Bank note transporting apparatus in game machine island

A bank note transporting apparatus for transporting externally inserted bank notes, which is provided in a game machine island in which a plurality of game machines and a plurality of game media lending machines for lending game media used for playing games are disposed, said bank note transporting apparatus comprising:

• a main transporting pathway provided within the island for transporting bank notes to a destination position, a first transporting belt for transporting bank notes, a guide for guiding the transported bank notes and a second transporting belt which forms a transporting pathway between the first transporting belt and the guide for transporting the bank notes along the guide, said guide having said accepting slot;
• and
• an introducing pathway disposed in at least one position along the length of said main transporting pathway for merging bank notes externally inserted into the island to said main transporting pathway;
• said main transporting pathway including an accepting slot for accepting the bank notes from said introducing pathway,
• said introducing pathway including a bank note inserting unit into which the bank notes are externally inserted and a merging unit for guiding and transporting the inserted bank notes to said accepting slot,
• said merging unit including a passage member for transporting the bank notes and a passage frame which is pivotally mounted on one end of the passage member,
• said passage frame being mounted on said passage member in such a manner that said passage frame is disposed in parallel with said passage member to form a transporting passage therebetween when said introducing pathway is driven and is separated from the transporting passage defining face of said transporting member when said passage frame is pivoted,
• said merging unit also including guide strips at the front ends of the passage member and guide strips on the passage frame for cooperatively guiding bank notes to an accepting slot of the main transporting pathway and a pivot shaft provided in the vicinity of respective base end portions of said guide strips, said passage frame being pivotally linked with said passage member via the pivot shaft, said guide strips having respective front ends which are inserted into said accepting slot and being disposed so that they are slanted toward said guide, said guide strips on said passage member and said guide strips on the passage frame having a dimensional and positional relationship such that they do not structurally interfere with each other when the passage frame is pivoted,
• wherein two guide strips on the side of the passage frame are provided with a spacing which is larger than the width of said transporting belt and the guide strip on the passage member is provided in such a positional and dimensional relationship with respect to the guide strips on the passage frame that the guide strip on the passage member can be sandwiched between the two guide strips on the side of the passage frame.