Abstract:
A switchable note-picking device ( 1 ) used at a note inlet of a note processing device comprises a note-bearing platform ( 17 ), a note-picking mechanism ( 13 ) for picking notes on the note-bearing platform ( 17 ) and a note-classifying mechanism ( 11 ) for classifying the picked notes. The note-classifying mechanism ( 11 ) comprises a note-classifying shaft ( 112 ) and a note-classifying wheel fixed on the note-classifying shaft ( 112 ). The switchable note-picking device ( 1 ) further comprises a driving component ( 15 ) for driving the note-picking mechanism ( 13 ) hidden below the note-bearing platform ( 17 ) to be exposed out of the note-bearing platform ( 17 ) and contact with the notes. By the driving component ( 15 ), the note-picking mechanism ( 13 ) is exposed out of the note-bearing platform ( 17 ) when picking notes and hidden below the note-bearing platform ( 17 ) when being free from picking notes, so that the switchable note-picking device ( 1 ) can stop deposition and deposit a specified amount of notes.

Description:
[0001]    The present application claims the benefit of priority to Chinese patent application No. 201010582574.6 titled “A DISPLACABLE BANKNOTE PICKING UP DEVICE”, filed with the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 10, 2010. The entire disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by reference. 
       TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a banknote picking up device, particular to a to displacable banknote picking up device. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    With the continuous economic development and the growth of the financial industry, there are higher and higher requirements on the general performance, such as the quantity, the quality and the safety, of automatic teller machines applied in the financial industry. To adapt the rapid development of the financial industry, corresponding improvements are made to the automatic teller machines applied in the financial industry to satisfy the future development of the financial industry. However, a banknote picking up device of the automatic teller machine in the market generally has the following disadvantages. 
         [0004]    At present, a banknote picking up mechanism and a banknote separating mechanism in the banknote picking up device of the automatic teller machine in the market are driven by a same banknote separating and picking up motor. In the case that a customer puts a stack of banknotes in the automatic teller machine but only wants to deposit 100 pieces of banknotes, when the hundredth banknote enters into a banknote separating wheel of the banknote separating mechanism, on one hand, if the banknote separating and picking up motor is stopped, the hundredth banknote will lose the power and stay in the banknote separating wheel, which will lead to banknotes loss and bring risk to the property of the customer; on the other hand, if the banknote separating and picking up motor still operates, extra banknotes will enter the banknote separating mechanism, thus a specific number of banknotes cannot be deposited, thereby the individual requirement of the customer cannot be satisfied. 
         [0005]    Likewise, as to other self-service equipment for processing sheet medium, it also cannot provide the service of depositing a specific number of sheet medium and suspending deposit for the customer. 
         [0006]    Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a displacable banknote picking up device being capable of depositing a specific number of banknotes to satisfy the individual requirement of the customer on one hand and suspending banknote deposit to ensure the safety of property on the other hand. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The object of the present application is to provide a displacable banknote picking up device being capable of depositing a specific number of banknotes to satisfy the individual requirement of a customer on one hand and suspending banknote deposit to ensure the safety of property on the other hand. 
         [0008]    For realizing the above object, the present application provides a displacable banknote picking up device provided in a banknote inlet of a banknote processing device. The displacable banknote picking up device includes a banknote holding platform, a banknote picking up mechanism for picking up banknotes on the banknote holding platform and a banknote separating mechanism for separating the picked banknotes. The banknote separating mechanism includes a banknote separating shaft and a banknote separating wheel fixed on the banknote separating shaft. The displacable banknote picking up device further includes a driving assembly for driving the banknote picking up mechanism hidden below the banknote holding platform to be exposed above the banknote holding platform and to contact with the banknotes. 
         [0009]    Preferably, the displacable banknote picking up device further includes a banknote pressing mechanism for pressing the banknotes on the banknote holding platform such that the banknotes on the banknote holding platform may be stacked more orderly. 
         [0010]    Preferably, the banknote pressing mechanism includes a banknote pressing slide shaft, a banknote pressing plate slidably provided on the banknote pressing slide shaft and a banknote pressing plate driving mechanism for providing sliding power to the banknote pressing plate. The banknote pressing mechanism with the above structure is simpler and more compact. 
         [0011]    Preferably, the banknote picking up mechanism includes a banknote picking up wheel bracket, a banknote picking up wheel shaft rotatably connected with the banknote picking up wheel bracket and at least one banknote picking up wheel fixed on the banknote picking up wheel shaft, the banknote picking up wheel bracket is rotatably connected with the banknote separating shaft, and the banknote picking up wheel shaft is drivably connected with the banknote separating shaft, such that the banknote picking up wheel may be displaced to pick up banknotes. 
         [0012]    Preferably, the driving assembly includes a driving pushing member for driving and supporting the bottom of the banknote picking up wheel bracket, a driving shaft for mounting the driving pushing member and a set of driving parts mounted between the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism and the driving shaft. When the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism moves towards the banknote stacking direction and drives the driving shaft to rotate via the driving parts, the driving pushing member drives the banknote picking up wheel bracket to move towards the banknote holding platform, and the banknote picking up wheel exposes above the banknote holding platform and contacts with the banknotes. Via the driving assembly consisted by the driving pushing member and the driving shaft, the driving assembly is simpler in the structure and may drive and support the bottom of the banknote picking up wheel bracket more reliable; via the above driving assembly, the linked motion between the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism and the driving assembly is realized. 
         [0013]    Preferably, a contacting surface of the driving pushing member where slidably contacts with the banknote picking up wheel bracket is non-planar, and a direction of the supporting force acted on the banknote picking up wheel bracket by the driving pushing member is not in line with the gravity direction of the banknote picking up wheel bracket. In particular, the contacting surface of the driving pushing member where slidably contacts with the banknote picking up wheel bracket is an arc-shaped surface. use of the non-planar contacting surface is convenient for the driving pushing member to push the banknote picking up wheel bracket; use of the arc-shaped contacting surface is more convenient for the driving pushing member to push the banknote picking up wheel bracket. The direction of the supporting force acted on the banknote picking up wheel bracket by the driving pushing member is not in line with the gravity direction of the banknote picking up wheel bracket, thereby facilitating the automatic return of the banknote picking up wheel bracket and the banknote picking up wheel. 
         [0014]    More particularly, the driving parts include a sliding block provided on the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism and a pushing block provided on the driving shaft and corresponded to the sliding block, such that the driving parts have simple structure and more reliable performance. 
         [0015]    The driving parts may include a rack provided on the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism and a gear provided on the driving shaft and corresponded to and engagable with the rack, such that the driving parts may be operated more accurately. 
         [0016]    Preferably, a first gear and a second gear are respectively mounted on the banknote picking up wheel shaft and the banknote separating shaft, the first gear and the second gear are drivably connected via a third gear, or a chain, or a belt, or gear rack. In this way, the synchronous rotation in the same direction between the banknote picking up wheel shaft and the banknote separating shaft is realized, thereby providing an excellent condition for the cooperating action between the banknote picking up wheel and the banknote separating wheel. 
         [0017]    Compared with the prior art, due to the driving assembly in the present application, when there is a need to deposit the banknotes, the banknote picking up mechanism hidden below the banknote holding platform is driven to be exposed above the banknote holding platform and to contact with banknotes so as to pick up the banknotes on the banknote holding platform and transfer the picked banknotes to the banknote separating mechanism; when there is no need to pick up the banknotes, the banknote picking up mechanism is hidden below the banknote holding platform thus the banknote picking up mechanism cannot pick up the banknotes on the banknote holding platform. Therefore, the displacable banknote picking up device according to the present application is capable of depositing a specific number of banknotes to satisfy the individual requirement of the customer on one hand and suspending banknote deposit to ensure the safety of property on the other hand. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of the structure of a displacable banknote picking up device according to the present application; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the structure of the displacable banknote picking up device according to the present application with a banknote separating mechanism and a banknote picking up mechanism assembled together; 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the displacable banknote picking up device according to the present application in a banknote deposit suspended state; 
           [0021]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the structure of the displacable banknote picking up device in  FIG. 3  viewed from one angle; 
           [0022]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the structure of the displacable banknote picking up device in  FIG. 3  viewed from another angle; 
           [0023]      FIG. 6  is a schematic view of the structure of the displacable banknote picking up device according to the present application in a banknote picking up and separating state; 
           [0024]      FIG. 7  is a schematic view of the structure of the displacable banknote picking up device in  FIG. 6  viewed from one angle; 
           [0025]      FIG. 8  is a schematic view of the structure of the displacable banknote picking up device in  FIG. 6  viewed from another angle; and 
           [0026]      FIG. 9  is a schematic view of the structure of a banknote pressing mechanism of the displacable banknote picking up device according to the present application when driving a sliding block. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0027]    The technical content and the structural features of the present application will be further described in detail in conjunction with drawings and embodiments as follows. 
         [0028]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a displacable banknote picking up device  1  according to the present application may be installed in a self-service equipment which needs to provide functions of depositing a specific number of banknotes and suspending banknote deposit, and can also be installed in other self-service equipment which need to provide functions of depositing a specific number of and suspending deposit of sheet mediums other than the banknotes. The displacable banknote picking up device  1  of the present application includes a banknote holding platform  17 , a banknote picking up mechanism  13  for picking up banknotes on the banknote holding platform  17 , a banknote separating mechanism  11  for separating the picked banknotes and a driving assembly  15 . The banknote holding platform  17  and a fixing bracket  16  are respectively mounted on metal plates at two sides of a banknote outlet. The banknote separating mechanism  11  includes a banknote separating shaft  112  and a banknote separating wheel  111  fixed on the banknote separating shaft  112 . The driving assembly  15  drives the banknote picking up mechanism  13  hidden below the banknote holding platform  17  to be exposed above the banknote holding platform  17  and to contact with the banknotes. In order to stack the banknotes on the banknote holding platform  17  more orderly, the displacable banknote picking up device  1  of the present application further includes a banknote pressing mechanism  12  for pressing the banknotes on the banknote holding platform  17 . 
         [0029]    More particularly, referring to FIGS.  1  and  3 - 9 , the above mentioned banknote pressing mechanism  12  includes a banknote pressing slide shaft  122 , a banknote pressing plate  121  slidably provided on the banknote pressing slide shaft  122  and a banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  for providing sliding power to the banknote pressing plate  121 . One side of the banknote pressing plate  121  extends outwardly to form a rotary column  123  and a spring bracket  124 , a spring rotary wheel  125  is pivotably mounted on the rotary column  123 , a spring  126  is provided between the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  and the banknote pressing plate  121 , and a banknote stacking area  19  for stacking the banknotes is formed between the banknote pressing plate  121  and the banknote holding platform  17 . Constituted by the banknote pressing slide shaft  122 , the banknote pressing plate  121  and the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120 , the banknote pressing mechanism  12  has a simpler and more compact structure. 
         [0030]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , the banknote picking up mechanism  13  includes a banknote picking up wheel bracket  132 , a banknote picking up wheel shaft  131  rotatably connected with the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  and at least one banknote picking up wheel  135  fixed on the banknote picking up wheel shaft  131 . The banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  is rotatably connected with the banknote separating shaft  112 , and the banknote picking up wheel shaft  131  is drivably connected with the banknote separating shaft  112 . In detail, a first gear  141  is mounted on the banknote separating shaft  112 , a second gear  142  is mounted on the banknote picking up wheel shaft  131 , and the first gear  141  and second gear  142  are drivably connected via a third gear  143  to realize the synchronous rotation in the same direction of the banknote picking up wheel shaft  131  and the banknote separating shaft  112 , thereby providing an excellent condition for the cooperating action between the banknote picking up wheel  135  and the banknote separating wheel  111 . Alternatively, a chain or a belt or a gear rack may also be used between the first gear  141  and the second gear  142  to realize the synchronous rotation in the same direction of the banknote picking up wheel shaft  131  and the banknote separating shaft  112 . Meanwhile, in this embodiment, there are three banknote picking up wheels  135 , three banknote separating wheels  111  are provided between every two adjacent banknote picking up wheels  135  to obtain the best banknote picking up and separating performance. 
         [0031]    Referring to FIGS.  1  and  3 - 8 , the driving assembly  15  includes a driving pushing member  151  for driving and supporting the bottom of the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132 , a driving shaft  152  for mounting the driving pushing member  151  and a set of driving parts  153  mounted between the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  and the driving shaft  152 . The driving parts  153  include a sliding block  1531  provided on the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  and a pushing block  1532  provided on the driving shaft  152  and corresponded to the sliding block  1531 , thereby enabling the driving parts  153  having simple structure and more reliable performance. Alternatively, the driving parts  15  may include a rack provided on the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  and a gear provided on the driving shaft  152  and corresponded to and engagable with the rack, thereby enabling the operation of the driving parts  153  being more accurate. The connecting relationship between the sliding block  1531  and the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  is described in detail below in conjunction with  FIG. 9 . 
         [0032]    The sliding block  1531  is slidably provided on the banknote pressing slide shaft  122 . The banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  includes a motor (not shown), a crank  1201  and a connecting rod  1202 . An output shaft  1203  of the motor is connected with one end of the crank  1201 , the other end of the crank  1201  is connected with one end of the connecting rod  1202 , and the other end of the connecting rod  1202  is rotatably connected with the sliding block  1531 . The spring  126  winds around the spring wheel  125 , one end of the spring  126  is mounted on the spring bracket  124  and the other end thereof is mounted on the sliding block  1531 . When the motor of the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  is operated, the sliding block  1531  is driven by the crank  1201  and the connecting rod  1202  to slide towards the banknote holding platform  17 , the banknote pressing plate  121  is driven by the sliding block  1531  in sliding state via the spring  126  to slide along with the sliding of the sliding block  1531 . When the sliding block  1531  slides for a certain distance, the sliding block  1531  drives the pushing block  1532  to bring the driving shaft  152  into rotation. The rotating driving shaft  152  drives the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  via the driving pushing member  151  to move towards the banknote holding platform  17  such that the banknote picking up wheel  135  is exposed above the banknote holding platform  17  and contacts with banknotes. For facilitating the push of the driving pushing member  151  to the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  and the automatic return of the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  and the banknote picking up wheel  135 , a contacting surface of the driving pushing member  151  where slidably contacts with the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  is a non-planar surface or a curved surface. In particular, the contacting area of the driving pushing member  151  where slidably contacts with the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  may even be a straight line parallel to an axis of the driving shaft  153 , and the direction of the supporting force acted on the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  by the driving pushing member  151  is not in line with the gravity direction of the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132 . For further facilitating the push of the driving pushing member  151  to the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132 , the contacting surface of the driving pushing member  151  where slidably contacts with the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  is an arc-shaped surface. The driving assembly  15  consisted by the driving pushing member  151  and the driving shaft  152  have a simple structure and is capable of driving and supporting the bottom of the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  more reliably. Via the above driving parts  153 , the linked motion between the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  and the driving assembly  15  is realized. 
         [0033]    The working principle of the displacable banknote picking up device  1  according to the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings. After the banknotes are put in the banknote stacking area  19  consisted by the banknote holding platform  17  and the banknote pressing plate  121  and the number of the banknotes to be deposited is to specified, the motor of the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  is actuated to drive the sliding block  1531  to slide towards the banknote holding platform  17  via the crank  1201  and the connecting rod  1202 . The sliding block  1531  in sliding state pulls the banknote pressing plate  121  via the spring  126  to move towards the banknote holding platform  17  along with the sliding block  1531  so as to enable the banknote pressing plate  121  to press the banknotes. After sliding for a certain distance, the sliding block  1531  pushes the pushing block  1532  to drive the driving shaft  152  to rotate in a clockwise direction in  FIG. 7 . Via the driving pushing member  151 , the rotating driving shaft  152  pushes the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  to move towards the banknote holding platform  17  and enables the banknote picking up wheel  135  which is mounted on the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  and hidden below the banknote holding platform  17  to be exposed above the banknote holding platform  17  gradually. With the continued operation of the motor of the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120 , eventually the sliding block  1531  pushes the pushing block  1532  to drive the driving shaft  152  to rotate to a limit position as shown in  FIG. 7 , and meanwhile the banknote pressing plate  121  is pressed on one side of the banknotes held by the banknote holding platform  17 . At the same time, the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  is fully lifted by the driving pushing member  151  which enables the banknote picking up wheel  135  hidden below the banknote holding platform  17  to be fully exposed above the banknote holding platform  17  and to contact with the other side of the banknotes, thus preparing for the banknotes deposit. At this moment, the state that the driving pushing member  151  abuts against the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  and the state that the pushing block  1532  abuts against the sliding block  1531  are shown in  FIG. 8 . Then, the banknote separating shaft  112  is driven to rotate, the rotating banknote separating shaft  112  drives the banknote separating wheel  111 , which is fixed on the banknote separating shaft  112 , and the first gear  141  to rotate in a counterclockwise direction in  FIG. 7 . Via the third gear  143  and the second gear  142 , the first gear  141  drives the banknote picking up wheel shaft  131  to rotate along with the banknote separating shaft  112  synchronously and in the same direction, thereby eventually enabling the banknote picking up wheel  135  to rotate synchronously and in the same direction with the banknote separating wheel  111 , and enabling the banknote picking up wheel  135  and to the banknote separating wheel  111  to pick up and separate banknotes orderly. At this moment, the rotating directions of the banknote picking up wheel  135 , the banknote separating wheel  111 , the first gear  141 , the second gear  142  and the third gear  143  are shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  4  and  7 . When the last piece of banknotes in the specific number of banknotes to be deposited is picked up by the banknote picking up wheel  135  and is transferred to the banknote separating wheel  111 , the motor of the banknote pressing plate driving mechanism  120  drives the sliding block  1531  via the crank  1201  and the connecting rod  1202  to slide back away from the banknote holding platform  17 , the returned sliding block  1531  drives the banknote pressing plate  121  to be returned together. Meanwhile, the returned sliding block  1531  is no longer press the pushing block  1532 , due to the weights of the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  and the banknote picking up wheel  135  mounted thereon, the driving pushing member  151  is driven to rotate about the driving shaft  152  in  FIG. 4  in a counterclockwise direction and then to be returned along with the return of the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132 . The returned banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  enables the banknote picking up wheel  135  to be hidden below the banknote holding platform  17  (as shown in  FIG. 5 ), while in above process the banknote separating shaft  112  is still working, thus when the banknote picking up wheel  135  cannot pick up the banknotes in the banknote stacking area  19 , the banknote separating wheel  111  can still transfer the last piece of banknote transferred from the banknote picking up wheel  135  to a specific location. In this way, the displacable banknote picking up device  1  of the present application has the functions of depositing a specific number of banknotes and suspending banknote deposit. At this moment, the rotating directions of the banknote separating wheel  111 , the first gear  141 , the second gear  142 , the third gear  143  and the banknote picking up wheel  135  are indicated by the arrows in  FIG. 4 , and the position between the banknote picking up wheel bracket  132  and driving pushing member  151  and the position between the sliding block  1531  and the pushing block  1532  are as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
         [0034]    When there is a need to deposit the banknotes, the driving assembly  15  according to the present invention drives the banknote picking up mechanism  13  hidden below the banknote holding platform  17  to be exposed above the banknote holding platform  17  and to contact with banknotes so as to pick up the banknotes on the banknote holding platform  17  and transfer the to picked up banknotes to the banknote separating mechanism  11  for separating; when there is no need to pick up the banknotes, via the driving assembly  15 , the banknote picking up mechanism  13  is hidden below the banknote holding platform  17  thus the banknote picking up mechanism  13  cannot pick up the banknotes on the banknote holding platform  17 . Therefore, the displacable banknote picking up device  1  according to the present application is capable of depositing a specific number of banknotes to satisfy the individual requirement of the customer on one hand and suspending banknote deposit to ensure the safety of property on the other hand. 
         [0035]    The above disclosure is only preferred embodiments of the present application, and should not be used to limit the protection scope of the present application, thus any equivalent modifications made according to the claims of the present application also fall into the protection scope of the present application.