Drawer Depository

Abstract

A teller pedestal for use in a financial institution or other money handling activities having at least two drawers each of which has separate locking means. The upper drawer has a trap door in a rear portion thereof which is separate from a currency tray containing front portion. A security partition is located between the upper and lower drawers and extends from the front of the pedestal rearwardly terminating short of the rear of the pedestal. The trap door has a cam surface which engages the security partition to close the trap door when the upper drawer is moved to its open position. The trap door opens by gravity when the upper drawer is moved to its closed position allowing currency placed in the rear portion of the upper drawer to fall into the lower and separately locked depository drawer.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention is concerned with a teller pedestal for use in a financial institution or other money handling activities and more particularly with a currency depository drawer for such a pedestal.

An object of this invention is a teller's pedestal having a separately locked depository for excess currency.

Another object is a currency transfer means which operates automatically when the currency drawer is closed.

Another object is a depository which remains locked while deposits are made.

Another object is a currency transfer means which is effectively concealed from others than the teller.

Another object is a currency depository that is tamper proof.

Another object is to reduce the amount of currency readily available in a teller's active cash drawer.

Other objects may be found in the following specification, claims and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the following drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a teller pedestal embodying the novel features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a currency drawer for use as the upper drawer in the pedestal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view through the teller pedestal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the partition of FIG. 3 on a somewhat reduced scale;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged rear elevational view of the lower drawer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view taken through the teller pedestal of FIG. 1 with parts broken away and showing an intermediate and fully open position of the upper drawer in phantom;

FIG. 7 is a partial enlarged top plan view of the upper drawer; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the trap door of the upper drawer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a teller pedestal 11 which may be installed under a counter in a financial institution or may be used in any other activity handling money. The teller pedestal includes an upper or active cash drawer 13 and a lower drawer 15 both of which are located above a coin safe 17. The upper drawer is locked by a lock 19 which may be of the signal plunger type. A separate lock 21 is provided for the lower drawer so that it may be used as a depository for excess currency from the active drawer.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 6 and 7, the upper drawer 13 is divided into a front portion or compartment 27 and a rear portion or compartment 29 by a partition or bulk head 31. A step 32 is provided in the partition. A currency tray 33 is positioned in the front compartment of the upper drawer. A rectangular opening 37 is cut in the rear portion of the bottom panel 39 of the upper drawer. A trap door 41 closing this opening is connected by hinges 43 along the front edge thereof to the bottom panel 39. The hinges 43 are attached to the undersides of the bottom panel 39 of the drawer and the trap door 41 so that the trap door will open downwardly of its own weight.

As is most clearly shown in FIG. 8, a plate 47 is attached by welding to the underside of trap door 41. The plate is bent into flat portions 49 and 51 which engage and are fastened to the trap door 41. A leg portion 53 of the plate which extends at right angles to the flat portions thereof and an inclined portion 55 which connects the leg portion 53 and the flat portion 49 complete the plate. The inclined portion 55 of the plate forms a cam surface having its minimum projection at the front of the trap door and its maximum projection at the rear of the trap door. A stop portion 57 is attached to the flat portion 49 of the plate and is located on the opposite side of the hinge 43 from the flat portion 49. In this embodiment, the stop portion 57 extends at an angle of 30.degree. from the plane of the flat portion 49 and projects a lesser distance than the maximum projection of the plate 47.

A horizontally extending security partition 65 is installed in the pedestal between the upper and lower drawers. This partition extends from the front of the pedestal rearwardly terminating approximately half way back. See FIG. 6. The rearward edge of the security partition is formed with a downturned portion or flap 67.

As is shown in FIG. 5, the lower drawer 15 has a portion 75 cut out of its rear panel 77 to permit the lower drawer to be opened when the upper drawer 13 is closed with the trap door 41 in its open position as shown in FIG. 6.

The use, operation and function of this invention are as follows:

The possibility of a holdup is faced by all financial institutions as well as by others engaged in money handling activities. While it is virtually impossible to eliminate the possibility of a holdup, it is possible through the use of this invention to reduce the amount of money available to be taken in a holdup.

Because of the natural fear of being apprehended, one engaged in a holdup generally wishes to complete his crime in as short a period of time as possible. Consequently, even a locked drawer can protect money during the usual holdup since the robber does not wish to delay his escape the additional time necessary to open a locked drawer. To take advantage of the impatience of the robber, financial institutions have provided tellers and cashiers with locked currency reserve drawers and have instructed these persons to store excess currency and large denomination bills in these drawers. However, in the rush of business and especially during peak periods, many tellers neglect to transfer their excess currency to the currency reserve drawer because of the inconvenience of and the time lost in unlocking and opening the reserve drawers, placing the excess currency in this drawer and then closing and locking the drawer.

The invention enables a teller to continuously deposit excess currency and bills of large denominations in a locked depository drawer without requiring the teller to go through the time consuming steps of unlocking and opening the depository drawer, which actions normally interfere with her normal currency handling procedures. Further, the transfer of currency to the reserve drawer can be accomplished unobtrusively and without being seen by customers. The reserve currency drawer remains locked during the transfer of currency so that large sums of currency are not exposed. Since the teller is not required to open the reserve currency drawer to make deposits, the key to this drawer can be held by a supervisor or other person in a remote location where it would not be available during the rather short period of time a robber has available to complete his crime.

When the upper drawer 13 is in its fully open position, which is shown in phantom in FIG. 6, currency 81 may be placed in the rear portion or compartment 29 of the drawer by the teller or cashier. Due to the fact that the depth of the step 32 of the partition 31 forming the rear compartment 29 is less than the width of a bill, the currency 81 will fall to the bottom of the rear compartment of the drawer and will rest on the trap door 41. The trap door is maintained in its closed position because of engagement of the inclined portion 55 of the trap door plate 47 with the upper surface of the security partition 65.

As the drawer 13 is closed, it reaches an intermediate position, also shown in phantom in FIG. 6, in which the inclined portion 55 of the trap door plate 47 clears the flap 67 at the end of the security partition 65, allowing the trap door to open under its own weight and the weight of the currency 81. The currency then falls into the lower depository drawer 15. The trap door 41 does not open until the upper drawer is approximately half way closed, thus preventing access to the lower depository drawer 15 through the upper drawer. The trap door 41 in the upper drawer automatically opens and closes upon movement of the upper drawer to provide a simple and reliable means of depositing currency in the lower depository drawer without indicating to anyone other than the teller that currency is being deposited. The provision of a separate lock 21 for the lower drawer 15 prevents the teller from obtaining access to the currency after it has been deposited therein. This is advantageous in the event of a hold-up since the teller or cashier cannot open this drawer.

The notched portion 75 in the rear panel 77 of the lower drawer 15 permits this drawer to be opened for removal of the currency 81 by an authorized person even though the upper drawer is closed with the trap door 41 in its lowered position as shown in FIG. 6. The use of the partition 31 having the step 32 permits the partition 31 to be located to hold the currency tray 33 securely in position while limiting the length of the rear compartment 29 to prevent the currency from being improperly inserted in this compartment and not falling through the opening 37 in the bottom panel 39 when the trap door is open. This invention can also be used to deposit bundles of currency, as well as loose currency in the lower depository drawer.

Whereas, the preferred form of the invention has been shown and described it should be understood that there are many modifications, substitutions and alterations which may be made without departing from the fundamental theme of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the following claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A teller pedestal for use in a financial institution or other money handling activity including:

an enclosed housing,

at least two drawers mounted in said housing, one immediately above the other for sliding movement between opened and closed positions,

the lower of said two drawers having a lock separate from the lock, if any, for the upper drawer,

the upper of two drawers having a trap door in the bottom thereof,

means formed as part of said upper drawer and said enclosed housing for maintaining said trap door closed when said upper drawer is in its open position and for allowing said trap door to open by gravity when said upper drawer is in its closed position,

stop means attached to said trap door and adapted to engage the bottom of said upper drawer to limit opening of said trap door, and

said lower drawer having a rear wall with an upper portion thereof cut away to permit said lower drawer to be moved outwardly past said lowered trap door thereby permitting opening of said lower drawer when said trap door is in its opened position.

2. The teller pedestal of claim 1 further characterized in that said trap door is located at the rear of said upper drawer, a cam surface means is attached to the underside of said trap door and a cam surface engaging means is provided in said housing.

3. The teller pedestal of claim 2 further characterized in that said cam surface engaging means is formed as a horizontally extending security panel which is located between said upper and lower drawers and extends from the front of said pedestal and terminates short of the rear thereof.

4. The teller pedestal of claim 2 further characterized in that said trap door of said upper drawer is separated from the remainder of said drawer by an upstanding partition.

5. The teller pedestal of claim 2 further characterized in that a stop is provided as part of said cam surface means to engage the bottom of said drawer and limit opening of said trap door.

6. The teller's pedestal of claim 2 further characterized in that said trap door opening limit stop projects downwardly when said trap door is in its fully closed position with said downward projection being less than the downward projection of said cam surface means.