US2755090A - Card shuffler - Google Patents

Description

L. l. ALDRICH CARD SI-IUFFLER July 17, 1956 Filed Sept. 27, 1952 CARD SHUFFLER Loyd I'. Aldrich', Wyoming, Iii. Application September 27, 1952, SeriafNo; 311,859

z claims. (C1. z7s-149) This invention relates to a shutliing' device for playing cards and is specifically designedr for the reception of two packs of cards, or two decks of cards to be shufed together, such as used in the games of Samba or Canastaj although of course it may be designed for three or more decks (or packs when shuffling a single deck of cards by splitting the deck and placing the packs resulting therefrom on the platforms of the device).

One object of the invention is to provide a vsimple and efficient devicey in which one or more packs of vcards may be inserted and which will operate to eject the cards alternately from two or more packs and discharge them into a common bottomless receptacle for thereby' Ashufing" the' packs and thoroughly intermixing them, the de'- vice being manually operable by means of turning a crank thereon `and capable of intermixing the cards ata rapid rate of speed and conveniently removable from a table .top `or the like to afford access to the shuied cards.

Another object is to provide a mechanical means for shuthing playing cards to obviate' hand shuihing thereof as commonly practiced, whereby persons unskilled i'n such operations may easily and quickly etfect a thorough intermixing of the cards.

Another object is to provide a card shui'ng machine in which the action of the mechanism onpacks of cards is accomplished through the medium of revolving rollers having friction surfaces to engage the cards successively as they are dealt from the packs placed in the device, the arrangement being such that the cards are deposited on slightly inclined platforms and are gravity-fed to the rollers that eject them from the packs.

Still another object is to provide a device of the above character which is adapted to be employed for ejecting cards from different packs and thereby shuiing them, and which is so designed that it will properly eject the desired number of cards from the respective packs of cards regardless of whether they are straight or curved.

A further object is to` provide a card shuffling machine which is simple in construction and employs lhut few parts and is adapted tobe readily assembled, also which is not liable'to get out of order and is easily operated and highly efficient in action, compact in size, economical to; manufacture and ycontains a minimum number of parts conducive' to practical operation.

An additional object is to provide a card shuffling structure wherein packs of playing cards need merely be inserted manually onto platformsof the structure and rotary movement then imparted to the mechanism for accomplishing the shufing operation, provision being made to facilitate the collection of the cards comprising the packs after they have been shuied in a lower receptacle which is part of the shuting machine, and the mechanism being operable to thoroughly and quickly shuffle or intermix playing cards coming from a plurality of packs and falling into a common stack.

Another additional object is to provide a stop means for the packs of cards and adjustments therefor which United States Patent() 2', permit the feeding of one, two or more cards as desired from the different packs in the card shufller.

A further additional object is to provide a stop cooperating with a roller in such manner as to feed the cards whether curved upwardly or downwardly, thus insuring' proper operationof the shutiler under all circumstances.

Ay further additional object is to provide a stop and roller card feeder capable of relative adjustment as de'- siredy by the user, and to provide an arrangement for facing a feed roller with rubber wherein the facing consists of a rubber band associated with the roller in a novel manner. i

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction', arrangement and combination of they variousparts of myA card shufer, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fulvly set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a vertical sectional view through a card shther rembodying my present invention, two packs of cards being shown therein being deposited in a common pile within ai compartment of the shuiier.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a partial side elevationof the far side shown in Figure l tot show the drive for' the feed rollers of the silule'r. Y

Figure 4 isa perspective View of one of the feed rollers and one of the rubber bands used for facing it.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail sectionalv view showing one of the adjusting knobs for one of the card stops.

Figure 6 is` a perspective view of one of the card stops; andv Figure 7 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 7-7 of Figure l to show the action of the shuffl'er in connection with cards which are curved.

On the accompanying drawing l have used thev reference numerals 10 and 12 to indicatev side walls of my card shuffler, which walls may be made of wood, plastic, metal or the like. A front wall 14 is provided ,and a platform 16 extends between the walls, there being a fourth wall 18 shown in Figure l to provide a compartment between the wallsv 14 and 18 for the reception of shuiiied cards C3. These cards come from a pair of packs of cards Cl and C2 as will hereinafter appear.

The-wall 16 forms a platform for supporting the deck of cards C2. Above this deck I provide a stop member 22 in the form of a plate having side anges Z3 and 24, th'e stopl member being thereby channehshaped in crosssection. Openings are provided at the four corners of the plate 22, specifically in the flanges- 23 and 24 thereof, and these may be' identified in` Figure 6 as three openings 26 and a fourth one 28 which is horizontally slotted. Screws- 25 extend through the threer openings 26 into the side walls 10 and 12, and these may be ordinary wood screws.

A ymat'ehin'e screw 30 extends through the opening 28 as shown in Figure 5 and through a knob 3-2 having an eccentric portion 34 rotatable in an opening 36 of the side wall 12. A nut 38 retains the screw 30' in position with the knob '32 rotatable in the opening 36 so 'as' to adjust'- th'e nearest end of the ange y24 in Figure 6 up wardly or downwardly by rotation of the knob. The opening 28 being slotted permits of such adjustment, and the purpose thereof will hereinafter appear. The adjustment twists the plate 22 but this is immaterial, the resultant adjustment being in the height of the point 42 above bands 70 of a roller to be described.

The plate 22 is a stop plate and has a stop flange 40 on the front end thereof and this flange is preferably triangular in shape with a point indicated at 42.: In addition to being a stop plate, 22 serves as a platform for the second pack of cards C1.

Above the plate 22 is a similar plate 22a as shown in Figure 1 and it is similarly identified by means of the numerals 23a to 42a and has similar elements as indicated by the subscript a throughout the drawings.

For dealing the cards from the decks C1 and C2 as at 72, 74 and 76 into the pile C3, I provide rollers 44 and 44a which may be formed of wood or the like and which are offset relative to each other for best card dealing results as shown in Figure 1. These are a friction fit on shafts 46 and 46a, which shafts are driven by pulleys 48 and 48a and a belt 50 from a relatively larger driving pulley 52 rotatable on a screw 54 and having a crank 56 for manual engagement in rotating the pulley 52. The screw 54 is mounted in a plate 58 secured as by screws 60 to the inside of the wall 10, and the pulleys 48, 48a and 52 may be covered by a cover plate 64 on the outside of the wall secured in position by screws 62.

The roller 44 has a slot 66 therein, and an enlarged bore 68 which receives a rubber band 70 acting as a facing of friction type for the roller. Two of these bands 70 may be provided as illustrated for the roller 44 and are looped around the shaft as shown in Figure 4, before being slipped into position along the roller with radial portions 72 extending through the slot 66 from the shaft 46 to the periphery of the roller, and the band then extending around the roller. I have found it advantageous to have the radial portion 72 of one band diametrically opposite the other to improve the gripping action on the cards and properly start them in the successively shuffling operations. The roller 44a, of course, is of similar construction to the roller 44.

It will be noted that the friction bands 70 are relatively close to the center of the cards (see Figure 2) and they cooperate with the point 42 of the stop member 22 for properly feeding the desired number of cards and for properly feeding them whether they are curved upwardly or downwardly as indicated by dotted lines. This is shown schematically in Figure 7 wherein solid lines show two upwardl;l curved cards and only one of them will feed through; whereas when they are curved the other way, as shown by dotted lines, likewise only one will feed through as the other one is held back by the point 42 of the stop flange 40. Also, to aid in the proper feeding of curved cards, central projections 17 and 27 may be provided on the platforms 16 and 22 respectively.

In the operation of a card shufller for mixing two packs of cards, it is desirable that substantially the same number of cards be fed from each pack C1 and C2 so that the two packs are depleted at substantially the same time. This can be nicely adjusted by means of the knobs 32 and 32a which, if desired, may be calibrated for the number of cards that will be fed. Alternatively, the rollers may be adjusted as to elevation while the stops may be made stationary. As long as there is relative adjustment of the rollers and stops, the desired number of cards at one time can be fed by rotation of the rollers.

By having the stop flanges 40 gauge the cards at only the center, due to the point (not necessarily a short point) at 42 and the relative narrowness of the effective parts of the rollers 44 and 44a (represented by the combined widths of the two rubber bands 70 or 72a as the case may be), and aided by the projections 17 and 27, the cards are permitted to curve either upwardly or downwardly and when proper adjustment of the knobs 32 and 32a is had, they will still feed as though they were not So 4 curved and each of the packs C1 and C2 will be depleted substantially simultaneously.

Also the arrangement is such that the cards can be inserted one pack above the other and will be deposited in the receptacle formed by the walls 14 and 19 and on a table top or the like indicated at 20, whereupon the shuffler may be lifted and the shuffled pack C3 picked up in a convenient manner. The housing, however, may have a bottom or a drawer or tray to receive the shuffled cards.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my card shuffler without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

l. In a card shuffling device, a housing, holding means therein adapted to maintain a pair of packs of cards in substantially horizontal position one above the other, a pair of friction rollers each adapted to bear against the undermost cards of a corresponding one of said packs to feed the cards from each pack into a common stack, a channel-shaped plate for each pack secured adjacent three of its corners to said housing and having a fourth comer adjustable for twisting said plate, each of said plates being disposed above a corresponding roller and having a downwardly extending stop flange which is adjusted in relation to said roller by the adjustment of said fourth corner, said holding means including a platform for supporting the lower pack of cards, the channel-shaped plate therefor constituting a supporting platform for the upper pack.

2. In an apparatus for shuffling cards, a housing, an inclined supporting platform therein adapted to support a first pack of cards thereon, a first inclined plate above said support to serve as a support for a second pack of cards, a second inclined plate above said second pack, each of said inclined plates being secured adjacent three of its corners to said housing and having a fourth corner adjustable for twisting said plate, a pair of rollers below said packs for feeding cards from the corresponding bottoms thereof into a portion of said housing spaced ahead of and below said rollers, said rollers being offset to intermingle the cards from the two packs as they are fed thereby to deposit them in a common stack, said inclined supporting platform and said first inclined plate having central projections adjacent the rear ends of the packs, and said inclined plates each having a downwardly extending stop flange which is adjusted in relation to a corresponding roller by the adjustment of said fourth corner.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 507,930 Ranney Oct. 31, 1893 1,014,219 Hall Ian. 9, 1912 1,847,346 Lux Mar. l, 1932 1,969,117 Bohling Aug. 7, 1934 2,048,942 McConnell July 28, 1936 2,159,958 Sachs May 23, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,427 Great Britain 1891 17,656 Great Britain 1907 183,739 Germany Apr. 6, 1907

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