Deposit and collection receptacles – Fare boxes – Collection devices
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-10
2001-06-12
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3628)
Deposit and collection receptacles
Fare boxes
Collection devices
C902S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244504
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a bill or currency container for cashing dispensing machines or automated teller machines.
In a bill container, such as is known from DE-C-44 08 981, the anti-repetition device has the purpose of allowing the cover or the so-called front panel to be opened once when said container is being pushed into the receiving module, so that the front side of the bill stack stored in the bill container is released for the draw-off mechanism of the receiving module. When the lid is being closed after the bill stack has been placed into the bill container, the detent lever of the anti-repetition device is brought into the release position and is brought into the first intermediate position, that is to say activated, during the first movement of the actuating lever in the opening direction. When the actuating lever returns to its closing position, the detent lever then falls out of the first intermediate position into its detaining position, so that the actuating lever is locked. The bill container can then no longer be pushed into the receiving module or, as the case may be, the front panel can no longer be opened.
The thus predetermined operation of opening the panel once only does not make it possible for the bill container to be removed from the receiving module for checking and other purposes, unless the key for opening the lid is readily available, so that the detent lever can be put into its release position again.
When a service for filling up automatic cash dispensers is carried out, the key for the lid remains in the loading station, since the service personnel should not have any possibility of gaining access to the content of the bill containers. In the event of a build-up of bills in the draw-off region and of other faults, however, it would be advantageous if a bill container could be removed from the receiving module, the fault rectified and the bill container subsequently pushed in again.
Thus there is a need for a bill container of the initially mentioned type by simple means, in such a way that the anti-repetition device in the bill container can be overridden as often as desired for maintenance purposes, without reducing the security of the bill container against manipulation during transport between a loading station and the place of use in an automatic cash dispenser.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aforementioned need is met according to the present invention, in that the detent lever is coupled to an electromechanical setting device which, when the bill container is pushed in, can be connected to a control device assigned to the receiving module and by means of which, when the bill container is pushed in, the detent lever can be adjusted into a mechanically secured second intermediate position, out of which the detent lever can be adjusted into its release position as a function of the closing movement of the actuating lever.
By means of the solution according to the present invention, it is possible to adjust the detent lever by means of the electromechanical setting device out of the first intermediate position, out of which it would normally fall into the detaining position when the bill container is pulled out of the receiving module and during the closing movement of the actuating lever positively induced thereby, into the second intermediate position, in which said lever is initially locked mechanically. When the bill container is pulled out of the receiving module, admittedly the electric connection between the bill container and the receiving module and therefore also the connection between the electromechanical setting device and the control device is broken. Nevertheless, by virtue of mechanical securing, the detent lever remains in its second intermediate position. The detent lever is transferred out of this into the release position by means of the actuating lever which returns to the closing position. The anti-repetition device is consequently once again in the state, in which it was after the loading of the bill container and the closing of the lid and before said container was first pushed into the receiving module. That is to say, the bill container can be pushed into the receiving module again and, at the same time, the front panel opened. This operation may be repeated as often as desired, so that it is possible, for example, to rectify a build-up of bills in the draw-off device or the like and subsequently push the bill container into the receiving module again.
Preferably, the detent lever is held in its first and second intermediate position in each case by means of a mechanical catch arrangement which can be released as a function of the closing movement of the actuating lever. Such a catch arrangement can be achieved by very simple means by prestressing the detent lever in the direction of a catch contour which is fixed relative to the container and which has two catch steps corresponding to the two intermediate positions and designed for bearing contact on a catch nose designed on the detent lever, an extension being designed on the actuating lever in such a way that, when the actuating lever is in the closing position, said extension cooperates with the detent lever, in order to release the latter from catch engagement with the catch contour. Such a catch arrangement does not need to contain any moving parts, besides the moveable detent lever and the moveable actuating lever, and therefore can be produced in a very simple way.
In a preferred embodiment, in which the actuating lever is mounted on a container side wall pivotably about an axis parallel to the container bottom and carries a cam follower which, when the bill container is being pushed in, comes into engagement with a control cam designed on the receiving module, it is proposed, according to the invention, that the detent lever comprise a detent pawl and a supporting pawl, parallel to the latter, which are both mounted on the container side wall pivotably about a pivot axis parallel to the pivot axis of the actuating lever, the detent pawl carrying a detent hook intended for engagement with the actuating lever and the supporting pawl being connected to the detent pawl fixedly in terms of rotation, but linearly displaceably relative to the latter, that the supporting pawl carrying the catch nose be prestressed linearly in the direction of the catch contour and, about its pivot axis, in the direction of the actuating lever, and that the extension on the actuating lever be assigned two bearing surfaces on the supporting pawl which correspond to the two intermediate positions of the detent lever.
In order to ensure that the anti-repetition device can be disconnected only by authorized personnel, according to a further feature of the invention the electromechanical setting device is secured by means of an electronic blocking circuit which can be unblocked by the entry of a code on the receiving module.
Preferably, the detent lever is assigned a position indicator which can be connected to the control circuit of the receiving module, so that the position of the detent lever can be scanned on the receiving module.
Thus, the present invention provides a bill container capable of being pushed into a receiving module of a bill dispenser unit and with a loading orifice capable of being closed by means of a lid, with a bolt for locking the lid, said bolt being secured by a lock, with an extraction orifice capable of being closed by means of a flaplike cover, with an actuating device for the positive opening or closing of the cover as a function of the movement of pushing the bill container in and pulling it out of the receiving module, and with a retrieval preventer coupled to an actuating lever of the actuating mechanism and having a detent lever which can be adjusted between a release position, in which the actuating lever can be adjusted out of a closing position corresponding to the closed cover into an open position corresponding to the opened cover, a first intermediate position, which the detent lever assume
Hewitt James M
Knight Anthony
Schiff & Hardin & Waite
Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme Aktiengesellschaft
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