Automatic shuffling apparatus
First Claim
1. An apparatus for continuously shuffling playing cards comprising a container for receiving playing cards to be shuffled, rotatably mounted storage means having a plurality of radially arranged spaces for individually storing shuffled playing cards, a stationary outer shell enclosing said storage means and having first and second openings each arranged in alignment with one of said spaces, shuffling means for randomly inserting through said first opening in said outer shell said playing cards in said container into empty spaces in said storage means, a dealing shoe for receiving said shuffled playing cards from said storage means, and supplying means for randomly supplying said shuffled playing cards from filled spaces in said storage means through said second opening in said outer shell to said dealing shoe.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for the continous shuffling of discarded playing cards is disclosed which greatly reduces the dead time caused by the casino dealer having to manually shuffle four to six decks of playing cards, in addition, to virtually eliminating a participant from using the technique known as card counting while playing the game of blackjack. The shuffling apparatus continuously intermixes the discarded playing cards into the undealt decks during game play under the program control of a computer. An addressable storage device, i.e., a carousel, for storing the shuffled playing cards in radially arranged spaces during game play is provided. The computer generates random card selection from the spaces of the storage device for replenishing dealing shoe storage on a one-for-one basis and generates random selection of empty spaces in the storage device for generating the shuffling sequence in inserting discarded playing cards therein.
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Citations
18 Claims
- 1. An apparatus for continuously shuffling playing cards comprising a container for receiving playing cards to be shuffled, rotatably mounted storage means having a plurality of radially arranged spaces for individually storing shuffled playing cards, a stationary outer shell enclosing said storage means and having first and second openings each arranged in alignment with one of said spaces, shuffling means for randomly inserting through said first opening in said outer shell said playing cards in said container into empty spaces in said storage means, a dealing shoe for receiving said shuffled playing cards from said storage means, and supplying means for randomly supplying said shuffled playing cards from filled spaces in said storage means through said second opening in said outer shell to said dealing shoe.
- 9. An automatic apparatus for the continuous shuffling of playing cards comprising a container for receiving discarded playing cards to be shuffled, said container having an exit opening through which said discarded playing cards may be individually removed, a storage device having a plurality of radially arranged individually addressable spaces for storing said shuffled playing cards, a stationary outer shell enclosing said storage device, said outer shell having a first opening in alignment with said exit opening of said container for receiving said discarded playing cards from said container and a second opening through which said shuffled playing cards are individually ejected, shuffling means for randomly inserting said discarded playing cards in said container into said shuffled playing cards in said storage device, said shuffling means including removing means for removing said discarded playing cards from said container through said exit opening and inserting means for inserting the removed playing cards into selected empty spaces of said storage device through said first opening in said outer shell, a dealing shoe for receiving said shuffled playing cards from filled spaces in said storage device to be dealt therefrom, supplying means for supplying said shuffled playing cards from said storage device to said dealing shoe, said supplying means including ejecting means for individually ejecting said shuffled playing cards through said second opening of said storage device and inserting means for inserting the ejected shuffled playing cards into said dealing shoe, and control means for controlling the operation of said shuffling and supplying means, wherein the addresses of said spaces are maintained by said control means.
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17. A playing card dispenser comprising in combination:
- a rotatably mounted storage means having a plurality of compartments for holding said playing cards, a stationary outer shell enclosing said storage means and having first and second openings each arranged in alignment with one of said compartments, first means for randomly inserting discards into selected ones of said compartments through said first opening in said outer shell, and second means for randomly extracting cards to be dealt from said selected compartments through said second opening in said outer shell, whereby said playing cards are effectively being shuffled continuously by the random insertion or extraction from said storage means.
- View Dependent Claims (18)
Specification