Patent ID: 7503445

Claim:
A bill transport and storage unit comprising: a bill storage portion for storing bills and that has an installation area for installing a bill validator which takes in a bill to validate the bill; and a bill feeding device defining a feeding path for a bill to travel to reach the bill storage device, the bill feeding device comprising: a guide device including a pair of guides spaced from each other along a direction perpendicular to the feeding path traveled by a bill to reach the bill storage portion, each guide including a planar portion and an adjoining semi-loop portion, the guides being aligned so that the planar portions are co-planar and the semi-loop portions are coaxial; and a feeding rotation member disposed between the pair of guides, having an outer peripheral surface, and rotated about an axis generally parallel to the planar portions of the guides, wherein the outer peripheral surface protrudes outwardly from, between, and beyond the planar portions of the pair of guides to engage and feed a bill in the feeding path, by applying a first frictional force to the bill, so the bill is fed along the planar portions of the pair of guides, and the outer peripheral surface of the feeding rotation member protrudes further outwardly from, between, and beyond the semi-loop portions of the pair of guides than beyond the planar portions of the pair of guides, and applies a second frictional force, larger than the first frictional force, to the bill and stresses the bill traveling in the feeding path toward the bill storage portion, producing a V-shape in the bill as the bill travels along the semi-loop portions of the pair of guides toward the bill storage portion, to remove folds from the bill.