NL2010296C2 - Stackable cards. - Google Patents

Description

STACKABLE CARDS

The present invention relates to a stackable card, more particular a playing card, a system of such cards and the use of such a system. More in particular, the invention relates to a stackable card comprising a sheet provided with a first peripheral edge parallel and opposite to a second peripheral edge.

Such cards are well known as playing cards, and usually a number of characters is printed on the cards, in order to enable persons to play a variety of card games such as poker, blackjack and solitaire. The wording playing cards also include cards for playing other kind of games with cards then only showing images for example belonging to happy family game sets, or cards showing appealing images such as animals or the like.

Another known type of application, or use, of such playing cards is the creation of structures, for instance a structure type called card house in which a plurality of playing cards is arranged into a number of triangles, each triangle having one card oriented horizontally and two other cards inclined and directed to form a top in the middle above the horizontal card, thus forming a more or less equilateral triangle. Sometimes different persons or teams compete to build the highest such a structure. This is challenging, since the stability of such structures is poor.

US 2009/0212499 A1 discloses a stackable playing card comprising a card body, said card body defining a periphery comprising a first side opposite a second side and a first end opposite a second end, said card body further comprising a card face having a low friction finish opposite to a card back having a low friction finish; and a non-slip material extending from at least a portion of said card-periphery. By coating the edge of a playing card with a non-slip material that increases the friction between the card edge and the underlying surface, a house of cards can be constructed more easily, particularly by children and casual house of cards builders .

Although the playing card described in US 2009/0212499 A1 has an improved behavior with respect to building houses of cards, further improvement is needed, in particular with respect to the cost price of the cards.

The invention has as a goal to provide an improved stackable card, in particular a stackable playing card that has lower production costs.

This goal is realized by the playing card according to claim 1.

The elevations and/or insertions allow for structures to be built, and can be produced simply by rolling. Thus, there is no need for adding a layer of glue or other material additional to the normal layers of a playing card (usually a cardboard layer covered on either side by a plastic layer), and also no need for waiting with further processing of the card until the added layer has dried sufficiently. It is even possible to produce the elevations and/or insertions in the same production operation that cuts the cards from a large sheet into separate cards, thereby keeping the additional production costs of the cards even lower.

A further advantage of the playing card according to the invention is that it provides improved possibilities to build structures such as a house of cards, in particular to build constructions with a higher stability. This can be understood as follows.

In a structure like a house of cards, when two adjacent playing cards are in standing orientation (viz. not horizontally oriented) and have their top edges resting against each other, and one of these cards has a first peripheral edge at its top with a projection and the other of these cards has a second peripheral edge at its top with an indentation, the projection and the indentation connect the playing cards to prevent them from sliding with respect to each other, and as such reduce the risk of playing cards falling, and as a result thereof reduce the risk of the house of cards collapsing - much more than a frictional layer as disclosed in the aforementioned US 2009/0212499 does.

In an embodiment, -the first peripheral edge is provided with at least one proj ection, - the second peripheral edge is provided with at least one indentation in such a manner that the at least one indentation is suited to accommodate the projection(s) of the first peripheral edge of a neighboring second playing card of the same type when the two neighboring edges of the two cards are arranged mutually parallel and adjacent, in order to mutually connect the playing cards. This allows for the connection of cards that are adjacent and in a same plane, e.g. the horizontal plane, which is a way of stabilizing constructions of cards. For instance, in constructions comprising triangles of cards, wherein one card of each triangle is horizontal, the adjacent triangles may be connected by their horizontal cards.

In an embodiment, the playing card is provided with two elevations or two insertions or one elevation and one insertion with respect to the sheet surface, on either side of the sheet, and adjacent and parallel to each of the first respectively second peripheral edges. In this manner, the person using the cards to build a house of cards needs no longer pay attention to position the one side that is provided with elevation or insertion of the horizontally oriented cards upward, but instead may arbitrarily use either side as the upwardly directed side.

In another embodiment, the stackable card is provided with at least one elevation on one surface of the sheet, arranged to form an opposing insertion on the other surface of the sheet. Such a combination of an elevation and insertion has the advantage that it may easily be produced and at low costs, for instance by means of rolling.

In a further embodiment, one surface of the sheet contains elevations and not insertions, and the other side of the sheet contains insertions and no elevations. In this manner, the playing cards may be nested when they are stored, and thereby occupy a smaller volume, or at least it requires less attention to stack them properly.

In another embodiment, the sheet of the stackable playing card has a rectangular shape. This allows the card to be used in common card games.

The invention also relates to a system of stackable (playing) cards, comprising a plurality of playing cards according to one of the preceding claims 1-6, wherein the playing cards are arranged as a structure of two or more rows of triangles made of three playing cards, one playing card of each triangle being oriented horizontally, wherein the two or more rows are positioned on top of each other. This system addresses the same disadvantage of the playing cards known in the art and offers the same advantageous effects.

Moreover, the invention relates to the use of such a system of stackable cards, in particular stackable playing cards .

Finally, the inventions relates to a method of producing a playing card according to the independent claim 10. This method has the same advantage as claim 1, in that it allows for the production of stackable playing cards with reduced production costs.

The invention will now be illustrated on the basis of a preferred embodiment, referring to the accompanying drawings and merely as an illustration of the invention and not in limitation thereof. In the drawings, similar parts are given similar reference numerals. Here

Figure 1A shows a plan view of a playing card according to an embodiment of the invention,

Figure IB shows a side view of the playing card of Figure la, and

Figure 2 shows a view in perspective of a three-dimensional structure made of playing cards as shown in Figures 1A and IB.

In Figures 1A and IB a card 1 that can be played with comprises of a flat sheet of plasticized cardboard provided with a first peripheral edge 2 parallel and opposite to a second peripheral edge 3, and two more mutually parallel peripheral edges 4 and 5 perpendicular to the first and second edges 2 and 3. The playing card 1 has near its peripheral edge 4 two elevations 6, 7 on the flat sheet surface 8 shown in Figures 1A and IB, these two elevations being adjacent and parallel to the peripheral edge 4. The playing card 1 has near its peripheral edge 5 two more elevations 9, 10 on the same flat sheet surface 8, these two more elevations being adjacent and parallel to the peripheral edge 5.

All these four elevations 6, 7, 9, 10 have opposing insertions 12-15 on the opposite flat sheet surface 11.

The card 1 further has here a projection 16 on the peripheral edge 5 and here an indentation 17 with complementary shape on the peripheral edge 4. The projection 16 of one card fits the indentation 17 of a second card, thereby allowing for connecting adjacent cards in the same plane in such a manner that the at least one indentation is suited to accommodate the projection(s) of the first peripheral edge of a neighboring second playing card of the same type when the two neighboring edges of the two cards are arranged mutually parallel and adjacent, in order to mutually connect the playing cards. The connection can best be understood as an interlocking overlying connection of opposing projections and indentations of respective neighboring cards.

In Figure 2, a system, or structure, S of a plurality of stackable playing cards as shown in Figures 1A and IB is shown. The structure S has three rows Rl, R2 and R3 of cards on top of each other, in each row triangles of cards are positioned next to each other; in the bottom row Rl three triangles, in the middle row R2 two triangles and in the top row R3 one triangle, each of these triangles having their base down.

In the system S according to the invention, each triangle has one horizontal card H, one upstanding card V, one end of the horizontal card adjacent to one end of the upstanding card, and one upstanding card I connecting the mutually remote ends of the horizontal and upstanding card V. Thus cards I and V are inclined.

The non-horizontal inclined cards in the second and third row are resting with their lower ends on horizontal cards, in an indentation thereof or against an elevation thereof .

The upstanding card V in each triangle supports the inclined card I near its top end, by resting against an elevation 6, 7, 9, 10 of the inclined card I or in an insertion 12 - 15 thereof.

The adjacent horizontal cards are mutually connected by their respective possibly overlapping projections 16 and indentations 17 on their peripheral edges 4 and 5 respectively.

Variants can be made to the embodiments shown, without leaving the scope of the claims. For example, each card may have three indentations on one end of one surface, and two elevations on the other end of the same surface.

Claims (12)

CLAIMS 1. Stackable card, in particular playing card, with a first peripheral edge and a second peripheral edge parallel to it, wherein the card is provided with at least one elevation on the one flat side located between the peripheral edges and is provided with on the opposite flat side at least one floor, which at least one elevation or floor is adjacent to and parallel to the first peripheral edge. 2. Stackable card as claimed in claim 1, wherein: - the first peripheral edge is provided with at least one protrusion, - the second peripheral edge is provided with at least one indentation, and the at least one protrusion and the at least one indentation are designed and are capable of to establish an interlocking coupling with protrusions and indentations of adjacent cards. Stackable card according to claim 1 or 2, with on each flat side a plurality of elevations or a plurality of storeys, or at least one elevation and at least one storey, which elevation (s) is / are elongated. Stackable card according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one floor is similar to the at least one elevation and is arranged at the same position on opposite flat sides. A stackable card according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the one flat side comprises elevations and no elevations, and the opposite flat side comprises elevations and no elevations. Stackable card according to one of the preceding claims, which has a rectangular shape. A system of multiple stackable cards according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the cards are arranged as a framework structure with two or more connected triangles made of three cards each, in which two or more rows are placed on top of each other, wherein in each triangle one card lies horizontally and the other two cards rest against an elevation or in a floor of the horizontal card and one of those two cards with the upper circumferential edge resting against an elevation or in a floor of the other of those two cards or a horizontal Map. 8. System as claimed in claim 7, wherein at least two adjacent horizontal cards mutually engage with each other with their respective protrusions and indentations arranged on their peripheral edges. Use of a system of cards according to claim 7 or 8 for building card constructions. 10. Method for producing a stackable card with a first peripheral edge and a second peripheral edge in parallel, wherein the card is provided with at least one elevation on the one flat side located between the peripheral edges and provided with on the opposite flat side at least one floor, which at least one elevation or floor is adjacent to and parallel to the first peripheral edge, wherein at least the at least one elevation or floor are arranged by rolling the card under or between pressure rollers. The method of claim 10 wherein the method comprises cutting protrusions and indentations along the peripheral edges of the cards. The method according to claim 11, wherein the rolling and cutting is performed with the same pressure roller (s).