US2742292A - Playing card holder, assorting and displaying device - Google Patents

Description

April 17, 1956 c. e. MODONOUGH PLAYING CARD HOLDER, ASSORTING AND DISPLAYING DEVICE Filed Sept. 13, 1952 INVENTOR. CHfl/FLEJG ff flozwum United States Patent This invention relates to a device for holding playing cards of individual players, and the general object is to facilitate the holding arrangement and playing of the cards particularly in games in which a largenumber of cards are dealt to the players, and in'thecourse of play an individual player may be in possession of a considerably larger numberof cardsthan originally dealt. to him More specifically, my device is intendodwfor use in supporting, asserting and'arranging and holding the cards of individual players in games using two, three or even more fifty-two card decks in a game for two, three, four ormore players. In such games .one player-may and frequently does win and pick up a pack or kitty? of temporary discards, putting the player in possession of thirty, fifty or even more cards. It, therefore, becomes very desirable to provide a device into which the cards may be temporarily mounted with their indicia exposed to the player "only, and in which they may be COnVB-.

iently shifted and arranged or assorted into groups, melds, series, or other desired order.- c

,To provide such a device which may be useful and efficient involves the holding of aplur-ality of layers of cards heldby their lower ends, while exposing the upper ends and in parallel rows with the upper; indicia readily visible, but only to theproper player.

Mechanical expediency has proved; that certain widths and progressively lesser depths of holding supports, having ahorizontal bottom and substantially parallel SPfiCed apart side walls, should also include intervening surfaces with an edge curving or sloping downwardly to facilitate the insertion of the cards. i

It is also desirable that while the device shall not be too long for convenient handling, it should permit the cards to stand projecting from'the ends or to be removed ehdwise as well as vertically.

A device of 'this nature, such as has been proven very satisfactory for use in'playing a three deck game known as "samba, provides a holder approximately seven inches long with three parallel holding and supporting elements, adapted to display one upper corner indicium of as many as twenty-one cards in'each row, the rows being at relatively different heights, and the cards sloping with relation to the position of the players, such as to afford convenient simultaneous inspection of all of the cards a so held.

In the drawings, which show such a preferred, em

bodiment of my invention,

Fig.1 is a. perspective view fthe front and one end of my card-holding anddisplaying'device, Showing some.

cards nv position therein, the latter being illustrated in.

broken lines; I

Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view of, the back of the same device; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section showing cards in P s n n e h of e ho ding el m n s. and indicating in broken lines the change in vertical angle. of card position of a single card, as, compared to the more up;.

right position of a plurality of contiguous cards shown in solid lines and also indicating the angle of vision of,

the middle and rear rows of cards,

It will be seen thata substantially continuous sheet extends from front to back forming the parallelgsepa;

rated and connecting walls for the holding elements, and

extending downwardly and rearwardly at the back for;

support and stability. End walls may or may not be u ed, as will pr s n ly ppe Describing the device by the use of; reference numerals,:

at the fron is an upright, substantially vertical wall porion 1 pr f ably ha ng a fo a y p j ing and.

curved e g P r i n ,At the ow r e ge th wal lis integrally connected with a horizontal substantially flat; bottom strip 3 from which the integral upwardly; extending rear wall 4 of the front holding element extends upwardly to asubstantially equal height withthe upper edge 2 of the front wall. At the upper edge the wall 4 is connected with a horizontal portion 5 extending rearwardly and curved as at; 6 and then downwardly forming a wall portion 7,-corresponding tothe wall 1 for the I at a square corner with a substantially flat portion ll} ing added strength may be considered to contribute to;

Physical and sales problems involve so designing and constructing such a device that it may be light, sturdy, extremely cheaply manufactured, of pleasing appearance, as well as the foregoing and other conveniences .g an her fia or h ri on al t p p i n. 15-. I tegral with. the top portion 15 may be formed a. rear wall which in ermediate car l i ement having a flat bot om 8 and a vertical wall 9; The wall 9, in turn, is connected which, like the portion 5, is joined by the curve 11 with he wa l p r an wh n turn, gain. co nects with a fiat bottom strip 13 integral with another back, Wall 14 extending upwardly to a square corner jo in Y for appearance and stability may slope rearwardly.

As shown, the rear Wall is preferably cut away having short end, Port s 1, extending o h suppor ing surface and having inwardly curv'ed portions 17 leaving a.

substantial open space which has the useful purpose of omitting andthus economizing on th plastic material.

End walls 20 mayextend between the walls 4 and 7',

9 n an 14 nd 1. whi h in ad ition to afford:

the-neat. appearance of the device. In any event; wheth r hese nds walls re used or the vertical hol ing spacesabove each of the. bottom walls, 3, 8 and 13 are nease that cards. may heinser ed orremoved end-- wise or may project outwardly somewhat while intheii'z assorted position, thus, in effect, actually lengthening the row of cards which each holding space is capable of receiving.

In use the device is supported essentially on the front bottom holder wall 3, and the lower edges of the rear wall portions 16. If the end walls 20 are used, their lower edges may also contact the supporting surface, if desired. a

It will be noted in the drawing that the front holding space above the supporting strip 3 is deeper than the other two, the middle one above the supporting strip 3 being preferably of a height about midway between the still higher strip 13 and the front strip 3. In other words, the depth of the holding spaces is progressively less from the deepest front space to that of the shorter vertical depth of the rear space.

In practice' experience has proven that the depth of the rear space should be about one-fifth of the height supporting strip 8 to permit a reasonably short person sitting in an ordinary chair to see over cards in the middle row and easily read the indicia exposed in the upper corners of cards in the rear row. The same ratio requires'that the second or middle row be correspondingly above the top of the cards in the front. row supported on the strip 3, and thus to get the proper and important relative heights of the cards in the several rows, the front holding space must be substantially half again as deep as the rear space.

The angles of the cards in the spaces is, of course, determined by the space between the substantially vertical walls of the spaces, and, obviously, a single card will stand at a more rearward slope than will a group of cards, say, five or seven, arranged to expose only the indicia and forming the thickness of the number in the group.

Thus, in Fig. 3, I have illustrated at C in broken lines the angle of a single card in the rear holding space, and at C the angle of the single card in the middle space, while at C the angle is somewhat less in the deeper front holding space, the cards being indicated in solid lines in a plurality of more upright groups, designated C. An illustrative angle of sight is indicated in broken line arroWsS in Fig. 3.

A group of cards C is shown in Fig. 1 having indicia I. The height of the front wall 1 and its rounded and inwardly curved edge 2 is preferably even with the tops of the other holding spaces. This adds to the convenience of placing the cards in the front as Well as the other spaces with substantially the same kindof motion, and has the added advantage of preventing the cards being tipped forwardly inadvertently while sorting or arranging cards in the middle row.

The distance or spacing between the rows of cards is determined by two factors; namely, the amount of material of which the holder is made must be held to a minimum, and it is desirable to make it narrow; second, the distance between the rows should be sufficient only to permit easy insertion of the fingers between the rows of cards. Thus, all of the rows may be close to the player and not likely to be disclosed to opponents.

In actual practice I have found the most useful and convenient spacing and dimension to be approximately as follows:

The holding spaces are preferably less than an inch apart, center to center, allowing five-eighths to threefourths of an inch of finger space between the rows as the cards stand in the spaces.

The height of the front space is preferably slightly less than one and one-quarter inches. The depth of the second and third spaces may be approximately one inch and three-quarters to seven-eighths of an inch, respectively.

For convenience in molding the walls of the respective holding spaces should flare slightly, and the width at the bottom of the holding spaces may be about five-thirtyseconds of an inch. The width of the shallower rear holding space is preferably one-thirty-second of an inch narrower at the top than the other two spaces.

The length of the device is preferably approximately seven inches, which, as stated, may hold twenty-one cards withtheir indicia readily visible, although the cards may then project slightly from either end of the holding space. a

These dimensions, of course, are illustrative only, and may be varied slightly While attaining the results and objectives stated.

For further economy of the expensive thermo-plastic material, openings (indicated at 25 in broken lines) may be formed in the horizontal surfaces, and the walls are, of course, made as thin as is possible consistent with the required strength.

There may be any number of such openings, but their formation should be such as not to permit entry of the cards and thus interfere with sliding the edges of the cards toward the receiving space.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is:

A card-holding device of the character described, comprising a unitary rigid thin sheetshaped to form three vertical card supporting spaces, each space-forming portion comprising a flat narrow bottom strip and substantially parallel slightly diverging upright walls connected between the first and second and the second and third card-holding space by substantially fiat surfaces, and the sheet being extended beyond the rearmost card-holding Wall surface and downwardly to form a support positioning the bottom strips of the several card-holding spaces at progressively different heights, the substantially flat surface portions being curved to meet an upright wall and on a radius substantially equal in Width to that of the card-holding space, the walls of the front card-holding space being approximately one and one-quarter inches deep, the walls of the second card-holding space being approximately one inch or slightly more in height, and the walls of the rearmost card-holding space being approximately seven-eighths of an inch or more in height, and the width of the bottom strips of all the spaces being approximately five-thirty-seconds of an inch, while the walls forming the rearmost shallow space are slightly closer together at the top than the corresponding walls forming the other spaces, and the card-holding spaces are substantially three-quarters of an inch apart.

References Cited in the file of this patent I UNITED STATES PATENTS Trollen Feb. 22,

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