Sheet handling apparatus
AssigneeInnovative Technology Limited
InventorRobert David Bellis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sheet handling apparatus, such as a banknote stacker, comprises a carriage (23) that collects sheets by gripping their leading edges with jaws (35, 36) and transports them to a stack (6). The carriage (23) has a pair of driven wheels (32, 34) that push back the stack (6) so that the new sheet can be deposited. The wheels (32, 34) are driven so that their points of contact with the top sheet in the stack (6) have zero velocity relative to the top sheet of the stack (6). Thus, the top sheet in the stack (6) is not crumpled as the carriage (23) passes over the top of the stack (6).
Claims11
An apparatus for storing flexible sheets, comprising a stacker for maintaining a stack of sheets (6) and a sheet path extending from a sheet entry point across the top of the stacker's stack space, characterised by a carriage (23) for pulling a sheet (50) along the sheet path for deposition at the stack top location of the stacker, wherein the carriage (23) passes over the stack top location when pulling a sheet (50) and is configured to contact a top sheet of the stack with contact means (32, 34) arranged to have zero velocity with respect to the top sheet of the stack as the carriage (23) passes.
An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the gripping means (35, 36) includes a guide projection (37, 38) and the guide means comprises a side panel having an arrangement of guide grooves (11, 12, 13, 14) for receiving the guide projection, the guide grooves comprising a first groove (11) at the stacker end of the sheet path which bifurcates into second and third grooves (12,13) that extend side by side towards the entry point and combine to form a fourth groove (14) before reaching the entry point.
A banknote handling system comprising a banknote validator (2) including means for detecting the presence of a validated banknote at an output, a banknote stacker for stacking banknotes determined to be genuine by the validator, which includes reversible banknote transport means (23) for transporting banknotes from said output to a stacking location, and monitoring means (20) for monitoring the movement of the transport means (23), wherein, on determining that a banknote is genuine, the validator (2) is responsive to the monitoring means (20) to determine when the transport means (23) has moved by a distance at least equal to the length of the banknote and to the means for detecting the presence of a banknote to reverse the transport means (23) if the banknote is detected to be still at said output.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.