Currency testing system

Claim 1

In a currency testing system: a transport for receiving a bill inserted thereinto and for conveying the inserted bill along a predetermined path of travel for testing thereof; a device disposed to detect the presence of said bill upon said insertion thereof into the transport, said device being operably associated with said transport for rendering the latter operational when the bill is detected by the device, whereby to effect advancement of the bill along said path; a test station in said path having means for sensing physical properties of the advancing bill as it passes the test station; testing means coupled with said sensing means and responsive thereto for producing an accept signal if the portion of the bill being sensed has physical properties indicative of validity, said testing means effecting a first test of said bill and delivering said accept signal if a predetermined test zone on the bill has said physical properties indicative of validity; a memory coupled with said testing means and responsive to said accept signal from said first test; means responsive to further movement of the bill along said path for effecting a second validity test while the validity indication from the first test is held in said memory, said second test effecting means including a second bill detection device spaced along said path from the first mentioned device and disposed to detect the leading edge of a bill of proper length at the time that said first device is detecting the trailing edge thereof, and means responsive to simultaneous detection of the inserted bill by said first and second devices for delivering a minimum length test signal indicating that the bill is of at least the proper length; a second memory responsive to said minimum length test signal; and output means coupled with said testing means responsive to physical properties, said devices, and said memories for delivering an output signal if an accept signal is again produced at a second, subsequent test zone and said first device is not detecting the bill, said second device is detecting the bill, and said memories are holding validity indications from their respective tests.