DISPENSER FOR DOCUMENTS SUCH AS CURRENCY AND THE LIKE

• US 3,795,395 A
• Filed: 10/30/1972
• Issued: 03/05/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: John Q. Parmater, Leslie R. Ransom
• Original Assignee: John Q. Parmater, Leslie R. Ransom
• Inventors: Ransom, Leslie R., Parmater, John Q.
• Primary Examiner(s): Blunk, Evon C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stoner, Jr., Bruce H.
• Application Number:
  US05/301,782
• Time in Patent Office: 491 Days
• Field of Search: 271/3-7,10,12,64,146,119,120,35,125,163,57
• US Class Current: 271/4.06
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 7/125 sensing the double feed or separation without contacting the articles
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/10 Mechanical details

Abstract

The currency dispenser, which issues bills sequentially from an exit, includes a bill storage compartment divided by a movable horizontal plate into a lower chamber in which a stack of horizontally disposed bills to be dispensed is located, and an upper chamber into which bills are diverted which have been fed from the bottom of the stack and rejected by virtue of being partially or completely overlapped. Also included is a bill feeder mechanism which advances the bottom bill of the stack, a stripper assembly which retards the movement of all but the bottom bill and assures the continued advancement of only that bill, and a transport system including a pair of belts which transport a bill from the stripper assembly to the bill exit along a set of metal guide plates which follow a path from the stripper upwardly alongside the storage compartment and thence horizontally over the compartment to the exit. A single bill sensor is included for detecting partially or fully overlapped bills, and controls a bill reject mechanism above the storage compartment for diverting into the reject compartment partially or fully overlapped bills which have been fed from the bottom of the stack.

Claims

1. A document dispenser for sequentially issuing at a dispenser exit documents initially in a stack, comprising:

a storage compartment configured to store a vertical stack of superimposed horizontally disposed documents, said compartment having a bottom, and at least first and second oppositely disposed spaced substantially vertical side walls, feed means disposed proximate said stack bottom to feed the bottom document in said stack in a horizontal direction to advance the leading edge thereof to a first point exteriorly of said first side wall adjacent the lower edge thereof, transport means for transporting said fed document upwardly from said first point to a second point adjacent the upper edge of said first side wall and thereafter to a third point adjacent the upper edge of said second side wall along a path overlying said compartment for delivery to said document exit, a document diverter located along said path overlying said compartment for diverting a document fed from the bottom of said stack into the top of said compartment, and a detector located to interact with documents moving between said first point and said diverter, and control means responsive to detection of overlapping documents by said detector for controlling said diverter to divert overlapped documents into the top of said compartment.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said compartment bottom has an opening therein adjacent said lower edge of said first side wall to expose a significant region of the bottom of said stack;

and wherein said feed means includes an agitator for intermittently upwardly displacing the bottom of said stack in said exposed region thereof.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said agitator is a pivotal stud having a free end which moves in an arcuate path, at least a portion of said arcuate path being located within said compartment and above the plane of said opening in said compartment bottom for applying an upwardly directed and horizontally directed force to the bottom of said stack in said exposed region thereof.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further including a horizontally disposed movable feed belt disposed adjacent said stud underlying said opening to impart, in cooperation with said horizontally directed force applied to the stack by said stud, horizontal feeding motion to the lowermost document in said stack.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said region of said stack bottom exposed by said opening is approximately 50 percent of the bottom of said stack, wherein said stud is located to engage said stack bottom at a point, measured from the leading edge of a fed document, equal to approximately one-third the length of a document, and wherein said belt underlies said stack substantially only between said point where said stud engages said stack and said lower edge of said first side wall.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said region of said stack bottom exposed by said opening is at least approximately one-third of the bottom of said stack, and wherein said stud is located to engage said stack bottom at a point, measured from the leading edge of a fed document, equal to approximately one-third the length of a document.

7. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said agitator includes a wheel mounted beneath said opening for rotation about a horizontal axis, said wheel mounting at its periphery said stud for agitating said exposed stack region as said wheel rotates about its axis.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further including a horizontally disposed movable feed belt underlying said opening and engaging said stud-mounting wheel for imparting, in cooperation with said horizontally directed force applied to the stack by said stud, horizontal feeding motion to the lowermost document in said stack.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a stripper assembly interposed between said feed means and said transport means, said stripper assembly including a. a rotating lower wheel having a relatively soft friction surface, and b. a nonrotating movable upper wheel overlying said lower wheel and normally biased into contact therewith, said nonrotating wheel including an outer skin of relatively hard friction material and an inner skin of relatively soft material, the coefficient of friction of said lower wheel exceeding that of said upper wheel.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said lower wheel friction surface includes 40 durometer urethane, said inner skin includes 40 durometer urethane, and said outer skin includes 80 durometer urethane.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, said detector including first and second magnetically conductive elements positioned proximate one side of a transported document and a third magnetic element positioned proximate the other side of said transported document opposite said first and second elements for altering the magnetic coupling therebetween to an extent correlated to the thickness of the document or documents located between said third element and said first and second elements, and wherein said control means includes circuit means responsive to said coupling for producing an electrical signal for controlling said diverter to divert overlapped documents.

12. The document dispenser of claim 1 wherein said transport means includes a. a document guide plate having a vertical section disposed generally perpendicular to the horizontal plane of said documents in said stack and extending upwardly generally parallel to said stack from said first point to said second point, and a horizontal section overlying said compartment and extending between said second point and said third point, and b. a movable belt having horizontal and vertical belt sections in contact with said horizontal and vertical plate sections, respectively, for frictionally engaging a document interposed therebetween and transporting it along said guide plates from said first point to said third point.

13. The document dispenser of claim 12 wherein said diverter includes a pivotal member located below said horizontal belt section, said pivotal member being positionable between an upper position angled with respect to said horizontal belt section in which a document is diverted into said compartment along a path underlying said pivotal member, and a lower position below said horizontal belt section in which a document is transported to said exit along a path overlying said pivotal member.

14. A document dispenser for sequentially issuing at a dispenser exit documents initially in a stack comprising:

a storage compartment for storing a vertical stack of horizontally disposed documents, said compartment having a stationary partial bottom underlying significantly less than the entire bottom surface of the stack, leaving unsupported by said compartment bottom a significant region of said bottom stack surface, an agitator for intermittently upwardly displacing said stack in said unsupported region thereof, a horizontal movable feed belt engaging said stack in said unsupported region thereof for horizontally feeding a document from the bottom of said stack, when actuated, a stripper in horizontal juxtaposition to said stack to receive a document fed by said feed belt, said stripper including;

a. a nonrotatable upper member having a relatively hard outer layer located to engage the upper surface of a document fed by said belt, and a relatively soft inner layer interiorly of said friction surface, the coefficient of friction of said outer layer exceeding the coefficient of friction of said documents, and b. a rotatable lower disc located below said upper disc to have its periphery engage the lower surface of a document fed by said belt, said lower disc periphery having a coefficient of friction exceeding the coefficient of friction of said outer layer of said upper member, a document guide plate having a. a vertical section disposed generally perpendicular to the horizontal plane of said documents in said stack and extending upwardly generally parallel to said stack from a point adjacent said stripper to a point above said compartment, and b. a horizontal section overlying said compartment and extending between said vertical guide plate section and a document exit, and a movable belt having horizontal and vertical belt sections in contact with said horizontal and vertical plate sections, respectively, for frictionally engaging a document interposed therebetween and transporting it along said guide plates from said stripper to said document exit.