Automatic card shuffler
First Claim
1. An automatic shuffling device for playing cards comprisinga housing defining at least two wells for receiving two stacks of playing cards,a first electrically operated means to extract cards from said wells, andan electrical controller to randomly actuate said first electrically operated means so as to randomly select cards from the wells and thereby randomly intermix the cards as they are extracted from said wells.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic card shuffler comprising a housing with at least two wells to receive two reserve stacks of playing cards to be intermixed and presented to a dealer one at a time. First extractor is provided to select, remove and intermix in a random sequence the bottommost card from each stack and to deliver the intermixed cards to a storage compartment or reservoir. A second extractor is provided to sequentially remove the bottommost card from the storage compartment or reservoir and to deliver it to a shoe having a dispensing compartment from which the dealer may take the card for presentation to the players. A sensor is used for determining the approximate number of cards in at least one of the wells and for determining the presence or absence of a card from the dispensing compartment. An electronic controller comprising a clock oscillator driving a binary counter and decoder is provided for randomly actuating the first extractor to randomly select and remove cards from the wells and thereby randomly intermix the cards as they are delivered to the storage compartment or reservoir.
316 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An automatic shuffling device for playing cards comprising
a housing defining at least two wells for receiving two stacks of playing cards, a first electrically operated means to extract cards from said wells, and an electrical controller to randomly actuate said first electrically operated means so as to randomly select cards from the wells and thereby randomly intermix the cards as they are extracted from said wells.
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8. An automatic shuffling device for playing cards comprising
a first well for receiving cards, a second well for receiving cards, a storage compartment for receiving cards from said wells, a first means for extracting a predetermined number of cards from said first well and transporting the extracted card or cards to said storage compartment, a second means for extracting a predetermined number of cards from said second well and transporting the extracted card or cards to said storage compartment, random signal generator means for operating said first and second extracting means in a random sequence for randomly loading cards into said storage compartment, and means for delivering cards from said storage compartment to a dealer.
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11. An automatic shuffling device for playing cards, comprising
a first well for receiving cards, a second well for receiving cards, a storage compartment for receiving cards from said first and second wells, a dispensing compartment for receiving one card at a time from said storage compartment, a first means for extracting a predetermined number of cards from said first well and transporting the extracted card or cards to said storage compartment, a second means for extracting a predetermined number of cards from said second well and transporting the extracted card or cards to said storage compartment, a third means for extracting a card from said storage compartment and delivering it to said dispensing compartment, a first means for sensing the presence of a card in said dispensing compartment, a second means for sensing the presence of a predetermined number of cards in said second well, an initial load timer circuit means for operation of said first extraction means to load a predetermined number of cards from said first well into said storage compartment, a random signal generator means operable in response to the output of said second sensing means for randomly sequencing the operation of said first and second extracting means to randomly load cards into said storage compartment, and a circuit means responsive to the output of said first sensing means for operating said third extracting means to transfer one card at a time to said dispensing compartment.
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18. An automatic shuffling device for playing cards comprising
wall means defining a first well for a first stack of cards and a second well for a second stack of cards, a first continuously operated electro-mechanical means movable from a first position out of engagement with the bottommost card in said first well to a second position in engagement therewith for extraction thereof, a second continuously operated electro-mechanical means movable from a first position out of engagement with the bottommost card in said second well to a second position in engagement therewith for extraction thereof. said first and second electro-mechanical means being disposed below said wells, said wall means also defining openings through which said first and second electro-mechanical means may engage the bottommost cards in the two stacks of cards for extraction thereof, and an electrical controller to randomly signal said first and second electro-mechanical means for movement into and out of engagement with the bottommost cards of the two stacks of cards so as to randomly extract and intermix the cards.
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23. An automatic shuffling device for playing cards comprising
wall means defining a first well for a first stack of cards and a second well for a second stack of cards, a first continuously operated electro-mechanical means randomly movable from a first position out of engagement with the bottommost card in said first well to a second position in engagement therewith for extraction thereof, a second continuously operated electro-mechanical means randomly movable from a first position out of engagement with the bottommost card in said second well to a second position in engagement therewith for extraction thereof, said first and second electro-mechanical means being disposed below said wells, and said wall means also defining openings through which said first and second electro-mechanical means may engage the bottommost cards in the two stacks of cards for extraction thereof.
Specification