In a bank-note processing machine, bank notes are guided through between two components of a checking device by means of a transport band. The transport band is led away at least partly from the checking device by means of deflection rollers to enable a better check of the bank notes and a trouble-free transport of the bank notes.

In a bank-note processing machine, bank notes are guided through between two components of a checking device by means of a transport band. The transport band is led away at least partly from the checking device by means of deflection rollers to enable a better check of the bank notes and a trouble-free transport of the bank notes.

Disclosed is an automated insert feeding system and related methods, capable of removing bulk-packaged items from a tray or other package, and separating the bulk-packaged items individually for distribution into individual packages in high speed reliable fashion. The disclosed systems can also be loaded with multiple packages of the pre-packaged items for automatic feeding into the system which allows human operators to load several packages and allow the system to work unattended, thereby reducing man-hours spend on the process.

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A drop feeder conveys the document packets to the feeder. A sensor provides information related to the thickness of the document packets and the drop feeder is controlled in response to the information related to the thickness of a packet in the feeder. The method includes the control of the drop feeder in response to information related to the thickness of a document packet at the feeder.

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A retard adjacent the feeder is operable in first and second positions. In the first position the retard forms a nip with the feeder so that the retard is operable to impede the progress of one or more documents in the packet while the feeder feeds one of the documents in the packet. In the second position, the retard is spaced apart from the feeder to form a gap between the feeder and the retard. The system further includes a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the documents in a packet indicative of whether the number of documents in the packet exceeds a predetermined threshold. A drive mechanism automatically drives the retard pad between the first and second positions in response to the detected characteristic.

The present invention is to provide a sheet conveying apparatus capable of preventing detection error without causing damage on a sheet. The present post-processing apparatus includes a sheet conveying path to convey a sheet as being formed between an upper guide member and a lower guide member for guiding a sheet, and a detection portion including a second sensor as an electrostatic capacitance sensor to detect a sheet being conveyed on the sheet conveying path with output of the second sensor. The second sensor is fixed on a face of an upper guide member on an opposite side to the conveying path and the second sensor and the sheet conveying path are separated by the upper guide member.

Scanning devices include an input tray shaped to hold scannable items before scanning, an output tray shaped to hold the scannable items after scanning, a series of opposing belts positioned to transport the scannable items from the input tray to the output tray, and a round roller contacting a drum belt of the opposing belts. The opposing belts are positioned to have each of the scannable items constantly be held between the opposing belts or between the round roller and the drum belt of the opposing belts while the opposing belts are transporting the scannable items from the input tray to the output tray. A scanner is positioned in a gap between two of the opposing belts, and the gap is in a process direction that the opposing belts are moving the scannable items.

A banknote stacking device includes a piece-by-piece banknote conveying mechanism, an upper conveyor belt, an arc-shaped stacking plate, a movable blocking mechanism, a sensor device, and a control unit. An elastic sheet is arranged on the arc-shaped stacking plate at a position for stacking banknotes, an end of the elastic sheet is fixed on the arc-shaped stacking plate, and a free end of the elastic sheet extends in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the banknotes, the extending segment of the elastic sheet forms an arch and is configured to elastically support the upper conveyor belt, and a through-groove is provided in the arc-shaped stacking plate at a position corresponding to the elastic sheet, and the free end of the elastic sheet is configured to extend and retract freely in the through-groove.

A sheet conveyance apparatus configured to convey a sheet includes a casing, a belt unit, an accommodating unit, a moving unit, and a rotary member. The accommodating unit and the belt unit move to a first state, a second state, and a third state. In the first state, the accommodating unit is positioned at a closed position and the belt unit is positioned at a first position to convey the sheet by a conveyance belt. In the second state, the accommodating unit is positioned at an opening position and the belt unit is positioned at the first position to open a sheet conveyance path. In the third state, the accommodating unit is positioned at the opening position and the belt unit is positioned at a second position to allow the conveyance belt to attach to and detach from the belt unit.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a card conveying mechanism capable of conveying a card in a horizontal direction and allowing for less space in a higher-level apparatus to be taken up even if the card conveying mechanism is capable of making the card parallel to the horizontal direction or tilting the card relative to the horizontal direction. The card conveying mechanism is provided with a card holder that has a draw and feed mechanism for drawing and feeding a card and temporarily holds the card therein, a draw and feed driving mechanism for driving the draw and feed mechanism, a carriage where the card holder is mounted, a carriage driving mechanism for moving the carriage linearly in a horizontal direction perpendicular to a direction in which the card is drawn into the card holder and a rotating mechanism for rotating the card holder with respect to the carriage around an axis in which the carriage moves.