US561786A - Apparatus for playing duplicate whist - Google Patents

Description

(no Model.)

L. W. HEATH.

' APPARATUS FOR PLAYING DUPLICATE WHIST.

No. 561,786. Patented June 9, 1896.

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71 ATTORNEY.-

UNITED STATES PATENT Fries,-

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING DUPLICATE WHIST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 561,786, dated June 9, 1896. Application filed December 11, 1895. {Serial 1%. 571,771. (No model.)

To (all whom may concern: H

Be it known that I, LEWIS \V. HEATH, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new an d useful Apparatus for Playing Du plicate W'hist, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a new and useful apparatus designed for playing the game of duplicate whist,and the same consists,in combination with raised strips, of a metallic spring secured thereto, with free ends adapted to hold the cards and retain them in place in the card-holder.

It also refers to a card-holder for holding the cards to be used in playing duplicate 'whist, the same being composed of two wings or parts hinged together, so that when the cards are in place it may be folded so as to have the appearance of an ordinary book, and can be opened so as to present a plain upper surface which sustains the cards in position.

It also consists in an apparatus or holder for cards in playing duplicate whist made in two parts and hinged together, having the required number placed on the back side, so as to be entirely concealed when the leaves are opened and to be disclosed to view when the leaves are closed.

The objects of my invention are, first, to furnish a convenient method of securing the cards in position upon the holder by means of metallic springs having sufficient resiliency to enable the user to place the cards in position and sufficient strength to retain them securely in place when put into the holder; second, in a holder constructed in two parts hinged together so asto be folded or shut like an ordinary book, so that the holder when closed and placed in the case has the appearance of a simulated book and discloses its corresponding number on what appears to be the back of the book; third, in having the requisite number of the set placed upon the back so as to'be entirely concealed from view when the holder is open in readiness for use, and, fourth, in the details of construction hereinafter described.

The outfit for playing duplicate whist by m y method preferably consists of, first, decks of ordinary playing-cards, as many decks as will make a game last a moderate length of time, provided the number is a multiple of four 3 second, a series of holders, which are hereinafter described, as many in number as there are decks of playing-cards, and consequently numbered on the edges so as to be entirely concealed when opened; third, thirteen counters such as are in familiar use at card-tables, and, fourth, a score-sheet.

The holders being numbered and all being constructed substantially alike, one of them is a sample of all, and therefore the description of one will be sufficient.

In order to assist in the description, I have provided three figures of drawings, in which Figure l is a plan view of my newly-invented card-holder opened in place to receive the cards on its upper side, one of the spaces being filled with cards. Fig. 2 is a perspcctive view of one of the holders closed into the form of a book, showing the back of the book with the number of the holder; and Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line X X of Fig. 1.

Simila-rletters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A A represent the two wings or leaves of the card-holder, the same being hinged together by means of the hingesG G, said hinges G G being constructed in the ordinary manner and being attached to the longitudinal strips B B, which longitudinal strips are secured by glue or other suitable means to the inner edges of the wings A A.

In the example of my invention shown in the drawings 1 have shown an ordinary butthinge; but any form of hinge may be used, the same being preferably placed so that when the wings are folded together they will not appear on the back side or what simulates the back part of the book.

E E are transverse strips glued or otherwise suitably attached, one to each wing, as shown in Fig. 1, and adapted to raise the springs D D a sufficient distance above the face of the wings A A to allow the cards to be slipped under the springs and thereby retained in position.

The springs D D are made of metal, preferably aflat piece, and secured at their centers to the cross-strips E, one to each strip. The free ends of the springs are preferably turned up slightly in order to facilitate the insertion of the cards beneath the springs. Thcse springs may be attached to the crosspiece E by means of a rivet, a screw, or any well-known means.

In Fig. l I have shown a package of cards I placed beneath one end of the spring D in 01 der to show the relative position of the cards to the spring when the holder is used to retain the cards in position. The height of the strip E should be, preferably, about that of one-fourth, of an ordinary pack of cards, so that when the cards are placed in position the spring D will be substantially parallel with the face of the transverse strips E. At one end of one of the strips E, I place a letter N or a star or any other suitable means to designate what in duplicate whistis usually called north. At the left of the point In irked North is placed, preferably upon the spring D, the Word Lead, in order to show in which direction the lead is to begin, the other holders to be each provided with a similar mark indicating where the lead begins.

In playing what is ordinarily known as the original hands the cardholders might well be placed upon the card-table so that the dosignator will point toward the north. Thus placed the strip E of the frame, which, as

ign in north, and which I have called the design rting-arm, will in a series of any number of hands played be situated at the north.

In the holders numbered on the back side, as above described, 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17, the said des gnating-word Lead will lie to the cast; but in the holders numbered 2, 6, 10, 14, and 18 the said designating-word Lead will lie to the south. In the holders numbered 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19 the said designatingword Lead will lie to the west, and in the holders numbered 4:, 8, 12, 16, and 20 the said designating-word Lead will lie to the north.

The game of duplicate whist is now so Well understood that its method need not here be pointed out in greater detail.

When four persons are playing as partners at the table, a holder constructed in accordance with my invention is placed in the center so that the designating-strip points to the north. The dealer is the person facing the designating-arm, and the leader will be the person next to him at his left in whist order. The cards of each player are played immediately in front of him. The cards of each trick are face downward when the trick is completed, and the partners score to themselves one for each trick taken. hen the hand is finished, the fifty-two cards of the deck lie in four packages before each player, facing downward. Each player places his own package on the holder at his right heneath the free end of the spring, and the holder is thus furnished with its four packages, returned to the case reversed or laid al ove stated, is provided with a mark to desaside. Like play proceeds as to the other packages and as to the otherholders intended to be used, so that when the origii vl play ends each of the twenty (more or le holdore is furnished with four packages of cards at rest in the four positions beneath the four free ends of the springs, each pacl :ge being the separate thirteen cards which each player has played in his hand. All theholders may then be placed in the casein 1 everse order. At the end of each hand a so re-card is used, and in the vertical column, headed Original play, in the line corresponding in number with the number found on the back of the holders when closed, is entered the number of tricks which each side took. The card which was the trump in each hand must of course be preserved. This may be done either by facing that card difierently from its fellows or by writing the suit and size of the trump-card upon a separate card and slip ping it in the hand where the trump-card lies, or by prior agreement that a certain suit shall be trump during the entire game.

In practice I desire to have a case simulating a small bookcase and adapted to receive the number of holders to be used-say twenty, in which case when these holders are folded and placed in it, it would simulate a small bookcase having twenty volumes of small books, and instead of p ling the holders in a pile they may be folded and placed in the case, the back first, so that nothing but the edges or fronts of the simulated book can be seen, thereby concealing e t rely the numbers on the back of the holders. r r r r i i The duplicate play is thus n n god, it be ing premised that the player 1 wintain the same position at the table which they occu* pied in the original play: Any one of the card-supplied holders is taken from the case and placed upon the table with the designating-strip pointing not to the north, but to the east, or, if preferred, indifferently to the east or the west. By this means the cards which the north and south players use in the original play are shifted one-quarter of a circle around the table and fall to their opponents, and the cards which the east and west players use in the original play are shifted onequarter of a circle around the table and fall to their opponents. There is of course no dealer on the duplicate play; but the person corresponding to the dealer is the one sitting to the left of the original dealer, and the leader is the player sitting next to him to the left.

During the duplicate play, as there is no longer any need of preserving the integrity of the several players packets, the holders may be laid aside after each player has removed from the holder in front of him the packet therein contained, or the cards may be returned to the holder. Such removal takes place, of course, hand by hand as each hand The cards are then placed in the is ended.

or returned to the holders. the counters may be in ordinary whist, On the duplicate play dispensed with and the tricks counted, or

counted with the counters originally used. The number of tricks made by each side is entered on the scorecard in a vertical column which may be headed Duplicate play.

Care should be taken in removing the cards from the holders not to examine the number on the back side of the holder until the hand has been played through. In my device it is not easy to examine the number, for the reason that it is entirely concealed as long as the holderis open. Any device should be avoided which might assist the player in remembering any card which has fallen or unusual play made in the original hands. When all the holders have been played through, a footing of the scorecard will indicate the winner, it now being evident that luck has been eliminated, for each team of two players has played the same cards which their adversaries had previously played.

lIavin g thus described my invention, what I claim to have invented, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a card-holder for playing duplicate whist,the combination with the holderproper, of a transverse strip approximately the thickness of thirteen cards secured to the face of the holder, and a metallic spring, attached instrip and adapted termediate its ends to said with its free ends to clamp packages of cards to said holder, substantially as described.

2. In a card-holder for playing duplicate whist, the combination of two wings hinged together and adapted to be folded to simulate a book and provided on the back with a mark to designate its number so that when opened the mark will be concealed, atransverse strip approximately the thickness of thirteen cards attached to the face of each wing, a metallic spring secured intermediate its ends to said strip and at right angles thereto and adapted with its free ends to clamp packages of cards to said holder, substantially as described.

3. In a card-holder for playing duplicate whist, the combination of two wings A hinged together, the longitudinal strips 13 each approximately the thickness of thirteen cards attached to the adjacent edges of said wings, hinges O secured to said strips, transverse strips E attached centrally to the faces of said wings, a metallic spring secured intermediate its ends to each of said strips E and at right angles thereto, said springs being adapted with their free ends to clamp packages of cards to said holder, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the presence of two witnesses.

LEIVIS IV. HEATH. [n s] lVitnesses EDWARD Taeenn'r, CHRISTOPHER HONDELINK.

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