US609730A - Joseph booth - Google Patents

Description

No. 609,730. Patented Aug. 23, I898. J. BOOTH.

APPARATUS FOR SHUFFLING CARDS.

(Application filed Nov. 5, 1897.)

(No Model.)

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JOSEPH BOOTH, OF NEYV YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR SHUFFLING CARDS;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 609,730, dated August 23; 1898.

Application filed November 5, 1897- Serial No. 657,530. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH BOOTH, of New York, (Brooklyn,) in the county of Kings and State of New'York, have invented a new and Improved Apparatusfor ShuftlingCards, of which the following is a specification.

I have devised an apparatus for shuffiing playing-cards automatically and filed an application for Letters Patent therefor, Serial No. (501,800. In such apparatus the pack of cards to be shuttled is placed vertically in the mouth of the casing containing the operative mechanism and allowed to fall through guide passages or chutes upon a series of horizontal1y-movable supports in the nature of tapered fingers,which being retracted the cards fall off therefrom into a receptacle below, whereby they become intermixed. My present invention is an important improvement in the form and construction of such card supports or fingers, whereby the shuffling or intermixing of cards is performed much more reliably and thoroughly.

The details of construction, arrangement, and operation are as hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is another vertical section of the upper portion of the apparatus, but in a plane at right angles to the first. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3 3 of Fig. 4.. Fig. A is a vertical section of the upper portion of the apparatus, cards being shown deposited therein and resting on the movable supports or fingers. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of my improved card-supporting fingers.

The body A of the apparatus (see Fig. 1) is a vertical casing, preferably constructed of thin sheet metal, and has a duly ornamental contour. The cards .to be shuflied are introduced through the narrow top a of this casing and delivered to the interior shuffling mechanism proper, which in turn delivers them shuffled into a cavity 19, Fig. 1, in the bottom portion or base of the casing, whence they may be removed manually.

The upper portion of the casing A is provided interiorly with vertical guideways for cards, the same being formed by narrow strips or partitions c c, which are attachedpreferably soldered-to and extend lengthwise of two diametrically opposite side walls dfl.

The shufiiing mechanism proper is located below the card-guideways thus formed, and consists of a slidable device Band springgear 0 for moving it in one direction. The principal portion of said deviceB (see Fig. 2) is a horizontal bar a, having a series of rigid tapered or pointed fingers f, by which the cards are divided and separated, as hereinafter described.

A rack-bar g projects from one end of bar 6 and meshes with a pinion h, keyed on the motor-shaft of the spring-gear or. clockwork (1-, that is affixed to one side of the casing A. The rack-bar g is held in such engagement by a slotted guide 2'.

A rod j is also attached to the bar 6 and works in a guide-tube 71",, fixed in the casing, which tube 70 has a disk Z on its outer end, and the outer end of the rod j is provided with a disk or button Z to facilitate operating it.

So far as described the invention is similar to that constituting the subject of my aforesaid application for Letters Patent.

The present improvement relates to the card supports or fingers f, whose construction and operation are asfollows: They are symmetrically tapered andfattached to the nar row strip e, having rounded notches in its upper edge n, as in' my former invention. They are inclined slightly downward from base to point and have a fiat plane or bottom and vertical side flanges whose upper edges are serrated or toothed. These are their chief novel features or characteristics.

The operation is as follows: When the fingers are pushed in, asshown'in Figs. 3 and 4, the cards to be shuffled are introduced and, being divided into groups by the guides 0, descend through the several passages or chutes until arrested by the strip e, inwhose con cavities or notches they temporarily rest. Then, the separator being released, the spring causes automatic retraction of the same, whereby the cards a: slide, first, off from the strip upon the adjacent fingers, whence they are successively discharged. The rounded corners of the cards alone come into contact with and rest on the flat bottoms of the fingers, and hence there can be but little friction in their further sliding movement. Furthermore, all the cards being supported evenly or in the same plane, none projecting above another, and being also restrained by the lateral serrated flanges, they do not fall ofi on oppo-. site sides of the fingers irregularly, or by twos and threes, and so on, as in my original application, but one by one, in regular succession, so that they are delivered well inter mixed or shuffled in the receptacle at the base of the apparatus.

In further explanation of the operation I will state that as the fingers are slowly retracted the cards have, necessarily, a slo w downward movement on the smooth inclined planes of the fingers, and as the finely-serthe flange-teeth and slide thereon until they become clear of the same, when, beingno longer supported, they fall off the sides of the 1 fingers. So in regular succession the outside cards of each group supported by a particular finger fall off the latter at its sides, being thus automatically picked oi, as it were, as

surely as could be done by a dealer manually. Thus by a simple but highly efficient device cards may be shuffled more thoroughly than is usually done in shuffling by hand.

What I claim is 1. In an apparatus for shuffling playingcards, a horizontally-movable device and a card-supporting finger which is tapered and inclined from base to point,.and provided with a fiat bottom, substantially as and for the purpose stated.

2. In an apparatus for shuffling playingcards, a horizontally-movable device and a card-supporting finger which is attached thereto and made tapered and provided with toothed side flanges, substantially as shown and described.

3. In an apparatus for shufiling playingcards, a horizontally-movable device and a card-supporting finger attached thereto, the same being tapered, and inclined downward from base to point, and having a flat bottom and toothed side flanges, substantially as shown and described.

4. In an apparatus for shufiiing playing-- cards, a horizontally-movable device and a card-supporting finger attached thereto, the same being tapered, and inclined downward from base to point, and having a flat bottom, and narrow upright flanges extending along the sides, substantially as described.

5. As an improved art of manufacture, the card-separating device composed of a vertical base-strip, and one or more fingers which are tapered, inclined, and have a Hat bottom, and toothed. upright flanges at the edges of the bottom, substantially as described.

JOSEPH BOOTH.

Witnesses: q

- ARTHUR COPELAND GOODYER,

ALLAN STA-RR BOOTH.

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