US1866063A - Game apparatus - Google Patents

Description

2. Sheets-Sheet l TA H. sLoAN' GAME APPARATUS Filed June 17, 1931 July 5, 1932.

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T. H. SLQAN GAME APPARATUS 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed June 17, 1931 WUTNESSES Patented' July 5, 1932 UNITED STATES THEODORE H. SLOAN, OF CHARLEROI, PENNSYLVANIA GAME APPARATUS Application iiled June 17, 1931. Serial No. 544,977.

This invention relates to games, and pertains particularly to apparatus for mechanically shuiiiing, and dealing, freely movable playing pieces, as for a hand 'of cards 1n poker. e

. Apparatus for such games as poker not only should arrange a hand com actly` within view of a player without a ording any possibility to foretell or to regulate the or-A der of cards to be received, but also it should be controllable to discard any units selected and in a positive manner to draw others in replacement.

Objects of this invention are to provide a game apparatus that exposes a compact hand of `freely movable counters without dependence on the manner or speed of operating an actuating mechanism; that operates by a simple butdefinite movement; that can remove counters from a hand, but only those that are definitely discarded; that can'draw new playing units, but none before another first is discarded; and that shuiiies the count- ,ers effectively by the very acts of discarding and drawing to a hand.

These objects, and others, are accomplished l according to this invention by apparatus enclosing a courseway for the passage of a series of counters, with an aperture over the conrseway for exposing a limited group of counters, means for expelling selected counters from under the aperture, a .magazine into which counters are expelled from under the aperture and in which they are shuiiied in their passage, and driving means at the magazine outlet to withdraw counters from the magazine and advance them along the courseway. The apparatus further comxprises separate keys for the discarding of selected counters from an exposed hand into the magazineand as driving means at the magazine outlet comprises a wheel having a peripheral recess to receive counters one by one from the magazine and force them 5 along the -coursewayn In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a face view of the apparatus with its cover partially broken away to expose the playing units and internal mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus with its casing partially broken away to show the face portion in vertical section along the line II-II of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a cross section along the line III- III of Fig. 1, showing an arrangement of the cover with interior flanges to form a courseway for playing units.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the apparatus comprises a vertically disposed casing 1 that encloses from view a continuous" courseway 2 for the passage of relatively movable playing counters 3 which are preferably in the form of disks having game indicia on their faces. The courseway is formed between a pair of op ositely disposed plates, as face sheet 4 and hackin sheet 5, with upstanding anges 6 mounte between them as barriers to complete the sides of the passage. .its shown in Fig. 3,

the backing sheet 5 is secured by interlocking of its ed es between those of the face sheet 4 and t e edges of the casing. The thickness of the countersand the depth of the entire courseway are commensurate with each other so that the counters may be propelled in series around the entire passage without overlapping each. other and jamf ming. A

The courseway at one side, and bottom, constitutes a relatively narrow passage having unit-entering and unit-dischargingportions,` but at the other side widens to form a magazine 7 for accumulation of the 85 counters. The magazine enables the courseway as a whole to contain the usual 52 separate playing units of a deck of cards and assists in shuiiiing the units eiectively.

v Face sheet 4 is providedpwith an aperture 9 der the aperture at the top of magazix'ieh7 p upon separate pairs of prongs 10. prongs supporting any counter are adapted to be'withdrawn to permit the counter selected to drop into the magazine. Means to discard any selected counters from a hand by Vwithdrawing supporting pron s 10 comprise verticali. key-links 15 of sti material mounted back of each counter, as shown in Fig. 2, with each pair of prongs 10 struck forward from a corres onding link-strip.

. The top of each strip proJects freelv through the slitted top of casing 1 and terminates in a suitable depressing button 16; while the bottom end 17 of each strip extends below the counter and is bent back as a tongue from the prongs. The tongue rojects through a slotted guide plate 18, or support thereby. Plate 18 in turn is fastened to the rear of back-plate 5. Thus, as the button 16 back of any selected counter of the hand is depressed, bottom 17 of the corresponding strip is retracted by guide 18 to withdraw the supportin prongs from that counter. It sometimes appens that the counters of a hand bridge under the aperture. Hence-to assure that a selected counter is dropped from 4the hand, each strip contains an upper prong 19 to be pushed down upon the counter as the lower prongs are wlthdrawn. n i

In order to discard a whole hand at once, each slotted guide plate 18 is extended downwardly as an elongate, resilient strip and mounted as a vertlcal leaf spring; and a gang plate 2() extendingacross the row of these counter-supporting strips is hinged for being swung against the row to push them back together, and to move the supporting prongs back with them. For swinging gan plate 20, its end is extended out through the side of casing 1 and terminates in depressing button 21.

VIn the magazine, discarded counters fall to group themselves in various relative positions by chance, and thus to shule them selves. TheyareI shuilled further by being milled around in the magazine under positive propulsion from a peripherally recessed wheel 11 at the bottom of the magazine. This wheel with horizontal axis is mounted in the plane of the passageway. .It contains shallow depressions 12 in its edge that are rotated into slight engagement with:l the them inseries around the passage to form the playing hands. For this purpose the wheel edge contains recesses 13 of suiiicient depth to receive a counter entirely. In rotation, a recess 13 conveys a counter from the magazine above and delivers it to the narrow passage below-to advance a train of counters. into the bottom passage, recess 13 is cut away at its back, as shown; and further, the lower part of passage 2 is inclined downwardly away from the wheel. Wheel 11 is rotated by a handle 14' to advance the train of playin units.

7hen the apparatus is assembled, only discarding keys 16 and 21, and handle 14 for drawing new counters, are outside the casing. The handle can be turned at any time to circulate counters in the magazine to shuffle them and to break up 'anyltendency for them to arch over the magazine outlet as well as to advance counters into a hand after a corresponding number of them is discarded. The arrangement of keys affords-positive and selective control of discarding; while all discarded counters re-arrange themselves by chance beyond any control or knowledge ofy a player. l

In playing, handle 14 is turned to advance a series of counters from magazine 7 until five of the units are exposed under aperture To facilitate release of the counter Y.

8. Their further advance is prevented by a barrier, such as at the end of the passageway above the magazine. Should discarding be desirable, anyone or more counters selected may be dropped from the hand by depressing the appropriate button 16 or the whole hand be dropped at once by depressing button 21. After one or more counters thus are removed, their places are filled by turning handle 14 to advance the series of counters until the space under the aperture again is occupied. This will push the units of a hand all toward one end, but if there are several places to be g filled, new units may be introduced one by one simply-by discontinuing turning of the handle as each place .is filled. Thus a hand is drawn by chance as vacant places are filled and discarded by choice as selected counters are ejected into the magazine.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and mode of operation of my invention, and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I `desire to have it understood that, within the lscope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically 'illustrated and described.

,40, eating with the magazine, said casing being ing units, means for moving playing units.

from the magazine into indicating position l in the courseway, and means for moving the units from the courseway into the magazine. 2. A gaine-apparatus, comprising a caslng having a pair of oppositely-disposed plates y spaced .from each other to form a chamber for a set of playing'units, barriersmounted between the plates to divide the chamber into a magazine and a courseway having unit-enltering and unit-discharging portions communicating with the magazine` the casingbeing provided with an aperture to expose a limited number of playing units, means to withdraw playing units from the magazineand to advance them in series along the courseway into aperture-exposed position,

and means for individually moving any of the exposed units from the courseway'into the magazine.

3. A game apparatus, comprising a casing having aI pair of vertically disposed plates spaced from each other to form a chamber for the passage of a series of relatively movable playing units, and barriers mounted therebetween -dividing said chamber into a magazine and a courseway having unit-entering and unit-discharging portions communiprovided with means along the courseway to expose ahand of counters, means to discard selected counters from the exposed hand into the magazine, and means comprising a peripherally-recessed wheel mounted rotatably below the magazine to advance counters along the courseway from the magazine into the hand;

4. A game apparatus, comprising a casing including a pair of oppositely-disposed plates spaced from each other to form a chamber for a set of playing units, barriers between said plates dividing said chamber into a magazine and a courseway having unit-entering and unit-discharging portions communicating with the magazine, the casing being provided with an aperture over the courseway for exposing a limited number of playing units, means for moving the units from the coursewayinto the magazine,and means for moving playing unit-s from the magazine into aperture-exposed position in the courseway, said means for withdrawing units from the magazine comprising a wheel rotatably mounted at the bottom of the magazine and -magazine toward the hand.

5.. game; apparatus, comprising a casing having a pair of vertically disposed plates spaced from each other to form a chamber for the passage of a series of relatively `movable playing units, and barriers mounted therebetween dividing said chamber into a magazine and a courseway having unitentering and unit-discharging portions coinmunicating with the magazine, said casing being provided with means along the courseway to expose a hand of counters, means to discard selected counters from the exposed hand into the magazine, and means to withdraw units from the magazine comprising a wheel rotatably mounted at the bottom of the magazine and having an edge recess suiiicientlydeep to withdraw a counter from the magazine and transfer it to the'unit-entering portion of the courseway,said recess being cut away in back and said unit-entering portion of the courseway being downwardly inclined from the wheel to facilitate release of counters into the courseway.

6. A game apparatus, comprising a casing having a pair of vertically disposed plates spaced from each otherto form a chamber for the passage of aseriesof relatively movable playing units, and barriers mounted therebetween dividing said chamber into a magazine and a courseway having unit-entering and unit-discharging portions communicating with the magazine, said casing being provided with means along the courseway to expose a hand of counters, means to discard selected counters from the exposed hand into the magazine, and means comprising a peripherally-recessed wheel mounted rotatably below the magazine to advance counters along the courseway from the magazine into the hand, said means to expose a hand of counters being disposed over the courseway at the top of the magazine, and said means to discard counters from the exposed hand into the magazine comprising separate supporting elements under each counter of the hand and corresponding separate key-links mounted movably in the casing for withdrawing the supporting element from under any corresponding counter. t

7. A game apparatus, comprising a casing having a pair of vertically disposed plates spaced from each other to form a chamber for the passage of a series of relatively movable playing units, and barriers mounted ltherebetween dividing said chamber into a provided with means alongthe courseway to expose a hand of counters,means to discard selected counters from the exposed hand into the magazine, means comprising a peripherally-recessed wheel mounted rotatably below the magazine to advance counters along the courseway from the magazine into' the hand, said aperture being disposed over the courseway at the top of the magazine, and said means to discard counters from the eX- posed hand into the magazine comprising pairs of supporting prongs under each lcounter of the hand and key-links mounted through the casing 'for individual movement and having inclined tongues secured to the respective prongs, and slotted guide members ,mounted to engage theinclined tongues for withdrawing any counter support as its keylink is depressed.

8. A game apparatus, comprising a casing i having a pair of vertically disposed plates spaced from each other to form a chamber for the passage of a series of relatively movable playing units, and barriers mounted therebetween dividing said chamber into a magazine and a courseway having a unitentering and unit-discharging portions communicating with the magazine, said casing being provided withmeans along the courseway to expose a hand of counters, means to discard selected counters from the exposedl hand into the magazine, means comprising a 'l peripherally-recessed wheel vmounted rotatably below themagazine to advance counters along the coursewayfrom the magazine into the hand, said aperture being disposed over the courseway at the top of the magazine, and

said means to `discard counters from the exposed hand into the magazine comprising separate pairs of supporting prongs under each counter of the hand and separate keylinks mounted through the casing for individual movement Vand having inclined tongues secured tothe respectiveprongs, and

slotted guide members mounted to engage the inclined tongues for withdrawing any counter support as its key-link is depressed, said 'slotted guide members being resiliently mounted in the casing, and a. gang-plate extending across all the slotted guide membersand mounted for forcing all the guide members' and supporting prongs back together to d1scard a whole hand at once. .Y

In testimony whereof, I sign m name.

THEODORE` H.. LOAN.

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