Check-actuated control mechanisms – Control mechanism actuated by check – other than coin – which... – By pliant currency
Patent
1994-12-23
1997-04-01
Merritt, Karen B.
Check-actuated control mechanisms
Control mechanism actuated by check, other than coin , which...
By pliant currency
235 7A, 235383, 395223, G07D 1100, G07G 112
Patent
active
056157592
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cash handling apparatus, and more particularly relates to the apparatus known as a till or cash register, which is used by retail outlets of all kinds.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, when a till or cash register is in use there are the continuing risks that on the one hand the person operating the till or register may be tempted to steal cash therefrom, and also there is the risk of the operator being in danger from thieves who wish to steal the cash from the till or cash register. The latter danger arises especially where the retail outlet having the till or cash register is open late in the evening or indeed is open for 24 hours.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
There is a need therefore to provide a cash handling apparatus designed to operate to mitigate these risks and disadvantages. Accordingly, this invention provides a cash handling apparatus comprising a container for holding the cash inserted into the apparatus so that it is not readily accessible either to the apparatus operator or a thief, insertion means for the insertion of cash into the apparatus, detection means for detecting the amount of cash inserted, price infeed means for inserting the price of an article or articles purchased by a customer, and change dispensing means for dispensing the difference in the price fed into the apparatus and the amount of cash inserted as detected by the detection means; the arrangement being that the insertion means and container are arranged so that once the cash has been inserted into the container it is not thereafter readily accessible to the operator, customer or thief.
Not readily accessible may mean that the cash container is in the nature of a strong box which can only be opened by say another person (manager or owner) who has the means to open the box.
By this arrangement the apparatus can be operated essentially without access to the cash stored therein, which makes it very difficult for thieves to steal money from the apparatus and indeed makes it difficult also for the operator to pilfer cash. The invention therefore has particular applicability for high risk retail outlets such as those open late or open 24 hours and also those retail outlets which are located in particularly dangerous neighborhoods.
The control technology for such an apparatus can readily be formulated having regard to the control technology which is currently available. Indeed, vending machines use control technology which can be adapted for this particular invention.
In the general use of the invention, the till operator, upon being approached by a customer to make a purchase or purchases, would enter the price of the purchase or the total price of the purchases; he or the customer would then feed cash into the apparatus through the cash insertion means, and the apparatus would automatically dispense the customer's change, or indeed it may be arranged to indicate when the amount of cash fed in is not sufficient to cover the cost of the purchase or purchases.
The insertion means and the change dispenser preferably are arranged to accept coins and notes and to dispense coins and notes.
The till, as provided in many tills today, may also be provided with program coding for the articles to be sold so that instead of entering the actual price the operator enters a code for the article so that the price is automatically produced. This will assist in mitigating fraudulent dealings by the operator.
The basic operation of the machine is that the cash is safely locked inside the machine and there is no simple way for the operator or thief to gain access to the cash.
The apparatus may be adapted so that the price insertion means is in the form of a bar code reader so that as each article is presented for purchase, it has a bar code which is read by the reader and the price is automatically produced. Such scanning and bar code arrangements are already in use in supermarkets.
With such an arrangement sales and prices could be accurately monitored w
REFERENCES:
patent: 3608690 (1971-09-01), Morrow et al.
patent: 3654433 (1972-04-01), Mendoza
patent: 3828166 (1974-08-01), Johansson et al.
patent: 4070564 (1978-01-01), Tucker
patent: 4253016 (1981-02-01), Hirose
patent: 4310885 (1982-01-01), Azuca et al.
patent: 4538057 (1985-08-01), Iwagami et al.
patent: 5183142 (1993-02-01), Latchinian et al.
patent: 5251738 (1993-10-01), Dabrowski
Lowe Scott L.
Merritt Karen B.
LandOfFree
Cash handling apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cash handling apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cash handling apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-532881