JP2621027B2 - Bill cassette and cash payment system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a banknote container of a type that can be used in a cash dispenser, and will be hereinafter referred to as a banknote cassette.

[Conventional technology]

Banknote cassettes are, for example, automatic teller machines of the type in which a user inserts a customer identification card into a machine and inserts certain data (codes, required bill volume, transaction type, etc.) from one or more keyboards. Used for (ATM). The machine then processes the transaction, updates the customer's account to reflect the transaction, and pays cash if necessary (to pick up banknotes from one or more banknote cassettes attached to the machine). B) return the card to the user as part of normal operation.

In ATMs, it is desirable to provide an indication when the number of banknotes remaining in a cassette has reached a predetermined low level, in which case the cassette is replenished or a cassette already loaded before the cassette runs out of banknotes. It can be configured to be replaced. A bill cassette having a low-level display function can minimize the time when an ATM using the bill cassette cannot be used.

Known banknote cassettes having a low-level display function are a pusher for a banknote stack contained in the cassette.
The assembly uses a permanent magnet and is associated with a magnetically actuated reed switch mounted on a cash dispensing unit for inserting the cassette. The reed switch is mounted such that when the cassette is fully inserted into the payment unit, the switch is located near the bill exit of the cassette. When a note is withdrawn from the cassette exit, the pusher assembly with the permanent magnet moves toward the exit until the magnetic field near the reed switch is high enough to activate the switch. The operation of the switch is used to indicate that the number of bills remaining in the cassette has reached a predetermined number.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

This known cassette has the disadvantage that its level, which gives a low level indication, cannot be adjusted. or,
This cassette has the disadvantage that it must be close enough to the magnet to operate the switch, i.e. it will not operate until a very low number, such as 75, to emit a low level indication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a bill cassette which can easily change a level for giving a low level display.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention includes a bill stack including a bill stack supported on a long side thereof by a support means, and is attached to an operating position of a cash dispenser. Where, when the cassette is in the operating position, toward the outlet that allows the banknotes to be extracted one by one from the cassette, a push unit having a surface that comes into contact with the banknotes so as to press the banknote stack, In the push means, the first
Removably attached to the arrangement or the second arrangement;
Carrier means for moving a permanent magnet, wherein the cassette is in the operating position and the bill contact surface is in a first position with respect to the outlet, depending on the arrangement in which the carrier means is mounted on the push means. Alternatively, there is provided a bill cassette which, when reaching the second position, activates a magnetically operable switch included in the cash dispenser.

Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cash dispensing system including a bill stack including a bill stack supported on a long side by a support means, and having a bill cassette adapted to be attached to an operating position of a cash dispenser. When the cassette is in the operating position, a push means having a surface that comes into contact with a bill so as to push the bill stack toward an outlet that allows bills to be extracted one by one from the cassette; Carrier means removably attached to the first or second arrangement and for moving the permanent magnet, wherein the cassette is in the operating position and the carrier means is attached to the push means. A magnetically operable switch included in the cash dispenser when the bill contact surface reaches a first position or a second position with respect to the exit; Is operated, and by the operation, an alarm indicating that the amount of bills remaining in the cassette is a predetermined first low level or a second low level is generated, and a cash payment system is provided. I do.

〔Example〕

The banknote cassette 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a generally square banknote container 12 and an upper portion of the container 12 including a lockable lid (not shown). A long support member 16 of a plastic material is attached to the base 14 in the container 12 at a distance from the base 14 with a parallel surface. Two bill side guide members 18 (only one shown in the figure) are adjustably mounted on the base 14 and each form a part of the guide member 18.
The two vertical guides 20 are mounted so as to be adjustable according to the size of the bills stored in the cassette 10. The cassette 10 has the long side of the banknote resting on the support member 16, enters between the vertical guides 20 on both sides, and has the upper banknote holding member 22 at the rear end (exit) of the container 12 and the pressing plate of the pusher assembly 26. It is configured to insert a banknote stack between the banknote stack and the banknote stack. The push plate 24 presses the stack toward the holding member 22 so that the upper part of the first bill of the stack is pressed by the holding member 22. Banknotes are containers
The sheets are taken out one by one from the cassette through an opening at the rear end of 12 and usually closed by a shutter. The cassette has a low-level display function for displaying when the number of bills in the cassette has reached a predetermined small level.

The cassette 10 shown in FIG. 2 is inserted into the cassette insertion portion of the cash dispensing unit 30 of the ATM after the bill is inserted and the lid is locked. A longitudinally extending guide member 34 is mounted on the side wall 32 (FIG. 1) of the cassette 10 and is configured to operate in contact with cooperating guide means mounted on the cassette insert. During insertion of the cassette into the cassette insert, the shutter 28 is automatically moved to a retracted position as shown in FIG. 2 by an actuation means (not shown) incorporated in the cash dispensing unit 30 and in this position. The shutter 28 is placed between the base 14 and the bill support member 16.

In operation of the ATM, banknotes are removed from cassette 10 by a conventional vacuum-operated pick assembly 36 mounted on shaft 38. Before the first note of the stack is removed by the pick assembly 36, the lower part of the note is attached to the longitudinal guide 20 by a brush 42 and lip 40 extending upward from the rear end of the support member 16. It is held in place by a leaf spring 44.

The pusher assembly 26 slides in contact with the end of the elongated groove 46 formed in the support member 16. Support member 16
Pusher assembly 26, as shown in FIG.
Is moved toward the rear end of the support member 16 by a pair of springs 50 each having an end corresponding to a pair of lugs 52 secured to a portion of the assembly 26 extending below the support member 16. Is pressed. Its end is located at the outlet of the cassette 10. Each spring 50 is rotatably mounted on a spindle 58 projecting below the support member 16 and is hung around a respective pulley 56 located near the rear end 48.
The other end of each spring 50 that is not attached to each lug 52 is enlarged in diameter, between the portion 60 and the continuation of the spring 50 that contacts the end of the recess 66 formed in each of the projections 62. Are hung on respective fixing projections 62 placed under the support member 16 by circular shoulders 64 formed on the support member 16. By using the spring 50 having such a structure, the end portion 60 is projected.
The assembly of the cassette 10 can be simplified because it does not need to extend in a specific direction with respect to 62 and can be hooked on the projection 62 very easily.

Pusher assembly 26 has mounted thereon a carrier member 68 of plastic material (FIG. 4) and has a long permanent magnet 70 extending transversely to the length of groove 46. The carrier member 68 comprises two longitudinal extensions 72 of generally U-shaped cross section.
Having. A pair of corresponding side walls 74 of the portion 72 extend upward from the first pair of corners 76, and another pair of side walls 74 extend upward from the second pair of corners 78 (FIG. 5); The corners 76 and 78 are formed integrally with the vertical extension 72. The corner 76 is formed by a coplanar guide surface 80 extending upward in parallel with the long end of the magnet 70 and an upward guide surface 82 extending perpendicularly to the guide surface 80 and parallel to each other. Similarly, corner 78 comprises a coplanar guide surface 84 (FIG. 5) extending outwardly parallel to guide surface 80, and an outwardly extending guide surface 86 which is coplanar with guide surface 82, respectively. . Each corner 76 or 78 has, at its upper end, an inclined projection 88 which is inclined inward on the respective guide surface 82 or 86 from above the corner 76 or 78. The magnet 70 is located below the two corners 76 and has a pair of downwardly extending side retaining members 90 and a pair of downwardly extending side retaining members 92 formed integrally with the rest of the carrier member 68. And held in place by A pair of downwardly extending lips 94 (FIG. 3) provided at the lower end of the side holding member 90 extend below the magnet 70 to secure the magnet 70 thereto.

5 and 6, the pusher assembly 26 has a magnet 70
Has a planar guide surface 96 that extends inwardly in parallel with the long end. Push plate
Inner surface 98 of 24 is the guide surface (opposite to bill contact surface 99 of push plate 24)
Acts as a second planar guide surface parallel to 96. A pair of parallel guide walls 100 extend inward from the guide surface 96,
A pair of parallel guide walls 102, which are aligned with, extend inwardly from the guide surface 98. As shown in FIG. 6, the rectangular holes 104
The lower end 106 of each hole 104 is at the level above the guide wall 100. Carrier member 68 is removably and reversibly mounted to pusher assembly 26 in one of two possible positions. The guide surfaces 96, 98 and the guide walls 100, 102 together form a hole in which the carrier member 68 is received. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5, the carrier member 68 is in contact with the guide surface 80 of the corner portion 76 that contacts the guide surface 98, the guide surface 84 of the corner portion 78 that contacts the guide surface 96, and the guide walls 100 and 102. Attached to the pusher assembly 26 along with the other guide surfaces 82,86 of the corners 76,78. Alternatively, the carrier member 68 can be inverted to a position such that the guide surface 80 contacts the guide surface 96 and the guide surface 84 contacts the guide surface 98. In each of its possible positions, the carrier member 68 is pierced by the lower end of the carrier member 68 which contacts the base portion 108 (FIG. 3) of the pusher assembly 26, together with the upper surface of the associated projection 88 which contacts the upper end 110 of the hole 104. A projection 88 of the corner 78 or of the corner 76 fitted in 104
Is securely attached to the pusher assembly 26.
The carrier member 68 is properly mounted on the pusher assembly 26, and the magnet 70 is disposed in the groove 46 of the banknote support member 16 and extends approximately the full width thereof. Pusher assembly
At 26, all that is needed to reverse the position of the carrier member 68 is to push it together with the top of the longitudinally extending portion 72,
Release the two associated latch projections 88 from 104, lift carrier member 68 from pusher assembly 26, rotate it 180 degrees about the longitudinal axis, and then return carrier member 68 to the aforementioned hole in pusher assembly 26. The other two latch projections 88 need only be snap-inserted into the holes 104.

The magnet 70 cooperates with two long pole pieces 112 of a soft magnetic alloy provided respectively in two recesses 114 (FIG. 3) formed on either side of the groove 46 on the lower side of the rear part of the banknote 16. The pole piece 112 is also provided with a recess 1 by a plastic material securing means 116 which also acts as a support for the brush 42.
Supported by 14. The pole piece 112 extends parallel to the length direction of the groove 46, and the corresponding end of the pole piece 112 is a rear end 48 of the bill support member 16.
, And each pole piece 112 is located near the adjacent end of the groove 46. Typically, pole piece 112 is 3.8 cm in length.
The material suitable for the soft magnetic pole piece 112 is nickel 77% by weight, iron 1
It may be a nickel alloy consisting of 4%, steel 5% and molybdenum 4%, having high magnetic permeability and low coercive force. After fabrication, pole piece 112 is subjected to a heat treatment to achieve the desired magnetic properties. The heat treatment heats pole piece 112 in a hydrogen oven at 1120 ° C. for about 4 hours, cools at a rate of 1 ° C./min between 200 ° C. and 250 ° C., and maintains a hydrogen flow during the cooling period.

In FIG. 2, cash dispensing unit 30 includes a circuit board 118 mounted on pick assembly 36. When the cassette 10 is inserted into the unit 30, the free end 112 of the circuit board 118 is connected to the base 14 and the supporting member.
16 and is arranged so as to be inserted into a recess formed in the lower part of the cassette 10. Magnetically actuated reed switch 12
4 is attached to the upper surface of the circuit board 118, adjacent the free end 122. When the cassette 10 is fully inserted into the cash dispensing unit 30, the reed switch 124 is positioned between the ends of the pole piece 112 adjacent the back 48 of the bill support member 16 and the reed switch 124 is It extends over most of the width.

Next, the operation of the low-level display function of the cassette 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. Pusher assembly 26
The pressing plate 24 presses the bill stack against the bill holding member 22 arranged at the outlet of the cassette 10. Banknote 126 is one
As each sheet is removed from the outlet of the cassette 10, the pusher assembly 26 gradually moves toward the holding member 22. Due to the positioning of the carrier member 68 of the pusher assembly 26, the cassette 10 has a bill number of 250 remaining in the cassette 10.
When the number of sheets (± 50 sheets) or 75 sheets (± 50 sheets) is reduced, the low level display means 128 (FIG. 9) is operated. As shown in FIG. 7, if the magnet carrier 68 is
(I.e., the guide surface 80 of the corner 76 contacts the guide surface 98) so that the
The low-level display means 128 operates when the number of cassettes 10 becomes 250 or less. Instead, as shown in FIG. 8, the pusher assembly 26 is mounted on the pusher assembly 26 so that the magnet carrier 68 places the magnet 70 away from the push plate 24 (i.e., the guide surface 84 of the corner 78 contacts the guide surface 98). When arranged, the low level display means 128 operates when the number of remaining bills in the cassette 10 becomes 75 or less. The low-level indicating means 128 is adapted to move the magnet 70 to the rear end 48 of the support member 16 so that the magnetic field emanating from the magnet 70 and passing through
It operates when it reaches the end of the pole piece 112 away from the end. When the switch 124 is closed, the electronic control means 130 (FIG. 9) (AT
(Located in M) operates the display means 128. Display means 128
When the is activated, the cassette 10 issues an alarm to request that a bill be inserted or exchanged. The person in charge of the ATM using the cassette 10 should issue the alarm with 250 sheets or 75
You can decide if you want to fire with a single piece. For example, if the ATM is far from where the person in charge of cassette replacement is located, it is better to set the alarm to the “high” level (250 sheets).

Another advantage of such a low-level display system is that it can provide a low-level alarm at a higher level than would have been the case if the soft magnetic pole piece 112 had not been included. Another advantage of this system is that, in operation, the low bill detection components are all placed within the cassette 10 and no power is required for the cassette 10. In addition, the system is as simple as having only one magnet, and the sensor (lead cassette 12
4) only one is required.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bill cassette of the present invention with a lid removed, and FIG. 2 is a first view of a state in which the cassette is inserted into a cash dispenser.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the cassette shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 3 is a lower view of the bill supporting member of the bill cassette showing a number of components operating together with the bill supporting member; FIG. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a portion of the pusher assembly of the cassette showing the magnet carrier member mounted on the pusher assembly; FIG. 6 is a partial view of the pusher assembly of FIG. FIG. 7 is a plan view of a part of the cassette displaying a first operation mode of a low-level display function of the cassette; FIG. 8 exemplifies a second operation mode of the low-level display function; FIG. 9 is a wiring diagram illustrating the electrical connections of a low level display system operating on the cassette. In the drawing, 10: bill cassette, 12: container, 14: base, 16: support member, 18: guide member, 24: push plate, 26
... pusher assembly, 28 ... shutter, 36 ... pick assembly.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Jillon McLaren Cay Dundee Day 49, Scotland, UK Day 9 Dalke Liverhouse, Gordon Court 7 (72) Inventor J. Aims Alfredo Bruitet UK, Scotland, Fife Day 6 8 Ede Newport-on-tay, Gauri Street 13

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bill cassette comprising a bill stack supported on a long side thereof by a support means and adapted to be attached to an operating position of a cash dispenser, wherein the bill is removed from the cassette when the cassette is in an operating position. A push means having a surface that comes into contact with a bill so as to push the bill stack toward an outlet from which the bills can be extracted one by one; and a detachably attached to the push means in a first arrangement or a second arrangement. Carrier means for moving a permanent magnet, wherein the cassette is in the operating position, and the bill contact surface is firstly positioned with respect to the outlet in accordance with an arrangement in which the carrier means is attached to the push means. A banknote cassette that activates a magnetically operable switch included in the cash dispenser when the second position is reached. 2. A cash dispensing system including a bill cassette including a bill stack supported on a long side by a support means and adapted to be mounted in an operating position of a cash dispenser, wherein the cassette is in an operating position. A push means having a surface that comes into contact with a bill so as to push the bill stack toward an outlet from which the bills can be extracted one by one from the cassette, and a first arrangement or a second place in the push means. Carrier means for removably attached to an arrangement and for moving a permanent magnet, wherein the cassette is in the operating position, and the bill contact surface is the Activating a magnetically operable switch included in the cash dispenser upon reaching the first or second position relative to the exit; More and adapted to generate an alarm to indicate that the amount banknotes remaining in the cassette has reached a predetermined first low level or a second low level, the cash payment system.