Device for validating and accumulating bills and coins

Abstract: A device for validating and accumulating bills and coins, comprises fixed and movable chute mechanisms (6 and 8) forming therebetween a bill passage (3), magnetic heads (31, 32, 33) for validating bills passing through the bill passage, and head pressing rollers (34, 42) for pressing bills against the magnetic heads. A feature of this device is that, when a counterfeit bill is to be returned by reversing the travel of a bill conveying belt (10) constituting one part of the fixed chute mechanism (6), a mechanism automatically operates to move each head pressing roller (34,42) clear of the bill passage (3) thereby to prevent jamming of the bill. Another feature is that the driving shafts (14) respectively of the bill conveying belt (10) and of a coin conveying belt (11) are coaxially coupled by way of a one-way clutch (20), whereby when the bill conveying belt (10) is driven in reverse direction for rejection and return of a bill, the coin conveying belt (11) is stopped thereby to prevent reverse conveying of coins.

Description: This invention relates generally to a cash (bills and coins) discriminating and accepting device and more particularly to a device for validating and accumulating cash inserted thereinto in which a bill conveying belt and a coin conveying belt are provided separately, and the genuine/counterfeit character of each bill and coin thus inserted is discriminated, genuine cash being accumulated within the device. Various automatic cash-operated machines, such as automatic vending machines, change dispensing machines, game machines, and record-playing machines (hereinafter referred to as vending machines and the like), each of which, in the same machine, accepts both paper money or bills and coins, are widely used. In a vending machine of this type, a bill conveying belt and a coin conveying belt are provided in parallel in the part of the machine into which bills and coins are introduced. These belts are generally driven by an electric motor by way of a common driving shaft. In a machine of this type, each bill is clamped against the bill conveying belt by guide or pressing rollers at intermediate positions and is conducted inwardly through a bill passage. During this operation, the necessary discriminating inspection is carried out for each bill by a magnetic head, and genuine bills are ultimately conducted into a collecting box within the housing of the cash discriminating and accepting device within the machine so as to be accumulated in a stacked state. Counterfeit bills are occasionally used in such a cash discriminating and accepting device. In such a case, the counterfeit nature of the bill is detected, and thereafter the bill conveying belt is driven in the reverse direction in order to return the bill to the insertion opening. At this point a problem may be encountered in that the pressing rollers become an obstruction and cause the returned bill to become jammed. Another problem is that, when the direction of the bill conveying belt is reversed during the returning of a counterfeit bill, the coin conveying belt also moves in unison in the reverse direction, whereby coins are returned also. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a cash validating and accumulating device in which, by preventing a returned bill from becoming jammed at the point of the pressing rollers, the bill is returned smoothly to the insertion opening. According to the present invention there is provided a device for validating and accumulating bills, comprising means defining a bill passage, magnetic head means for validating bills passing through the bill passage, and roller means for pressing bills against the magnetic head means as the bills pass through the bill passage, characterised in that means are provided to move the roller means clear of the bill passage when a bill is not validated so that the bill can be rejected without becoming jammed due to obstruction by the roller means. Preferably the roller means comprises one or more rollers rotatably supported at one end region of a roller support arm. In addition it is preferred that the roller support arm is pivotally supported at an intermediate part thereof by a pivot shaft. Also it is preferred that the other end region of the roller support arm is coupled to the operating end of the plunger of an actuating solenoid which is arranged to operate to move the or each roller clear of the bill passage when a bill is not validated. When it is necessary to return an inserted bill back to the insertion opening, the actuating solenoid is energized to rotate the roller support arm and thereby to separate the or each roller from the bill passage. Thus a clearance gap without obstruction is assured through the bill passage, whereby the bill can be returned smoothly to the insertion opening without jamming in the bill passage. In a development of the invention the device further comprises bill conveying means and coin conveying means rotatable by a common driving shaft, the bill conveying means being rotatable in unison with the driving shaft in two directions of rotation, and the coin conveying means being coupled to the driving shaft by a one-way clutch so as to be rotatable by the driving shaft in only one direction. When the common driving shaft is rotated to convey bills and coins into the device, the bill conveying means moves in the conveying inward direction. At the same time the rotation is transmitted in synchronism and in the same direction also to the coin conveying means by way of the one-way clutch. Thus the coin conveying means is also rotated in the same direction. However, when it becomes necessary to return a bill, the bill conveying means is moved in the reverse direction, whereas, on the coin conveying side, since driving rotation is cut off at the one-way clutch, the coin conveying means is maintained in its stopped state, so that unnecessary returning of coins is prevented. In order that the invention may be more fully understood, an embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a vertical section through one example of the cash validating and accumulating device according to this invention; Figure 2 is a plan view showing the bill and coin conveying parts of a lower fixed chute mechanism of the device; Figure 3 is a section taken along the line III-III in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a section taken along the line IV-IV in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a side view of a coin conveying belt and related parts; Figure 6 is a plan view showing bill validating parts of an upper movable chute mechanism; Figure 7 is a section orthogonal to the plane of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a side view of a magnetic head pressing roller and its supporting and actuating mechanism in the upper movable chute mechanism; and Figure 9 is a side view of a lever for opening and closing a bill passage and a mechanism for actuating this lever. Directions such as left, right, front, and rear referred to herein are those as viewed by a purchaser facing the device for inserting a bill or coin thereinto. One example of a money validating and accumulating device constituting an embodiment of this invention is illustrated in Figure 1. This device is enclosed within a housing 1 provided on its front face with a money insertion slot 2. Within the housing 1 are provided a substantially horizontal bill passage 3 extending continuously in a path resembling the character L so as to communicate with the insertion slot 2 and a substantially vertical bill passage 4 continuously joined to the bill passage 3 and extending downward. The bill passage 3 is formed between a fixed chute 6 provided unitarily with the housing 1 at the upper part thereof and a complementary movable chute 8 which is disposed above the fixed chute 6 and is rotatable about a horizontal pivot shaft 7. As is shown in FIG. 2, to the rear of the fixed chute 6 is provided a money conveying device which comprises a bill taking-in section A and a coin taking-in section B. In the bill taking-in section A, a pair of bill conveying belts 10, 10 are mounted parallelly with a space therebetween and have substantially horizontal conveying paths, while, in the coin taking-in section B, a single coin conveying belt 11 also having a substantially horizontal conveying path is mounted. It is desirable that these conveying belts 10, 10 and 11 be so supported that their conveying surfaces are projecting slightly above the upper surface of the fixed chute 6. Each of the two bill conveying belts 10, 10 is passed or received around a driving pulley 12 and a driven pulley 13. The two driving pulleys 12 are fixedly mounted on a common driving shaft 14 which extends horizontally in the left-right direction and is rotatable in two directions. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a driving pulley 15 is fixedly mounted on one end of this driving shaft 14 and can be driven in rotation in either a regular direction or the reverse direction by an electric motor (not shown) by way of a driving belt 16. The coin conveying belt 11 of the coin taking-in section B, as shown in FIG. 5, is passed around a driving pulley 17 and a driven pulley 18. The driving pulley 17 is mounted on the driving shaft 14, by way of a unidirectional or one-way clutch 20 (also known as a free-wheeling clutch). Therefore, the driving pulley 17 of the coin conveying belt 11 rotates in only the taking-in direction A in FIG. 5 but does not move in the carry-out direction B and maintains its stopped state when the driving shaft 14 is rotated in reverse. For the one-way clutch 20, any of various known mechanisms can be used. A pair of driving pulleys 21, 21 are also fixedly supported on the above described driving shaft 14 at spaced-apart positions respectively on the left and right sides of the driving pulleys 12, 12. A matching pair of driven pulleys 22, 22 are rotatably supported near the bottom of the housing 1 as shown in FIG. 1 and are coupled to respective driving pulleys 21, 21 by respective receiving belts 23, 23 passed therearound. The conveying surfaces of these receiving belts 23, 23 lie in substantially vertical planes. On the inner side of these receiving belts 23, 23 is provided a bill pushing-in device 24, which comprises a pushing plate 25, a pair of links 27 and 28, and a motor driven eccentric cam 29. The pushing plate 25 operates to push each bill which has arrived, upon being sent by the receiving belts 23, 23, in the rearward direction perpendicular to the surface of the bill. Each of the links 27 and 28 is pivotally connected at its one end to the front face of the pushing plate 25 and at its other end to a fixed pin 26 by way of a slot. To the rear of the bill passage 4 is provided a bill collecting box 30 for collecting bills which have been pushed rearward by the pushing-in device 24. On the left and right sides of the two conveying belts 10, 10 to the rear of the fixed chute 6 are disposed first and second magnetic heads 31 and 32 for discriminating the genuine/counterfeit character of each bill as shown in FIG. 2. On the movable chute 8 side, at a position corresponding to that between the first and second magnetic heads 31 and 32, a third magnetic head 33 is disposed as shown in FIG. 6. These magnetic heads are provided with respective head pressing rollers for pressing each bill against the magnetic heads as will be described hereinafter. On the side of the movable chute 8 and on the left and right sides of the third magnetic head 33, as shown in FIGS. 6 through 9, are disposed head pressing rollers 34, 34 for the first and second magnetic heads 31 and 32. As will be apparent from FIG. 8, each of these head pressing rollers 34, 34 is rotatably supported at an extreme end of a first roller support arm 35. Each first roller support arm 35 at an intermediate part thereof is rockably supported relative to the movable chute 8 by a horizontal pivot shaft 36. The other end of each roller support arm 35 is coupled to the output end 39 of the movable plunger 38 of a first driving solenoid 37. This first driving solenoid 37 is supported by a support post 40 within the movable chute 8. It is preferable to provide a magnetic shielding plate 41 above the head pressing rollers 34, 34 in order to lessen the effect of residual magnetism toward the outside. As shown in FIG. 2, between the conveying belts 10, 10 head pressing rollers 42, 42 for pressing against the third magnetic head 33 are disposed. Each of these head pressing rollers 42, 42 is rotatably supported on one end of a second roller support arm 44 of bell-crank shape rockably supported by a horizontal pivot pin 43. The other end of each roller support arm 44 is biased by a spring 45 to urge the arm 44 to rotate clockwise as viewed in FIG. 3. As means for separating each head pressing roller 42 from the bill passage 3, a lateral arm 47 unitarily formed with a shutter 46 is used. This shutter 46 is so actuated by a second driving solenoid 48 as to project its end 46a into the bill passage 3. The movable chute 8 is further provided, as shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, with outer guide rollers 50, 50 near the entrance of the chute and inner guide rollers 49, 49 near the bend in the chute. These guide rollers 50, 50 and 49, 49 are so positioned as to contact from above the aforedescribed bill conveying belts 10, 10 on the driven pulleys 13 and the driving pulleys 12, respectively. Furthermore, the horizontal roller shaft of the inner guide rollers 49, 49 is pressed downward by coil springs 51, while the outer guide rollers 50 are urged downward by springs 52, 52. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 9, an actuating member 53 constituting a lever releasing mechanism is secured vertically to the output or working end of the plunger 38 of the first driving solenoid 37. The lower end of this actuating member 53 is engageable with a lever 54 for opening and closing the vertical bill passage 4. This lever 54 is pivotable about a horizontal pivot pin 55 and is operated to close the bill passage 4 after a bill has finished passing thereby. When a bill, upon being discriminated as being counterfeit, is to be returned, the actuating member 53 is actuated so as to press the lever 54 downward. As a result, the lever 54 can be released synchronously with the roller pressing arm 35. The reference numeral 56 in FIG. 3 designates an inlet sensor. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, an inner guide roller 57 is provided above the driving pulley 17 while an outer guide roller 58 is provided above the driven roller 18, both above the coin conveying belt 11. The inner guide roller 57 is coupled to the outer guide roller 58 by means of a belt 59. The cash validating and accumulating device according to this invention of the above described organization operates in the following manner. When a purchaser inserts cash for the purpose of buying a commodity, a driving motor (not shown) starts and transmits driving power via the driving belt 16 to drive the driving shaft 14 in rotation in the arrow direction A as shown in FIG. 4. The bill conveying belts 10, 10 are thereby driven in their conveying direction. Simultaneously, driving power is transmitted by way of the one-way clutch 20 also to the driving pulley 17 to rotate the same in the same direction. The coin conveying belt 11 is also driven in synchronism in its conveying direction. At this time, the first head pressing rollers 34, 34 are pressed into contact with surfaces of the magnetic heads 31 and 32, while the second head pressing rollers 42, 42 are pressed into contact with the third magnetic head 33. Thus, these mechanisms are in their condition for discriminating the genuine/counterfeit character of each bill. Furthermore, the inserted coins are identified by an electronic sorting means 60, 61. Therefore, each bill inserted through the insertion slot 2 is sent inward through the bill passage 3, being clamped between the bill conveying belts 10, 10 and the guide rollers 50, 49. Then, as this bill passes by the magnetic heads 31, 32, and 33 at an intermediate part of its path, validation inspection of the genuine/counterfeit character of this bill is carried out. Thereafter a genuine bill passes by the lever 54 and, descending through the bill passage 4 and being urged by the receiving belts 23, 23, is sent toward the lower part of the housing 1. This bill is then collected in a stacked state in the collecting box 30 by the bill pushing device 24. On the other hand, in the event that a bill inserted by a purchaser is damaged in some way, the purchaser decides to stop the purchase, or the bill is discriminated as being a counterfeit bill, it is necessary to return this inserted bill. This returning of the bill is detected by the magnetic heads 31, 32, and 33, which thereby generate corresponding signals. These signals cause the plungers of the first and second solenoids 37 and 48 to be energized respectively in their retracting direction thereby to separate the head pressing rollers 34 and 42 and the shutter 46 from the magnetic heads and the bill passage 3. As a result, the bill passages are opened, and the bill to be returned can be directed smoothly to the insertion opening. When it becomes necessary to return a bill which has been detected to be a counterfeit, the driving motor is operated in reverse rotation, whereupon only the driving shaft 14 is rotated in the arrow direction B in FIG. 4, while the driving pulley 17 is held in its stopped state. Thus, only the bill conveying belts 10, 10 are rotated in reverse toward the insertion opening side, and the counterfeit bill is rejectingly returned.

Claims: A device for validating and accumulating bills, comprising means (6, 8) defining a bill passage (3), magnetic head means (31, 32, 33) for validating bills passing through the bill passage (3), and roller means (34, 42) for pressing bills against the magnetic head means (31, 32, 33) as the bills pass through the bill passage (3), characterised in that means (35, 37, 44, 48) are provided to move the roller means (34, 42) clear of the bill passage when a bill is not validated so that the bill can be rejected without becoming jammed due to obstruction by the roller means (34, 42). A device according to Claim 1, characterised in that said means defining the bill passage (3) comprises a fixed chute mechanism (6) and a movable chute mechanism (8). A device according to Claim 2, characterised in that the movable chute mechanism (8) is disposed above the fixed chute mechanism (6) and is pivotable about a horizontal pivot shaft (7). A device according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the roller means (34, 42) comprises one or more rollers (34) rotatably supported at one end region of a roller support arm (35). A device according to Claim 4, characterised in that the roller support arm (35) is pivotally supported at an intermediate part thereof by a pivot shaft (36). A device according to Claim 4 or 5, characterised in that the other end region of the roller support arm (35) is coupled to the operating end (39) of the plunger (38) of an actuating solenoid (37) which is arranged to operate to move the or each roller (34) clear of the bill passage (3) when a bill is not validated. A device according to Claim 4, 5 or 6, characterised in that the roller means (34, 42) further comprises one or more further rollers (42) rotatably supported at one end region of a further roller support arm (44), the or each further roller (42) being disposed on the opposite side of the bill passage (3) to the or each first-mentioned roller (34). A device according to Claim 7, characterised in that the magnetic head means (31, 32, 33) comprises one or more magnetic heads (31, 32) disposed on one side of the bill passage (3) opposite said one or more first-mentioned rollers (34) and one or more magnetic heads (33) disposed on the other side of the bill passage (3) opposite said one or more further rollers (42). A device according to Claim 7 or 8, characterised in that the further roller support arm (44) is biased by a spring (45) so as to press the or each further roller (42) against bills passing through the bill passage (3), and a further actuating solenoid (48) is provided to move the or each further roller (42) clear of the bill passage (3) when a bill is not validated. A device according to any preceding claim, characterised in that it further comprises bill conveying means (10, 12, 13) and coin conveying means (11, 17, 18) rotatable by a common driving shaft (14), the bill conveying means (10, 12, 13) being rotatable in unison with the driving shaft (14) in two directions of rotation, and the coin conveying means (11, 17, 18) being coupled to the driving shaft (14) by a one-way clutch (20) so as to be rotatable by the driving shaft (14) in only one direction.

Inventors: HAYASHI HIROSHI, YUKIMOTO KOJI, HAYASHI, HIROSHI, YUKIMOTO, KOJI
Applicants: NIPPON CONLUX CO LTD, NIPPON CONLUX CO., LTD.
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G07F7
IPC codes: G07F7