Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – Separators
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-31
2001-07-03
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
Separators
C271S115000, C271S125000, C271S160000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254083
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a leaf management apparatus such as an automatic teller machine (ATM) located in a bank, a convenience store, and the like, for example. In particular, the invention relates to a leaf transfer mechanism unit, in general incorporated in the ATM, comprising a pickup roller, an urging member designed to move toward the pickup roller, and a drive source generating a driving force supplied to the urging member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a rotative pickup roller is employed in a leaf transfer mechanism unit to transfer bills received in a leaf reception room. The bills should be urged against the pickup roller. When the pickup roller is driven to rotate, the bills can sequentially be transferred one by one. An urging member is designed to move forward toward the pickup roller so as to urge the bills against the pickup roller. The forward movement of the urging member can be achieved by a driving force generated at a drive source such as a servo motor responsive to pulse signals, for example.
If an excessive urging force is applied to a stack of bills on the pickup roller in the leaf transfer mechanism unit, the bills cannot be transferred one by one. In other words, a plurality of bills are simultaneously transferred out of the leaf reception room. On the contrary, if an urging force applied to the bills on the pickup roller is too small, no bills can be transferred out of the leaf reception room. It is difficult to control an urging force applied to the bills on the pickup roller based on a driving force supplied from the aforementioned servo motor.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. 5-147193 and 6-100183 disclose proposals to utilize an elastic spring to transmit a driving force from the drive source to the urging member. The elastic force of the spring serves to optimize the urging force with a relatively simple structure. However, when the spring is interposed between the urging member and the drive source in this manner, a precise control of positioning the urging member can hardly be achieved, since the elastic spring may stretch and shrink in response to the magnitude of load applied to the spring.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a leaf transfer mechanism unit capable of precisely controlling the position of an urging member while realizing optimization of the urging force on leaves to be transferred.
According to the present invention, there is provided a leaf transfer mechanism unit comprising: a pickup roller; an urging member designed to move forward toward the pickup roller; a drive source generating a driving force supplied to the urging member; a driven piece designed to move forward and backward along a predetermined direction in response to the driving force; a follower piece connected to the urging member and designed to move forward and backward in the predetermined direction; a biasing member interposed between the driven and follower pieces so as to establish a biasing force for causing the follower piece to follow a forward movement of the driven piece; and a reception surface defined on the follower piece so as to receive a backward movement of the driven piece.
When the driven piece is caused to move forward, the follower piece is allowed to follow the forward movement of the driven piece with the assistance of the biasing force of the biasing member. When the urging member collides against the pickup roller with leaves interposed therebetween, the urging member is restrained from a further forward movement. The forward movement of the follower piece is prevented, while the driven piece is still allowed to keep moving forward. The elastic force is stored in the biasing member in response to the forward movement of the driven piece. The elastic force is then transmitted to the urging member through the follower piece, so that the urging member is allowed to urge the leaves against the pickup roller by an urging force based on the elastic force stored in the biasing member.
When the driven piece is caused to move backward, the follower piece is designed to receive the driven piece at the reception surface. The follower piece is allowed to rigidly receive the driving force from the driven piece without any influence of the biasing member. The position of the follower piece is solely determined by the position of the driven piece. A precise control of positioning the driven piece serves to establish a precise control to the position of the follower piece.
The driven and follower pieces may be integrally formed on a pair of rotors, respectively, allowed for a relative rotation therebetween around a common support axis. The rotors serve to relate the movements of the driven and follower pieces to each other within a smaller occupied space. However, the driven and follower pieces may be integrally formed on a pair of members, respectively, allowed for a relative movement along a common linear path.
The aforementioned pickup roller may comprise: a cylindrical body defining a reception groove extending on an cylindrical periphery in a circumferential direction; a pedestal swelling from a bottom surface of the reception groove; a first and a second elastic piece received in the reception groove at front and rear sides of the pedestal, respectively, in the circumferential direction; an elastic cuticle member covering over the pedestal so as to connect the first and second elastic pieces to each other and designed to constitute the cylindrical periphery of the cylindrical body at an outer surface; a first restriction piece extending from a position adjacent a front end of the first elastic piece in the circumferential direction so as to cover over the first elastic piece and designed to constitute the cylindrical periphery of the cylindrical body at an outer surface; and a second restriction piece extending from a position adjacent a rear end of the second elastic piece in the circumferential direction so as to cover over the second elastic piece and designed to constitute the cylindrical periphery of the cylindrical body at an outer surface.
With the above arrangement, the first and second restriction pieces serve to hold the first and second elastic pieces within the reception groove. On the other hand, when the elastic cuticle member is elastically deformed, the first and second elastic pieces can easily be removed out of the reception groove. The first and second elastic pieces integral to the elastic cuticle member can be replaced with a new one relatively easily. In particular, if the outer surface of the elastic cuticle member is expected to define a friction surface on the pickup roller, it is surely possible to easily exchange the elastic cuticle members which exhibit a lower durability as compared with the cylindrical body. The maintenance of the leaf transfer mechanism unit can be facilitated.
In addition, the pickup roller may further comprise: a first restriction surface defined on the pedestal so as to receive movement of the first elastic piece along the circumferential direction; and a second restriction surface defined on the second restriction piece so as to receive movement of the elastic cuticle member along the circumferential direction. In the case where the outer surface of the elastic cuticle member is expected to define a friction surface on the pickup roller, a reactive force may be exerted on the outer surface of the elastic cuticle member in the circumferential or rotational direction. The reactive force tends to induce movement of the first elastic piece and the elastic cuticle member in the circumferential direction. If such movement can be prevented, the first and second elastic pieces are reliably prevented from dropping out of the reception groove. The first and second elastic pieces as well as the elastic cuticle member are thus reliably prevented from dropping off the cylindrical body.
The foregoing leaf transfer mechanism unit may be incorporated in a leaf management
Abe Hayami
Arai Koji
Tanaka Yuji
Armstrong Westerman Hattori McLeland & Naughton LLP
Bower Kenneth W
Ellis Christopher P.
Fujitsu Limited
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