Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – Separator and conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-08
2002-06-18
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
Separator and conveyor
C271S013000, C271S104000, C271S034000, C902S015000, C902S016000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06406016
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an apparatus for dispensing thin flat articles and, more particularly, a compact storage and dispensing unit for dispensing from vending machines objects such as paper currency, and other flexible paper and plastic objects of a lightweight configuration, such as tickets, telephone cards and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
It is desirable to dispense lightweight flexible objects, such as notes, currency or monetary bills from vending machines, automatic teller machines, currency exchange machines, etc. Vending machines are also used to dispense tickets and telephone cards. In all of these machines, it is important to accurately remove a predetermined number of articles from a stacked storage position and to dispense them in a safe and accurate manner to the user.
Reference can be made to
FIG. 6
which shows one view from Japanese Patent Application No. 8-188006. In this embodiment, a baseboard
11
′ interconnects a central end part
12
′ and a cover board
14
′. Extending from the central end part
12
′ is a bottom board
14
′ with an appended installation member
15
′. Side rollers
16
′,
17
′ can rotate for dispensing an article that has been picked up by a suction apparatus
21
′. The suction apparatus
21
′ includes an exhaust duct
26
′ and a roller member
27
′ that is driven by a pulley belt
31
′ mounted on pulley guides
28
′,
30
′ that are driven by an electric motor
29
′. Support pads
32
′,
33
′ are provided at the bottom and apertures
22
′,
23
′ permit the suction effect to initially grasp an article which is then driven by the roller
27
′ for release. As can be seen, the article is transported to the rollers
16
′,
17
′ with the suction apparatus supported by the frame
24
′. Such a structure is not always dependable and when applied to circulating monetary notes a problem can occur, in that, the contact friction can become insufficient between the drive roller
27
′ and the note. Also, frequently notes are bent at a center portion and this can cause a problem in ensuring a unitary drive force.
As can be appreciated in dispensing articles such as monetary bills, it is essential that the device accurately dispense the stored bills, especially when installed at a remote location as patrons of such a machine could vent their frustration if the appropriate exchange of monetary notes is not accurate. Thus, the prior art is still seeking to optimize the accurate dispensing of thin flexible articles, such as monetary bills in relatively compact structures which can be mounted in a versatile manner in vending machines.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a dispensing apparatus for thin flat articles and includes a plenum chamber having an aperture of a size smaller than the articles to be dispensed. A suction device, such as a pair of fan units can be connected to the reverse side of the plenum chamber, provides sufficient negative pressure to adhere an article to the aperture of the plenum chamber. A contact member, such as an endless belt, is mounted for movement across the aperture to drive the article adhering to the aperture traverse to the aperture when the endless belt member is driven. An electric motor is mounted on a mounting bracket which can be attached to an exterior side of the plenum chamber. The mounting bracket can have a guide frame that will extend across the aperture of the plenum chamber for guiding and supporting the endless belt member independent of the aperture frame. Preferably the endless belt member is made from a material which provides sufficient contact friction, such as a rubber belt, with the article. The articles can be monetary currency which are bundled in stacks and mounted in replaceable storage trays. The storage tray can have a spring-biased support member that moves across the tray to advance the bills towards a frame opening that is aligned with the aperture of the plenum chamber.
A pressure reducing apparatus having a series of spacer members can be activated to grasp the edges of the stack of bills and thereby relieve the pressure on the foremost bills. The spacer members removably engage the stacked bills upon an initiation of a bill dispensing operation. When the bill or article is dispensed from the stack, a sensor can monitor the release of the bill and through a controller circuit can activate the motor to rotate in a reverse direction to prevent any succeeding bills from also being released with the initial bill. The bills can be forwarded to a storage chamber which has a guide piece that opens and controls a passageway for ejecting the bills to the user. Optical sensors can accurately count the number of bills which are accumulated in the storage chamber prior to dispensing. When the appropriate number of bills enter the storage chamber, the guide piece can be activated to open the passageway and a roller can contact a belt supporting the stored bills and eject them into a tray for access by the user.
Sensors can also appropriately determine if a bill has inadvertently been ejected from the stack and upon such a detection, the bill can be forwarded to a return bin included in each of the replaceable storage trays.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3097463 (1963-07-01), Neal et al.
patent: 3625508 (1971-12-01), Shiragai
patent: 3735976 (1973-05-01), Watson
patent: 4020972 (1977-05-01), Lundblad
patent: 4363478 (1982-12-01), Tsukasaki
patent: 4678175 (1987-07-01), Arldt et al.
patent: 5074539 (1991-12-01), Wells et al.
patent: 5139251 (1992-08-01), Ricciardi
patent: 1267005 (1968-04-01), None
patent: 812790 (1997-12-01), None
patent: 812790 (1999-09-01), None
patent: 7716831 (1979-01-01), None
Ehara Takashi
Itoh Yoshitaka
Saito Kenji
Tezuka Kenichi
Asahi Seiko Co. Ltd.
Deuble Mark A.
Ellis Christopher P.
Price and Gess
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