Stacking device

Details Stacking device Stacking device

2000-06-20

2001-08-07

Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3652)

Sheet feeding or delivering

Delivering

With transfer means between conveyor and receiver

C271S315000, C148S334000, C148S713000, C270S039090, C414S189000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06270073

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a stacking apparatus according to the preamble of claim
1
.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such a stacking apparatus is described in JP 63-212 664 A1.
Stacking apparatuses of the type mentioned are used, inter alia, in automatic cash machines. Their purpose there is to remove from a transporting apparatus banknotes which are drawn off one after the other from banknote containers, and to gather said banknotes together on a stacking surface to give a banknote stack. Such an automatic cash machine is known, for example, from WO 97/34263 A1. In this case, the banknotes are introduced at high speed into a receiving gap between in each case two fingers of a rotating stacking wheel. On account of the unavoidable slippage of the banknote on the transporting apparatus and of the banknote leading edge, which is not always aligned perpendicularly to the transporting direction, there may be a collision between the banknotes and a finger.
The object of the invention is to propose a straightforward apparatus in which the risk of a banknote colliding with the stacking wheel is minimized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to JP 63-212 664 A1, the collision problem is solved in that there is provided a rotatable stacking wheel with a multiplicity of fingers which are fastened on the circumference of a hub, enclosing a stacking-wheel spindle, and between which there is formed in each case one receiving gap for sheet-like articles. The width of the receiving gap is adjusted with the aid of a stationary control plate, in dependence on the angle position of the stacking wheel, between an open position, in which the sheet-like articles can be introduced into the gap, and a position in which the sheet-like articles are retained. Each finger is designed as a first lever arm of a two-armed lever which can be rotated about a pivot spindle aligned parallel to the stacking-wheel spindle, the pivot spindle of the finger passing axially through a bearing journal projecting laterally from the hub. The second lever arm projects into the interior of the hub, where it slides on the circumference of the control plate. The arrangement known from JP 63-212 664 A1 comprises a multiplicity of individual parts which are difficult and time-consuming to assemble.
U.S. Pat. No. 4, 768, 642 A describes a transporting apparatus for a multiplicity of identical articles which are transferred sequentially to the transporting apparatus and discharged in parallel in a predetermined number. This uses an endless transporting belt, a multiplicity of partition walls projecting perpendicularly from the outer circumference thereof. A chamber for receiving in each case one transportation article is produced between adjacent partition walls. At the deflecting rollers for the transporting belt, the chambers open in a funnel-like manner. The articles are fed sequentially at such a location. It is not possible for the transportation articles to be clamped, and thus secured, in the chamber since the width of said chamber, quite obviously, has to be, at most, equal to the distance between the partition walls. The transporting belt is advanced intermittently rather than continuously since it has to be stopped in each case following an advancement corresponding to the predetermined number of articles, in order that a pusher which can be adjusted perpendicularly to the transporting direction of the transporting belt can push the articles down laterally from said belt.
The object is achieved for a stacking apparatus according to the preamble of claim
1
by the defining features of claim
1
.
The stacking wheel is produced according to the invention by injection molding from plastic, in particular carbon-fiber-reinforced polyethylene, and is designed as an elastically deformable ring which is circular in the state in which it does not have any external forces acting on it and on the outer circumference of which the fingers are integrally formed.
The width of the receiving gap is adjusted in a particularly straightforward manner by a ring former on which the ring is mounted rotatably. If the ring is relieved of stressing and does not have any external forces acting on it, it is in the shape of a circle. In contrast, the shape of the ring former is not circular. If the ring former is inserted into the ring, the ring assumes a non-round shape. In this case, the fingers of which the fastening end is located in a region in which the ring undergoes curvature which is more pronounced than its circular shape spread apart from one another and the receiving gap located therebetween becomes wider. If the ring is rotated relative to the ring former, with the result that the abovementioned fingers pass from the region of more pronounced curvature into the region in which the curvature is less pronounced than the circular shape, the width of the receiving gap decreases.
In this case, in that region of the stacking-wheel circumference in which the banknotes are transferred from the transporting apparatus to the stacking wheel, the fingers are bent apart from one another to produce a large width for the receiving gap. In contrast, in the position in which the sheet-like articles are retained, the gap width is considerably reduced to the extent where said sheet-like articles are secured between the fingers. If the stacking wheel has rotated into a discharge region, the distance between the fingers is increased again, with the result that the sheet-like articles can easily be stripped from the receiving gap.
According to a preferred refinement of the invention, a toothing, with which a driven gear wheel meshes, is provided on the inner circumference of the ring, at least over part of the width of the inner surface thereof. The region of the fingers and/or receiving gaps thus remains free of drive and control elements with which a banknote could collide.
According to a first embodiment, the ring former is designed as a non-round, preferably oval plate. In this case, the inner surface of the ring slides on the circumferential surface of the plate. The friction between the two may be kept low by suitable material pairings or by the introduction of a ball race.
In an alternative embodiment, the ring former is formed from at least two gear wheels which are fixed in relation to one another and mesh with the toothing of the ring. In a preferred embodiment, the gear wheels are the planet wheels of a planet gear mechanism, of which the drive wheel is arranged axially in relation to the stacking-wheel spindle. If the gear-wheel arrangement or the planet gear mechanism is inserted into the ring, the latter, in turn, assumes a non-round shape.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3409290 (1968-11-01), Bergland
patent: 4768642 (1988-09-01), Hunter
patent: 4881731 (1989-11-01), Simpson-Davis
patent: 5163672 (1992-11-01), Mennie
patent: 5226641 (1993-07-01), Schlieleit
patent: 5803705 (1998-09-01), Keyes
patent: 5899448 (1999-05-01), Hosking
patent: 2 119993 (1983-11-01), None
patent: 63-212664 (1988-09-01), None
patent: 97/34263 (1997-09-01), None

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