Currency note dispensing system

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 wherein said loader comprises: means for separating individual currency notes from a stack of currency notes; means for verifying the separation of individual currency notes; and means for transporting the individual currency notes to said cartridge and loading the individual currency notes into said cartridge.

Claim 4

The system of claim 1 wherein said dispenser comprises: means for activating said cartridge to transfer a currency note from said cartridge into said dispenser; a transport mechanism for transporting the currency note through said dispenser to a customer receiving area; means for sensing the presence of a currency note within said dispenser and verifying passage of the currency note through said dispenser; and means for controlling said activating means and said transport mechanism to dispense a preselected number of currency notes to the customer receiving area.

Claim 7

The system of claim 4 or 1 wherein said cartridge further has a code key to indicate to said dispenser the denomination of the currency notes loaded therein.

Claim 10

The system of claim 6 or 1 wherein said verifying means further comprises means for diverting damaged and doubled currency notes.

Claim 11

The system of claim 6 or 1 wherein said transporting means further comprises means for counting the individual currency notes loaded into said cartridge.

Claim 12

The system of claim 6 or 4 wherein said cartridge comprises: a supply spool mounted for rotation within said cartridge; at least one takeup spool mounted for rotation within said cartridge; at least one film secured at opposite ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools; and the individual currency notes loaded into said cartridge being placed on said film and wound about said supply spool for storage.

Claim 13

The system of claim 9 wherein said cartridge further comprises means for interlocking said cartridge and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized rotation of said supply spool and means to detect an unauthorized attempt to remove the currency notes from said cartridge.

Claim 14

The system of claim 6, 4 or 1 wherein said cartridge further comprises: a first takeup spool; a second takeup spool; an inner film secured to said first takeup spool and said supply spool and wound on said spools; an outer film secured to said second takeup spool and said supply spool and wound on said spools; and the individual currency bills loaded into said cartridge being sandwiched between said inner and said outer film when wound on said supply spool.

Claim 15

The system of claim 6, 4 or 1 wherein said loader includes means for rotating said supply spool to wind said film and the individual currency notes on said supply spool and means for resisting the rotation of said takeup spool to maintain a preselected tension on said film.

Claim 16

The system of claim 6, 4, or 1 wherein said dispenser includes means for rotating said takeup spool to unwind said film from said supply spool and present a currency note stored within said cartridge to said dispenser and means for resisting the rotation of said supply spool to maintain a preselected tension on said film.

Claim 19

An individual currency note dispensing system comprising: a cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said film between said supply spool and said takeup spool, means for interlocking said housing and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized dispensing of currency notes therefrom, and means to detect unauthorized operations of said cartridge, the individual currency notes being stored on said film wound on said supply spool; and a dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge comprising means to rotate said takeup spool to withdraw an individual currency note from said cartridge, means to resist the rotation of said supply spool to maintain tension in said film, a transport mechanism to receive the withdrawn currency note and transport the currency note to a customer receiving area, means to sense the presence of a currency note within said transport mechanism and verify passage of the currency note therethrough and means to activate said rotating means, said resisting means, said transport mechanism and said sensing means in response to a request to dispense an individual currency note.

Claim 20

An individual currency note dispensing system comprising: a cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said film between said supply spool and said takeup spool, means for interlocking said housing and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized dispensing of currency notes therefrom, and means to detect unauthorized operations of said cartridge, the individual currency notes being stored on said film wound on said supply spool; and a dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge comprising means to rotate said takeup spool to withdraw an individual currency note from said cartridge, means to resist the rotation of said supply spool to maintain tension in said film, a transport mechanism to receive the withdrawn currency note and transport the currency note to a customer receiving area, means to sense the presence of a currency note within said transport mechanism and verify passage of the currency note therethrough and means to activate said rotating means, said resisting means, said transport mechanism and said sensing means in response to a request to dispense an individual currency note.

Claim 21

An individual currency note dispensing system comprising: a cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, an inner flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools, an outer flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said inner and outer flexible films between said supply spool and said takeup spool, means for interlocking said housing and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized dispensing of currency notes therefrom, and means to detect unauthorized operations of said cartridge, the individual currency notes being stored between said inner and outer flexible films when wound on said supply spool; and a dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge comprising means to rotate said takeup spool to withdraw an individual currency note from said cartridge, means to resist the rotation of said supply spool to maintain tension in said inner and outer flexible films, a transport mechanism to receive the withdrawn currency note and transport the currency note to a customer receiving area, means to sense the presence of a currency note within said transport mechanism and verify passage of the currency note therethrough and means to activate said rotating means, said resisting means, said transport mechanism and said sensing means in response to a request to dispense an individual currency note.

Claim 22

An individual currency note dispensing system comprising: a cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, an inner flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools, an outer flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said inner and outer flexible films between said supply spool and said takeup spool, means for interlocking said housing and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized dispensing of currency notes therefrom, and means to detect unauthorized operations of said cartridge, the individual currency notes being stored between said inner and outer flexible films when wound on said supply spool; and a dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge comprising means to rotate said takeup spool to withdraw an individual currency note from said cartridge, means to resist the rotation of said supply spool to maintain tension in said inner and outer flexible films, a transport mechanism to receive the withdrawn currency note and transport the currency note to a customer receiving area, means to sense the presence of a currency note within said transport mechanism and verify passage of the currency note therethrough and means to activate said rotating means, said resisting means, said transport mechanism and said sensing means in response to a request to dispense an individual currency note.

Claim 23

An individual currency note dispensing system comprising: a cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a first takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a second takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, an inner flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said first takeup spool and wound about said spools, an outer flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said second takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said inner and outer flexible films between said supply spool and said takeup spools, means for interlocking said housing and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized dispensing of currency notes therefrom, and means to detect unauthorized operations of said cartridge, the individual currency notes being stored between said inner and outer flexible films when wound on said supply spool; and a dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge comprising means to rotate said takeup spools to withdraw an individual currency note from said cartridge, means to resist the rotation of said supply spool to maintain tension in said inner and outer flexible films, a transport mechanism to receive the withdrawn currency note and transport the currency note to a customer receiving area, means to sense the presence of a currency note within said transport mechanism and verify passage of the currency note therethrough and means to activate said rotating means, said resisting means, said transport mechanism and said sensing means in response to a request to dispense an individual currency note.

Claim 24

An individual currency note dispensing system comprising: a cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a first takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, a second takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, an inner flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said first takeup spool and wound about said spools, an outer flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said second takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said inner and outer flexible films between said supply spool and said takeup spools, means for interlocking said housing and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized dispensing of currency notes therefrom, and means to detect unauthorized operations of said cartridge, the individual currency notes being stored between said inner and outer flexible films when wound on said supply spool; and a dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge comprising means to rotate said takeup spools to withdraw an individual currency note from said cartridge, means to resist the rotation of said supply spool to maintain tension in said inner and outer flexible films, a transport mechanism to receive the withdrawn currency note and transport the currency note to a customer receiving area, means to sense the presence of a currency note within said transport mechanism and verify passage of the currency note therethrough and means to activate said rotating means, said resisting means, said transport mechanism and said sensing means in response to a request to dispense an individual currency note.

Claim 25

A currency note dispensing system comprising: at least one cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner, said cartridge comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, at least one takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, at least one flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said film between said supply spool and said takeup spool, the currency notes being stored on said film wound on said supply spool; a loader for accepting a stack of currency notes, separating the stack into individual currency notes and loading the predetermined number of currency notes into said cartridge, said loader comprising a supply area containing the stack of currency notes, a picking mechanism for removing individual currency notes from said supply area, means for verifying the removal of individual currency notes and a transport for transporting individual currency notes to said cartridge and loading the currency note into said cartridge by rotating said supply spool; at least one dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge, said dispenser comprising a transport for rotating said takeup spool to present an individual currency note to said dispenser from said cartridge and for transporting the currency note from said cartridge to a customer receiving area and means to activate said transport to dispense a preselected number of currency notes; said transport in said loader and said transport in said dispenser each comprising a transport mechanism for transporting the currency note, means for sensing the presence of a currency note within the transport mechanism and verifying passage of the currency note therethrough, means to induce rotation in one of said spools and resist rotation of the other spool to maintain tension in said film and means for controlling said activating means and said transport mechanism; and said cartridge being interchangeably connected to the transport in said loader and said dispenser, said cartridge being transferable from said loader to said dispenser permitting said loader and said dispenser to be at remote locations and permitting a single loader to provide loaded cartridges to a number of dispensers.

Claim 26

A currency note dispensing system comprising: at least one cartridge for storing a predetermined number of currency notes in a discrete manner, said cartridge comprising a housing, a supply spool rotatably mounted in said housing, at least one takeup spool rotatably mounted in said housing, at least one flexible film secured at its ends to said supply spool and said takeup spool and wound about said spools and means to guide said film between said supply spool and said takeup spool, the currency notes being stored on said film wound on said supply spool; a loader for accepting a stack of currency notes, separating the stack into individual currency notes and loading the predetermined number of currency notes into said cartridge, said loader comprising a supply area containing the stack of currency notes, a picking mechanism for removing individual currency notes from said supply area, means for verifying the removal of individual currency notes and a transport for transporting individual currency notes to said cartridge and loading the currency note into said cartridge by rotating said supply spool; at least one dispenser for dispensing individual currency notes from said cartridge, said dispenser comprising a transport for rotating said takeup spool to present an individual currency note to said dispenser from said cartridge and for transporting the currency note from said cartridge to a customer receiving area and means to activate said transport to dispense a preselected number of currency notes; said transport in said loader and said transport in said dispenser each comprising a transport mechanism for transporting the currency note, means for sensing the presence of a currency note within the transport mechanism and verifying passage of the currency note therethrough, means to induce rotation in one of said spools and resist rotation of the other spool to maintain tension in said film and means for controlling said activating means and said transport mechanism; and said cartridge being interchangeably connected to the transport in said loader and said dispenser, said cartridge being transferable from said loader to said dispenser permitting said loader and said dispenser to be at remote locations and permitting a single loader to provide loaded cartridges to a number of dispensers.

Claim 27

The system of claim 18 wherein said cartridge further comprises a key code for indicating the denomination of the currency notes within.

Claim 28

The system of claim 18 wherein said cartridge further comprises means to interlock said housing and said supply spool to prevent unauthorized dispensing of currency notes therefrom and means to detect unauthorized operations on said cartridge.

Claim 29

The system of claim 18 wherein said cartridge further comprises: an inner flexible film; an outer flexible film; at least one takeup spool, said inner and outer flexible films being secured at one end to said supply spool and at their opposite ends to said takeup spool and wound on said spools; and the individual currency notes being sandwiched between said inner and outer flexible films when wound on said supply spool.

Claim 30

The system of claim 18 wherein said means for verifying the removal of individual currency notes further comprises means for diverting damaged and doubled currency notes.

Claim 31

The system of claim 18 wherein said transport in said loader and said transport in said dispenser each further comprises means for counting the individual currency notes passing therethrough.