APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING SHEETS INSERTED VERTICALLY, IN PARTICULAR AN AUTOMATIC VALIDATING MACHINE FOR DOCUMENTS, SUCH AS CHEQUES

An apparatus (10) suitable to process sheets (13), in particular comprised of an validating machine (10) for the validation of documents (13) such as cheques or similar documents, comprising a vertical guide (11), and a pair of arms (22a, 22b) suitable to hold and support a cheque (13) along a respective lower edge (13a) in a first hold position (Pi), when the cheque (13) is inserted into the vertical guide (11), wherein in response to the presence and alignment of the cheque (13) in said first position (Pi), two pairs of rotating rollers (42a, 42b, 44a, 44b) automatically engage the cheque (13) from opposite sides, the arms (22a, 22b) are moved out of contact with the lower edge (13a) of the cheque (13), in order to free the feeding path of the cheque towards the interior of the validating machine, and the cheque is also fed vertically, in a downward direction, by means of the two pairs of rollers from the said first position (P1) to a second processing position (P2) in the validation zone for being validated. The cheque (13) inserted into the validating machine (10) can also be moved in a horizontal direction, for example, in order to perform the detection of data recorded on the cheque (13) by means of a magnetic detection unit (76). The validating machine (10) permits easy and practical manual insertion of the document to be validated from above, in a vertical direction, still at the same time ensuring correct and safe alignment of said document in the vertical guide, whereupon it activates and controls in a completely automatic manner the related validation cycle. L'invention concerne un appareil (10) approprié au traitement de feuilles (13), comprenant, notamment, une machine de validation (10) permettant de valider des documents (13), tels que des chèques ou des documents similaires. Cet appareil comporte un guide vertical (11) et une paire de bras (22a, 22b) destinés à retenir et porter un chèque (13) le long d'un bord inférieur correspondant (13a) à une première position de retenue (P1), lorsque le chèque (13) est introduit dans le guide vertical (11). En réponse à la présence et à l'alignement du chèque (13) à cette première position (P1), deux paires de cylindres rotatifs (42a, 42b, 44a, 44b) rentrent automatiquement en contact avec le chèque (13) à partir des côtés opposés, lesdits bras (22a, 22b) se déplacent hors de contact avec le bord inférieur (13a) du chèque (13), de manière à libérer la voie d'acheminement du chèque jusqu'à l'intérieur d