Temporal banknote accumulator

Abstract

 Temporal banknote accumulator that comprises a storage drum (2) and a banknote feeder-extractor device. The storage drum is internally subdivided by means of blades (8) of arched longitudinal design, directed from the periphery of the drum towards the interior thereof according to equally inclined trajectories, delimiting cells/ (14) of arched trajectory. The blades are mounted between the flat walls of the drum by means of a joint axis defined by pivots (15) that protrude from the arched edges of said blades.

Description

Field of the invention

[0001] The present invention relates to a banknote accumulator that incorporates the functions of storing from an entry a determined number of banknotes in independent compartments, one per banknote, and that of returning the selected banknotes through the same entry channel.

[0002] The accumulator of the invention comprises a cylindrical and rotating storage drum, and a banknote feeder-extractor device, whose storage drum is internally subdivided, by means of movable partitions, forming cells each one of which a banknote can be introduced in and extracted from by means of the aforementioned banknote feeder-extractor device. The accumulator of the invention belongs to the field of apparatus that store banknotes temporarily, after being measured and validated by a previous device. Every banknote is unitarily and individually stored from the rest of the stored banknotes, thus allowing individual access to each one of them to be issued as cash or prize, as in the case of a slot machine.

Background of the invention

[0003] In the current state of the art, different systems are used for the temporal storage and banknote dispensation, systems in which the required functionality is not obtained, either because of its complexity or because of its ultimate cost which makes it unfeasible for automatic machines that sell products and services, for arcade machines or slot machines.

[0004] As a representative example of the state of the art, we can mention the following documents:

W009835324 A1 describes a banknote temporal storage system in which banknotes are stored individually in compartments located in a drum, in radial direction. Each one of the housings include a mechanical device to achieve the introduction, retention and later return of the banknote, which makes it bulky, complex and expensive.

DE 3136610 A1 patent deals with a banknote dispenser in which the banknotes are stored between movable adjoining partitions and are dispensed when they coincide with the outlet slot. In this dispenser, the banknotes admission is unsolved so that it is a temporal storage of accumulation/dispensation of banknotes and the same as in the previous case, the banknotes are accumulated in a cylinder according to a radial direction.

In EP 0084643 A1 patent document, a temporal banknote accumulator device is described in the form of an endless belt, wherein partitions are fixed to achieve the individual storage of the banknotes. In this case the minimum dimension would be attained when the belt was adapted to a cylindrical support and it would be a similar system to the one described above.

In EP 00791211 there is a cylindrical storage in which the banknotes are accumulated stacked onto its surface. The transportation is performed by means of a system of flexible bands. Even though the space required for the accumulative cylinder is not excessive, the conveyor system is bulky and complex, besides the access to the accumulated banknotes is not random but sequential, i.e. the last stored banknote will be the first to be extracted.

Finally, 6,786,479 B2 US patent deals with a cylindrical accumulator which is intended to store several types of banknotes separately. This system is like the one previously described, of the kind that accumulates the banknotes in the periphery of a cylinder, with the difference that it comprises as many accumulation sectors in the cylinder as different types of banknotes are desired to be accumulated. This system has the disadvantage of using a large volume of the accumulative cylinder, if it is pretended to accumulate several different types of banknotes.

Description of the invention

[0005] The object of the present invention is a banknote accumulator/dispenser which has the characteristic of storing a determined number of banknotes in a minimum space, keeping random access to each one of the banknotes, all this maintaining great simplicity and operational safety, which makes it possible to create a low cost device, of reduced dimensions, and therefore, adaptable to different applications in which the required space and the cost of the device are significant limitations.

[0006] The device of the invention comprises a cylindrical storage wherein, by means of movable partitions, different cavities are formed to store each admitted banknote unitarily, with the characteristic that the banknote is stored from the surface towards the interior of the cylinder according to a spiral trajectory.

[0007] For that purpose, in the banknote accumulator of the invention, the partitions are constituted by blades of arched longitudinal design arranged between the flat walls of the drum, from their periphery, directed towards the interior of said drum according to equally inclined trajectory. Between consecutive blades, chambers of arched and inclined trajectory are delimited. The blades can toggle around a joint axis parallel to the axis of the drum, between maximum inclination positions towards the interior and of maximum inclination towards the exterior. In the first mentioned position, the one of maximum inclination towards the interior, each blade remains detached from the blade located immediately next to it, allowing the input or the output of a banknote from the cell delimited between both blades. On the other hand, when a blade is in the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, it leans against the blade located immediately next to it, trapping between the two the banknote contained in the cell delimited by said blades, preventing it from moving, in such a way that it cannot be extracted from the cell wherein it is housed.

[0008] With the described arrangement, each cell, destined to the housing of a banknote, remains limited or formed between two consecutive blades. When these blades occupy the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, they lean against each other retaining the banknote housed in the cell, while the preceding blade, of the two that constitute the cell, occupies the position of maximum inclination towards the interior, remains detached from the next blade, thus allowing the input and output of a banknote. The blades are pushed into the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior by means of a spring.

[0009] The blades remain mounted between the flat walls of the drum according to a joint axis that is located next to the external end of the blades. The joint axis of consecutive blades remain located at a smaller distance than the length of said blades, said blades being of bigger length than the distance between the mentioned joint axis and the central nucleus of the drum. Thus, when the blades occupy the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, to which they are pushed by the aforementioned spring, because of their convex surface, each blade leans against the external end of the blade located immediately next to it, while the position of maximum inclination towards the interior is defined by a stop located in one of the flat walls of the drum. As previously indicated, every blade relates to a spring that pushes it constantly to the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, being displaced to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior by an extractor carriage that constitutes the banknote feeder-extractor device.

[0010] Preferably the blades will run through the interior of the drum according to spiral trajectories delimiting, between two consecutive blades, cells with the same trajectory.

[0011] The blades will be limited by longitudinally arched edges that are located in parallel plans to the walls of the drum, and by internal and external cross edges, preferably straight, the joint axis of each blade being near and parallel to the cross external edge.

[0012] The blades have an elastically flexible sheet of equal width that protrudes from the cross internal edge of said blades, following the curvature of the internal surface thereof, said sheet working as a guide for the banknotes in the interior area of the cells. This flexible sheet will not reach the central nucleus of the drum, at least when the blade occupies the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior.

[0013] The blades will comprise protuberances in their convex and concave surfaces that in the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, lean onto the opposite surface of the adjoining blades, clamping the banknote housed in the cells limited by one blade and another.

[0014] The feeder-extractor device of the accumulator of the invention consists in a motor-driven carriage that comprises rollers or drag belts for banknotes and that is set near to the periphery of the drum. This carriage toggles between an idle or inactive position, in which the rollers or drag belts remain detached from said drum, and an active position, in which the rollers or drag belts lean against the external section of a blade and push it to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior. The motor-driven carriage adds two drive motors, one for the toggling thereof and another to drive the rollers or drag belts.

[0015] The storage also comprises a motor to constantly position a determined cell in front of the motor-driven carriage, which performs the functions of introducing and extracting the banknote from the selected cell in its active position by means of the rollers or drag belts. In the inactive idle position of the motor-driven carriage, the rollers or drag belts can be used for dragging or displacing the banknotes towards a determined position, external to the drum, for example a storage with non-return possibilities. The rollers or drag belts of the motor-driven carriage will be driven by a gear motor with bidirectional rotation. In the active position of the motor-driven carriage, the rollers or drag belts guide a banknote towards the selected cell, while the end of the transport system leans onto the convex side of the entry blade towards the cell, causing an angular displacement thereof to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior, which allows the access to said cell. Next, the motor-driven carriage introduces the banknote and removes the support over the blade, clamping the banknote in its cell avoiding possible accidental displacements when the drum rotates to other positions.

[0016] The banknote stored in a cell adopts a perceptively spiral trajectory from the exterior to the interior of the cylinder thanks to the shape of the blades and to the flexible sheet thereof. This design is especially advantageous regarding the volume occupied by the drum and the simplicity of the mechanism. The drag carriage used has bidirectional rotation, allowing the opposite option, i.e. extracting a banknote from a determined selected cell.

Brief description of the drawings

[0017] An embodiment of the accumulator of the invention is shown in the attached drawings, presented as a non-limiting example thereof, which will help understand better the constitution and characteristics thereof, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective of a complete system of the accumulator, with the identifying and storage ones, with the accumulator of the invention.

[0018] Figure 2 is a perspective of the drum of the accumulator, in which the front wall has been suppressed to show the interior thereof.

[0019] Figure 3 is a rear perspective of the storage drum.

[0020] Figure 4 is a perspective of the motor-driven carriage that constitutes the banknote feeder-extractor device.

[0021] Figure 5 is a front elevation view of the storage drum, without the front wall thereof, showing an intermediate position of a banknote in the introduction or extraction phase thereof from a cell.

[0022] Figure 6 is a similar view to that of figure 5, showing the position that the banknotes adopt within the storage drum when the motor-driven carriage is in inactive or idle position.

[0023] Figure 7 is a similar view to that of figure 6, showing the direction of a banknote towards a second storage orientation.

[0024] Figure 8 shows an exterior perspective of one of the blades that delimit the cells of the storage drum.

[0025] Figure 9 shows an interior perspective of the same blade of figure 8.

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention

[0026] In figure 1 a mechanism is represented for dealing with banknotes that comprises a banknote reader 1, in charge of the reading and validation of introduced banknotes, and a storage drum 2 that belongs to the accumulator of the invention. Between the banknote reader 1 and the storage drum 2, it can be convenient to insert a conveyor 3, to conveniently direct the banknotes to said drum. The mechanism is completed with a banknote feeder-extractor device, constituted by a motor-driven carriage 4, and by a gear motor 5 of bidirectional rotation that performs the function of positioning the storage drum 2 angularly.

[0027] As shown in figure 2, the storage drum 2 defines a cylindrical hole that remains limited between parallel flat walls 6, from which their front wall has been suppressed, and a central nucleus 7, leaving the drum open at its periphery. The blades of arched longitudinal design 8 are mounted within this drum, and as better appreciated in figures 7 and 8, they present a convex external surface, referenced as number 9, and a concave internal surface 9'. The blades are limited by arched longitudinal edges 10, located in parallel plans to the walls 6 of the drum, and by external cross edges 11 and straight internal edges 12. Each blade 8 has an elastically flexible sheet 13, of equal width as the blade and it follows the curvature of the internal surface 9' thereof.

[0028] As it can be seen in figures 2 and 5, the blades 8 are set within the storage drum 2, between the walls 6 thereof and as from its periphery, directed towards the interior thereof according to equal inclined trajectories, delimiting every two consecutive blades a chamber 14 of arched and inclined trajectory, equal to that of the blades 8.

[0029] As it can be observed in figures 8 and 9, from the arched edges 10 of the blades and in approximate coincidence with the cross external edge 11, there protrude both aligned end pivots 15 and they are introduced through holes, not shown, which the walls 6 of the drum have in facing positions, to determine in each blade 8 a joint axis thereof parallel to the axis 16 of the drum and around which the blades can toggle between a position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, in which each blade 8 leans against the external cross edge 11 of the blade located immediately next to it, as it can be seen in figure 2, and a position of maximum inclination towards the interior, shown in figure 5 referenced as number 8', in which this blade remains detached from the blade located immediately next to it, delimiting the blade 8' with the blade 8 located immediately next to it, a cell or opening 17 whereby a banknote 18 can be introduced or extracted from the cell 14'. In the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior of the blades 8, when leaning each one of them against the external cross edge 11 of the blade located immediately next to it, the banknote 18 contained in each cell 14 is trapped or clamped between consecutive blades, thus preventing the accidental displacement of the banknote. In order to secure this clamping, the blades 8 have in the convex surface, figure 8, protuberances 19 and in the concave surface, in adjacent position to the external cross edge 11, protuberances 20, figure 9, clamping between one another the banknotes 18 when the blades occupy the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, shown in figure 6.

[0030] The blades 8 are constantly pushed to the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior by means of a spring, as it will be discussed further on in relation to figure 3, while the motor-driven carriage 4 displaces them to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior. This carriage, figure 4, is mounted having the possibility of toggling around an axis defined by the aligned pivots 22, and it comprises rollers or drag belts 23 driven by means of a gear motor 24 of bidirectional rotation. The carriage 4 can toggle, around the axis defined by the aligned pivots 22, between an inoperative position, shown in figure 6, in which the rollers or belts 23 remain detached from the blades 8, and an active position, shown in figure 5, in which the rollers or drag belts 23 lean and push the blade 8' to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior.

[0031] With the described arrangement, within the storage drum 2 there will be as many cells as blades 8 are mounted in the interior thereof. The blades 8 adopt a vane shape, convex on their external side and concave on their internal side, and are set in the drum according to a spiral trajectory, delimiting chambers 14 with equal trajectory.

[0032] In the active position the motor-driven carriage, figure 5, leans onto the convex surface of blade 8' and displaces it to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior, causing its detachment in relation to blade 8 located immediately next to it, to define the opening 17 that grants access to chamber 14'. By means of rollers or drag belts 23 of the carriage 4, figure 4, a banknote 18 is lead to the interior of the cell 14' and introduces it keeping a small portion 25 out from the cell, as it can be seen better in figure 6, with the purpose of being able to access this banknote when conducting its extraction. Once the banknote has been introduced in the corresponding cell, the carriage 4 toggles towards the inactive position shown in figure 6, in which blade 8' recovers the 8 position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, in which the corresponding banknote 18 remains clamped between the two blades.

[0033] As it can be observed in pictures 8 and 9, an intermediate pivot 26 protrudes from one of the arched edges 10 of each blade 8, and is introduced through a radial slot 27, figures 3, 5 and 6, which the opposite wall 6 of the drum 2 presents in facing position. The length of this slot and more particularly its internal cross edge, constitutes a stop that limits the displacement of the intermediate pivot 26 of the blade towards the interior and also limits the displacement of said blade, defining the maximum inclination position towards the interior of the blade.

[0034] As it can be seen in figure 3, a spring 28 leans against all the intermediate pivots 26 of the blades that pushes them towards the external end of the slots 27, displacing the blades to their position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, wherein the slots 27, of arched design with a centre that coincides with the joint axis defined by the pivots 15 of the corresponding blade and run in radial direction, lean against the blade located immediately next to it, figure 2.

[0035] In this figure 3, the blade 8' is shown occupying the position of maximum inclination towards the interior, with the corresponding intermediate pivot 26' leaned against the internal cross edge of the slot 27'.

[0036] The flexible sheet of the blades acts as a guide in the trajectory which the banknote 18 has to describe, as it can be observed in figure 6, trajectory which will ideally correspond to that described by blades 8, spiral-like towards the interior of the storage drum 2, trajectory which is advantageous because of the volume optimization of the accumulative device. In figure 6, it is shown the position ideally adopted by the banknotes 18 in the interior of the storage drum, in which all the banknotes remain clamped between the two blades that delimit each chamber, clamping which is secured by means of protuberances 19 and 20 of the blades, described in reference to figures 7 and 8.

[0037] In the inactive or idle position of the motor-driven carriage 4, the rollers or drag belts 23 can lead the banknotes 18 to another direction, figure 7, in which for example a non-return storage can be found, not represented.

[0038] The process of banknote extraction is opposite to the storage one. First of all, the gear motor 5, figure 1, will position the storage drum 2 in a determined cell in relation to the motor-driven carriage 4. Optical detectors, not represented, will be mounted in order to detect the angular position of the drum 2. Next the motor-driven carriage 4 will rotate angularly to its active position of figure 5, leaning onto the convex side of blade 8' of the selected cell, displacing it to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior. Next, the rollers or drag belts 23 will be activated, by means of the gear motor 24, figure 4, causing the extraction of the banknote stored in the corresponding cell 14'.

[0039] Combining the functions of the motor-driven carriage 4, it is possible to lead the banknotes from drum 2 to the second position, shown in figure 7, where a non-return accumulator can exist. For that purpose, it is sufficient to interrupt the extraction of a banknote 18 in such a way that, once it has been extracted from drum 2, but still in carriage 4, said carriage is positioned in its idle state and its dragging mechanism is later activated with straight orientation until the banknote exits the dragging mechanism.

Claims

1. Temporal banknote accumulator, that comprises a cylindrical and rotating storage drum, and a banknote feeder-extractor device, whose storage drum is internally subdivided, by means of movable partitions, forming cells, wherein a banknote can be introduced in and extracted from each one of them by means of the aforementioned banknote feeder-extractor device, characterized in that the partitions are constituted by blades of arched longitudinal design arranged , from the periphery of the drum, directed towards the interior thereof according to equally inclined trajectories, delimiting cells of arched and inclined trajectory, whose blades are mounted between the flat walls of the drum by means of a joint axis parallel to the axis of the drum on which they can toggle between a maximum inclination position towards the interior, defined by a drum stop, and a position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, to which they are pushed by means of a spring, each blade remaining, when occupying the first mentioned position, detached from the blade located immediately next to it, allowing the input or the output of a banknote from the cell delimited between both blades, whereas on the second mentioned position, each blade leans against the blade located immediately next to it, trapping between the two the banknote contained in the cell delimited by said blades.

2. Accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the mentioned joint axis is located next to the external end of the blades, leaving the joint axes of consecutive blades located at a smaller distance than the length of said blades, the blades being of bigger length than the distance between the mentioned joint axis and a central nucleus of the drum, being displaced to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior by the banknote feeder-extractor device.

3. Accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the blades run through the interior of the drum according to spiral trajectories and delimit, every two consecutive blades, cells with the same trajectory.

4. Accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the blades are limited by longitudinally arched edges that are located in parallel plans to the walls of the drum, and by internal and external straight cross edges, the joint axis of each blade being near and parallel to the cross external edge.

5. Accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the joint axis whereby the blades are mounted is defined by two end pivots which protrude, in aligned positions, from the arched edges of the blades, near to the external cross edge of said blades.

6. Accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the stops that limit the position of maximum inclination towards the interior of the blades consist of a radial slot that one of the flat walls of the drum has, for each blade, of arched design with centre in the joint axis of the blades, wherein an intermediate pivot is introduced, said pivot protruding from the opposite arched edge of said blade.

7. Accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the blades decrease gradually in thickness from the external cross edge up to the internal cross edge.

8. Accumulator according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the blades extend, from the internal cross edge, in an elastically flexible sheet of equal width that follows the curvature of the internal surface of the blades.

9. Accumulator according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the blades comprise protuberances in their convex and concave surfaces which in the position of maximum inclination towards the exterior, lean onto the opposite surface of the adjoining blades, clamping the banknote housed in the cells limited by one blade and another.

10. Accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the banknote feeder-extractor device consists in a motor-driven carriage that comprises rollers or drag belts for banknotes and that is set near to the periphery of the drum, toggling between an idle position, in which the rollers or drag belts remain detached from said drum, and an active position, in which the rollers or drag belts lean against the external section of a blade and push it to the position of maximum inclination towards the interior, the carriage providing two drive motors, one for the toggling thereof and another one to drive the rollers or drag belts.

Drawing