Patent ID: 6889850

Claim:
A bill handling apparatus comprising a casing having openings formed at an upper part of a front surface thereof for insertion and discharge of bills therethrough, a deposit/withdrawal unit at a lower position in the casing and a base unit at a lower position in the casing, at least one intermediate unit located between the deposit/withdrawal unit and the base unit inside the casing and an auxiliary unit provided above at least the base unit, wherein: the deposit/withdrawal unit includes a bill introducing mechanism having a discriminating device for discriminating bills and adapted to introduce the bills through an insertion slot communicating with one of the openings for receiving the bills, a bill discharging mechanism for discharging the bills to a discharge slot communicating with a second of the openings for discharging the bills, and a conveying mechanism that is drivable in forward and reverse directions, one end of the conveying mechanism being selectively positionable in communication with the bill introducing mechanism and the bill discharging mechanism via a switcher at a rear part of the deposit/withdrawal unit, an opposed end of the conveying mechanism being adapted to convey the bills along a bill conveyance path extending to a bottom end of the deposit/withdrawal unit; the base unit includes a bill storage section, a conveying mechanism that is drivable in forward and reverse directions for conveying the bills within a specified range from an upper end of the base unit behind the bill storage section, and a taking-in and taking-out mechanism that is drivable in forward and reverse directions to take in and out the bills between the conveying mechanism and the bill storage section; the at least one intermediate unit includes a bill storage section, a conveying mechanism that is drivable in forward and reverse directions to convey the bills within a range extending from an upper end to the bottom end of the at least one intermediate unit behind the bill storage section, a taking-in and taking-out mechanism that is drivable in forward and reverse directions to take in and out the bills between the conveying mechanism and the bill storage section, and a switcher for switching a bill moving direction between the conveying mechanism and the taking-in and taking-out mechanism; and the auxiliary unit includes a storage space expanding portion in communication with the bill storage section of the unit located right below, and a conveying mechanism that is drivable in forward and reverse directions and is adapted to convey the bills in a range extending from an upper end to a bottom end of the auxiliary unit behind the bill storage section.