Patent ID: 7775517

Claim:
A card collection mechanism for use with at least one card comprising: a card collection box for collecting the card; a feeding roller for carrying the card from a feeding passage to the card collection box, wherein the feeding passage is formed in a straight line manner; and a guide part for guiding the card from the feeding passage to the card collection box; wherein the guide part guides the card while the guide part causes the card to be resiliently bent in a direction where an urging force directed to a surface of the feeding roller is applied to the card when the card is fed to the card collection box; wherein the feeding roller carries the card to a state in which the card is capable of being collected in the card collection box; wherein the card collection mechanism further comprises: a first passage where the card is passed from the feeding roller to the card collection box; a second passage where the card is passed from the card processing part to the feeding roller; and a flat spring which is provided in the guide part, at least a part of which is disposed in the first passage and the second passage; wherein the flat spring forms the first passage and is disposed to cross the second passage; wherein when the card is carried in the first carrying direction, the flat spring maintains a crossing state over the second passage; when the card is carried in the second carrying direction, the card abuts the flat spring and resiliently bends the flat spring to open the second passage; and wherein the card collection mechanism further comprises: a restriction member which is disposed on a side of the flat spring opposite to the card collection box and structured to interpose the feeding passage of the card therebetween for maintaining the crossing state of the flat spring over the second passage, wherein the restriction member contacts a portion of the flat spring crossing the second passage; a card issuing part is disposed so as to superpose the card collection box in a vertical direction; wherein the second passage comprises a card issuing part side and a card collection box side; and wherein the restriction member is disposed on the card issuing part side.