WO2009072153A1

WO2009072153A1 - Cheques dispenser

Info

Publication number: WO2009072153A1
Application number: PCT/IT2007/000852
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giuliano Dini
Original assignee: Rototype S.P.A.
Priority date: 2007-12-06
Filing date: 2007-12-06
Publication date: 2009-06-11
Also published as: CN101889290A

Abstract

A cheque dispenser (1) comprises feed means (3) for feeding one or more separate sheets of security paper, printer means (4) for printing variable data on said sheets of security paper to create one or more cheques, conveyor means (9), in such position relative to the printer means (4) as to convey the sheets of security paper with the two short sides substantially parallel to the conveying direction (X-X). The printer means include a thermal -transfer printer (40) for thermal transfer of ink onto the sheets of security paper and an ink jet printer (50). The dispenser (1) further comprises a stapling unit (60) and an adhesive tape binding unit (63) for binding the cheques, covers and interleaves printed out by the printer means (5, 6) to form a cheque book.

Description

"Cheques dispenser"

The present invention relates to a cheque dispenser as defined in the preamble of claim 1.

Cheque dispensers are known in the art and used both as self-service automatic dispensers and as back- office apparatus for bank operators.

One prior art cheque and cheque book dispenser has a support structure with two security paper feeding stations, one for cheque blanks and the other for the covers and the interleaves required to form a cheque book, printer means, a stapling unit and a binding unit, to produce cheque books.

Particularly, the codeline, i.e. the ID code of each cheque, is printed by an impact printer having a rotary member with raised characters formed thereon for printing. The impact printer may print either characters for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition

(MICR) or characters for Optical Character Recognition

(OCR) , depending on the type of ribbon interposed between the impact element and the security paper that is being printed.

Any text and/or graphics of the cheque, such as the address of the issuing branch, cheque customization elements with bank logos, cheque number, and the like, are printed by a dot-matrix printer.

While the above dispenser is widely used in banks for issuing cheque books, it still suffers from certain drawbacks .

First, it shall be noted that the security paper contained in the feeder stations and organized in books is separated from the others by special separator units and conveyed to the printers with the long side of the security paper parallel to the conveying direction. This requires longer times for codeline printing, when this is carried out by impact printing. Also, with particular reference to impact printers, these are very noisy and require considerable ribbon consumption to print a full codeline. Concerning dot-matrix printers, it shall be noted that they provide low print quality, high noise and poor flexibility.

Another prior art cheque dispenser uses sheets of security paper of a predetermined size, such as A4 , and prints multiple cheques on each sheet of security paper by a laser printer. The individual cheques are obtained by cutting the sheets of security paper.

This dispenser also has certain drawbacks. First, the length and width of the cheques are restricted by the size of the security paper sheet that is being used, such as A4 , which is to be cut to obtain the cheques. Furthermore, the toner for the laser printer shall meet codeline printing standards, wherefore a very expensive magnetic toner is required. Since the laser printer shall be able to print both the codelines and the variable data of the cheque, the magnetic toner is also used for printing such data, with a consequent high toner consumption. Also, the use of magnetic toners for printing non-codeline data is subjected to restrictions, as defined by ISO standards.

In view of the above, there arises the need of providing a cheque dispenser that can print cheques at a higher speed, with less noise and improved adaptability to cheque blank size.

The object of the present invention is to provide a cheque dispenser that has such structural and functional features as to fulfill the above need, while obviating the drawbacks of prior art.

This object is fulfilled by a cheque dispenser as defined in claim 1. Further features and advantages of the cheque dispenser of this invention, will be apparent upon reading of the following description of one preferred embodiment thereof, which is given by way of illustration and without limitation with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a cheque dispenser of the present invention,

- Figures 2 and 3 are schematic perspective views of the feeding trays of the dispenser as shown in Figure 1,

- Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of the conveyor unit of the dispenser of Figure 1,

- Figure 5 is a schematic side plan view of the conveyor unit as shown in Figure 4 , - Figure 6 is a schematic perspective view of the printer means of the dispenser of Figure 1,

- Figure 7 is a schematic side plan view of the printer means as shown in Figure 6,

- Figure 8 is a schematic top plan view of the printer means as shown in Figure 6,

- Figure 9 is a schematic perspective view of the stapling and binding means of the dispenser of Figure

1,

- Figure 10 is a schematic side plan view of the stapling and binding means as shown in Figure 9,

- Figure 11 is a schematic top plan view of the stapling and binding means as shown in Figure 9. Referring to the annexed figures, numeral 1 generally designates a cheque dispenser of the present invention.

As used herein, the term cheques covers bank cheques, cashier's cheques, gift cheques and the like.

The dispenser 1 can dispense one cheque at a time, multiple loose cheques or cheque books.

Furthermore, it shall be noted that the cheque dispenser may be used both as a self-service automatic dispenser and as a back-office apparatus for bank operators .

Reference will be made hereinafter, without limitation, to a cheque book dispenser.

The dispenser 1 has a support structure 2, feed means 3 for feeding one or more sheets of security paper, printer means 4 for printing variable data on the sheets of security paper that are fed by the feed means 3.

The sheets of security paper are separate, each defining an individual cheque, have a rectangular shape and are defined by two opposite short sides and two opposite long sides .

Each sheet of security paper is typically preprinted with non variable data, such as the bank log, bank data, etc. Otherwise, the sheets of security paper may be blank sheets of security paper.

Variable data, such as sort code, cheque number, customer data and issuing bank data, customer's logo, cashier's signature, if any, is printed by the printer means 4.

Particularly, the printer means 4 include first printer means 5 for printing a codeline on the sheets of security paper and second printer means 6 for printing variable data, possibly in graphic form, on the sheets of security paper.

According to one embodiment, the dispenser 1 comprises binding means 7 for binding the cheques exiting from the printer means 5 , 6 to form a cheque book.

The dispenser 1 further includes conveyor means for conveying the sheets of security papers that are being fed by the feed means 3 to the first printer means 5 , the second printer means 5 and the binding means 7, if any.

Particularly, the conveyor means include first conveyor means 8 for conveying the sheets of security paper from the feed means 3 to the loading end of the printer means 4, in this example the first printer means 5 , and second conveyor means 9 for conveying the sheets of security paper through the printer means 5 and 6 and the binding means 7 in a conveying direction X-X.

Namely, the second conveyor means 9 are in such position relative to the printer means 4 as to convey the security paper with the two short sides substantially parallel to the conveying direction X-X, whereas the printer means 4 are movable in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction X-X. On the one hand, the specific conveying direction allows reduction of the overall size of the dispenser 1, while providing greater flexibility in terms of security paper sheet sizes, and on the other hand, the position of the printer means 4 and their displacement relative to the security paper conveying direction X-X affords faster printing of the variable data on the sheets of security paper to obtain the cheques to be given to the user.

The conveyor means 8 cooperate with the feed means 3 to convey the sheets of security paper fed by the feed means 3 towards the loading end 5a of the printer means 5. Particularly, the conveyor means 8 have a loading end 8a that cooperates with the feed means 3 and a discharge end 8b which is located next to the loading end 9a of the conveyor means 9 for conveying the sheets of security paper through the printer means 5 and 6.

The feed means 3 include a first container 10 for security paper sheets and, if the dispenser 1 is designed to dispense cheque books, a second container 11 for covers and interleaves. The covers and interleaves are contained in the second container 11 in a predetermined sequence, as determined by the corresponding desired sequence of covers and divider pages of the cheque book. In case of loose or individual cheque dispensing, the container 11 may contain envelopes for the cheques to be delivered to the customer. In certain applications, a third additional container may be provided for envelopes, with the second container being used for covers and interleaves, so that the dispenser may be used both for individual cheque and cheque book dispensing.

Each container, such as the container 10 of Figures 2 and 3, has a container body which defines a receptacle 12 for a plurality of sheets of security paper, a separator unit 12 for separating the sheets of security paper and sequentially feeding sheets of security paper, and an electric motor 14 for driving the separator unit 13.

The separator unit 13 of the container 10 of security paper sheets cooperates with the conveyor means 8 to successively feed individual sheets of security paper through an outlet 10a of the container

10.

Particularly, the conveyor means 8 include a plurality of adjacent closed-loop belt conveyors 16 mounted to opposite pulley units 17, which are designed to be rotatably operated to drive the belt conveyors 16. A plurality of adjacent closed-loop belt conveyors 20 are arranged in front of the belt conveyors 14, and are mounted between two opposite pulley units 21 which are designed to be rotatably operated to drive the belt conveyors 20 in the same direction as the belt conveyors 16, thereby transferring a sheet of security paper from the loading end 8a to the discharge end 8b of the conveyor means 8. The pulleys 17 and 21 are rotatably operated by motion- imparting means 18 whose rotation is transmitted by drive means 19.

Particularly, the conveyor means 8 are in such position relative to the container 10 that the outlet 10a is located next to the loading end 8a, to pick up and convey the sheets of security paper fed by the separator unit between the belt conveyors 16 and 20.

If the dispenser 1 is designed to dispense cheque books, the conveyor means 8 cooperate with the separator unit of the container 11 of sheets such as covers and interleaves to successively feed such covers and interleaves, through an outlet of the container 11, to the conveyor means 8, as described above concerning the container 10.

To correct any misalignment caused by sheet feeding on belt conveyors 16, 20, 23 of the conveyor means 8, the dispenser 1 has alignment means 26. The alignment means 26 include first alignment means 27 for aligning the sheets in the direction X-X of feed of the individual sheets along the conveyor means 9 and second alignment means 30 for aligning each sheet in the direction Y-Y perpendicular to the direction X-X.

The first alignment means 27 include at least two abutment elements 28 that can be moved between a rest position and a work position to define a stop member in the sheet feed direction X-X. According to one embodiment, the abutment members 28 include four pins 28 that can be moved in the direction Z-Z and driven by drive means 29. In the illustrated example, the drive means 29 include a solenoid which can be suitably excited and controlled to drive the pins 28 in the direction Z-Z, perpendicular to the plane defined by the directions X- X and Y-Y, between the rest position and the work position.

The alignment means 30 for ensuring alignment in the direction Y-Y include a carriage 31 movable in the direction Y-Y and adapted to engage the sheet and push it in the direction Y-Y to abutment against a stop wall, in this example the right side wall 2a of the support structure 2. Sensors may be provided to recognize the proper sequence of sheets in the tray for covers and interleaves, or for measuring the thickness of the sheets conveyed by the conveyor means 8, 9, to check for any overlapping sheets .

Once alignment is ensured in both directions X-X and Y-Y, the sheet, whether it is a security paper sheet, a cover or an interleaf, is carried by the conveyor means 9 in the conveying direction X-X to the first printer means 5, which are designed to print a codeline on the sheet of security paper.

Particularly, the first printer means 5 include a thermal-transfer printer 40 for thermal transfer of ink.

The thermal- transfer printer 40 is mounted in such a manner as to be movable in a direction Z-Z perpendicular to the direction X-X of feed of the sheet conveyed by the conveyor means 9 from and to the conveyor means 9 with the sheet of security paper lying thereon.

As the sheet of security paper is printed by the thermal-transfer printer 40, it is driven by the conveyor means 9 in the conveying direction X-X at a speed lower than the standard conveying speed in the direction X-X, so that the whole codeline of the cheque can be printed.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the thermal-transfer printer 40 allows thermal transfer of magnetic ink onto the sheets of security paper, so that a Magnetic Ink Character

Recognition codeline, or MICR codeline can be printed thereon. Thanks to the thermal-transfer printing technology, the codeline on the sheets of security paper is of superior quality, but also meets the indelibility requirements applicable to cheque codelines. The premium quality of the thermally transferred codeline on the sheet of security paper facilitates reading and reduces rejections or reading errors. Furthermore, the motion of the thermal- transfer printer 40 in the direction Z-Z is found to allow minimized consumption of the standard or magnetic ribbon, because the ribbon only contacts the sheet of security paper at the codeline printing area. Also, thermal-transfer printing affords a dramatic reduction of the acoustic impact of codeline printing.

The thermal-transfer printer 40 comprises a thermal marker unit 41 that is designed to be driven in the direction Z-Z between a rest position and a work position, a feed roller 42, e.g. for feeding a magnetic ink ribbon for MICR codelines, a winding roller 43 for the used ribbon, drive means 44 for driving the thermal marker 41 and drive means 45 for driving the winding roller 43. The drive means 44 include a stepper motor with a worm gear for moving the thermal marker 41 in the direction Z-Z and bringing the thermal marker 41 to its work position.

To assess the accuracy and quality of the codeline transferred by the thermal marker 41 onto a sheet of security paper, the dispenser 1 is equipped with a codeline reader 46, such as a magnetic reader for MICR codelines or an OCR reader for OCR codelines, downstream from the thermal-transfer printer 40 in the conveying direction X-X.

For the sheet of security paper to be printed with branch data, cheque number and any additional data, the second printer means 6 include a high-resolution inkjet printer 50.

The inkjet printer 50 is mounted to a guide 51 extending in the direction Y-Y, which lies in the plane of the direction X-X and allows such printer 50 to move perpendicular to the direction of feed X-X of the sheet conveyed by the conveyor means 9. This further allows the printer 50 to print as it moves to and fro in the direction of extension Y-Y of the guide 51. Thanks to the inkjet printing, the printed variable data are of superior quality. Also, it should be noted that the motion of the inkjet printer 50 in the direction Y-Y perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction X-X, i.e. perpendicular to the short sides of such sheets, considerably increases the flexibility and capacity of data printing on the lines of the sheets. Also, the use of an inkjet printer is found to dramatically reduce the acoustic impact of variable data printing. When the codeline reader 46 detects an error in a codeline on a sheet or two overlapping sheets, the inkjet printer 50 will print cheque invalidating words on the sheet, such as the word "CANCELLED" so that any use of the cheque in case of tampering of the dispenser can be prevented.

The cheque so cancelled is conveyed to a container 53 for cancelled cheques. For valid cheques to be separated from the cheques cancelled by the printer 50, the dispenser 1 is equipped with a deflector 52 movable in the direction Z-Z from a rest position to a work position, in which it engages the conveyor means 9 to shut off the cancelled cheque flow and convey such cheque in the container 53.

Binding means 7 are disposed downstream from the cancelled cheque deflector 52.

The binding means 7 include a stapling unit 60 and a tape binding unit 63.

The stapling unit 60 comprises a staple container

61 and a staple dispenser 62. The cheques, covers and interleaves from the printer means 5, 6 are gathered at the stapling unit 60, which staples the pack of sheets to form a cheque book.

The cheque book is then collated by the tape binding unit 63 which comprises a roll stand 64 with an adhesive tape roll 65 mounted thereto and cutting means, laying means and folding means, generally designated by numeral 66, which are designed to cut a portion of adhesive tape, lay one end of the adhesive tape portion on a side portion of a face of the pack of cheques and fold the other end of the adhesive tape portion around the side portion of the opposite face of the pack of cheques. The cheque or cheque book delivered by the dispenser 1 passes through the outlet 70, with the outer casing of_, the dispenser 1 having a corresponding slit thereat.

The dispenser 1 further has a data processing unit (not shown) connected to sensors to receive signals therefrom, and to the various motors and drive means to monitor the operation of the dispenser 1 and successively control and synchronize the operation of the various devices, such as the separator units, the conveyors 8 and 9, the printer means 5 and 6, the binding means 7, the alignment devices 26 and 30, etc.

The dispenser 1 is also interfaced with a host

Claims

computer which will control, through appropriate software, all the functions of the dispenser. As clearly shown in the above description, the cheque dispenser of the present invention fulfills the needs and obviates prior art drawbacks as set out in the introduction of this disclosure. Those skilled in the art will obviously appreciate that a number of changes and variants may be made to the cheque dispenser of the invention as described hereinbefore to meet specific needs, without departure from the scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

CLAIMS 1. A cheque dispenser (1) comprising: - feed means (3) for feeding one or more separate sheets of security paper, each sheet of security paper defining an individual cheque, and being defined by two opposite short sides and two opposite long sides,

- printer means (4) for printing variable data on said one or more sheets of security paper to create one or more cheques, said printer means (4) including first printer means (5) for printing a cheque recognition codeline and second printer means (6) for printing variable data, - first conveyor means (8) for conveying the sheets of security paper from the feed means (3) to the printer means (4) and second conveyor means (9) for conveying the sheets of security paper through said printer means (4) in a conveying direction (X-X), characterized in that the second conveyor means (9) are in such position relative to the printer means (4) as to convey the sheets of security paper with the two short sides substantially parallel to the conveying direction (X-

X⁾,

- the printer means (4) being movable in a motion direction (Y-Y₇ Z-Z) perpendicular to said conveying direction (X-X) and

- the first printer means (5) include a thermal- transfer printer (40) for thermal transfer of ink onto said sheets of security paper.

2. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said thermal transfer printer (40) is movable in said motion direction (Z-Z) to and from said second conveyor means (9) .

3. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the thermal-transfer printer (40) is designed for thermal transfer of magnetic ink onto the sheets of security paper, so that a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition codeline can be printed thereon.

4. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 , comprising a codeline reader (46) downstream from said thermal-transfer printer (40) in the conveying direction (X-X) .

5. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the second printer means (6) include an inkjet printer (50) .

6. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in claim 5, wherein said inkjet printer (50) is mounted to a guide

(51) extending in said motion direction (Y-Y) .

7. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the feed means (3) include a first container (10) for sheets of security paper.

8. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the feed means (3) include a second container

(11) for covers and interleaves, each cover and interleaf being defined by two opposite short sides and two opposite long sides, wherein said second conveyor means (9) are adapted to convey said covers and interleaves through said printer means (4) in said conveying direction (X-X) with the two short sides substantially parallel to the conveying direction (X-

X) • 9. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in claim 8, comprising binding means (7) for binding the cheques, the covers and the interleaves exiting from the printer means (5, 6) to form a cheque book.

10. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in claim 9, wherein the binding means (7) include a stapling unit

(60) and an adhesive tape binding unit (63) .

11. A cheque dispenser (1) as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising first alignment means

(27) for aligning the sheets in the conveying direction (X-X) and second alignment means (30) for aligning the sheets in a direction (Y-Y) perpendicular to said conveying direction (X-X) .