De La Rue Systems Ltd.

Harvey G Martin

Steven Michael Hosking

Roger Pilling

Graham P Ford

Nicholas A Bruin

Roger Thornton

Sheet store

A sheet store, particularly a banknote cassette, adapted for dispensing or accepting sheets comprises a container having two openings adjacent one another. Each opening is associated with respective first and second closure members movable between closed positions in which the openings are closed and open positions. A control assembly is provided for controlling operation of the closure members, the arrangement being such that when the store is to be used to dispense the sheets the control assembly enables both of the closure members to open but when the store is to be used to accept sheets the control assembly enables only one closure member to open.

A sheet feeding system comprises an interlock assembly for use with a sheet store which includes, a carriage slidably mounted in a housing. A disc shaped locking member locks the carriage in a first position relatively to the housing. A probe can be inserted into the carriage to move a spring biassed plunger out of engagement with the disc to allow the disc to move into an aperture in the probe in order to lock the probe with the carriage for movement relative to the housing.

Sheet feeding system

A sheet store, particularly for banknotes, comprises a container having an opening through which sheets can pass closed by a shutter. A pressure member is positioned in the container. The pressure member is biassed by two springs connected in series. A clamp is provided selectively to restrain the influence of one spring allowing two bias forces to be applied to the pressure member.

Sheet feeding apparatus for use in a cash dispenser comprises two withdrawal systems (7,8) operated by a stepper motor (5) to withdraw sheets from respective cassettes (1,2). A transport system (17) operated by a continuously driven drive motor (16) receives sheets from the withdrawal systems (7,8) and transports them to an output station (28). The arrangement is such that in use the transport system (17) is continuously driven by the drive motor (16) and the withdrawal systems (7,8) are selectively driven by the stepper motor (5) during a transaction.

Sheet feeding apparatus

A method and apparatus for dispensing sheets (2) from a store (1) is described. Single sheets are withdrawn from the store (1) by a friction feed roller (3) driven by a motor (5). Each sheet is fed to a transport path (17) defined by a pair of conveyors (15) driven by a motor (5'). The motor (5') is reversible so that the sheets can be fed either to an output station (19) or a reject position (20). The motor (5) is stopped as soon as the leading edge of a sheet has reached the transport path (17) so that no further sheets can be withdrawn from the store (1) until the sheet has been dispensed. A conventional doubles detect system determines whether a single sheet has been correctly withdrawn from the store (1).

Sheet dispensing method and apparatus

In apparatus for dispensing documents of value for example banknotes, a cassette (10) preloaded with a stack of banknotes is movable along a predetermined path into the dispenser housing up to a feed position; the cassette includes a shutter (18) for closing a feed aperture (22) through which banknotes can be extracted for dispensing. The dispenser housing has a stop member (40) movable by a cam (30) on the cassette to cause a shutter-actuating member (42), coupled to the stop member, to enter a recess (26) in the shutter (18) whereby during further movement of the cassette up to the document feed position the shutter is moved from its closed position to its open position. The relative position of the cam on the cassette and the stop member is such that if because the shutter is already open the shutter-actuating member (42) is prevented from entering the recess, further movement of the cassette into the housing is blocked by the continued engagement of the stop member (40) and the cam (30).

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West Sussex, United Kingdom

Harvey G Martin