Patent ID: 7753189

Claim:
A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising: an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed, the bills having a leading edge and a trailing edge; a stacking unit comprising a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been processed, the output receptacles arranged such that the output receptacles are laterally offset of the input receptacle; a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to the output receptacles while maintaining the same edge of a bill as leading throughout the transportation of the bill between the input and output receptacles; a discriminating unit comprising at least one detector positioned between the input receptacle and the output receptacles, the detector generating at least one output signal used to count and to determine the denomination of the bills; and a housing adapted to hold the input receptacle, the stacking unit, the transport mechanism, and the discrimination unit, the housing having a front side, a back side, a right side and a left side; wherein the stacking unit is hingedly connected to the left side or the right side of the housing, and the discriminating unit is slidably moveable away from the front side and the back side of the housing towards a front of the device.