Process and apparatus for converting piles of freshly printed sheets of bank-notes into bundles of bank-notes

Claim 2

Apparatus for converting piles of freshly printed sheets of bank-notes, each sheet bearing a plurality of rows of bank-notes with a plurality of bank-notes in each row, into bundles of individual bank-notes with each bundle surrounded by a band, comprising: first cutting means for making a plurality of parallel cuts across a pile of sheets of bank-notes to divide said pile of sheets into a plurality of bundle strips with each strip containing a plurality of bank-notes juxtaposed end-to-end, banding means for applying to each of said bundle strips a plurality of bands equal in mumber to the number of bank-notes in each strip, said banding means comprising a plurality of banding units disposed side-by-side and equal in number to the number of bank-notes in each strip, said banding units being operated simultaneously and being positioned to apply a band at the location of each bank-note in a strip, and second cutting means for cutting each of said bundle strips into bundles of individual bank-notes, each of said bundles being banded by a band applied by said banding means prior to the cutting of said bundle strips by said second cutting means.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to claim 1, comprising means for feeding a plurality of said banded bundle strips to said second cutting means in a direction perpendicular to their length to assemble them in registered side-by-side position at said second cutting means, said second cutting means comprising means for cutting all of said plurality of bundle strips simultaneously.

Claim 4

Apparatus according to claim 2, in which said feeding means comprises means for feeding all of the bundle strips from one pile of sheets of bank-notes to said cutting means for cutting all of said bundle strips simultaneously.

Claim 5

Apparatus according to claim 3, in which said second cutting means comprises means for intermittently moving said plurality of bundle strips endwise with said bundle strips disposed side-by-side and means for sequentially cutting across all of said bundle strips between bank-notes, said cutting being effected across all of said bundle strips simultaneously.

Claim 6

Apparatus according to claim 2, comprising means for conveying said bundle strips from said first cutting means to said banding means along a path at right angles to the length of said bundle strips.

Claim 7

Apparatus according to claim 2, in which said banding units are adjustable in position lengthwise of said bundle strips to position the bands at selected positions.

Claim 8

Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising third cutting means located in advance of said first cutting means and comprising two spaced parallel cutters positioned to trim opposite side edges of said pile of sheets of bank-notes before said sheets are fed to said first cutting means.

Claim 9

apparatus according to claim 7, comprising means for feeding said bundle strips in a direction perpendicular to their length from said first cutting means to said banding means, feeding said banded bundle strips lengthwise from said banding means to an intermediate position and feeding said banded bundle strips in a direction perpendicular to their length from said intermediate position to said second cutting means.

Claim 10

A process for converting piles of freshly printed sheets of bank-notes, each sheet bearing a plurality of rows of bank-notes with a plurality of bank-notes in each row, into bundles of individual bank-notes with each bundle surrounded by a band, comprising: a first cutting operation which comrises making a plurality of parallel cuts across a pile of sheets of bank-notes to divide said pile of sheets into a plurality of bundle strips, with each strip containing a plurality of bank-notes juxtaposed end-to-end, a banding operation which comprises applying simultaneously to each of said bundle strips a plurality of bands equal in number to the number of bank-notes in each strip, said bands being positioned to apply a band at the location of each bank-note in a strip, and thereafter a second cutting operation which comprises cutting each of said bundle strips into bundles of individual bank-notes, each of said bundles being banded by a band applied in said banding operation prior to the cutting of said bundle strips by said second cutting operation.

Claim 11

A process for converting piles of freshly printed sheets of bank-notes, each sheet bearing a plurality of rows of bank-notes with a plurality of bank-notes in each row, into bundles of individual bank-notes with each bundle surrounded by a band, comprising: a first cutting operation which comrises making a plurality of parallel cuts across a pile of sheets of bank-notes to divide said pile of sheets into a plurality of bundle strips, with each strip containing a plurality of bank-notes juxtaposed end-to-end, a banding operation which comprises applying simultaneously to each of said bundle strips a plurality of bands equal in number to the number of bank-notes in each strip, said bands being positioned to apply a band at the location of each bank-note in a strip, and thereafter a second cutting operation which comprises cutting each of said bundle strips into bundles of individual bank-notes, each of said bundles being banded by a band applied in said banding operation prior to the cutting of said bundle strips by said second cutting operation.

Claim 12

A process according to claim 9, in which a plurality of bundle strips are assembled into registered side-by-side position and all of said bundle strips thus assembled are cut simultaneously in said second cutting operation.

Claim 13

A process according to claim 10, in which all of the bundle strips from one pile of sheets of bank-notes are assembled into registered side-by-side position and are cut simultaneously in said second cutting operation.

Claim 14

A process according to claim 10, in which said plurality of bundle strips assembled in side-by-side position are cut into bundles of individual bank-notes by intermittently moving said assembled bundle strips in a direction lengthwise of said bundle strips and sequentially cutting across all of said bundle strips between bank-notes in said second cutting operation, said cutting being effected across all of said bundle strips simultaneously.

Claim 15

A process according to claim 9, in which said bundle strips produced by said first cutting operation are moved along a path at right angles to the length of said bundle strips to a position for said banding operations.

Claim 16

A process according to claim 9, in which prior to said first cutting operation, opposite side edges of said pile of sheets of bank-notes are simultaneously trimmed.

Claim 17

A process for converting piles of freshly printed sheets of bank-notes, each sheet bearing a plurality of rows of bank-notes with a plurality of bank-notes in each row, into bundles of individual bank-notes with each bundle surrounded by a band, comprising: at a first cutting station intermittently moving a pile of sheets of bank-notes in a direction perpendicular to rows of bank-notes on said sheets and sequentially making a plurality of cuts across said pile of sheets to cut said pile of sheets between rows of bank-notes and thereby divide said pile of sheets into a plurality of bundle strips, with each strip containing a plurality of juxtaposed end-to-end bank-notes, sequentially moving said resulting bundle strips in a direction perpendicular to their length from said first cutting station to a banding station, at said banding station applying simultaneously to each of said bundle strips a plurality of bands equal in number to the number of bank-notes in each strip, said bands being positioned to apply a band at the location of each bank-note in a strip, sequentially moving the banded bundle strips from said banding station in a direction lengthwise of said bundle strips and then moving said banded bundle strips in a direction perpendicular to their length to assemble a plurality of said banded bundle strips in registered side-by-side position at a second cutting station, and at said second cutting station moving said plurality of assembled side-by-side bundle strips in a direction lengthwise of said bundle strips and sequentially making a plurality of cuts across all of said assembled banded bundle strips, said cuts being made between bank-notes in a strip, to divide said banded bundle strips into bundles of individual bank-notes, each of said bundles being banded by a band applied at said banding station.

Claim 18

A process for converting piles of freshly printed sheets of bank-notes, each sheet bearing a plurality of rows of bank-notes with a plurality of bank-notes in each row, into bundles of individual bank-notes with each bundle surrounded by a band, comprising: at a first cutting station intermittently moving a pile of sheets of bank-notes in a direction perpendicular to rows of bank-notes on said sheets and sequentially making a plurality of cuts across said pile of sheets to cut said pile of sheets between rows of bank-notes and thereby divide said pile of sheets into a plurality of bundle strips, with each strip containing a plurality of juxtaposed end-to-end bank-notes, sequentially moving said resulting bundle strips in a direction perpendicular to their length from said first cutting station to a banding station, at said banding station applying simultaneously to each of said bundle strips a plurality of bands equal in number to the number of bank-notes in each strip, said bands being positioned to apply a band at the location of each bank-note in a strip, sequentially moving the banded bundle strips from said banding station in a direction lengthwise of said bundle strips and then moving said banded bundle strips in a direction perpendicular to their length to assemble a plurality of said banded bundle strips in registered side-by-side position at a second cutting station, and at said second cutting station moving said plurality of assembled side-by-side bundle strips in a direction lengthwise of said bundle strips and sequentially making a plurality of cuts across all of said assembled banded bundle strips, said cuts being made between bank-notes in a strip, to divide said banded bundle strips into bundles of individual bank-notes, each of said bundles being banded by a band applied at said banding station.

Claim 19

A process according to claim 15, in which all of the bundle strips from a pile of sheets of bank-notes are assembled in registered side-by-side position at said second cutting station and are simultaneously cut.

Claim 20

A process according to claim 15, in which at a trimming station in advance of said first cutting station opposite side edges of said pile of sheets of bank-notes are simultaneously trimmed, whereupon said trimmed pile of sheets is moved to said first cutting station.