Abstract:
Proposed is a paper gathering and feeding method, a device therefor, and a rotation member acting sufficiently also on any deformed notes at the time of gathering, and at the time of feeding, feeding is not prevented irrespective of the plasticity deformation, and an object thereof is to reduce the exchange frequency and maintenance of the rotation member, extend the continuous operation time of the paper gathering and feeding device, and realize comprehensive reduction of production cost, service cost, and the like. With respect to a paper gathering and feeding method or a device therefor performing a gathering process for dropping paper to be transferred in a transfer section to gather the same in a gathering section, and a feeding process for feeding the paper gathered in the gathering section to the transfer section, a rotation member provided with a changeable piece changeable with a radius distance between a tip section and a rotation axis is provided in the vicinity of a coupling section between the transfer section and the gathering section, and at the time of the gathering process, the rotation member is so formed as to rotate in a gathering direction to slap down the paper using the changeable piece with the wider radius distance, and at the time of the feeding process, the rotation member rotates in a feeding direction to perform the feeding allowance operation to allow the paper to be fed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a paper gathering and feeding method and a device therefor, and a rotation member for performing, with respect to paper, a gathering process and a feeding process in such a manner as gathering notes from a transfer path to a gathering section in the gathering process such as a credit transaction, and feeding the notes from the gathering section to the transfer path in the feeding process such as a debit transaction. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   Conventionally, a note gathering and feeding device for gathering and feeding notes of required amount by ATM, for example, a note gathering and feeding device  1 ′ as shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , has been proposed, in which an impeller  91  made of a rubber material is provided in the vicinity of a gathering port for transferring the notes and transferring those to a gathering section. The impeller works during the gathering process and is retracted during a feeding process. (An exemplary device is described in Japanese Patent Application No. JP-A-2001-368334, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
   The structure and the operation of the note gathering and feeding device  1 ′ are roughly described by referring to right side cross sectional views shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 . 
   During the gathering operation in which the note gathering and feeding device  1 ′ collects notes  2 , as shown in  FIG. 10 , a feed roller  31  is rotated in a gathering direction (in a counterclockwise direction in the drawing), and by the rotation force produced by the rotation, the notes  2  are transferred over a transfer path  51 . At this time, the impeller  91  is rotating in the gathering direction (in a clockwise direction in the drawing). The centrifugal force produced by the rotation causes the blades  91   a  to spread out as shown in  FIG. 10 . Therefore, once the notes  2 , having transferred over the transfer path  51 , are transferred to a gathering space  3 , the blades  91   a  slap down the notes  2 , and the notes  2  are thus smoothly accumulated on an up-and-down board  11  in a horizontal manner. 
   As shown in  FIG. 11 , during the feeding operation in which the note gathering and feeding device  1 ′ feeds the notes  2 , a pickup rotation body  61  is so controlled as to be in the condition pivotally movable in the downward direction, and rotated in a feeding direction (in a counterclockwise direction in the drawing) to feed the notes  2  out to the transfer path  51 . At this time, the impeller  91  is stopped without rotating, and the blades  91   a  thereof are in a retracted position. Thus, the blades  91   a  do not prevent the notes  2  from being fed and transferred at the time of transferring the notes  2  over the transfer path  51  by the rotation force of the feed roller  31  rotating in the feed direction (in a clockwise direction in the drawing). 
   In such a manner, the note gathering and feeding device  1 ′ has no mechanism for controlling, in the vertical direction, the movement of the impeller itself which has been required in the conventional type including an impeller made of a plastic film, aiming at cutting cost down. 
   The problem here is that, with the note gathering and feeding device  1 ′ such as ATM frequently performing the gathering process and the feeding process, resultantly the impeller  91  is heavily used. With continuous use, the rubber material is deformed in terms of plasticity, and with still continuous use for longer days, the blades  91   a  may spread wide open even if they are not in operation. As a result, the blades  91   a  may hit the notes  2  coming from the transfer path  51 , causing paper clogging. 
   Further, the blades  91   a  are each curved in such a manner that the intermediate section between the tip section and the base section on the side of the rotation axis comes first at the time of gathering. This makes the contact angle obtuse between the note  2  and the blades  91   a  when the note  2  is slapped down, failing in acting sufficiently on the notes  2  if those are deformed, e.g., crimped (hereinafter referred to as deformed notes). 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In consideration of the above problems, the present invention relates to a note gathering and feeding method, a device therefor, and a rotation member acting sufficiently on both deformed and non-deformed notes at the time of gathering, and at the time of feeding, not preventing feeding no matter if plasticity deformation is occurring. An object of the present invention is to reduce the exchange frequency and maintenance of the rotation member, thus extending the continuous operation time of the paper gathering and feeding device, and realizing a significant reduction in production costs, service costs, and the like. 
   Specifically, the present invention is directed to a paper gathering and feeding method and a device for performing a gathering process for dropping paper to be transferred in a transfer section, to gather the same in a gathering section, and a feeding process for feeding the paper gathered in the gathering section to the transfer section. The paper gathering and feeding method and device are characterized by a rotation member provided with a changeable piece changeable with a radius distance between a tip section and a rotation axis in the vicinity of a coupling section between the transfer section and the gathering section, and at the time of the gathering process, the rotation member rotates in a gathering direction to slap down the paper using the changeable piece with the wider radius distance, and at the time of the feeding process, the rotation member rotates in a feeding direction to perform the feeding allowance operation allowing the paper to be fed. 
   The paper includes those structured by notes, cards, paper, and printed paper. 
   The changeable piece includes those formed by a deformable resin member exemplified by a rubber material, a deformable metal member exemplified by a deformable elastic sheet iron, a deformable structure body bendable or curvable in the rotation direction by pivotally moving at the base section on the side of the rotation axis or/and the intermediate section between the base section and the tip section, or an extendable material extendable in the radius direction of the rotation axis. 
   Further, the changeable piece includes those formed by a curtain body of a predetermined width, thickness, and length, or a string body of a predetermined thickness. If it is a curtain body, included are those formed to be any fixed shape invariant in width, thickness, and length, taper shape increasing in thickness towards the tip side, taper shape increasing in width toward the tip side, and gravity-forward shape including weights at the tip side. Similarly, if it is a string body, included are those formed to be fixed shape invariant in thickness, taper shape increasing in thickness towards the tip, and gravity-forward shape including weights at the tip side. 
   The tip section denotes the tip part outside of the changeable piece. 
   The rotation member includes those formed by a piece-existent roller (or blade-existent roller) including one or more of the changeable piece, or a piece-existent rotation axis (or a blade-existent rotation axis) including one or more of the changeable piece. 
   The rotation axis includes those formed by a rotation axis or a part of the rotation member to which the rotation member is inserted or attached using adhesives. 
   The slapping movement includes those set to the operation of slapping the paper at the tip part and/or the intermediate section of the changeable piece. 
   The feeding allowance operation includes those set to the operation of rotating the rotation member in the feeding direction with the same speed as the feeding speed so as not to prevent feeding due to the changeable piece touching the paper, or so as to assist feeding through touching. 
   Note here that, the expressions of rotation in the gathering direction and rotation in the feeding direction denote, respectively, rotation in a clockwise direction at the time of gathering (gathering direction), and rotation in a counterclockwise direction at the time of feeding (feeding direction) in a case where, for example viewed from the right side, the gathering section is located on the right side, to the upper left thereof, located is the transfer section, and to the lower left of the connection section between the transfer section and the gathering section, placed is the rotation member. 
   As a preferred embodiment, the changeable piece may be formed in a curve shape curving in the rotation backward direction (backward with respect to the rotation direction) when the intermediate section between the tip section and the base section on the side of the rotation axis is in the slapping operation. 
   The curve shape includes a full circle, a distorted circle varying in curving angle at any predetermined positions such as the tip section, the intermediate section, and the base section, or a bend shape bending at one or more positions to be possibly regarded as curved in its entirety. 
   Further, the present invention can be directed to a rotation member including a changeable piece variable with the radius distance between the tip section and the rotation axis to be used with the paper gathering and feeding method or the paper gathering and feeding device of the above type. 
   Thus, the present invention provides a high-capability paper gathering and feeding device, which is capable of preventing clogging in the gathering process and the feeding process, and achieving smooth gathering and feeding. Moreover, the present invention reduces maintenance costs by extending the uptime of the rotation member. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows a perspective view showing the outer appearance of a paper gathering and feeding device. 
       FIG. 2  shows an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the paper gathering and feeding auxiliary device. 
       FIG. 3  shows a front view of the paper gathering and feeding auxiliary device. 
       FIG. 4  shows a front cross sectional view of a part of the paper gathering and feeding auxiliary device. 
       FIGS. 5A and 5B  show illustrative views demonstrating the shape and the function of a centrifugal impeller. 
       FIG. 6  shows a right side cross sectional view of the paper gathering and feeding device at the time of gathering. 
       FIG. 7  shows a right side cross sectional view of the paper gathering and feeding device at the time of feeding. 
       FIG. 8  shows a front view of a gathering and feeding auxiliary device. 
       FIGS. 9C and 9D  show illustrative views demonstrating the action of a blade with respect to any deformed notes. 
       FIG. 10  shows a right side cross sectional view of a conventional paper gathering and feeding device at the time of gathering. 
       FIG. 11  shows a right side cross sectional view of the conventional paper gathering and feeding device at the time of feeding. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   One exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1  showing a perspective view of a paper gathering and feeding device  1 , the outward appearance and the structure of the paper gathering and feeding device  1  are described. 
   The paper gathering and feeding device  1  is so shaped as to outwardly look like a box, while internally the device  1  houses a gathering space  3  for accumulating the notes  2  in a horizontal manner, and at the bottom of the gathering space  3 , located is the up-and-down board  11  having the size of a note (size of about a note). 
   The up-and-down board  11  is so guided as to vertically move along the side wall, while remaining in a horizontal position with respect to the side walls. To the up-and-down board  11 , an up-and-down belt  13  is partially fixed using an adhesive section  12 . The up-and-down belt  13  is rotated forward or reverse responding to the forward or reverse rotation control of a forward-reverse rotation motor (pulse motor)  14  by arbitrary control means, controlling the vertical motion of the up-and-down board  11 . 
   To the upper part of the paper gathering and feeding device  1 , a feed axis  32  is provided in the lateral direction for bearing. Two substantially cylindrical feed rollers  31  are attached to the axis  32  by insertion at predetermined intervals. The feed rollers  31  transfer the notes  2  to the deep recess at the time of gathering, and upward at the time of feeding. 
   To one end of the feed axis  32  (upper right end in the drawing), a gear  34  is securely attached by insertion. Via the gear  43  and another gear  42  attached to the forward-reverse rotation motor  41 , which acts as the driving force for the forward and reverse rotation of the above-referenced gears  34 ,  42 ,  43  and the axis  32 . Herein, the forward-reverse rotation motor  41  is forward-reverse-rotation controlled by arbitrary control means. 
   To the other end of the feed axis  32  (upper left end in the drawing), a gear  33  is attached by insertion. Via a gear  24 , the driving force is transferred to a shaft  22  provided front below the feed axis  32  for bearing. 
   To the shaft  22 , two gate rollers  25  are provided in position opposing to the feed rollers  31 , respectively, and the peripheral surface thereof is formed with a convex surface to slightly fit into a groove formed to the feed rollers  31 , whereby the feed roller  31  and the gate roller  25  overlap each other. Here, the gate roller  25  is so structured as to rotate in the gathering direction at the time of gathering, and at the time of feeding, to stop without rotating. 
   The gate rollers  25  are outwardly provided with centrifugal impellers  21 , respectively, for slapping down the notes at the time of gathering. Thus, the shaft  22  functions as the axis of the centrifugal impeller  21 . 
   As to the centrifugal impeller  21 , as will be described later, the blades  21   a  are retracted when the impeller  21  is not rotating. The impeller blades  21   a  are formed from any arbitrary rubber material in such a manner that the blades  21   a  spread by the centrifugal force produced by rotation of the impeller  21  (rotation operation). 
   The centrifugal impeller  21  is so structured as to rotate in the gathering direction at the time of gathering and in the feeding direction at the time of feeding. Such a structure will be described later in detail. 
   Herein, the centrifugal impellers  21 , the shaft  22 , and the gate rollers  25  form a gathering and feeding auxiliary device  20  (described later). 
   One end of the shaft  22  (upper right in the drawing) is positioned, for bearing, to a positioning board  44  outside of the gathering space  3 , and together with the feed axis  32  similarly positioned to the positioning board  44  for bearing, the end part (upper right in the drawing) is positioned. 
   Such a structure allows the notes  2  to be transferred by the transfer force by the feed rollers  31  and the gate rollers  25 , and the notes  2  to be accumulated in the gathering space  3  at the time of gathering, and at the time of feeding, the notes  2  to be fed from the transfer path. During this gathering/feeding operation, the centrifugal impellers  21  also act as operation assistance. 
   Next, referring to  FIG. 2  for an exploded perspective view of the gathering and feeding auxiliary device  20 , the structure of the gathering and feeding auxiliary device  20  is described. 
   The gathering and feeding auxiliary device  20  performs insertion to the shaft  22  made of a metal material in such a manner that a coupling section  23  in the middle, the gate rollers  25  located on both sides thereof, and a gear  26  outside the gate roller  25  on the left side all rotate as a single unit. In such a manner as to sandwich both sides of the gate section  20   a  formed by the coupling section  23 , the gate rollers  25 , and the gear  26 , an E ring  27 , such as a washer cleat, is engaged into a clear groove  22   a  of the shaft  22 , thereby positioning the gate section  20   a.    
   On the outside part of the gate section  20   a  of the shaft  22 , the centrifugal impellers  21  are attached by insertion. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the gathering and feeding auxiliary device  20  assembly is so structured that the gate section  20   a  operates as a a single unit. 
   In more detail, the side plane of the gate roller  25  is provided with an engagement hole (concave section) as shown in  FIG. 4 , and the engagement hole is engaged with engagement boss sections  23   a  and  26   a  provided to the side plane of the coupling section  23  and that of the gear  26 , respectively, for coupling. With such a structure, thus coupled components are not allowed to independently rotate but rotate/not rotate as the gate section  20   a  as an individual piece. 
   The coupling section  23  comprises a one-way clutch  23   b , which does not rotate with respect to the shaft  22  in the gathering direction (i.e. the clutch  23   b  rotates as a piece with the shaft  22 ), while in the feeding direction, the clutch  23   b  becomes free with respect to the shaft  22 . 
   To the gear  26 , a one-way gear  28  is connected at the lower position. To the one-way gear  28 , rotation is transferred by a gear  28   a  formed to the peripheral surface thereof engaging with the gear  26 , and a one-way clutch  28   b  accommodated inside stops the rotation in the feeding direction, and in the gathering direction, the orientation of the clutch is so set as to accept rotation, thereby bearing is done to a fix axis  29   a  of a fixation section  29 . Here, the fixation section  29  is securely attached to a guide board  52  (described below) of the transfer path. 
   With such a structure, the one-way gear  28  allows the gate rollers  25  to rotate in the gathering direction, but not in the feeding direction. 
   As a result, in the gathering and feeding auxiliary device  20 , every component rotates by the shaft  22  at the time of gathering, and at the time of feeding, the centrifugal impellers  21  and the shaft  22  rotate but the gate section  20   a  does not rotate. 
   With the above structure, the gate section  20   a  and the centrifugal impellers  21  rotate at the time of gathering operation for gathering assistance. At the time of feeding, the gate section  20   a  stops, and provides the friction force to the gathering space  3  so as not to feed the second and all other notes from the top of the notes  2  stacked in the gathering space  3 . At this feeding, the centrifugal impellers  21  rotate in the feeding direction for feeding assistance. 
   Next, referring to  FIGS. 5A and 5B  for a diagram illustrating the centrifugal impeller  21 , the shape and the function of the centrifugal impeller  21  are described. 
     FIG. 5A  shows a perspective view of the centrifugal impeller  21  when not rotating, and  FIG. 5B  shows a perspective view of the centrifugal impeller  21  when rotating. 
   The centrifugal impellers  21  are each formed, as shown in  FIG. 5(A) , to include four blades  21   a  at regular intervals on the side plane of a tube body  21   b . The blades  21   a  are formed as a single unit from a rubber material. 
   The blades  21   a  are so formed that one end of the circular intermediate section  21   d  is connected with a circular base section  21   c  having the smaller radius, and to be inverse-taper gradually increasing in thickness from the base section  21   c  of the tube body  21   b  towards the tip section  21   e.    
   When the centrifugal impeller  21  formed as such is rotated in the forward direction (gathering direction), the blades  21   a  spread due to the centrifugal force as shown in (B), lengthening a radius distance  21   f  between the tip section and the rotation axis. At the time of rotation, due to the blades  21   a  formed to be inverse-taper as described in the foregoing, the side of the tip section  21   e  is weighed, and this makes the blades  21   a  easily spread. 
   Further, when the centrifugal impeller  21  is rotated in the reverse direction (feeding direction), similarly to the case of rotating it in the forward rotation, the blades  21   a  are easily spread. 
   The structure of the centrifugal impeller  21  allows it to slap the notes  2  with the inside surface of the intermediate section  21   d  or the tip section  21   e  when rotating in the gathering direction as shown by a hypothetical arrow. The slapping force at this time will be strong because the bias force of the rubber material acts in the slapping direction, wanting to be put back to its original shape again. 
   On the other hand, when rotating in the feeding direction being reverse rotation, the notes  2  are slapped (or softly touched, pushed) by the outer surface of the intermediate section  21   d  or the tip section  21   e . The slapping force at this time will be weak because the bias force of the rubber material acts in the opposite direction, wanting to be put back to its original shape again. 
   Next, referring to a right side cross sectional view of the paper gathering and feeding device  1  shown in  FIG. 6  at the time of gathering, and a right side cross sectional view of the paper gathering and feeding device  1  shown in  FIG. 7  at the time of feeding, the effects of the device in the gathering operation and the feeding operation are described. 
   First of all, referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , on the upper front side, the paper gathering and feeding device  1  is provided with the feed roller  31  described above by referring to  FIG. 1 , and behind the feed roller  31 , provided is a pickup rotation body  61  structured by stretching a belt  62  to pulleys  63  and  64 . 
   The pickup rotation body  61  is structured to be driven by arbitrary driving means, so that it swings in the vertical direction about the pulley  64  locating further back at the time of gathering and feeding operation, and at the time of feeding, touches the gathered notes  2  and feeds the same in the feeding direction. 
   The transfer path  51  provided for transferring the notes is formed by a guide board  53  guiding the upper, front, and lower parts of the feed roller  31  at positions slightly inner than the peripheral surface thereof and then extending in the horizontal direction toward the rear, and a guide board  52  extending directly downward from a note exit port  54  located front upper end of the paper gathering and feeding device  1  and then partially extending directly downward again after curving along the peripheral surface of the feed roller  31 . 
   Note herein that, to the guide board  52 , an adhesive member  29  (not shown) described by referring to  FIG. 4  is screwed. 
   Further, in the vicinity of a coupling section  3   a  between the transfer path  51  and the gathering space  3 , the gathering and feeding auxiliary device  20  (that is, the gate section  20   a  and the centrifugal impeller  21 ) is arranged. 
   Slightly behind the note exit port  54 , provided is a note enter port  55 . The note enter port  55  and the note exit port  54  are integrated together inside, and coupled to the transfer path  51 . 
   With such a structure and configuration, operation is observed as below at the time of gathering and at the time of feeding. 
   At the time of gathering, the notes  2  incoming from the note enter port  55  are transferred inside the transfer path  51  by the transfer force of the feed roller  31 , and then exited to the gathering space  3  so as to accumulate those on the up-and-down board  11 . 
   At the time of gathering, as shown in  FIG. 6 , the blades  21   a  of the centrifugal impeller  21  rotating in synchronization with the feed roller  31  slap down the notes  2 , and this prevents the notes  2  to be transferred one after another from clogging caused by collision in the gathering space  3 . 
   At this time, the gate roller  25  rotates together with the centrifugal impeller  21  as a piece with the shaft  22  due to the action of the above-described one-way clutch  23   b , and the one-way gear  28  becomes free to accept the rotation. 
   Note herein that, the pickup rotation body  61  is in the up position at this time so as not to prevent the notes  2  from being accumulated. 
   At the time of feeding, the pickup rotation body  61  is in the down position as shown in  FIG. 7  so as to pick up the notes  2  accumulated in a flat manner for sending out thus picked-up note(s) to the transfer path  51 . 
   At this time, the feed roller  31  and the centrifugal impeller  21  are synchronously rotating in the direction reverse to the gathering direction, and the gate roller  25  becomes free from the shaft  22  due to the above-described action of the one-way clutch  23   b , and being at rest due to the action of the one-way gear  28 . 
   In such a manner, the centrifugal impeller  21  feeds out the notes  2  to the transfer path  51  while softly touching the note  2 , thereby assisting the feeding of the notes  2 . The gate roller  25  is not rotating, and prevents the second note and other remaining notes  2  from being pulled out by the friction force. 
   As such, with the simple structure including the centrifugal impeller  21 , the gathering/feeding of the notes  2  can be done in a smooth manner. In this manner, clogging of the notes  2  can be prevented, thus improving operation of the device  1 . 
   Further, as shown in a front view of  FIG. 8 , the centrifugal impeller  21  is located outside the feed roller  31  and the gate roller  25 , and in order to bias the notes  2  upward during the gathering and feeding operations, the notes  2  are extended outwardly (laterally) to effectively extend any bending and folding. In such a manner, clogging caused by old notes sagging between the feed rollers  31  can be effectively prevented. 
   Moreover, as shown in an illustration diagram of  FIGS. 9C and 9D , the present invention allows deformed notes to be gathered/fed in a smooth manner. To be more specific, at the time of accumulating the note  2  bent as shown in  FIG. 9C , the blades  21   a  can securely perform slapping with an angle narrower than if the blades  21   a  were straight or invertly curved thanks to the shape of the blade  21   a  whose intermediate section  21   d  curves backward with respect to the tip section  21   e.    
   The slapping force at this time will be strong enough to deal with the deformed notes because the centrifugal force is added with the elastic force of the blades  21   a.    
   With such reasons, as shown in the drawing, at the time of gathering the note  2  whose end  2   a  is bent upward, clogging caused by the next notes  2  abutting to the bent part can be prevented. 
   At the time of feeding, as shown in  FIG. 9D , any deformed notes (notes  2 ) deformed on the feeding side can be fed in a smooth manner. That is, if the feeding side is deformed as shown, conventionally, the feed roller  31  and the gate roller  25  sandwich the part to make it completely bend, resulting in increase of thickness of about two pieces of notes and thus the overlapped section is too narrow to let the note pass by, resultantly causing clogging. However, by the blades  21   a  transferring the notes  2  in the feeding direction from below with a soft touch, the bent deformed part can be extended for feeding in a straight form. 
   At this time, the centrifugal impeller  21  is rotating with the same speed as the feeding speed of the notes  2 . Therefore, even if no transfer force is derived, no feeding is prevented. 
   As such, it is possible to widely deal with not only normal notes  2  but also any deformed or bent note  2   a , without clogging. This can reduce staff required for maintenance. Moreover, even if the centrifugal impeller  21  is deformed in terms of plasticity and thus the blades  21   a  are spreading wider than those when first manufactured, gathering and feeding of the notes  2  is not prevented, thus, the blades  21   a  maintain their gathering and feeding capability over a long period of time. 
   In the above described exemplary embodiment of the present invention, one centrifugal impeller  21  is provided on each of the right and left sides of the shaft  22 . It should be understood, however, that a plurality of centrifugal impellers  21  may be used, so long as the same number of impellers  21  is used on each side of the shaft  22 . For example, three impellers  21  may be provided on each side of the shaft. 
   Further, the number of the blades  21   a  of the centrifugal impeller  21  is not limited to four but may be a single piece. 
   Alternatively, the shape of the blades  21   a  may be formed straight, rather than curved. If this is the case, the blades  21   a  will slightly sag due to gravity and will spread apart even when not rotating, but such sagging and spreading will not hinder operation of the device  1  because they may rotate during both a gathering and feeding operation. 
   Moreover, the rubber material forming the centrifugal impeller  21  may be a soft rubber material or a hard rubber material. In consideration of friction, however, the hard rubber material is a preferable option. 
   Further, the blades  21   a  may be formed by the hard rubber material and may be so formed as to include a hollow inside or a soft section. Such a structure provides the blades  21   a  with friction-resistance and flexibility. 
   In the correlation between the structure of the present invention and the above-described embodiment, the term “paper” corresponds to the note  2 , the term “gathering section” corresponds to the gathering space  3 , the term “rotation member” corresponds to the centrifugal impeller  21 , the term “changeable piece” corresponds to the blade  21   a , the term “rotation axis” corresponds to the shaft  22 , and the term “transfer section” corresponds to the transfer path  51 . 
   The above description and drawings are only to be considered illustrative of exemplary embodiments, which achieve the features and advantages of the invention. Modification and substitutions to specific process conditions and structures can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as being limited by the foregoing description and drawings, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.