DEVICE FOR CONVEYING PAPER SHEET

Abstract: A device for conveying paper sheets provided with: a conveyor belt (24) moving in the paper sheet feeding direction; a driving roller (42) rotating in one direction at any time; a separating roller (41) capable of coming into or going out of contact with said driving roller (42) across a given gap and exclusively with the conveyor belt (24); and separating means to reversely convey paper sheets on said conveyor belt (24) toward the upstream side to separate them when said separating roller (41) comes into contact wih said driving roller (42); in which said driving roller (42) is supported by a swingable supporting arm (44) and ajusting means (50) is disposed on said supporting arm (44) for adjusting said given gap.

Description: [Field of Technology] This invention relates to a paper sheet conveying apparatus for conveying inserted paper sheets one by one after separating them from one another. [Background Technology] A paper sheet conveying apparatus is currently known which is equipped with a separating means including a conveyer belt, a drive roller rotating in one direction at all times, and two separator roller disposed between the drive roller and the conveyer belt so as to come into engagement with one of the drive roller and the conveyer belt exclusively with a predetermined gap from the other. However, this conventional apparatus was not equipped with any means for easily setting the predetermined gap externally. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the two separator rollers include a pair of rollers 2, 3 individually rotatably mounted on a common axis 1 in association with a pair of laterally spaced conveyer belts A, B, and the rollers 2, 3 have not only on their inner sides 2b, 3b but also on their outer sides 2a, 3a contact wheels 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b engageable with the drive roller 4. The predetermined gap is generally very small and is usually defined to be larger than the thickness of a single paper sheet and smaller than the total thickness of two paper sheets. In the absence of any means for externally adjusting such a very small gap, the separating ability would be reduced so that when an accident, such as double-sheet conveying, occurs, an adequate action cannot be achieved quickly. Given that the two separator rollers 2, 3 are rotatable independently from one another and that the outer contact wheels 2a, 3a engageable with the drive roller 4 are added to convey the entire width of a paper sheet, if a paper sheet M with a folded corner e as shown in FIG. 4 is inserted, one separator roller 2 will come into contact with the drive roller 4 to rotate so as to push the paper sheet back to the upstream side U as shown in FIG. 5 while the other separator roller 3 will not come into contact with the drive roller 4 so it will continue rotating so as to move the paper sheet toward the downstream side D. This causes the paper sheet M to skew and, if the worst happens, to become jammed. Besides, JP- U- 60-133844 discloses gap adjusting means adjusting the gap between a drive roller and an auxiliary roller by changing the holding position of a member which supports the auxiliary roller, by means of a screw. This adjusting means adjusts the gap between the two rollers each of which is independently rotatable. Another gap adjusting means is disclosed in JP- A - 59 4547. In this reference, a paper sheet feeding device comprises a paper sheet feeding roller and a gate controller which is retractably provided opposite to the paper feeding roller so that only a single paper sheet may be fed. In the reference, a roller axis supporting the gate controller is mounted on a support member which is swingably supported by a frame, and a cam is provided so as to be urged to be in contact with the support member. The rotation of the cam moves the support member so that the gap between the paper sheet feeding roller and the gate controller may be adjusted. In this reference, the paper sheets are stacked, and the gap between the paper sheet feeding roller and the gate controller is adjustable for feeding single paper from the stack of the paper sheets. In the above discussed UP- U- 60 - 133844 and JP - A - 59 - 4547, a single paper card or sheet is taken out from a plurality of stacked paper sheets or cards. The plurality of paper sheets/cards are stacked and the stacked paper sheets/cards are not being conveyed. On the other hand, for a special application in which a single paper sheet should be conveyed, but for one or another reason, a plurality of paper sheets may happen to be conveyed being overlapped, on a conveyer belt, separation of the papers is necessitated. For separating the overlapping paper sheets, only a single sheet should be conveyed while keeping the remaining sheets from being conveyed together. Such a selective conveyance of the paper sheet is not attainable by the above discussed prior art in which paper sheets or cards to be applied to the rollers are stacked and standing still. JP- A - 1 - 275339 discloses a paper sheets feeding apparatus for taking out a predetermined number of paper sheets to be chopped from a paper feed tray. The apparatus comprises a forward rotation paper feeder (a direction of the rotation of the feeder is defined as "the forward direction") which rotates forwardly and conveys the paper sheet on the paper feed tray to one direction, and a driven paper feeder which is supported by the frame of a main body so as to be disengageably in contact with a portion of the forward rotation feeder and to be movable within a predetermined range, a rotation controller which is provided, on one side of the driven feeder, so as to be disengageably in contact with the driven feeder for reversing or stopping the rotation of driven feeder when the driven feeder is in contact with the rotation controller. In this apparatus, all of the forward rotation feeder, the driven feeder, and the rotation controller are cylindrical rollers, Therefore if a part of the paper sheet is folded or crumpled, it will increase the thickness of the paper at the part. This may possibly cause reverse or stop of the rotation even when it is not necessary. Especially when handling with bills, as bills are often crumpled, this fact should not be disregarded. Further, when two or more paper sheets are overlapped but the only one sheet should be selectively conveyed from the overlapped paper sheets, the folded portion of the paper sheet will lift up the roller, if the single paper sheet is conveyed with any corner being folded. In this case, the roller might rotate reversely even with a single sheet of paper. In view of this, this apparatus which uses rollers as mentioned above is not suitable for handling bills which are often folded or crumpled. [Disclosure of the Invention] With the foregoing problems of the conventional art in mind, it is an object of this invention to provide a paper sheet conveying apparatus in which a predetermined gap between a conveyer belt and a separator roller and between the latter and a drive roller can be adjusted and which does not cause skew or jamming. According to an aspect of this invention, the above object can be accomplished by a paper sheet conveying apparatus as defined in claim 1. The apparatus is equipped with paper sheet separating means including a conveyer belt movable in a paper sheet delivering direction, a drive roller rotating in one direction at all times, and two separator roller disposed between the drive roller and the conveyer belt so as to come into engagement with one of the drive roller and the conveyer belt exclusively with a predetermined gap from the other so that a paper sheet on the conveyer belt is moved back toward the upstream side when the separator roller comes into engagement with the drive roller, wherein the drive roller is supported by a pivotable support arm operatively connected with setting means for setting the predetermined gap. The setting means may be, for example, a setting cam plate engaging the support arm for pivotally moving the support arm. This setting cam plate may have a series of markings for reading the value of the setting. The conveyer belt is a double structure including a pair of parallel spaced conveyer belts, and the separator roller is a double structure including a pair of axially spaced separator rollers in association with the pair of parallel spaced conveyer belts. The pair of axially spaced separator rollers have on their confronting inner sides a pair of contact wheels engageable with the drive roller. Paper sheets inserted into the apparatus are conveyed to the downstream side by the conveyer belt. If the paper sheets are inserted one by one between the separator roller and the conveyer belt, the separator roller will be moved only by a distance corresponding to the thickness of a single paper sheet, i.e. within a predetermined gap, so that the separator roller will not come into contact with the drive roller, and so continue to convey the paper sheet toward the downstream side. If two or more paper sheets are inserted under the separator roller, the separator roller will be pushed up by these paper sheets to close the predetermined gap with the drive roller so that these two rollers comes into contact with one another. Upon receipt of the driving force of the drive roller, the separator roller will rotate reversely to push back one paper sheet, which is in contact with the separator roller, to the upstream side. Meanwhile the other paper sheet on the conveyer belt side will be conveyed to the downstream side by the conveyer belt. Thus these two paper sheets will be separated from each other and will be conveyed one by one. When the separating ability is found to have been lowered, the user may rotatably move the support arm, which is pivotally mounted on the drive roller, by the setting means such as a setting cam plate to adjust the predetermined gap. At that time, with the series of markings for reading the value of the setting, it is possible to easily perform a fine and delicate adjustment. Partly since the two separate rollers in association with the plurality of conveyer belts are integral with one another and partly since the contact wheels engageable with the drive roller are located only at the inner sides of the separator rollers, even if a paper sheet with a folded corner is inserted, the two separator rollers are rotated in the same direction, thus preventing the paper sheet from becoming skewed. In the paper sheet conveying apparatus in which the separator roller is disposed between the driver roller and the conveyer belt so as to come into engagement with only one of either the drive roller or the conveyer belt while maintaining a predetermined gap from the other, partly since the drive roller is supported by a pivotable support arm and partly since the setting means for setting the predetermined gap, for example, a setting cam plate engaging the support arm for pivotally moving the support arm, is mounted on the support arm, it is possible to adjustably set the predetermined gap. In particular with the setting cam plate having a series of markings for reading the value of the setting, even a delicate adjustment can be performed much more easily and accurately. Further, partly since the symmetrical rollers of the separator rollers corresponding to the plurality of conveyer belts are integral with one another and partly since the contact wheels engageable with the drive roller are located only at the inner sides of each roller, even if a paper sheet with a folded corner is inserted, the two separator rollers are rotated in the same direction, thus preventing the paper sheet from skewing. [Brief Description of the Drawings] FIG. 1 shows the structure of a paper sheet conveying apparatus; FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show one embodiment of this invention; FIG. 2 shows the paper sheet separating operation; FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 shows the prior example; FIG. 3 is a front view of a conventional separator roller; FIG. 4 shows a paper sheet with a folded corner; and FIG. 5 shows the operation of the conventional separator roller upon receipt of the paper sheet with a folded corner. [Preferred Embodiment of the Invention] One embodiment of this invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a paper sheet conveying apparatus 10 comprises a conveyer unit 20, which includes a plurality of conveyer belts 23, 24, 25 wound on a plurality of pulleys 21, 22, a separator roller 41 disengageably engaging the conveyer belt 24 of the conveyer unit 20, and a separator unit 40, in which a drive roller 42 disengageably engaging the conveyer belt 24 of the conveyer unit 20 is pivotally supported by a support arm 44 pivoted by a pivot 43. The conveyer unit 20 is driven, upon receipt of the driving force from a non-illustrated drive means, to convey a paper sheet to the right side in FIG. 1. The conveyer belt 23 is a double structure which includes, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of laterally spaced conveyer belts 24A, 24B disengageably engaging the separator roller 41 and a pair of support rollers 26, 26 confronting the separator roller 41. In the separator unit 40, the separator roller 41 is comprised of, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of separator rollers 48A, 48B, one on either side, in association with the conveyer belts 24A, 24B and a pair of contact wheels 49A, 49B mounted on respective confronting inner sides of the separator rollers 48A, 48B and being engageable with the drive roller 42. Coaxially connected with the drive roller 42 is a gear 45 meshing with a gear 46, through which a one-way rotating force is to be transmitted to the drive roller 42 by the non-illustrated drive means. Normally there is defined a very small predetermined gap g between the separator roller 41 and the drive roller 42. The predetermined gap g is set to a value larger than the thickness of a single paper sheet and smaller than the total thickness of two paper sheets. The separator roller 41 has an elongated axial hole 41a and it moves within the predetermined gap g about a shaft 47 so as to come into contact with either the conveyer belt 24 or the drive roller 42, but only one at a time. As a setting means for setting the predetermined gap g, there is provided a setting cam place 50. The setting cam plate 50 moves about a cam shaft 51 and has a cam surface 50a pressing against a contact surface 44a of the support arm 44. The support arm 44 is normally energized upwardly in FIG. 1 by a non-illustrated energizing means. The support arm 44 is pivotally movable about the pivot 43 and has, at the opposite end to the pivot 43, a slot 44b in which a small screw 52 is inserted for fastening. The setting cam 50 has a series of markings 50b for reading the value of setting as shown in FIG. 1. The operation of the apparatus will now be described. In the separator unit 40, the drive roller 42 is coaxial with the gear 45 meshing with the gear 46, which is operatively connected to the non-illustrated drive means for rotation in one direction, and is at all times rotating counter clockwise in FIG. 1. When a paper sheet is inserted under the separator roller 41, the separator roller 41 will, be raised by a distance corresponding to the thickness of a single paper sheet. At that time, since the predetermined gap g between the separator roller 41 and the drive roller 42 is larger than the thickness of a single paper sheet, these two rollers 41, 42 will not come into contact with one another so that the paper sheet will be conveyed to the downstream side by the conveyer belt 24. If two or more paper sheets are inserted, the separator roller 41 will come into contact with the drive roller 42 to rotate clockwise since the predetermined gap g is smaller than the total thickness of two paper sheets. The separator roller 41 will thereby push back the upper paper sheet, which is in contact with the separator roller 41, to the upstream side and will convey only the first paper sheet, which is in contact with the conveyer belt 24, to the downstream side. Because the separator rollers 48A, 48B are integral with one another as shown in FIG. 2, even if one of the separator rollers, e.g. 48A, is raised by a paper sheet M with a folded corner of FIG. 4 to come into contact with the drive roller 42, both the separator rollers 48A, 48B will be rotated in the same direction so that the paper sheet will be prevented from becoming skewed, which would have happened if it had received rotating forces of different directions.

Claims: A paper sheet conveying apparatus equipped with a conveyer belt (24) for conveying paper sheets, a drive roller (42) rotating normally in one direction and a separator roller (41) movably disposed between said drive roller (42) and said conveyer belt (24), said separator roller (41) coming into contact with one of said drive roller (42) and said conveyer belt (24) exclusively, said conveyer belt (24) comprising a pair of belts (24A, 24B) which are disposed so as to be in parallel with and spaced from each other, said separator roller (41) comprising a pair of rollers (48A, 48B) corresponding to said pair of belts (24A, 24B) respectively, and a pair of contact wheels (49A, 49B) located between said pair of belts (24A, 24B) and connected coaxially with said pair of rollers (48A, 48B), so as to form a predetermined gap from said drive roller (42) when said pair of rollers (48A, 48B) are in contact with said pair of belts (24A, 24B). A paper sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said gap is defined to be larger than the thickness of a single paper sheet to be conveyed and smaller than the total thickness of two of said paper sheets. A paper sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said gap is defined by such a distance that said pair of contact wheels (49A, 49B) do not come into contact with said drive roller (42) when a single paper sheet is conveyed between said pair of rollers (48A, 48B) and said pair of belts (24A, 24B), while said pair of contact wheels (49A, 49B) come into contact with said drive roller (42) when more than one paper sheet is conveyed in overlapped state. A paper sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said contact wheels (49A, 49B) have a larger outer diameter than said pair of rollers (48A, 48B). A paper sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said pair of rollers (48A, 48B) are formed integral with each other. A paper sheet conveying apparatus according to claims 1 to 3, wherein said drive roller (42) is supported by a support arm (44) which is provided with adjusting means (50) for adjusting said predetermined gap and whose angle is changeable said adjusting means (50) comprising a cam mechanism for setting the angle of said support arm (44).

Inventors: AOYAMA MORIYUKI, KADOMATSU HIDEYUKI, KAWASHIMA KAZUNARI, NAKAMURA TAKAHARU, TAKEMOTO TAKATOSHI, AOYAMA, MORIYUKI, KADOMATSU, HIDEYUKI, KAWASHIMA, KAZUNARI, NAKAMURA, TAKAHARU, TAKEMOTO, TAKATOSHI, KAWASHIMA, KAZUNARI, KABUSHIKI KAISHA ACE DENKEN, TAKEMOTO, TAKATOSHI, KABUSHIKI KAISHA ACE DENKEN
Applicants: ACE DENKEN KK, KABUSHIKI KAISHA ACE DENKEN
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B65H3
IPC codes: B65H5, B65H3