Patent ID: 8348272

Claim:
A paper sheet counting apparatus comprising: a hopper configured to be filled by a plurality of paper sheets in a stacked state; a transport mechanism configured to feed the plurality of paper sheets filled in the hopper to a transport path one by one, and configured to transport the plurality of paper sheets along the transport path; a sensing unit comprising at least a counting sensor for counting the plurality of paper sheets; and a stacker configured to be stacked with the plurality of paper sheets fed from the transport path, wherein the transport mechanism comprises: a drive roller constituting an inside of a turn portion for changing a direction of the transport path; a pinch roller configured to bias a given paper sheet from the plurality of paper sheets against an outer peripheral surface of the drive roller; and a turn guide plate configured to guide the given paper sheet along an outer periphery of the drive roller, wherein a gap between the turn guide plate and the drive roller decreases, along a traveling direction of the transport path, from a point where the given paper sheet is started to be transported around the outer peripheral surface of the drive roller toward a contact portion between the pinch roller and the drive roller, and wherein the direction of the transport path where the gap continually decreases is changed by more than 90 degrees by the drive roller and the turn guide plate.