CN113164826B

CN113164826B - Apparatus and assembly for turning playing cards and method of use

Info

Publication number: CN113164826B
Application number: CN201980075964.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: Y·耶胡达
Original assignee: Y Yehuda
Current assignee: Y Yehuda
Priority date: 2018-10-24
Filing date: 2019-10-22
Publication date: 2023-02-17
Anticipated expiration: 2039-10-22
Also published as: US20210379477A1; CN113164826A; WO2020084610A1; EP3870329A1; JP2022509459A; EP3870329B1

Abstract

A device (10) for turning a stack of cards from a first position to an opposite second position, the device comprising a flexible hollow cup-shaped member (12) having a base (13) defining a rim (14) and at least one recess (15) or aperture formed in or near a portion of the rim such that when the base is placed on a substantially flat surface (16) at least one opening (17) is formed which allows air to pass through when pressure is applied to the outer surface of the cup-shaped member.

Description

Apparatus and assembly for turning playing cards and method of use

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a card game in which cards are turned upward.

Background

One game that is popular, particularly among children, involves the use of a cup-shaped hand to direct a blast of air to the bottom of a stack of cards placed downward on a table or other flat surface, so that as many cards as possible are turned upward. So that the player who exposes the most cards from the stack is the winner.

Generating a sufficiently strong airflow using a cup-shaped hand can be challenging.

U.S. patent No.5,624,121 discloses a game comprising a plurality of rigid playing cards (playing discs) stacked one on top of the other, each player being provided a round to hit the topmost playing card towards the periphery of the playing cards, thereby turning the number of playing cards in the stack upwards and the player himself taking away those cards whose upper surfaces are lowermost. The goal of the game is to maximize the number of playing cards that are flipped up.

US2014287392 discloses a board game apparatus comprising at least two projectiles, a launching pad, at least two baskets, a game board and at least two magic cards. The projectile is thrown into the basket using a launching station that uses elastic force to launch the projectile.

U.S. patent No.2,187,524 discloses a game that utilizes a projector device, a projectile, and a variably configurable target area comprising a plurality of individual targets.

None of these prior art games discloses a device that causes a blast of air to flip the cards upward from the stack.

DE8703225U1 discloses an article of interest with a jumping effect, which is characterized in that the housing is made of an elastic material, the bottom of the housing being able to be pressed against the curvature of the housing beyond the edge of the housing. The air channel is arranged in the housing at a distance from the edge and serves to prevent the housing from adhering to the support surface under suction. Note that the air channel should neither be provided in the base region of the housing nor be arranged directly on the edge.

U.S. patent No.7,927,177 discloses a pop-up toy ball assembly having separate lower and upper hemispherical portions joined together by a connecting element anchored at one end to the apex of the lower hemispherical portion and extending upwardly through the apex of the upper hemispherical portion without being secured to the apex of the upper hemispherical portion. The lower hemispherical portion is selectively positionable between a normal orientation with the first surface facing outwardly and an inverted orientation with the second surface facing outwardly. If the toy ball assembly is impacted when the lower hemispherical portion is inverted, the toy assembly will spring back from its inverted orientation to its normal orientation.

U.S. patent No.7,803,033 discloses a pop-up toy assembly having a resilient body defined primarily by a first surface and a second surface. The resilient body is selectively positionable between a normal orientation with the first surface facing outwardly and an inverted orientation with the second surface facing outwardly. An activator assembly having a strike plate and a knob extends through the resilient body at a vertex of the resilient body. When the toy assembly springs back from the inverted orientation to its normal orientation, the strike plate impacts the ground. When inverted, the knobs are used to grip, rotate and throw the toy assembly. A plurality of lugs (tab) project symmetrically from the bottom edge of the elastic body. If the toy components are inverted and hit the ground, the projecting lugs will concentrate the impact force and cause the toy components to spring back to their normal orientation.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device or fitting which can be used to achieve a similar effect in lieu of cupping a person's hand.

According to an embodiment of the invention, this object is achieved by a device comprising a flexible hollow cup-shaped member having a base defining an edge and at least one recess or aperture formed in or near a portion of the edge such that when the base is placed on a substantially flat surface at least one opening is formed which allows air to pass through when pressure is applied to an outer surface of the cup-shaped member.

Drawings

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1a illustrates an apparatus according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 1b shows a sectional elevation view of the device shown in FIG. 1a resting on a flat surface;

figure 2 schematically illustrates the use of the apparatus shown in figure 1a to flip a card from a first position to a second position shown in figure 3;

fig. 4a illustrates an apparatus according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 4b shows an elevational cross-sectional view of the device shown in FIG. 4a resting on a flat surface;

fig. 5 illustrates an apparatus according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 6a illustrates components of a two-part assembly according to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 6b schematically illustrates the use of the assembly shown in FIG. 6 a;

figure 7a illustrates parts of a two-part assembly according to a first variant of a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 7b schematically illustrates the use of the assembly shown in FIG. 7 a;

figure 8a illustrates parts of a two-part assembly according to a second variant of the fourth embodiment; and

figure 8b schematically illustrates the use of the assembly shown in figure 8 a.

Detailed Description

In the following description of some embodiments, identical components that appear or share similar functionality in more than one drawing will be referenced by the same reference numeral.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown an apparatus 10 for turning a stack of playing cards 11 from a first position as shown in figure 2 to an opposite second position as shown in figure 3. Typically, in the first position, the cards are face down and in the second position, the cards are exposed, but the game according to the invention can be played with the cards initially exposed, as the skill of the game is in the ability of the player to flip as many cards as possible from the stack.

In a first embodiment, shown in figures 1a and 1b, the device 10 comprises a flexible hollow cup-shaped member 12, typically made of rubber or plastic, having a base 13 defining a rim 14 and a recess 15 formed in a portion of the rim such that when the base is placed on a substantially flat surface 16, the single elongate recess 15 forms an opening 17 which allows air to pass through when pressure is applied to the outer surface of the cup-shaped member.

The apparatus 10 may be used to play a flip-card game having rules including:

(a) Placing a stack of cards on a generally flat surface 16;

(b) Positioning means against the stack of cards with the recess facing the cards; and

(c) Pressure is applied to the outer surface of the device to direct a blast of air toward the bottom of the stack of cards to flip the cards from a first position to an opposite second position.

The player turning the most cards is the winner.

Typically, the player applies pressure by pushing on the outer surface of the device with his or her hand 18.

Fig. 4a and 4b depict a second embodiment in which a plurality of recesses 15 are formed in the rim of the cup-shaped member 12, rather than just a single recess, so that a plurality of openings 17 are formed when the device is placed on a surface 16.

Figure 5 depicts a third embodiment in which apertures 19 are formed around the periphery of the cup-shaped member 12 towards the rim 14. The apertures 19 form openings for the passage of air when pressure is applied to the outer surface of the cup-shaped member 12. A single elongated hole or slot as shown in fig. 8a may also be used alone or in combination with the recess 15.

Fig. 6a and 7a illustrate a two-part assembly 20 according to a variant of the fourth embodiment before assembly, and fig. 6b and 7b show the respective assemblies during use. Indeed, the fourth embodiment uses the same apparatus 10 as described above with reference to figures 1a to 5, but instead of placing the apparatus 10 on a flat surface such as a table, with the hole 19 or recess 15 adjacent the table, the apparatus 10 is provided with the hole 19 or recess 15 uppermost, thereby forming a compressible hollow cup with the hole 19 or recess 15 adjacent the rim 14 of the compressible hollow cup. A second compressible cup-shaped plunger element 21, having a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the device 10, is now assembled on top of the device 10 and may optionally be sealed or otherwise joined thereto. When pressure is applied to the plunger member 21, air is pushed out of the hole 19 or recess 15 with sufficient pressure to flip the adjacent stack of cards upward.

Fig. 8a and 8b illustrate a two-part assembly 20 according to another variant of the fourth embodiment before and during assembly, respectively. This variation is similar to that shown in fig. 6a and 6b, except that instead of forming a plurality of holes, a single elongate slot 22 is formed. Different variants can be combined so that, for example, the lower device 10 can have holes and recesses or have elongated slots and recesses.

It has been found from experimentation that the first embodiment works particularly effectively and allows a skilled player to flip all cards in a moderate stack upwards. Although the second and third embodiments do succeed in flipping many, if not most, cards in the stack upwards, they are less effective. The fourth embodiment has also been found to be very effective. The effectiveness of the holes in figure 5 depends on their distance from the edge as this determines the extent to which air reaches the lower surface of the stack. If air is not successfully forced below the bottom of the stack, the bottom card in the stack will not be turned over.

It should be noted that although the present invention has been described with particular reference to conventional playing cards as illustrated in figures 2 and 3, such a limitation is not implied. Thus, devices according to embodiments may be used in conjunction with other types of playing cards, such as playing cards and labels collected by children, adhesive labels having a removable backing and used prior to removal of the backing, and any other playing cards having visually distinct upper and lower surfaces. Likewise, although the recess is shown as having an arcuate profile, no limitation is implied, and in practice good results have been achieved using a rectangular recess.

Claims

1. An apparatus for turning a stack of playing cards from a first position to an opposite second position, the apparatus comprising a flexible hollow cup-shaped member having a base defining an edge and at least one recess or at least one aperture; it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the at least one recess is formed in a portion of the rim or the at least one aperture is formed around a periphery of the flexible hollow cup-shaped member towards the rim such that when the base is placed on a substantially flat surface, at least one opening is formed which allows air to pass through when pressure is applied to an outer surface of the flexible hollow cup-shaped member and directs a blast of air towards a bottom of a stack of playing cards disposed on the surface adjacent the at least one opening, thereby flipping the playing cards from the first position to the second position.

2. The device of claim 1, having a single elongated recess formed in the rim of the flexible hollow cup-shaped member.

3. The device of claim 1, having a plurality of recesses formed in the rim of the flexible hollow cup-shaped member.

4. The device of claim 1, having a plurality of holes formed in the flexible hollow cup-shaped member near the rim.

5. The device of claim 1, having at least one elongated aperture formed in the flexible hollow cup-shaped member near the rim.

6. An assembly comprising the device of claim 1 and a plunger element configured to force air out through the at least one recess or the at least one aperture of the device.

7. The assembly of claim 6, wherein the device and the plunger element are joined to form a unitary construction.

8. The assembly of claim 7, wherein the device and the plunger element are sealed.

9. The assembly of claim 6, wherein the diameter of the edge of the plunger element is slightly larger than the diameter of the device.

10. The assembly of claim 6, wherein the at least one aperture comprises an elongated slot.