Processing of Sheets of Printed Security Papers Into Bundles and Packets

The invention relates to the processing of piles each formed of a constant number of sheets each printed with N numbered security papers such as banknotes, in which the numbering of the security papers as like positions of the successive sheets of each pile and of the successive piles is in an uninterrupted sequence, into bundles of security papers each having said constant number of security papers in sequential order and arranged in packets of sequentially numbered bundles.

Freshly printed sheets of banknotes and similar security papers are manually visually controlled for the presence of printing errors or dirt marks, each imperfect banknote being marked for example by means of a special graphite pencil to enable the detection and removal of the imperfect banknotes at a later stage. The visually controlled sheets of banknotes, possibly bearing some of these special marks, must then be cut into individual banknotes. This cutting is carried out with piles of sheets to form bundles of stacked banknotes, and by appropriately numbering the sheets each bundle is arranged to have successively numbered banknotes; adjacent bundles of each pile do not follow in numerical sequence, but the bundles each cut from a given position on the successive piles of sheets follow on. Consequently, the bundles, which are usually banded, of the successively cut piles of sheets must be sorted into packets wherein the banknotes, arranged in bundles, are sequentially numbered according to a given serial.

For example, a numbering machine may deliver piles each of one hundred sheets which are cut into each of one hundred banknotes which, after banding, are arranged in packets of ten bundles each having one thousand sequentially numbered banknotes. When for example the number of serials per sheet is twenty-four (i.e. there are twenty four banknotes per sheet, arranged for example in six rows of four columns), the arrangement into packets of ten bundles requires piling of the first, twenty-fifth, fourty-ninth. . . etc. . . . bundles; the second, twenty-sixth, fiftieth . . . etc. . . . bundles, and so on, to ensure that each packet has one thousand banknotes numbered in perfect sequence and each belonging to a given series of a thousand banknotes.

For example, all of the banknotes on a sheet may have the same numbering in the final three digits of the number whereas the various banknotes on a sheet may be differentiated by their different serial designations, for example by providing differently numbered tens of thousands, or even higher numerotations.

In automated or semi-automated lines for processing such freshly printed and numbered sheets of banknotes, there is thus a problem of automatically providing the required sorting of the cut and banded bundles while ensuring that, if the initial sheets bear control marks recording imperfection, any imperfect banknotes in the bundles are replaced by the perfect banknotes, without disturbing the automation of said sorting and the formation of packets.

The present invention provides an installation for processing piles of numbered sheets into packets of bundles, as set out above, comprising:

means for receiving a pile of sheets and cutting the pile into N bundles of security papers;

means for conveying the bundles of each successively cut pile in a given order along a first path;

a bundle collecting device comprising two rotary drums each having N individual magazines arranged at its periphery;

a distribution head at the end of said first path for alternately delivering bundles to fill one drum and then the other drum;

means for driving the drum being filled in synchronism with the delivery of bundles along said first path to receive at the end of said first path successive ones of the N bundles formed from each pile in successive magazines to form N packets of a given number of bundles from a given number of piles; and

means for conveying the successive packets of bundles from the filled drum of said collecting device along a second path to a packet wrapping device.

By means of such an installation, in the collecting device there are thus formed packets of bundles in the correct numerical sequence, one of the drums being loaded during a slow rotation thereof until all of its magazines are filled, whereas during the same time the other previously-loaded drum is rotated step-by-step and is unloaded by expulsion of the packets of bundles from the magazines to, for example, a conveyor belt moving them along the second path.

The installation may either be used for processing piles of perfectly printed sheets (i.e. from which any sheets with defects have been removed prior to numbering), or sheets on which some of the security papers may bear control marks recording imperfections. In the latter case, bundles including spoiled notes may be removed and replaced by bundles from a star series, prior to formation of the packets in the bundle collecting device. Alternatively, bundles with spoiled notes can be deviated, the spoiled notes substituted by perfect ones from a star series, and reformed bundles replaced in the appropriate gap in the sequence of bundles along said first path, before formation of the packets in the bundle collecting device.

These installations consequently represent a simplification over that described in my copending application Ser. No. 559,236 which made use of special dummy bundles to maintain the correct sequence of the bundles in the bundle collecting device.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall plan view of an installation according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a distribution head as well as a bundle collecting device formed of two like drums;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-section of the distribution head of FIG. 2, shown on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-section of the two drums of FIG. 2, one of these drums being empty at the beginning of a loading operation, and the other being fully loaded;

FIG. 5 is a schematic axial cross-section through one of the drums, shown on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of a drum, in cross-section along line VI--VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 schematically shows an extension to the installation by the adjunction of a sheet numbering machine;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of part of a first modified form of the installation of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is a similar view of part of a second modified form of installation.

The installation of FIG. 1 is for the processing of sheets already printed with numbered banknotes, which are supplied to an input A of a cutting machine, in piles 1 each of one hundred sheets. In the example considered, each sheet carries twenty-four printed banknotes arranged in four column and six rows. The banknotes in a pile 1 of sheets each belong to a determined serial and are sequentially numbered within this serial. During a preliminary inspection of the sheets, defective or maculated banknotes are marked manually and are removed prior to numbering and formation of the piles, so that the installation only treats perfectly printed and numbered sheets.

The piles 1 of sheets are delivered to a first cutting unit C1 where the left-hand edges, looking in the direction of feed, of the piles are trimmed. Next, the piles 1 are delivered to an angular cutting station D, where the number of sheets is automatically counted to check that each pile 1 contains one hundred sheets. After a change in their direction of feed by 90.degree., the piles 1 are delivered to a second cutting unit C2 which, after trimming the leading edge of each pile 1, cuts the pile of sheets into four strips 2 each of width corresponding to the length of a banknote, each strip in the pile having six banknotes in a row. At a third cutting unit C3, the left hand edges of the piled strips 2, looking in the direction of feed, are trimmed. After a further change of 90.degree. in the direction of feed, the strips 2 are delivered to a fourth cutting unit C4 where the forward edge of each pile of strips 2 is firstly trimmed, and then the strips are cut into bundles 3 each containing one hundred cut banknotes.

After leaving cutting unit C4, the separate bundles 3 continue along conveyor path 90 where, after a change of direction of 90.degree., they are each banded in a banding unit E, and the bands imprinted in a printing unit F.

After a further change of 90.degree. in the feed direction, the bundles 4 pass a station J where successive bundles are alternately turned by 90.degree. to the right and to the left; this ensures that intaglio printed notes, or notes which contain a watermark, for example, will not be determined to uniformity of the heights of the packets formed later on.

The bundles 4 are then fed from conveyor path 90, by means of a distribution head L and two conveyors 91, which will be described later with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, to a collection device formed of two like bundle collecting M1, M2, which will be described later with reference to FIGS. 4 and 6. The bundles 4 are supplied by distribution head L, so that when one of the bundle drums is filled, the following bundles are switched without interruption to the other drum until this is filled in turn, and so on. In this way, the filled drum can discharge while the other is being filled. Each drum has, uniformly spaced about its periphery, as many banknote magazines as there are printed banknotes per sheet, i.e. twenty four magazines in the example under consideration. The twenty-four bundles 4 from one and the same pile 1 of sheets are thus placed in respective successive ones of the 24 magazines of one of the drums. Each drum rotates so that the bundles 4, from successive piles 1 of sheets, and which correspond to a given banknote position on the sheets, are all stacked in one given magazine of a drum. For example, in each magazine ten bundles 4 of banknotes are stacked to form a packet in which the notes all originate from a given position on the ten successive piles of sheets, and hence have the same serial number. Since in the numbering machine, the same positions of successive sheets are numbered consecutively, the banknotes of all the bundles and packets of bundles are numbered sequentially.

After filling all the magazines of one drum, these packets 80 of notes are discharged one-by-one from each magazine onto a conveyor belt 92 which delivers them onto a further conveyor belt 93. A counter W at the point of convergence of belts 92 and 93 effects a count to ensure that each packet 80 contains a thousand notes. The packets 80, each formed of ten bundles of a hundred banknotes, are then banded at a banding station O and the packet bands are imprinted by a printer P. The banded packets are then tumbled from their upstanding position to lay flat and are each wrapped in a sheet of heat-shrinkable plastics material at a station Q, then passed through a shrink tunnel where the wrap sheets are heat shrunk to tightly enclose all faces of the packets. The wrapped packets 81 are then fed one-by-one onto a conveyor belt 94 of a serial ordinator R, this belt having a capacity corresponding to the number of serials (notes) contained in the printed sheets; for example, it is able to receive twenty-four packets. When the entire length of belt 94 is fully loaded with packets, the entire row of packets is automatically discharged sideways, as indicated by the arrow, by a register bar 96. By means of adjustable transverse guide rails, these rows of packets are separated so that the transverse columns of packets of the same serial are clearly separated from the adjacent columns of packets of other serials, thus ensuring that all the packets belonging to the same serial are always automatically discharged in the same column. The individual packets then slide by their own weight down a slope towards a delivery where they may be directly packed into boxes.

The described installation hence enables automatic processing of the sheets leaving the numbering device up to wrapping of packets each containing, in the given example, a thousand banknotes in number and serial sequence, formed as ten bundles each of one hundred banknotes, and arrangement of the wrapped packets whereby packets of the same serial are clearly separated from packets of another serial.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 2 and 3 showing the distribution head, and FIGS. 4 to 6 showing the bundle collecting drums M1, M2. The banded bundles 4 from conveyor path 90 arrive on a distribution table 5 (FIG. 3) disposed transverse to the previous feed direction. Under table 5 are disposed two pivoted levers 6 and 7 whose respective upper ends 10 and 11 form deviating fingers. According to whether the bundles 4 must be delivered to drum M1 or M2, a respective lever 6 or 7 is actuated by a cam 15 whereas the other lever is locked, by an electromagnetic bolt 12 or 13, in a neutral position in which the end 10 or 11 of the lever remains below the surface of table 5. In the example shown in FIG. 3, lever 6 is reciprocated by cam 15 and its end 10 pushes each bundle 4 onto table 5 and under a conveying chain 16 carrying pointed registers 16a which drive the bundles 4 in the direction of the arrow up to the edge 14 of the table from where they drop or slide down a slope into one of the magazines 18 of drum M1. As long as the lever 6 is actuated, i.e. unlocked, the other lever 7 is locked in its neutral position by the bolt 12 in its locking position. On the other side of the lever system and in alignment with chain 16 is a like conveyor chain 17 supplied by lever 7 to deliver the bundles to drum M2. Switching of the locks 12 and 13 is controlled by an electronic counter, not shown, each time the number of bundles 4 to completely fill one of the drums has been reached.

As shown in FIG. 2, the chains 16, 17 may advantageously be pivotally mounted about vertical axes 19, 20 whereby, under the action of compressed-air cylinders 21, 22 whose pistons are pivoted to the chain carrier, the chains can be swung away from the corresponding drums to facilitate access to the drums for maintenance and repair.

The drums M1, M2 are identical and each comprise, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a base 23 supporting a central column 24 about which the drum body is rotatably guided. This drum body consists principally of a rotary dish-like base plate 25, peripheral support posts 30 extended radially outwardly by vertical walls 31 defining the individual compartments or magazines 18, and an upper plate 32. The drum body is rotatably suspended, by its upper plate 32, from an upper pivot 33 on column 24 by means of a roller bearing 34. The base plate 25 is rotatably mounted on the foot of column 24 by means of a ball bearing 29 and carries, disposed inside base 23, a toothed wheel 26 meshing with a wormscrew 28 integral with a shaft 27 (FIG. 4) driven by a motor (not shown) to rotate the drum.

The upright magazines 18 are open at their upper ends as well as on their inner and outer faces, and each comprise a mobile support plate 42 engaging between the posts 30 and walls 31 of the magazine. Plates 42 are fixed on a common ring 43 carried by three equispaced upright screws 35 engaging in corresponding threaded bores in ring 43. Screws 35 are rotatably mounted in bearings 36, 37 fixed respectively to plates 32 and 25. At their upper ends, the screws 35 have chainwheels 39 connected by an endless chain 40 passing about a central chainwheel 41. The chainwheel 41 is tightly fitted on a crown 44 rotatably mounted under roller bearing 34 by means of a ball bearing in the lower part of pivot 33; crown 44 further carries a toothed wheel 45 disposed coaxial to and under chainwheel 41. Wheel 45 meshes with a pinion 46 keyed on a shaft 47 of a motor 48 secured on the column 24 by a bracket 49. During filling of the drum, motor 48 is stopped so that chainwheel 41 and chain 40 remain at rest. Upon rotation of the drum, the chainwheels 39 roll along the stationary chain 40 so that the screws 35 turn to lower the plates 42. The transmission ratio is such that for each rotation of the drum, the plates 42 move down by a distance equal to the thickness of one bundle 4 of notes, so that the height of the fall of the bundles 4 onto the packets being formed in the magazines 18 always remains the same.

Before starting to fill a drum, the plates 42 are at the upper end-of-path position shown in dashed lines on FIG. 5, and shown for drum M1 in FIG. 4; this position is chosen so that the height of fall from the edge 14 (FIG. 3) of table 5, or from the end of the slope connected to edge 14, onto plate 42 is sufficiently small to avoid any bouncing of the bundles 4 falling into the magazines, and hence being incorrectly positioned, or jammed.

The drum peripheral speed is synchronized with the speed of conveying chains 16 and 17 so that the successively delivered bundles 4 drop into successive magazines 18. The speed of lowering of plates 42 is proportional to the number of turns of the drum, and hence is directly dependent on the operating speed of the entire installation, which can be adjusted to suit the operating conditions. The number of magazine 18 of each drum corresponds to the number of positions of the security papers, i.e. the number of serials, per sheet, namely twenty-four in the given example.

When one drum is completely filled, the plates 42 reach the lower position shown in full lines in FIG. 5, and for drum M2 in FIG. 4, and while the following bundles 4 are fed towards the other drum by means of the lever system of distribution head L, the filled drum is uncoupled from the driving shaft 27 or the driving motor is switched off, for example by means of an end-of-path switch, not shown, actuated when a plate 42 or ring 43 reaches the lower position. Successive unloading of the magazines 18 of the loaded drum then takes place by means of an axial pusher 50 disposed within the drum and fixed on piston rod 51 of a hydraulic or pneumatic jack 52 fixed on column 24.

Pusher 50 faces conveyor belt 92 (FIG. 1), and has a height corresponding to that of a packet of bundles in a magazine 18; in operation, it pushes the packet from the magazine 18 facing belt 92 onto this belt, which then delivers it towards conveyor belt 93. To discharge a fully loaded drum, the drum is rotated step-by-step by a motor, not shown, so that each successive magazine 18 stops facing belt 92 and the packet therein is removed by pusher 50. Naturally, two conveyor belts 92 are provided for the respective drums M1, M2; they are disposed on either side of an end of belt 93 and are driven in opposite directions. Once one drum has been unloaded, motor 48 is switched on; this drives, via pinion 46 and toothed wheel 45, chainwheel 41 and chain 40. The drum is stationary, and screws 35 are driven in the direction to raise ring 43 and plates 42. When ring 43 reaches the upper position, the motor 48, preferably under the control of an end-of-path switch, is stopped and braked. The drum is thus once more in its initial state ready to receive a further load of bundles from the distribution head L. Hence, each time one drum is filled, the other is emptied, the loading time being sufficient for emptying of the other drum and replacement of its ring 43 in the upper position. The openings along the inner faces of the magazines 18, defined by posts 30, are of sufficient width to allow the passage of pusher 50, but less than the width of bundles 4 which bear against posts 30. To prevent bundles from falling out of the open outer face of magazines 18, a fixed outer grid 53 is provided surrounding each drum and at least partially closing-off the open outer faces of the magazines. These grids 53 have openings 54 facing conveyor belts 92 to allow the removal of packets.

The installation may, as previously mentioned with reference to FIG. 1, be independent of a principal numbering machine, in which case piles of perfectly-printed and already-numbered sheets are manually delivered to the input A of the installation. Alternatively, it is possible to connect the input of the cutting unit C1 to a numbering machine with a device for automatically delivering piles of printed and numbered sheets along a conveyor belt feeding them to the said input. In the latter case, the automatic processing of the perfectly-printed sheets (inspected but not numbered) begins at the input of the numbering machine, whereby the processing is rationalized and security improved.

An example of this optional extension to the installation is schematically shown in FIG. 7. The printed but un-numbered sheets of security papers, from which sheets bearing printing errors have been marked and removed, are delivered one-by-one by means of a conventional sheet feeder 100 to a numbering machine 101. In this numbering machine, different positions or serials of successive sheets are numbered in perfect sequence. The numbering mechanism of machine 101 advances by one step upon each revolution of a numbering cylinder, in known manner.

A known chain drive device grips the sheets at the output of machine 101 and conveys them successively as indicated by the arrow to location 1a where the sheets are released and fall to form a pile on table 103. When one hundred sheets have been piled, the following hundred sheets are piled at location 1b downstream of location 1a. While a pile is being formed at 1b, the finished pile at 1a is pushed sideways by a pile shifter 102 onto a conveyor 105. Advantageously, the table 103 is lowered, at least when a pile is finished, so that the finished pile is out of the path of the chain drive device. When the following pile of sheets at location 1b is completed, the delivery of sheets is once more automatically switched to the cleared location 1a, and the pile at location 1b is pushed sideways onto conveyor 105 by shifter 102. The piles 1 of sheets are delivered by conveyor 105 to post 106 where they are automatically aligned and thereafter fed to the first cutting unit C1. The following operational posts of the installation correspond to those of FIG. 1.

Before the piles 1 reach the first cutting unit, an operator beside conveyor 105 may control the number printed on the uppermost sheet of pile, since these sheets must have specific numbers.

The numbering machine 101 preferably includes conventional control devices which check the successive actuation of all of the numbering members after each revolution of the numbering cylinder. In case of a fault, a signal is delivered to place the number printing cylinder out of action before it prints with an incorrectly set number. In this manner, any numbering error is avoided, and the sheet in question moves along without being numbered and is extracted. Simultaneously, when a fault has been detected, the advance of all of the numbering members of the numbering machine is stopped during one revolution, to ensure numbering of the following sheets in perfect sequence. A numbering machine provided with such automatic number control means may, as indicated in dotted-dashed lines, have a location 104 located in extension of table 103 and on which the un-numbered sheets, eliminated because of a fault in the numbering members, are placed. These sheets may thus be eliminated simply without it being necessary to stop the entire installation.

The described installation can be designed to process sheets of various formats; the smallest possible format is designated by 1' on FIG. 7. The installation may also be adapted for various numbers N of security papers, or "serials", in which case drums M1, M2 with the corresponding number of magazines should be used, and if necessary their speed of rotation should be adjusted.

To this end, interchangeable drums or magazines could be employed so that, according to the requirement, an appropriate number N of magazines regularly spaced about the periphery of the drum may be chosen, and the rotational speed of the drums appropriately set.

In use of the installation of FIG. 1, when a sufficient number of sheets bearing marked imperfect imprints has been accumulated, these un-numbered sheets may be cut and bundled by units A, C1, D, C2, C3 and C4 (FIG. 1) and then removed from the installation. These bundles are then delivered to a device which detects and removes the faulty notes, successively numbers the remaining notes, bands the numbered notes in bundles of one hundred and delivers the bundles to a wrapping unit.

FIG. 8 shows part of a modified form of the installation of FIG. 1 for handling piles of sheets including sheets that may have imperfectly printed banknotes bearing a detectable control mark. In FIG. 8, only the modified part of the installation is shown, and like elements are denoted by the same reference numbers and letters as in FIG. 1, but with a prime designation. The parts of the installation not shown in FIG. 8 are exactly the same as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 and, possibly, FIG. 7.

In the modification of FIG. 8, the bundles 3' travelling along conveyor path 90' are banded at a station E' and the bands then printed at a station F'. Downstream of station F' is a detector L which detects the markings carried by any imperfect banknote in a banded bundle 4'. Detector L is associated with a supply unit M containing pre-prepared bundles 4s of numbered banknotes from a star series and a container N for receiving rejected bundles 4r. Whenever a defective banknote is detected by detector L, unit M is actuated to eject the defective bundle 4r into container N, and simultaneously insert a star-series bundle 4s into the place on path 90', formerly occupied by the rejected bundle 4r. The series of bundles then pass by a turning station J', as before, are arranged into packets in the rotary-drum collecting device, and the packets are wrapped as before. Therefore, in this case, the final packets will contain some bundles of star-series notes, but otherwise the perfect sequential numbering of the notes in the bundles and packets is maintained. The rejected bundles 4r may either be destroyed under strict control, or supplied to a machine which removes the defective notes and replaces them by perfect ones from another star series.

FIG. 9 shows a similar part of another modified form of the installation of FIG. 1, again for handling piles of sheets including sheets that may have imperfectly printed banknotes bearing a detectable control mark. In FIG. 9, only the modified part of the installation is shown, and like elements are denoted by the same reference numbers and letters as in FIG. 1, but with a double prime designation. The parts of the installation not shown in FIG. 9 are exactly the same as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 and, possibly, in FIG. 7.

In the modification of FIG. 9, the bundles 3" travelling along conveyor path 90" are banded at a station E" and the bands then printed at a station F". Downstream of station F" is a detector O which detects the markings carried by any imperfect banknote in a banded bundle 4". Detector O includes means for instantaneously ejecting any bundle 4"r containing a marked, defective banknote onto a conveyor P from where it is manually or automatically transferred to an input Q of a rapidly-operating automatic substitution station S. After removal of the band, the hundred banknotes of each deviated bundle 4"r are automatically passed one-by-one under a detector which scans them and identifies each spoil note, which is replaced by a perfect note from a separate magazine, and the bundle 4"r is remade with the banknotes in the same correct sequence. Each replacement note thus occupies the place left vacant in the bundle by the removed spoil note. The replacement note may come from a "star" series, or is printed with the appropriate number by a small numbering machine, so that the reformed bundle 4"r has the correct numerical sequence.

For the purpose of control, the removed spoil notes and the inserted replacement notes are counted and recorded, preferably automatically. When the replacement notes bear the numbers of a special star series, a printed control sheet is provided for each reformed 100-note bundle to record the number of replacement notes in the bundle as well as the serial number of the replacement notes and of the removed spoil notes.

The reformed bundles 4"r leaving substitution station S are rebanded in a banding machine T, for example using pre-printed bands, then controlled by a detector U, to ensure that all of the spoil notes have been replaced, and in a note counter V which checks whether the bundles are complete. The controlled, reformed bundles 4"r are then delivered by a rapid conveyor belt W to a location X where they are manually accessible for replacement on path 90" in the corresponding gap Z left in the line of bundles 4" on path 90" by the deviation of the bundle 4"r. Immediately downstream of the location on path 90" where the bundles 4"r are replaced is a bundle detector Y which stops the installation in case a gap has not been filled. Thereafter, the series of bundles pass a turning station J", are arranged into packets in the rotary-drum collecting device, and the packets are wrapped as before. Therefore, in this case, the final packets will contain some specially-banded bundles containing one or more star-series notes, but otherwise the perfect sequential numbering of the notes in the bundles and packets is maintained. In the arrangement of FIG. 9, the various units along the deviation line, especially the substitution station S, operate very rapidly for example at a rate of 20 notes per second. The corresponding part of the conveyor path 90" from O is made sufficiently long that substitution of several consecutive bundles can be carried out without slowing down the speed of the bundles along path 90". In order to avoid bottlenecks, it is also possible to provide several deviation lines in parallel for handling the successive deviated bundles.

The invention, in its broadest aspect, is not limited to the described arrangement of the cutting members nor to the described arrangement of the distribution head and the magazine drums, but can englobe diverse variations thereof. Likewise, the number of bundles forming a packet may vary within large limits, as well as the number of sheets per pile i.e. the number of security papers per bundles which need not be one hundred, but could for example be only fifty.