JP2530457B2 - Ticket / coin separator - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a ticket / coin separating device.

<Prior Art> In a toll box of a bus, a mechanism for separating tickets / coins has been conventionally known. This separating mechanism is configured so that a bill / coin is dropped onto a brush roll that rotates upward, a bill with a light weight is picked up by the brush roll, and a coin with a heavy weight is dropped below.

<Problems of the prior art> However, in the case of such a conventional configuration, the reliability of the operation is poor due to variations in the hardness of the brush rolls, and the coins are scooped up or the bills are dropped. There were many malfunctions of.

Conventionally, this separating device is simply used to separate and store a ticket and a coin, and even if an erroneous operation occurs, the ticket and the coin are slightly mixed with each other, and there is no great problem.

However, in recent years, there has been an increasing demand for automatic counting of charges on the numbered bus tickets and the like, and for this reason, reliable and reliable operation of the ticket / coin separating device. Is definitely needed.

<Summary of the Invention> The present invention has been made in order to meet the above-mentioned needs.
A pair of rollers having a hardness of at least Rockwell hardness of 20 or more, which are in contact with each other, are arranged on the path of the bill / coin,
The basic feature is that at least one of the rollers is rotated in the traveling direction so that only the ticket between the rollers passes.

With this configuration, of the tickets / coins traveling on the path, only the tickets pass the rollers, the coins are blocked from passing, and the tickets / coins are separated. The hardness is limited here because a roller having a hardness of less than Rockwell hardness of 20 may cause a coin to be caught, and reliable separation cannot be performed. Conventionally, when a roller is used, a coin is caught, and it has been impossible to separate the coin by the roller.
However, the research conducted by the inventors of the present invention has led to the finding that the use of a coin roller having a predetermined value or more makes it possible to reliably separate coins without causing biting.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of the present invention is described based on a drawing.

In FIG. 1, a ticket X and a coin Y are designed to drop downward from above. A pair of high hardness rollers 1 and 1 are arranged on this vertical path. In this embodiment, the high-hardness roller 1 is a steel roller, and has a hardness of Rockwell hardness of 20 or more. The high-hardness rollers 1 and 1 are pressed against each other by a spring 2 and pressed against each other. A motor 10 is provided on one of the high hardness rollers 1 so as to rotate in the traveling direction of the bill / coin, that is, inward. Since the other high-hardness roller 1 is also pressure-bonded, it rotates synchronously, but the moat 10 may be provided on the other high-hardness roller 1 as well.

Ticket X that has fallen on the path from above in this configuration
Is caught between the high hardness rollers 1 and 1 and passes downward as it is. On the other hand, the thick coin Y cannot pass between the high hardness rollers 1 and 1 and cannot move downward. As a result, the ticket / coin is separated. here,
The most important thing is to bring the high hardness rollers 1 and 1 into close contact with each other and to set the hardness of the high hardness rollers 1 and 1 to a Rockwell hardness of 20 or more. If the high hardness rollers 1 and 1 do not come into close contact with each other and there is a gap, the coin Y is
1, the machine is stopped or the bill / coin is not separated, and the coin passes through the high hardness rollers 1, 1 together with the bill. Further, when the hardness is less than Rockwell hardness 20, coins are similarly caught in the high hardness rollers 1 and 1. It is considered that this biting increases especially with the use time of the high-hardness roller 1, and scratches are generated on the high-hardness roller 1 with use, and this gird locks the coin, leading to biting.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the hardness of the high-hardness roller 1 and the time until the occurrence of biting of coins. Further, the pressing force between the high hardness rollers 1 and 1 by the spring 2 is taken as a parameter. fmax is the maximum pressing force that can be realized in terms of equipment, and fm
“In” is the minimum pressing force for preventing a gap between the high hardness rollers 1 and 1. As is clear from this graph, if a large pressing force is adopted, a Rockwell hardness of 20 will reach a practical allowable time. This permissible time corresponds to the service life of the main body device such as a charge box to which the separating device is attached. Also, with Rockwell hardness of 30, almost no coin bite occurs. Therefore, in the present invention, the hardness of the high hardness roller 1 is limited to at least Rockwell hardness of 20 or more, preferably Rockwell hardness of 30 or more. Within this range, the hardness of the high hardness roller 1 may be appropriately determined according to the pressing force applied to the high hardness roller 1.

The occurrence of biting is also affected by the rotational speed of the roller 1 and the smoothness of its surface, and the higher the rotational speed, the more the occurrence of biting is suppressed. Further, the smoother the roller surface, the less the biting.

In view of the above points, tool steel is used as the material of the roller 1 in this embodiment, and heat treatment is applied to this to make it have a Rockwell hardness of about 60, and this is further polished to a mirror finish. Further, the roller 1 is rotated at a peripheral speed of about 150 mm / sec.

In this embodiment, a ticket reading device 3 is provided below the high hardness rollers 1 and 1, and the contents of the ticket X are read here. The ticket reading device 3 includes a sensor 30 and a rubber roller.
31 and the roller 31 presses the ticket X against the sensor 30 to read the information displayed on the surface of the ticket X. Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a coin reading device 4 for discriminating the type of the coin Y is provided, and the coin Y blocked by the high hardness roller 1 is stored in the coin reading device 4. The type is determined by the sensor 40. Below the ticket reading device 3 and below the coin reading device 4, a storage box for the tickets X and coins Y (not shown) is installed, respectively.
It is designed to store coins separately.

Next, an embodiment in which the ticket / coin separating device of the present invention is applied to a toll box of a bus will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. Fourth
The figure is a front sectional view, and FIG. 5 is a side sectional view. An insertion port 6 is provided on the upper surface of the main body, and passengers insert the ticket X and the coin Y from here. A rubber insertion roller 60 is provided in the insertion opening 6.
Is provided, and the ticket X and the coin Y are sent downward. Below the insertion roller 60, a coin discharge roller 5 and high hardness rollers 1 and 1 are installed. The high hardness rollers 1 and 1 are steel rollers having a Rockwell hardness of 20 or more as described above. The high hardness roller 1 is pressed against each other by a spring 2 provided in a split type casing of the main body of the apparatus to be pressed against each other. The coin discharging roller 5 is provided on the upper side of the high hardness roller 1, and is composed of a plurality of (five in the figure) rollers arranged obliquely as shown in FIG. The coin discharging roller 5 is for discharging the coin, which has been prevented from advancing by the high hardness roller 1, in the right direction in FIG. 4, and therefore rotates in the diagonally downward right direction. Coin discharge roller 5 and side wall
It is set to the same distance as the thickness of the coin between 50 and
The coin is put on the high hardness roller 1 by the coin discharging roller 5
While rolling in the right direction in the figure, the high-hardness roller 1 falls downward from the end thereof. A coin reading device 4 is installed below it (not shown), and the type of coin is detected there.

Below the high hardness roller 1, a ticket reading device 3 and a feed roller 7 are continuously installed. The ticket reading device 3 comprises a rubber roller 31 and a sensor 30, which in this embodiment comprises an LED and a CCD. That is, the surface of the ticket X is illuminated by the LED and the reflected light is read by the CCD. The sensor 30 may be a magnetic sensor or the like depending on the type of ticket. The ticket X whose content is read by the ticket reading device 3 passes through the feed roller 7 and passes through the ticket confirmation window 8
Sent to The ticket confirmation window 8 includes a transparent plate 80, a back plate 81, and a discharge piece 82.
The ticket X is temporarily retained between the transparent plate 80 and the back plate 81 so that the driver or the like can visually check the transparent plate 80. The discharge piece 82 can be opened and closed by a link 83, a spring 84, and a solenoid 85. Normally, the link 83 is pulled by the spring 84, and the discharge piece 82
Is closely attached to the transparent plate 80 side. After the driver or the like finishes visual inspection, the solenoid 85 is operated to open the ejection piece 82 so that the ticket X can be scrapped downward. A ticket X storage box (not shown) is provided below the ticket confirmation window 8.

In the above configuration, even if a ticket / coin is inserted into the insertion port 6 together, only the ticket X is sent downward by the high hardness roller 1, the coin Y does not pass through the high hardness roller 1, and the ticket / coin is separated. Done. Moreover, since the coin Y is not caught by the high hardness roller 1 and the coin Y is reliably discharged to the outside of the system by the coin discharging roller 5, as a result, extremely reliable ticket / coin separation can be performed. .

Further, since the display contents of the separated ticket X can be read by the ticket reading device 3, it is possible to easily cope with automation of charge calculation and the like. Further, since the driver can visually confirm the ticket through the ticket confirmation window 8, there is an effect that a reliable fee collection operation can be performed.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, in the ticket / coin separating device of the present invention, a pair of rollers having a coin degree of at least Rockwell hardness of 20 or more, which are in contact with each other, are arranged on the path of the ticket / coin,
Since at least one of the rollers is rotated in the traveling direction so that only the note between the rollers passes, it is possible to reliably separate the note / coin, which was impossible in the past. . Therefore, there is an effect that it becomes possible to appropriately deal with a request such as automatic reading of a ticket.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view thereof, FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between hardness and coin biting time, and FIG. Fig. 5 is a front sectional view showing an embodiment applied to a charge box, and Fig. 5 is a side sectional view thereof. 1: High hardness roller, 2: Spring, 3: Ticket reading device, 4: Coin reading device, 5: Coin ejection roller, 6: Insert slot, 7: Feed roller, 8: Ticket confirmation window, 10: Motor, 30: Sensor, 31: Roller, 40: Sensor, 50:
Side wall, 60: Insert roller, 80: Transparent plate, 81: Back plate, 82: Discharge piece, 83:
Link, 84: Spring, 85: Solenoid.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pair of rollers having a hardness of at least 20 which is in contact with each other and having a hardness of Rockwell hardness of 20 or more is disposed on a path of a bill / coin, and at least one of the rollers is rotated in a traveling direction so as to rotate the roller. A ticket / coin separating device characterized in that only a ticket is passed between them.