FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a bank note storage container, and more specifically, but not exclusively, a bank note storage container which has an orientation device for orientating bank notes in a receptacle such as a bag of a cash deposit safe.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Drop safes are used for receiving and safely storing bank note deposits.

A drop safe may have a bag therein to receive bank notes deposited through a slot in a roof of a drop safe. In some case, a note counter, on top of the drop safe, receives the notes to be deposited, counts the notes, and forces the notes through the slot and into the bag. The safe is opened to remove the bag. The removal of the bag from the safe involves an automatic sealing action of the bag so that bank notes captured in the bag are not accessible without breaching the bag unless opened in an authorised manner.

An attack on the safe and the bag, to gain access to the bank notes in the bag whilst the bag is still inside the safe, will lead to an active or passive discharge of dye stain ink from containers inside the bag to stain the bank notes and render them unusable. United Patent number US 10,837,218 B2 entitled “Bank note protection” in the name of Magneto IP Holdings (Pty) Ltd (“MAGNETO”) describes the above mentioned type of attacks, as well as a sealed container comprising a body made from a material, selected from either of a glass or plastics material, which breaks under the effect of a shock wave outside of the container, said shock wave established by an attack on the ATM and which is in excess of a predetermined magnitude.

It will be appreciated that it is desirable to stain all the bank notes inside the bag in case of an attack. If not, only some of the notes are rendered unusable. However, this is not always possible as the bank notes tend to end up lying flat, in a substantially horizontal position, on top of each other at a bottom end of the bag, as the notes are dispensed into the bag. The upper layer of notes protects and prevents the lower notes from coming into contact with dye stain when dye stain is dispersed from containers above the notes. The ink does not always sufficiently drain between the notes to reach the lowermost notes.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a bank note storage container which, at least partially, alleviates the above-mentioned difficulty.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this invention there is provided a bank note storage container comprising a secure container body having a receiving aperture in a wall of the container body for receiving bank notes therethrough into the container body and an orientator inside the container body for supporting some of the bank notes out of a horizontal plane.

There is further provided for the container body to be a bag.

The bag is made from either a plastics, fabric, or any other suitable material.

There is provided for the bag to have an operatively open upper end for receiving bank notes in the bag.

A further feature of the invention provides for the bag to be securable in a drop safe.

The orientator is a cone or is a pyramid wherein one face is a polygon of any number of sides, and the other faces are triangles with a common vertex.

There is provided for the orientator to be collapsible between a storage position in which walls of the cone lay substantially parallel with each other and an operative position in which walls of the orientator form a substantially upright, conical structure. There is provided for upper ends of a number of walls of the orientator to be connected with a line to an upper inner end of the bag so that when the bag opens from its folded position, with the cone therein in its storage position, to its operative position in which the bottom end of the bag is moved away from its upper end, the line pulls the wall or walls of the orientator to its operative, substantially upright position.

The walls of the orientator may be perforated.

Any number of cash protection devices containing dye stain ink are located in an inner upper end of the bag and may also be located on an outer surface of the orientator or inside the orientation device or anywhere else within the bag.

The cash protection device may be connected to any number of tubes which terminates in spouts.

The tubes may run along an inner surface of the bag to a point where the spouts are located toward an upper end of the bag.

The tubes may run along an inner surface of the orientator to a point where the spouts are located toward an upper end of the orientator. The cash protection devices containing dye stain ink are sealed receptacles which has a body made from a pliable material, which ruptures under the effect of a shock wave which is in excess of a predetermined magnitude and upon rupturing of the receptacle automatically releases the dye stain ink which is dispersed randomly.

The sealed receptacles can be ruptured in either active or passive manner.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention there is provided a bank note orientation method comprising the steps of:

- dropping the bank notes into a secure container body; and

- orientating some of the notes away from a horizontal plane to enhance staining of the notes in case of releasing ink inside of the container body.

The method of storing bank notes further comprising the steps of staining the notes in case of releasing ink from an inner upper end of the container onto the notes in a lower end of the container body.

There is further provided for a bank note orientation device comprising an orientator which tapers from a base to a point for orientating bank notes out of a horizontal plane.

These and other features of the invention are described in more detail below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One embodiment of the invention as described below, by way of example only, and with reference to the drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a front right perspective view a drop safe with a container secured therein;

Figure 2 shows a cross sectional right view of the container secured in the drop safe;

Figure 3 shows a front left perspective view of an orientation device;

Figure 4 shows a front view of the orientation device in an operative position;

Figure 5 shows a front view of the orientation device in a storage position;

Figure 6 shows a front left view of the container, collapsed to its storage position;

Figure 7 shows a cross sectional front view of the collapsed container;

Figure 8 shows a cross sectional front view of the container with bank notes therein;

Figure 9 shows a cross sectional front view of a container body, without the orientation device, with bank notes therein; and

Figure 10 shows a cross sectional right view of the container secured in the drop safe wherein ink cartridges are located within an orientator. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the drawings, a bank note storage container is generally indicated by reference numeral 16

The container 16 has a container body 6, in this case a bag, and an orientation device 1 inside the bag 6.

The bag 6 is made from flexible fabric material. The bag 6 is generally box shaped. The bag 6 is collapsible, in concertina-like fashion, between its expanded operative position, when its six opposing sides form a box-like structure, and it’s a compressed storage position, in which the side walls compress or concertina to bring the roof and floor walls close together.

A cover plate 7 is secured to the roof wall of the bag 6 with rivets. The cover 7 has a metal circumferential frame 8 around a rigid material sheet. The sheet is of similar size to the roof wall of the bag and, as a result, the frame 8 extends around and somewhat over an upper circumference of the bag 6. The overhang on opposite sides locate in receiving formations or slots extending on opposite upper inner ends of a drop safe 10.

A slot 1 1 in the roof of the drop safe 10 aligns an opening 13 in the roof of the bag/sheet

6 which may be the roof of the bag that is slid to open the bag as the bag is inserted into the safe 10. When so engaged, the bag 6 hangs inside the safe 10 and safe door can be closed and locked.

The bag 6 and safe 10 also includes a sealing mechanism to seal the bag 6 when the bag 6 is removed from the safe 10. This is known in the existing art.

Two ink cartridges 9 are secured to an operatively inner surface of roof of the bag 6.

The orientation device 1 is secured, centrally to an inner surface of the floor of bag 6. The orientation device 1 , when in its operative position is made from cooperating, triangular cardboard walls 2,3,4 that extend from a triangular base 5 to form a cone 1 . The walls 2,3,4 of the orientation device can be folded down to lie flat, substantially parallel with each other. The cone 1 is collapsible to a storage position in which walls of the cone 1 lay substantially parallel with each other and an operative position in which the walls of the cone 1 form the substantially upright cone. Upper tips of the walls of the cone 1 are connected with a line 15 with an end of the line attached substantially centrally the inner surface of the roof of the bag 6.

In use, the bag 6 is inserted in the safe 10 so that it hangs from the receiving formations. The safe door is closed. The floor and sides of the bag extend downward under force of gravity to shape the bag into its operative position. This causes the line to tighten and to lift the walls of the cone 1 to form the upright cone 1 . Bank notes are dropped into the bag through the corresponding slots in the drop safe and the bag. The bank notes 12 fall towards the bottom of the bag. Under normal circumstances, if the cone 1 was omitted, the bank notes 12 will settle substantially horizontally on top of each other as is shown in figure 9. As explained hereinbefore, this is undesirable as ink released from the ink containers above the bank notes 12 will not stain all bank notes 12. The lowermost bank notes 12 will not be stained, especially where a large number of notes 12 have been deposited into the bag i.e. the thicker the layer of notes 12 becomes, the less effective the staining operation will be (the fewer notes will be stained). The ink settles on the horizontal surfaces of the notes 12 and the overlapping horizontal notes 12 creates a seal which prevents ink from reaching lower notes 12.

With the cone 2 inserted as shown in the other drawings, the cone 2 orientates the bank notes 12 out of the horizontal. This exposes edges of notes 12 to the ink as the ink drops from above and facilitates running of the ink down the surfaces of the notes. Even if the notes are packed tightly with their edges uppermost, ink will penetrate between the notes and run down their surfaces as opposed to settling on a horizontal note surface or on horizontal overlapping notes creating a seal that prevents ink from penetrating the layer of notes to reach lower notes.

Ink cartridges 9, which are activated in either an active or passive manner, may be included as shown in the drawings but may also be included on the outside surface of the walls of the cone 1 or even inside the cone 1 in which case the walls of the cone will be perforated 23 to allow ink to pass through the walls i.e. from within the cone 1 outside the cone 1 to stain bank notes 12 outside the cone 1. As shown in figure 10 ink cartages 17 which are connected to an activation device 18 may be located within the cone 1. Tubes 19 are connected to the ink cartridges 17. The tubes 19 run along an inner surface of the bag 6 to an operatively upper end of the bag 6. The tubes terminate in spouts 20.

Tubes 21 could run inside or outside of the orientation cone 1 and terminate in spouts 22. The spouts 20,22 could assist is evenly distributing ink which is forced through the tubes 19,21 by the activation means 18 over any bank notes or similar items found in the bag 6.

It is envisaged that the invention described herein will be convenient to use in that it provides a relatively inexpensive solution to the problem of insufficient staining of notes. The collapse ability of the cone is also convenient in that the bag can be compressed to its storage condition to decrease its volume for ease of storage and transport.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many other embodiments of the invention are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the cone need not be pyramidal or triangular and may be any substantially upright structure that will facilitate in assisting to orientate at least some of the bank notes received in the bag out of a substantially horizontal plane. The base of the cone need not be triangular and could be in the shape of any polygon. The cone or orientation device may deploy automatically or may be included in the bag in a deployed state. Ink cartridges may be included anywhere within the bag, on or in the orientation device and may be activated in an active or passive manner as may be required.