Apparatus for storing and discharging card bodies

Abstract: It is provided an apparatus for discharging card bodies, comprising first sensor meanas (91) for detecting the top card body pushed up from below, and delivery roller means (64) for letting out the top card body pushed up.

Description: The invention relates to an apparatus for storing and discharging a card or floppy disc of magnetic cards or IC cards, such as a telephone card, etc. Especially, the invention relates to an apparatus for discharging a card suitable in order to discharge one card of cards pushed up from a lower part out of the upper part. The invention also relates to a discharge apparatus for card bodies for automatic vending machines accumulating many cards to be contained in the shape of a pile, and discharging only the top card. Until now, various card discharge apparatuses have been developed. For example, a card sending-out apparatus is disclosed in the Japanese Utility Patent Application No. 63-60147 (refer to Japanese Utility Patent Publication No. 7-26276 and US Patent 4,993,587). A card sending-out apparatus is equipped with an accommodation chamber for piling and accommodating multiple cards, and a hold board for supporting the plural layers of card bodies from a lower part and a delivery roller provided underneath the hold board. And a second delivery roller for cards is further provided between the first delivery roller and a sending-out opening for cards. In this way, a card which is let out from the position at the bottom of the multilayer card pile by the first delivery roller is sent out via the card sending-out opening by the second delivery roller. However, a disadvantage of the above-mentioned card discharge apparatus is that the accommodation number for cards is low in order to allow that the discharge position is the position at he bottom. For example, the above-mentioned card discharge apparatus is installed in an automatic vending machine. In this case, when making the discharge position into the height of a hand, card accommodation uses only an upper part of the machine. For this reason, compared with the installation space, the accommodation number of cards is small. Moreover, the load or force on the lowest card becomes large when the accommodation number of cards is high. On the other hand, the load becomes smaller, when the accommodation number of cards is small. Therefore, a stable operation is not obtained. Patent Abstracts of Japan, Vol. 96, NO.5, May 31, 1966 discloses an apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1. The invention was developed to allow the accumulation of many cards and to allow a stable operation. This object is achieved by an apparatus according to claim 1. Further developments of the invention are given in the dependent claims. The apparatus has the feature of discharging the top card by piling many cards and discharging the card from the top. Therefore, the maximum accommodation number of cards can be increased. In addition, if the actual number of accommodated cards fluctuates, it can operate stably. Hereafter, the invention is explained with reference to the attached drawings, of which: Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional side view showing one example of the invention; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional front view of the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an enlargement of the principal part of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a plane in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an enlargement of another principal part of Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a plane in Fig. 5. (Pushing-up apparatus for cards) The rectangular box shown down below in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 is equipped with a base 11 for containing an electric motor 12. A long frame 9 of the type having a U-shaped end face shown in Fig. 4 rises from and is fixed to the top face of the base 11 shown in Fig. 4. The frame 9 has a long panel 13 on its front side. The frame 9 is equipped on its both sides with long and slender holes 7 and 8. The frame 9 is openable-and-closable provided with a long panel 14 in the large long aperture near the back side. And, a pair of long rails 15, 16, and 17, 18 is fixed on both sides of the frame 9 in the longitudinal direction. Thus, the accommodation chamber 10 for cards 1 of the long-column type is formed on the upper part of the top face of the base 11 by the pair of panels 13 and 14, and the two pairs of rails 15-18 which rise of and are fixed to the base 11. Between each pair of rails 15, 16 and 17, 18, resp., an operating rod 21 and 22, resp., of a long thin shape is arranged movably in the direction to the top and to the bottom (seesaw or reciprocating motion). And, a gear apparatus 23 for decelerations is arranged at the electric motor 12. An eccentric cam 24 which is eccentric to the revolving shaft of the gear apparatus 23 is provided. An ellipse board 25 is further provided freely rotatable at the cam 24. The lower end of each operating rod 21 and 22 is respectively pivoted in a loose fitting condition at the corresponding end of the ellipse board 25. The reference number 31 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 indicates a cross-shaped mount stand for loading plate-shaped cards (refer to Fig. 4). The mount stand 31 elevates the card accommodation chamber 10, holding a horizontal position. The center section of each side of the mount stand 31 projects via holes 7 and 8 from the accommodation chamber 10. Square-ring type cases 32 and 33 are fixed to each projection part of the mount stand 31 in a suspending state. A pair of wedge-shaped taper bodies 34, 35, and 36, 37 is fixed in a suspending state in the corresponding case 32 and 33, respectively. Concretely, as shown in Fig. 3, the operating rod 21 is arranged between the pair of rails 15 and 16. The taper bodies 34 and 35 are respectively arranged between the operating rod 21 and the right and left rails 15 and 16, respectively. Rollers 41 and 41 for pushing up the mount stand 31 are inserted in a vertically movable manner between the operating rod 21 and each of the taper bodies 34 and 35, resp. Furthermore, rollers 43 and 43 for returning and stopping the mount stand 31 are inserted in a vertically movable manner between each of taper bodies 34 and 35, resp., and the right and left rails 15 and 16, respectively. Moreover, a spring 45 for raising a roller is arranged below each of rollers 41 and 43. Therefore, a roller 41 is beforehand pinched between the operating rod 21 and the taper body 34 or 35 by means of spring 45. For this reason, when the operating rod 21 raises even a little, the roller 41 is locked. The mount stand 31 raises in this situation. A roller 43 is beforehand pinched between a rail 15 or 16 and the corresponding taper body 34 or 35 by means of spring 45. After this, by means of a descent of the operating rod 21, the roller 43 is locked. The mount stand 31 is maintained in its position in this situation, without lowering. In addition, when the operating rod 21 lowers, the lock situation of the roller 41 is released. Moreover, when an operating rod 21 raises, the lock situation of the roller 43 is released. Similarly, as shown in Fig. 4, the rollers 51 and 51 for pushing up the mount stand 31 are inserted in a vertically movable manner between the operating rod 22 and the corresponding one of taper bodies 36 and 37. Moreover, the rollers 53 and 53 for returning and stopping the mount stand 31 are inserted in a vertically movable manner between the taper bodies 36 and 37 and the right and left rail 17 and 18, respectively. And, a spring 55 for raising the corresponding roller is arranged below each of rollers 51 and 53. In order to seal the aperture of each of cases 32 and 33, the rectangular lever boards 47 and 57, resp., are arranged. The lever boards 47 and 57 are pivotably mounted in the upper part. The nails 40 and 50 for depressing rollers 41, 53, 51, and 53 are formed on each upper edge of the lever boards 47 and 57 (refer to Figs. 2 and 4). (Discharge apparatus for cards) The discharge apparatus for cards is shown in the upper part of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. The discharge apparatus is attached between a pair of apical-plate parts 61. The apical-plate parts 61 are formed by projecting the two sides of the frame 9 upwards. Concretely, the discharge apparatus is equipped with a long square-ring type case 62 with a bottom (refer to Fig. 6). And, the discharge apparatus is fixed between the pair of apical-plate parts 61 via the case 62. As shown in Fig. 6, a large rectangle opening 63 is formed on the back side of the bottom of case 62. And, in order to let out the top card 1 which is accommodated at almost the center of the two sides of the case 62, a roller 64 is provided and a shaft 65 of the roller 64 is spanned. In addition, a protrusion 66 made from rubber is formed on a part of the periphery of the delivery roller 64. And, a card projects from opening 64 by rotation of the protrusion 66 and the card 1 is discharged. Moreover, the small rectangle part 67 (refer to Fig. 5) is provided freely rotatable to the shaft 65 and is provided freely rotatable to an electric motor 71 fixed in the case 62 at rotation freely. The rectangle part 67 presses the roller 64 on the top card 1 via a coil spring (not shown). Therefore, the shaft 65 of the delivery roller 64 is arranged via long hole (not shown) to be vertically movable in the case 62. In addition, one rectangle part 67 is illustrated in Fig. 6. The pressure of force will be stabilized if rectangle parts 67 are arranged on both sides of the delivery roller 64. Moreover, when the delivery roller 64 is made heavy, the card 1 is pressed from top. For this reason, a spring means is unnecessary. In Fig. 5, a thin shaft 68 shown on the right side of shaft 65 is spanned between the two sides of case 62. The somewhat long operating rod 69 which is rotated by contact with the card 1 which is pushed up is attached freely rotatable to the thin shaft 68. In addition, as to Fig. 6, one operating rod 69 is illustrated. A pair of operating rods 69 are arranged on both sides of the delivery roller 64. Therefore, a card 1 is detected reliably (refer to the after-mentioned). A small pinion 73 is fixedly provided on the rotating shaft 72 of the electric motor 71. The pinion 73 gears with a large gear 74. The gear 74 is fixedly provided on the shaft 65 of the delivery roller 64. As shown in Fig. 6, a small long and slender hole 75 is formed in the front of the bottom of case 62. And, in the two sides of the upper case 62 a shaft 77 of a roller 76 for sending out a card 2 to be discharged is spanned over the long and slender hole 75. In addition, a large gear 78 is fixedly provided to the shaft 77 of the delivery roller 76. A gear 78 is bit with the pinion 73. A small rectangle shaped U type frame 81 is shown on the left-hand side of Fig. 5. The frame 81 is attached underneath the front side of the case 62. A small support roller 83 which presses against the undersurface of the delivery roller 76 with the coil spring 82 is arranged in a vertically movable manner in the small frame 81. A rudder type almost Omega-shaped operating body 85 is provided in the small frame 81 and is pivoted with small frame 81. When the card 2 sent out by rollers 76 and 83 contacts to the inclination piece 86 on which the operating body 85 is formed centrally, the operating body 85 is rotated and the card 2 is detected (refer to the after-mentioned). In addition, a weight part 87 for decompression is formed on one end of the operating body 85. Moreover, a roller 88 is reversed when the roller 83 presses, as shown in Fig. 5, and the roller 88 is attached on the right-hand side of the auxiliary roller 83. The inversion roller 88 contacts on the undersurface of a card 2. Thereby, the discharge of a second card 2 is prevented beforehand. In addition, a cover 89 is provided in the upper part of an above-mentioned card discharge apparatus. The cover 89 covers the discharge apparatus. Moreover, the inclination piece 86 of the operating body 85 moves freely in a notch 93 shown on the left side in Fig. 6. [Example] (Pushing-up apparatus for cards) In an extrusion or pushing-up apparatus of an example which consists of the above-mentioned components the lower edges of a pair of lever boards 47 and 57 are rotated upward, by manual operation, for example, as shown by the arrows in Fig. 2. Consequently, nails 40 and 50 push down the rollers 41, 43, 51, and 53 against the force of the springs 45 and 55. Therefore, the situation where rollers 41, 43, 51, and 53 were supported (namely, situation of a lock) is released. Therefore, the mount stand 31 can freely raise or descend. In this way, the mount stand 31 can be moved or move to the lowest position, for example by manual operation, and then many cards 1 can be accommodated. In this way, when the electric motor 12 is actuated and the eccentric cam 24 turns a half-rotation, the pair of operating rods 21 and 22 raise slightly. Operating rods 21 and 22 raise about 1 mm corresponding to the thickness of one card 1. The mount stand 31 raises about 1 mm via the four rollers 41 and 51 in a lock situation by the raise of operating rods 21 and 22. Furthermore, when the electric motor 12 is actuated and the eccentric cam 24 turns a half-rotation, the pair of operating rods 21 and 22 lower slightly. The descent of the operating rods 21 and 22 releases the lock situation of the four rollers 41 and 51. However, the mount stand 31 is maintained by the rollers 43 and 53 of coming into lock situations in the position without lowering. Thus, the mount stand 31 is raised the distance (for example, about 1 mm) corresponding to the thickness of one card 1 to be discharged whenever the eccentric cam 24 fully turns. In addition, rollers 41, 43, 51, and 53 are formed cylindrical, globular, semicircular, hemispherical or the like as it is clear from the drawings. Moreover, the taper bodies 34-37 are fixed in the suspending state in cases 32 and 33. Moreover, the taper bodies 34-37 can also be fixed in a standing-up state in cases 32 and 33. In this shown case, the upper width of the taper bodies 34-37 is wide, and the lower width is narrow. Moreover, a spring 45 is not limited only to the example of illustration. In addition, in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 of this example, four rails 15-18 and two operating rods 21 and 22 are used. However, in Fig. 3, two rails 15 and 16 and one operating rod 21 are used. Moreover, in Fig. 3, an operating rod 21 is arranged between two rails 15 and 16. However, one rail 15 and the operating rod 21 can be arranged. Furthermore, an example explains the entire card pushing-up apparatus in the state of standing up. However, an apparatus can apply drawing to a sideways situation (not shown), i.e., lateral-turning situation. In this case, a card 1 is extruded or pushed in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the mount stand 31 forms the extrusion stand of a card. (Discharge apparatus for cards) As mentioned above, the card 1 on the top of a large number of cards 1 pushed up from the lower part contacts with the lower end of the operating rod 69. If the card 1 contacts the lower end of the operating rod 69 and the lower end is pushed up, the other end of the operating rod 69 will fall. As a result, the rotation of the operating rod 69 is detected by a sensor 91. When the rotation of the operating rod 69 is detected by the sensor 91, the lower electric motor 12 is stopped and the pushing-up of the cards 1 stops. As to the preparation situation of card discharge, if a switch (not shown) etc. is switched on and a card discharge signal is generated, the upper electric motor 71 will work, and the pinion 73 and the gears 74 and 78 rotate. If gear 74 rotates, the delivery roller 64 will rotate, and the top card 1 9s let out by the protrusion 66 made from rubber. The card 1 which is let out is pinched between the delivery roller 76 and the auxiliary roller 83, and is sent out outside. The sent out card 2 contacts the inclination piece 86, and the inclination piece 86 is depressed. Consequently, the operating body 85 rotates. When the operating body 85 rotates, the weight part 87 separates from a sensor 92. For this reason, the discharge of a card 2 is confirmed by the sensor 92. If the card 2 discharged outside separates from the card delivery apparatus, the inclination piece 86 will be released. Consequently, the operating body 85 returns to the original position by the action of the weight part 87. In this way, the sensor 92 detects the weight part 87 again. As a result of the detection, the electric motor 71 is stopped and the pinion 73 and the gears 74 and 78 stop. Although the delivery roller 64 is rotated in the meantime, the following card 1 is not let out by the protrusion 66 made from rubber formed partially. In addition, the 2nd sensor 92 is unnecessary, if the time from a start to a stop of the electric motor 71 is determined to be equal to the time for one card 2. Moreover, when discharging a card 2 directly, the delivery roller 76 (auxiliary roller 83) can be omitted. [EFFECT OF THE INVENTION] According to this invention which consists of the above components, whenever a card body which was piled up is discharged, the other card bodies are pushed up upwards correctly. Therefore, only the card body on the top of the accommodation chamber in which many card bodies are piled is discharged. Therefore, because the discharge position of the card body is provided in the height of a hand when the apparatus of this invention is installed, for example, in an automatic vending machine, the card bodies can be contained in a lower-part part. The number of accommodated cards can be increased greatly in this way. [EXPLANATION OF THE SYMBOLS] Card body ... 1,2: card, 1st sensor means ... 69: Operating rod, 91: Sensor, Delivery roller means ... 64: Delivery roller, 66: Protrusion, 71: An electric motor, 73: Pinion, 74: Gear, 2nd sensor means ... 85: Operating body, 86: Inclination piece, 87: Weight part, 92: Sensor. Storage means ... 9: Frame, 10: Storage room, 13: Front panel, 14: Back panel, Rail means ... 9: Frame, 15, 16, 17, 18: rails, Operation rod means ... 12: Electric motor, 21, 22: Operation rods, 24: Eccentric cam, Place means ... 31: Place stand, 32, 33: Cases, Taper means ... 34, 35, 36, 37: Taper bodies, Roller means for up-thrusting ... 41, 51: Rollers, Roller means for return-stopping ... 43, 53: Rollers, and Spring means ... 45, 55: Springs.

Claims: An apparatus for storing, pushing and discharging cards (1) or the like, said apparatus comprising: a frame (9) for accommodating and storing a pile of cards (1); a first rail (15, 16) which is fixed at one side along this frame (9); and a stand (31) for supporting said cards (1), which is moveable along the rail (15, 16); characterized in that said apparatus further comprises: a first operating rod (21) which is provided parallel to said rail (15, 16) at one side of the stand (31) and movable in a reciprocating motion; a first taper body (34, 35) which is fixed on said stand (31) ; a first roller (41) which is provided between this taper body (34, 35) and said operating rod (21) for pushing the stand (31) towards the pile of cards (1); a second roller (43) which is provided between said taper body (34, 35) and said rail (15, 16) for stopping a return of the stand (31); and springs (45) for pushing said first and second rollers (41, 43), respectively, towards the pile of cards (1). The apparatus of Claim 1, which further includes a first sensor (91) for detecting a card or the like of the pile of cards or the like which is most distant from the stand (31) and a roller member (64) for removing a card of the pile of cards or the like which is most distant from the stand (31). The apparatus of Claim 2, wherein the roller member (64) includes a protrusion (66) on a periphery of the roller member (64) for contacting the card. The apparatus of one of Claims 1 to 3, further including a second sensor (92) for detecting when the card or the like is discharged. The apparatus of Claim 4, wherein a lever (85) is positioned in a path of discharge, the lever (85) having an appended weighted member (87) that is pivotally mounted to be biased to a stationary position and the second sensor (92) is mounted at the stationary position for maintaining contact with the second sensor (92) whereby the discharge of a card or the like will move the weighted member (87) away from the second sensor (92). The apparatus of one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the stand (31) has a case member (32) mounted externally of the frame (9) and the operating rod (21) is connected to a motor (12) and extends through the case member (32). The apparatus of one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein the second roller (43) is arranged such that it can lock between the taper body (34, 36) and rail (15, 16) to fasten the stand (31) to the rail (15, 16) to stop the stand returning. The apparatus of Claim 7, further including a manually operated lever (47) for releasing the first roller (41) and the second roller (43) from a lock position to enable an operator to return the stand (31). The apparatus of one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a second operating rod (22) is provided at another side of the stand (31) opposite to the first operating rod (21) and corrected to a motor (12); the pair of rod members (21, 22) reciprocate along the frame; the apparatus further including a second taper body (36, 37) which is fixed on the stand (31), a part of third and fourth rollers (51, 53), a second rail (17, 18) at another side of the frame (9) opposite to the first rail (15,16), and a spring assembly (45, 55) for biasing the rollers into a lock position between the rails and the respective operating rods.

Inventors: TSUCHIDA TAMOTSU, TSUCHIDA, TAMOTSU
Applicants: ASAHI SEIKO CO LTD, ASAHI SEIKO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1998
Main classification: G07F11
IPC codes: G07F11