US2810575A - Apparatus for the counting of sheets of paper, especially bank notes - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 22, 1957 K. HOLMEN 2,810,575

APPARATUS FOR THE COUNTING 0E SHEETS OF PAPER, ESPECIALLY BANK NOTES Filed May 31, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 22, 1957 K. HOLMEN 2,810,575

APPARATUS FOR THE COUNTING 0 SHEETS OF PAPER, ESPECIALLY BANK NOTES Filed May 31, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 llfaifa/w 5 1% United States APPARATUS FOR THE COUNTING OF SHEETS OF PAPER, ESPECIALLY'BANK NOTES Kristian Holmen, Oslo, Norway Application May 31, 1955, Serial No. 512,106

Claims priority, application Norway May 29, 1954 4 Claims, (c1. 271-27 only of new bank notes, but also of used ones. This must be taken into consideration in choice of design for the apparatus, because used notes are often more or less damaged, for instance they frequently lack one or more of their corners.

Several forms of apparatus for the conveying of sheets of paper from a pile to a printing machine or the like are known. Such an apparatus can theoretically also be used as a counter, by providing it with ordinary counting machinery, if such is not already fitted. But owing to the fact that such an apparatus has a different purpose, it will not be suitable for the purpose, for example, of counting bank notes. Apparatus for the feeding of printing machines with paper take up large space and work at relatively slow speed. In the solution of the problem which forms the basis of the present invention, it must be noted that the aim is not to bring about any substantial change in the position of the bank notes, but to attain the maximum speed of counting. This does not prevent, in the construction of a counting apparatus, the employment of units and principles which in and by themselves are familiar from apparatus for the conveyance of sheets of paper.

Thus in the apparatus according to the present invention use is made of a rotary gripper which carries a number of symmetrically arranged suction organs, which besides rotating on the axis of the gripper rotate individually in the opposite direction on their own axis parallel to the axis of the gripper, and which are caused to rest one at a time against a sheet (bank note) near one of the edges of this, and by suction force to draw this along with it. Such a construction has previously been proposed and in this known arrangement the sheet is drawn up from a pile, the edge of the sheet being carried round by the suction organ until it strikes against a conveying roller. The sheet is given a relatively complicated movement, the whole sheet being drawn from the outside into the gripper, i. e. onto that side of the suction organs which faces the axis of the gripper, and is then conducted out again by a movement in the plane of the sheet. Unlike this known arrangement, the apparatus according to the present invention works in such a manner that the bank note is released after such a brief angular movement of the suction organ that the sheet is practically only swung round the edge which is turned away from the suction organ, without being moved in its plane. To prevent the note frorn'swinging back to its initial position, the distance between the suction organs is suitably made so small that when a note is released from a suction organ the following suction organ will prevent it from Swinging back.

2,810,575 Patented Oct. 22, 1957 The invention is described in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows in diagrammatic form a gripper for an apparatus, viewed from the end, with a suction organ resting against the first note in a bundle of notes to be counted, I i

Figure Z shows the gripper after rotating through about 36,

Figure 3 shows the gripper after a further rotation of approximately 108,

Figure 4 is a vertical section through one of the suction organs and the apparatus on which it is mounted.

Referring to the drawings, A1-A5 denote five individually rotatable cylindrical suction organs arranged on a rotating gripper, which in Figures 1 to 3 is only indicated by the hollow axle B. It will be sufficient to state that the gripper rotates anticlockwise, as indicated by the arrowb, while the suction organs revolve in the opposite'direction, as indicated by the arrows a.

As will be seen from Figure 4, the gripper includes a central spindle 1 to which is secured by a nut 2 a gear member 3 provided with internal teeth 4. The gear member '3 is bored to receive a suction tube 5 secured in the spindle 1, which tube 5 communicates with a source of suction (not shown) and is in permanent communication with an axial bore 6 in the spindle 1, which bore extends to' a point near the top of the spindle to communicate with a transverse bore 7, which itself communicates with each rotary suction organ when the latter is in operative position for counting a bank note. Rotatably mounted about the spindle 1 on a bush 8 is a pulley 9.

The husband pulley are bored as at 10 and 11 respectively, to establish communication between the bore 7 in'the spindle 1 and each rotary suction organ when in operative position for counting a bank note. The pulley 9 is also provided with five bores, each of which receives I a rotary suction spindle 12 (only one of which is shown in Figure 4) which spindle rotates in a bush 13 fast with the pulley 9, each bush 13 and spindle 12 being bored at 14, 15 respectively, to establish connection between the source of vacuum and a central bore 16 in the suction spindle. This central bore communicates with the suction head 17 which is secured thereto by a grub screw 18, the'suction head 17 itself being bored at 19 to communicate with the central bore 16 and also with the suction orifice 20, the surface of the suction head, adjacent the suction orifice 20, being flattened to present a plain surface to facilitate adhesion of a bank note thereto.

Each suction spindle 12 includes a cylinder 21 and a light piston 22 slidably mounted therein, which piston is under bias of a spring 23, to urge it towards the left, as

shown in Figure 4. g The piston rod 24 has a reduced end projection passing through the outer end wall of the cylinder.

The said reduced end portion of the piston rod 24 is adapted, when the piston 22 is moved to the right, as will hereinafter be described, to force an electric contact member 25' into contact with a further contact 26 to complete an electric circuit, to operate an electro-magnetic counting device, which is not shown, and which is of known construction, and forms no part of the present invention.

Coupled to the suction organ spindle 12 by means of a grub screw 27 is a pinion 28, which meshes with the teeth 4 on the gear member 3. v p

The apparatus functions in the following manner: The suction tube 5 is first connected to the source of suction, forexample'a pump, and the pulley 9 is connected by a driving belt (not shown) to the pulley of an electric motor (also not shown) which can be set in motion when desired. When operated, the motor drives through the belt the pulley 9, which rotates with its bush 8 around e p n le Ro a n of e p l y causes simul aner ously rotation of the suction organs around the spindle 1, and hence, by means of intermeshing between the p nion 2.8 a d the eeth 4,, auses t e u on pindl s. 1. to rotate in an'opposite direction to that of the pulley 9.. Dur n t ti n of h pulley 9 bor 10., 11 and 14. are i u h in urn into communication with the bore 7 of h I ta pindle, 1, and. thus with the source of suction connected to the pipe 5. When communication between fi't bQIQS, .9,, an 1. an he bore 7 is established, the suction orifice 20 of the rotary suction spindle 12 is in on act w th a bank n te. to be counted, Whilstthe position of the rotary suction spindle 12 is such that. its. bor -c 5 s. n c mmunication with the, bore. 14, so thatsuction is thus app ie t the s id. suction ori c t l thus be apparent that the duration of. suction onthe suction orifice at is the period Of time, during which the. bore 15: isin communication with. the bores 14,11 and 10. when these, bores in turn, are in communication with the, bore 7 n. t e. cent al sp ndl 1- a a suction is established. at the suction. orifice 20, air is first, sucked therethrough momentarily before a ban not adheres to the surface of the suction head. As the suction spindle 12. revolves, with the bank note .at-. tached to its suction head, during the period when the suction is maintained (see Figure 1) the bank note will be moved; hereinafter described. Once the bank note cen e tq adhere. to. the suc ion orifice 20, the suction force tends to create a vacuum within the suction systern, the effect of which is to cause the light piston 22 to move against the action of its spring 23, so. that the re=. ducedend of the piston rod-24 closes the electric circuit, including the contacts, 25, 6, and thereby operate the counting device. Asthe. suction spindle 12 continues to rotate, communication between the bores 15 and 16 and the lgores 1,4, 1 1; and 10 110 longer exists; furthermore the bores 14,11 and 111- are no longer in communication with the bore as the pulley 9 continues to rotate. The effect is thus that the piston 2 2, is returned to its normal POSl? tion by the spring 2 3 andthe bank note is released from h su tion entice 2Q- Refetti s ew ain to gur s 1 to 3 i w l be an:

preciated from the above description that the suction organs A1 As arrive in turn at the position occupied by suction organ Ar (Figure l) with the suction opening C (that to s ay suction orifice Z0.) turned towards a bundle of notes; D at the same time as the suction opening is anc i to c nne tion ith h va uum sour Th note Q1 of the bundle which note is. nearest to. the suc-.

and w l th re y be. sucked. fi m y thereto, d be carried. 4 9 .5 W ll). hi 9 thfipbsition shown. in-Fig hnrtlv ft wards t suct n peni g 6 n h u i organ A; is brought into connection with atmosphere (as described with reference to Figure 4). and thefnote is rel d before it has yet moved in any significant degreei s own plane. It is not released, however, before the next suction organ A2 has approached the bundle of notes Dso, closely that the note D1, in the event of its swinging back; in the direction of the bundle, will strike against the suction organ A2 and be pushed by this to. the right lfigure 3. shows how. the counted notes are grade l yassemb ed in a ew bu e lt will be clear from the above description and with reference to Figures 1 to 3 that the notes are not sub-. jected to any significant movement in their own plane, but are only leafed over in the same way as the leaves of a book I t has been found that by this means it is 7 possible to perform the counting at substantially greater speed than with other known construction.

Whats cl imed 1 l or-the counting of sheets of paper or the like an ranged in a bundle or pile, an apparatus comprising a rotary gripper, means providing a fixed axis, means for rotating said gripper in one direction about said fixed axis, a plurality of suction devices arranged symmetrically around said fixed axis, means providing individual axes for said suction devices, said individual axes being equidistantly spaced around said fixed axis, means forconnecting said suction devices to said rotary gripper for rotation on said individual axes, means operative by rotation of said gripper for constantly rotating said suction devices about their axes in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said gripper, each suction device having a suction opening, the rotation of said gripper moving said suction devices successively into proximity with the sheets in one direction and the reverse rotation of said suction devices moving said suction openings relatively to a sheet of the pile adjacent said gripper in the opposite direction, means for connecting the suction opening of each successive suction device to a source of vacuum as each suctiondevice has its suction opening in proximity to the adjacent sheet and forcutting off such suction as each suction device rotates to a predetermined extent on its own axis from such position to release the sheet picked up by such suction opening, said suction devices being so ci'rcurnferentially spacedthat upon the releasing of each sheet from one ofsuch suction devices, the next following suction device will be interposed betweenthe released' portion ofthe sheet and the pile to prevent the sheet from swinging back to the pile.

2. An apparatus accordingto claim 1 wherein said means for connecting each suction device to a source of vacuum comprisesavacu-um duct formed in said rotary gripper, an axial passage formed in each gripping device and communicating the one endwith the associated suction opening, and means operative incident to rotation ofiieach suc tion device-on its-axis for connecting said ductand the passage of such suction device to each other solely when the suction opening of such suction device is adjacent the pile of sheets.

-3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said rotarygripper is provided with ace-axial gear, said means forconnecting each suction deviceto said rotary gripper comprising a spindle rot-ativelysupported by said rotary gripper, and a pinion carried by each spindle and meshingwith said gear.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said rotary gripper is provided with a co-axial gear, said means forconhecting each suction device to said rotary gripper comprising a spindle rotatively supported by said rotary gripper, and a pinion-carried byeach spindle and-meshing with said gear, said. means forconnecting each suction opening to'a source of vacuumcomprising an axial duct formed in said rotary gripper, an axial passage formed in each spindle, each spindie having aradialopeningcommunicating with the passage therein, said rotary grippenhaving a plurality of-radial passages each coaxial with one of said radial openings'to communicate therewith as the latter passes the associatedradial passage.

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