as it is moved from the roller 20 to the roller 22. The lower set of bands or belts 34 and 36 also converge toward each other as they leave the roller 24 and move toward the roller 26. The belts 34 and 36 converge inwardly toward the center or axis of the bill 14 in the same general direction as the belts 28 and 32. At the same time that the outer belts of the upper and lower sets of belts converge towards each other or towards the axis of the bill 14 in a generally horizontal plane, the upper and lower sets of belts also converge towards each other in a vertical plane as they move from rollers 20 and 24 to rollers 22 and 26. As the upper belts 28, 30 and 32 converge downwardly with respect to the lower belts 34 and 36, both sets of belts become aligned in the same horizontal plane when they reach the rollers 22 and 26. Thus the belts may be considered as converging towards the axis of the bill 14 in two directions. The roller 20 includes suitable grooves 29, 31 and 33 therein for receiving the bands or belts 28, 30, 32, respectively. The roller 24 also includes similar types of grooves (not illustrated) for receiving the belts 34 and 36. The roller 22 includes grooves 38, 40 and 42 for receiving belts 28, 30 and 32. The roller 26 also includes similar grooves illustrated in Fig. 6. The rollers 22 and 26 may be considered as creaser rollers and may be of smaller diameters than the rollers 22 and 24, although this is not absolutely necessary. As illustrated and mentioned in connection with Fig. 1, the belts on the rollers 20 and 24 converge toward each other in both the horizontal and vertical planes as they approach the creaser rollers 22 and 26. At the final position on the conveyor system 10, prior to the ejection of the bill 14, the bands 28, 30, 32, 34 and 36 of both pulley systems are in alignment with each other in the same horizontal plane between the creaser rollers 22 and 26, as illustrated in Fig. 6. Basically, sheets are fed between the upper and lower sets of conveyor belts which converge on the center line of the sheets on both axes. As the sheet, for example, sheet 14, is being transported it is deformed by the upper and lower sets of conveyor belts. As illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the upper belts 28, 30 and 32 push downwardly on the sheet 14 whereas the lower belts 34 and 36 push upwardly on the sheet 14. Because of the staggered relationship of the upper belts 28, 30 and 32 with respect to the lower belts 34 and 36, parts of the sheet 14 are pressed down whereas other parts in between are pressed up. This causes the sheets to be performed into semi-corrugated shapes as they are being transported. As illustrated in Fig. 2, because of the performing of the sheet 14 as it is being transported, the total width between the other edges gradually become less as they approach the creaser rollers 22 and 26. Referring particularly to Fig. 6, the top creaser roller 22 includes grooves 38, 40 and 42 therein for receiving the belts 28, 30 and 32,- respecti;vely. The bottom creaser roller 26 includes grooves 44 and 46 for receiving the belts 34 and 36 therein. The upper creaser roller 22 includes outer or larger diameter projecting areas 48, 50 and 52 which include the grooves 38, 40 and 42 therein. Smaller diameter recessed areas 54 and 56 are disposed between the adjacent projecting areas on either side. End portions 49 and 51 have the same diameters as the recessed areas 54 and 56. The bottom creaser roller 26 includes larger diameter projecting areas 58 and 60 for receiving the grooves 44 and 46 therein. A smaller diameter recessed area 62 is disposed between the projecting areas 58 and 60. Other recessed portions 64 and 66 are of the same diameters as the recessed area 62. End portions 61 and 63 are of the same diameters as the projecting areas 58 and 60. The creaser rollers 22 and 26 complement each other so that the recesses 54 and 56 of the roller ?2 are disposed to receive the projecting portions 58 and 60 of the roller 26. In like manner, projecting areas 48, .50 and 52 of the roller 22 extend into the recess areas 64, 62 and 66 of the roller 26. As illustrated, the outer ends 49 and 51 of the roller 22 are disposed relatively close to the outer ends 61 and 63 of the roller 26. The rollers 22 and 26 are disposed relatively close to each other. However, they do have a small space there-. between for receiving therebetween the preformed bills 14 to be creased. One of the rollers is normally fixed while the other is pivotally mounted. The pivotally mounted roller may be spring biased inwardly which permits multiple notes, thick notes or notes with staples, etc. to be transported. Also, stops are normally provided to limit movement of the pivotally mounted roller and prevent it from physically contacting the fixed roller, thus avoiding damage to the rollers. When the bill 14 reaches the point of ejection from the conveyor system 10 at the creaser rollers 22 and 26 illustrated in Fig. 6, it is somewhat corrugated in shape. This gives added stiffness to the bill making it much easier to handle and to stack. After the bill has passed through the creaser rollers 22 and 26, it passes into the stacking bin 16. The ejected bill is guided by a flexible guide means 68, which may be thin spring-like metal or plastic, which directs the bill downwardly toward the bottom wall 69 of the bin 16. The guide means 68 moves upwardly as the bills are piled progressively higher. A back stop element 70 is included in the bin to limit the forward movement of the bill to provide a neat stacking of the bills. It is noted that the bills are preformed or corrugated gradually prior to the final creasing operation. This results in the outer edges of the bills moving closer to the axis. This action in effect. makes more paper available for creasing within a small width. If the bills were subjected to the final creasing operation without this preforming, they would tend to tear as a result of stretching because no excess paper area to permit corrugation would be available. Referring to Fig. 7, another embodiment of the bill stacker bin is illustrated. The basic conveyor system is the same as that previously described. However, the bin arrangement permits the bills to be stacked on edge. The ejected bills are guided by a guide member 72 toward the wall 73 of the bin 74. A flexible hold back means 76 is employed to hold the bills down against the wall 73 of the bin. The hold back feature of the hold back means 76 assures high reliability when the bills are moved at relatively high feed rates. The flexible guide 72 steers and holds the bills behind the hold back 76, slows the bills down and snaps them out of the way of succeeding notes or sheets. The flexible guide 72 also prevents any of the bills or notes from falling back into the path of the oncoming notes. The hold back feature serves to hold the notes against the wall 73 of the bin after they clear the guide and promote easy stacking, especially when the bills are stacked on edge. While the conveyor system has been described as including three top conveyor belts and two bottom conveyor belts, it is apparent that the number of belts may differ depending upon the particular size and the number of corrugations desired in the bills. It is also apparent that either one of the top or bottom set of rollers may be driven with the other roller being a follower roller. The various motor means for moving the rollers are not illustrated since such details are well known to those skilled in the art. Many mechanical features well known to those skilled in the art are also not illustrated. For purposes of clarification, only the features directly related to the invention are shown in detail, with the many other features necessary to implement a system being well known to those skilled in the art. References to such terms as vertical and horizontal have been made with respect to the way the elements were illustrated on the drawing. These references were made for purposes of explanation. It is apparent that the positions of the elements may be different than those illustrated.

Claims: Claims: 1. Means for conveying sheets of material from a feed station to a utilization station comprising: (a) a pair of movable conveyor means for receiving said sheets and transporting them from said feed station to said utilization station, and (b) said conveyor means being disposed, to deform the sheets into semi-corrugated shapes as they are transported from said feed station to said utilization station. 2. Means for conveying as set forth in claim 1, wherein creaser means are provided to crease said bills prior to delivery to said utilization station. 3. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 2, wherein each of said conveyor means includes a first conveyor belt driven by a first pair of rollers and a second conveyor belt driven by a second pair of rollers. 4. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 3, wherein said creaser means includes a pair of creaser rollers comprising one roller from each of said first and second pairs of rollers, said creaser rollers being in close proximity with each other to receive said sheets therebetween to form them into corrugated shapes prior to delivering them to said utilization station including a bin for stacking. 5. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 4, wherein each of said first and second conveyor belts comprises a plurality of strips, with the strips of each of the belts being disposed in a staggered relationship with respect to the strips of the other belt, said strips of both conveyor belts converging towards each other as they move towards said pair of creaser rollers. 6. Means for conveying sheets as set forth in claim 5, wherein said first and second pairs of rollers include grooves for receiving said strips of said conveyor belts therein. 7. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 6, wherein the strips of both conveyor belts are in substantial alignment with each other when said sheets are received by said creaser rollers. 8. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 7, wherein the strips of each of said belts converges inwardly as they move from said feed station towards said pair of creaser rollers. 9. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 8, wherein the strips of said conveyor belts converge so as to collapse the cross-section of sheets prior to delivering them through said pair of creaser rollers. 10. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 9, wherein said bin for stacking said sheets received from said pair of creasers include flexible guide member to steer said sheets out of the way of succeeding sheets towards a wall of said bin and a flexible hold member to hold the stacked sheets of bills against the wall of said bin. 11. Means for conveying sheets of material as set forth in claim 10, wherein each of said creaser rollers include projecting portions and recessed areas disposed to complement recess areas and projections, respectively, in the other creaser roller, with the entire width of said sheets being finally creased in accordance with the shapes of said creaser rollers.

Inventors: BANTZ, GEORGE H.
Applicants: THE PERKIN-ELMER CORPORATION
Application year: 1981
Main classification: B65H29
IPC codes: B65H29, B65H31