US1586905A - Paper-money cleaner and pbesser - Google Patents

Description

G. W. LEIGHTLHTNER PAPER MONEY CLEANER AND PRESSE?.

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Filed June 17l 1925 5 Sheets-Sheec 2 C1 A 05111091 1 i or,

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G. W. LEaGHTLiTNER PAPER MONEY CLEANER AND PRESSER Filed June l?l 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 3m-van To@ J U ma@ Elttomw Patented June 1, 1926.

UNl'lll STTES GEORGE w. LEIGETLITNER, or Aronto, PENNSYLVANIA.

PAPER-MONEY CLEANER AND PRSSER.

ppncation inea June 17, 1925. serial No. 37,760.

This invention relates to a device which is primarily intended for renovating paper currency but may be employed as a means to clean and press strip of any other flexible material, suoli as parchment, fabric or the like, which may have dirt removed therefrom by being first operated upon by scrubbers moistened with gasoline or the like and then swabbed and pressed.

@ne object of the invention is to provide a cleaner which is so constructed that the paper money or other strip of flexible material may be caused to pass through the machine and be operated upon from opposite faces so that. portions of the currency will be successively' acted upon by the scrubbing andswabbing means, and the scrubbed and swabbed currency thenv passed between pressers which will not Ionly serve to smooth the same but also serve to absorb any of the gasoline or other cleaning agent which has not been take-n up by the swabbers.

Another object ofthe invention is to so construct this machine that the feeding rollers which move the currency through the machine may be rotated at a slower rate of speed than the rotating` scrubbers and swabbers, thereby permitting the strip of currency to be thoroughly operated upon as it moves slowly through the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of this character which will be of a comparatively simple construction and not liable to readily get. out of order.

This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein .Figure l is a view showing the improved cleaning machine in side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the machine;

Fig. 3 is a View in side elevation looking at the opposite side of the machine from that shown in Fig. 1;

and y Fig. is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4'.

The. frame of this cleaner' may be formed of wood, sheet metal or any other suitableA Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the machine, f

will be fed and the cross strip 5 serving as means to braceA the drive sha-ft of the machine and further serving as a table or platf feeding rollers, as shown in Fig. 2. The

rollers have their shafts 8 and 9 journaled in bearings 10 which are mounted invertically extending .slots formed in the side walls 2 and 3. The shaft of the roller 6 has its end portions engaged by compression springs 10 so that the roller 6 will be urged into contacting relation to the roller 7 and thereby cause the currency to be firmly grippedA between the rollers and fed forwardly when the rollers are rotated.` The shaft 9 of the lower roller 7 extends outwardly beyond the side wall 3, as shown in Fig. 4, and carries a pulley wheel 11 about which passes a belt 12. A clutch 18'is provided so that, if a strip-of currency which is usually soiled is being passed through the machine, the rotation of the feed rollers may be interrupted and aA very thorough cleaning operationepermitted to talre place. n

The scrubbing brushes 14 are of a conventional construction and each includes a shaft 15 from which extend the bristles 16. These bristles are rotatably mounted in bearings carried by the side walls and have their shafts extending outwardly beyond the side wall 3 of the frame. The outer ends ofthe shafts are rotatably supported by ya bearing bracket 17 and upon these shafts there has been provided gear wheels 18 so that, when the shaft of the lower brush is rotated by means of a belt 19 which passes about a pulley wheel 20, rotary motion may be transmitted from the lower brush to the'upper brush. From an inspection lof Fig. 2, it will be seen that the brushes are of such diameter that their bristles will ordinarily meet and, v

therefore, the brushes which will be moistened with asoline or any other suitable cleaning flui will operate upon the upper and lower faces of thecurrency in avery effective manner and thoroughly scrub the same.

The swabbers 21 are mounted in the frame adjacent the scrubbers and each includes a cylindrical body or roller 22 provided with an axially disposed shaft 23 which extends beyond the roller 22 so that its extended ends may be journaled in bearings 23 carried by the side walls of the frame. Gears 24 are carried by the end portions of the shafts 23 which extend outwardly beyond the side wall 3 of the frame and the shaft of the lower swabbing roller carries a pulley wheel 25 engaged by a belt 26. Itwill thus beseen that rotary movement can be transmitted to the lower swabbing roller and through the medium of the gears 24 the rotary movement also transmitted to the upper swabbing roller. These rollers are to remove the cleaning iiuid and dirt which has been loosened or dissolved thereby and therefore, each of the rollers is provided with a facing 2T formed of fabric which will readily absorb moisture. By having the rollers each covered by a facing formed from a wound strip of absorbent fabric, the facing strips may be easily removed and new ones put in place when necessary.

After the strip of currency has been scrubbed and swabbed, it is then desired to press it so that it will be smooth and delivered in good condition for use. There has, therefore, been provided upper and lower pressers which are indicated in general by the numerals 28 and 29; Each of these pressers includes an endless belt 30 which is formed from a strip of absorbent fabric trained about rollers 3l and 32. The strips from which the pressing belts are made will bevof suoli length that they may be trained about the rollers 31 and 32 several times and thereby provide belts having a plurality of layers of material. Therefore, the belts will be given sufficient body to very effectively press the strips of currency passed between them and in addition will be permitted to readily absorb any moisture which has not been taken up by the swabbing rollers. The rollers 31 and 32 are provided with axially extending' shafts 33 which extend beyond the ends of the rollers and are journaled in bearings 34 which are mounted in slots or aockets formed in the side walls of the frame. Compression springs 35 are pro vided to bear against the shafts of the upper rollers so that these upper rollers and the belt trained about the same will be urged downwardly and pressure vprovided so that the adjacent lightsof the two belts will be kept in close contact with each other and a very good pressing action applied to the currency as it passes between the belts. The shafts of the rollers 31 are extended outwardly beyond the side wall 2 of the frame and carry gears or pinions 36 which intermesh, as shown in Fig. 3, so that rotary motion may be transmitted from the shaft of the lower roller 3l to the upper roller.

It should be further noted that the shaft of the lower roller extends outwardly beyond the shaft of the upper roller and carries a pulley wheel 3( about which is trained a belt 38.

The discharge rollers 39 and 41 which in addition to discharging the currency may alsopserve as supplementary pressers are rotatably mounted between the side walls of the frame in slightly spaced relation to the Dressing belts 28 and 29 and each is provided with an axially disposed shaft 4l which extends beyond the ends of the rollers. The shafts of these discharge rollers are rotatably mounted in bearings 42 carried in slots or pockets formed in the side walls of the frame and the extended ends of the shaft of the upper roller are engaged by springs 43 so that the upper roller will be urged downwardly and kept in close contacting engagement with they lower roller.

Strips 44 are secured along the upper edge` faces of the side walls -2 and 3 by screws or other suitable fasteners 45 and extend across the upper ends of the slots or pockets in which the bearings of the various rollers are mounted so that the springs which engage the shafts of the upper rollers will be held under compression and the springs, therefore, caused to apply the desired pressure to the upper shafts and urge the upper rollers downwardly into close contacting engagement with the lower rollers. lVhen it is desired to remove the rollers or brushes for any reason, it is simply necessary to remove the fastener screws 45 so that the strips 44 will be released and the upper rollers can be easily lifted out of place or the upper and lower rollers together with' the bearings removed as a unit.

r`Ehe drive shaft 46 extends between the side walls of the frame and is journaled in bearings provided in the side walls. Between the side walls the drive shaft fits into a pocket 4T formed in the inner edge face of the platform 5, as shown in Fig. 2. lt will, therefore, be seen that this drive shaft will be well supported and braced. The drive shaft extends outwardly beyond both of the side walls Iof the frame and at one end is provided with a pulley 48 about which is to be trained a belt 49. This belt 49 will .lead from a motor or other suitable source of energy. Between the pulley 48 and the side wall 2 of the frame, there has been provided a large pulley or drum 50 which is rigid upon the drive shaft and provided with grooves forming seats to receive the belts 38 and 5l. The belt 38, as previously stated,y is trained about the pulley wheel 37 titl injecting rollers and the drive rollers of the pressing belt-s will be rotated at a high rate of speed in comparison to the speed at which the drive shaft i6 rotates. The end portion of the drive shaft which extends beyond the side wall 3 of the frame carries a, large pulley wheel or drum 53 which is of a diameter corresponding to the drum and beyond this drum 50 there is mounted a small pulley wheel 54. The pulley wheels 53 and 54 are both rigidly secured upon the drive shaft, the pulley wheel 53 being engaged by the belts 19 and 2G which transmit rotary movement tothe scrubbing brushes and swabbing rollers and the pulley 54 being engaged by the belt 12 which transmit rotary move-nient to the feeding rollers. The pulley wheels carried by the scrubbing brushes and swabbing rollers are `of the same size las those engaged by the belts 38 and 51'so that the brushes and swabbing rollers are rotated very rapidly but the pulley 11 is a great deal larger and, in fact, is of approximately the same size as the drums 50 and 53. Therefore, the feed rollers will be rotated very slowly so that the bill or other strip of flexible material to be cleaned will be fed very slowly through the machine and the scrubbers and swabbers therefore permitted to operate in a very effective manner upon the bill as it slowly advances between the brushes and swabbing rollers. It should be further noted that since the brushes and swabbing rollers rotate a great deal faster than the feed rollers they will eXert a pulling action upon the bill and thereby serve to remove any wrinkles which may have been formed in the bill. n

Then the cleaner is in use, it is mounted upon a, suitable support which may be the table or bench 55 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 or it may be provided with supporting means constituting part of the frame. The drive shaft is preferably rotated by means of a drive belt 119 engaged with a. pulley 48 but the drive shaft may be rotated by means of a crank handle if so desired. As the drive shaft rotates, rotary movement is transmitted to the various rollers and to the brushes as previously set forth. The currency to be cleaned is placed upon the table or shelf 4- and is fed longitudinally towards the feed rollers. llVhen a strip of currency has been moved across the table 4i a sufficient distance, one end of it will be gripped between the feed rollers and moved forwardlybetween them until its extended forward end portion is engaged between the scrubbing brushes. These brushes which will be moistened with gasoline or any desired cleaning .fluid operate against the upper and lower faces of the bill and as the bill moves forwardly very slowly they will very thoroughly scrub the strip of currency from opposite faces. If the strip of currency is eX- ceedingly soiled, the clutch 13 is operated to temporarily discontinue rotation ofthe feed rollers and,`therefore, the strip of currency will remain stationary until theportion being operated upon by the scrubber-s `ias been thoroughly cleaned. The clutch will then be again adjusted so that the `rollers will rotate and advance the bill a desired amount. Grdinarily it is not. necessary to operate the clutch and the strip of currency moves continually f forwardly. Afterthe strip of currencyhasbeen act-ed upon by the scrubbing brushes, it'passes be'- tween the swabbing rollers and as these rollers rotate they will serve to mop up the cleaning fiuid and remove the loosened and dissolved dirt from the two faces of the currency. They will also serve very effectively to smooth out any wrinkles which may remain in the strip.` After the currency` is acted upo-n by the swabbing means, it is advanced into position for passing between the adjacent flights of the pressing belts. `These belts move slowly and as they are formed of absorbent fabric they will serve to absorb any moisture which has not been entirely removed by the swabbing rollers. `lt will thus be seen that, when the currency passes out of engagement with the pressing belts, it will be practically dry and since it is held flat while passing between the belts it will be delivered from the belts in a very smooth condition*` The delivery rollers 39 and 40 will now engage the strip of currency and cause it to be deposited upon the bottom of the frame ,between the delivery rollers and shelf 5. After a sufficient number have accumulated in this end portion of the frame, they can be` removed and either stacked upon thetable or platform 5 or placed in any other desired receptacle. `If it is found that one end portion of a strip of currency has not been thoroughly cleaned due to the fact that the strips of currency will move at a greater rate of speed when released from the feed rollers, it is simply necessary to again pass the currency through the machine with the soiled end placed for first engagement by the feed rollers.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A machine of the character described comprising a supporting structure, feed rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure, discharge rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure, cleaning rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure in spaced relation to said fee rollers and encased with fabric, cleaning brushes rotatably mounted in said supporting structure between said feed rollers and cleaning rollers, supporting rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure between and adjacent said cleaning rollers and discharge rollers, endless fabric belts trained about said supporting rollers and moving longitudinally of 'the supporting structure when said supporting rollers 'are rotated, a drive shaft rotatably mounted in said supporting structure, and means for transmitting rotary movement from said drive shaft to said rollers with the feed rollers rotating slower than the other rollers.

2. A machine ofthe character described comprising a supporting structure, feed rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure, discharge rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure, cleaning rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure in spaced relation to said feed rollers and encased with fabric, cleaning brushes rotatably mounted in said supporting structure between said feed rollers and cleaning rollers, supporting rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure between and adjacent said cleaning rollers and discharge rollers, endless fabric belts trained about said supporting rollers and moving longitudinally of the supporting structure when said supporting rollers are rotated, and means for imparting rotary movement to said rollers with the feed rollers turning at a slower rate of speed than the other rollers.

3. A machine of the character described comprising a supporting structure, upper and lower fee-d rollers rotatably mounted adjacent one end of said supporting structure, a feed table between said rollers and the said end of said supporting structure, upper and lower cleaning rollers rotatably supported in said supporting structure in spaced relation to said feed rollers and each having a facing of absorbent material, upper and lower cleaning brushes rotatably mounted in said supporting structure between said cleaning rollers and feed rollers (upper and lower discharge rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure in spaced relation to said cleaning rollers, upper and lower cleaning and pressing belts of absorbent material disposed between said cleaning rollers and comprising a supporting structure, feed means mounted in said supporting structure, discharge means mounted in said supporting structure, swabbing means mounted in said supporting structure in spaced relation to said feed means, cleaning means mounted in said supporting structure between said feed means and swabbing means, rollers rotatably mounted in said supporting structure between and adjacent said swabbing means and l discharge means, endless belts of absorbent material trained about said supporting rollers and moving longitudinally of the supporting struct-ure when the rollers are rotated and adapted to have their adjacent flights engage opposite faces of a cleaned and swabbed strip of material, a drive shaft rotatably mounted in said supporting structure, and means for transmitting movement from said drive shaft to said rollers, drive means, cleaning means, swabbing means and discharge means.

5. A machine of the character described comprising a frame, scrubbing means, swabbing means, discharge means, feeding means, rollers rotatably supported between said swabbing means and discharge means, and cooperating endless drying and smoothing belts trained about said rollers and moving longitudinally between the swabbing means and discharge means for engaging opposite faces of a scrubbed and swabbed article.

In testimony whereof I afHX my signature.

esoneri w. LEIGHTLITNER. [a e]

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