GB2383323A

GB2383323A - Playing card holder security assemblies

Info

Publication number: GB2383323A
Application number: GB0130581A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lorenzo Bacchi
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-12-21
Filing date: 2001-12-21
Publication date: 2003-06-25
Anticipated expiration: 2021-12-21
Also published as: GB0130581D0; GB2383323B

Abstract

A playing card holder security assembly includes a holder (102) with parts of two adjacent sides (112, 110) and roof (114) being cut away to provide an opening through which a stack of cards can be introduced into the holder and withdrawn there from. A hood (202) has complementary walls and roof (206 to 214) to the holder (102) but is sized just slightly larger, so that the hood (202) and holder (102) can be telescoped together. The hood (202) and holder (102) can be telescoped together in two relative orientations; one in which the openings in the hood (202) and holder (102) are aligned and another in which the walls and roof of the hood (202) close the opening of the holder (102). A lock (220) allows the hood (202) and the holder (102) to be locked to one another when fully telescoped together in either of the two relative orientations.

Description

PLAYING CARD HOLDER SECURITY ASSEMBLIES The present invention relates to playing card holders, for holding discarded cards for example, for gaming tables such as are used in casinos.

With card games like black jack or other games where a discarded card holder is required, the card dealer with shuffle up to five packs of cards and stack them in a card shoe. The dealer then draws cards from the shoe one by one and allocates them as required.

At the end of every hand, the distributed cards are collected and deposited in the discard card holder. The process is repeated until the shoe is empty at which point the cards in the discard holder are removed, shuffled and returned to the shoe.

The problem with this arrangement is that when the session is at an end, and/or the dealer wants to leave the table, he must clear the cards from the shoe and the card holder and secure them in a safe location to prevent any unauthorised individual having access to the cards and marking or otherwise interfering with them. Taking the cards away from the table and securing them in a safe location is time consuming and also engenders in the public a suspicion that they may have been tampered with. It is preferred, if possible, for the public to have sight of the cards from the moment they are broken out of a new pack until they are thrown away after a predetermined penod of use or a predetermined number of sessions.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved playing card holder security assembly.

According to the present invention there is provided a playing card holder security assembly comprising a holder of generally three dimensional rectangular configuration in which portions of two adjacent sides and a roof are cut away to define an opening of sufficient size to accommodate a stack of playing cards to retain the cards therein in stacked formation and into which individual cards or groups of cards can be deposited, a hood having a roof and walls of complementary configuration to the holder which in a first orientation, relative to the holder, can telescopically engage the holder with the openings in the holder and hood aligned and in a second orientation, relative to the holder, can telescopically engage the holder with the walls and roof of the hood closing the opening in the holder, and locking means for locking the hood to the holder when the two are fully telescoped together in the second orientation of the hood.

A playing card holder security assembly will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a playing card holder; Figure 2 is a plan view of the holder of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front elevation of the holder of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a side elevation of the holder of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a perspective view of the assembly being assembled into a position in which access to the cards is opened; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the assembly being assembled into a position in which access to the cards is inhibited; and Figure 7 is a fragmentary view to an enlarged scale of a locking device of the

assembly.

Figure 1 shows a playing card holder 2 having a rectangular base 4 which is secured to the card table by means (not shown). The base 4 is slightly larger than the size of a playing card. The base 4 supports a housing consisting of four walls 6,8, 10,12 of equal thickness each rising upwardly from a corresponding one of four sides of the base and a roof 14 bridging all four walls. The rear wall 6 and one side wall 8 extend the full length of their corresponding sides of the base 4 while the other side wall 12 and the front wall 10 only run along a short part of the corresponding sides of the base 4.

The result is that the housing has the appearance of a rectangular box which has been sliced away, along a vertical plane extending parallel to the vertical plane containing the diagonal of the box but spaced slightly there from. The resulting opening allows cards to be placed inside the holder 2 in stacked formation and removed there from as required.

The assembly shown in Figure 5 includes a playing card holder 102 as shown in Figure 1 but in which an oval slot 216 has been cut in the roof 114. Parts in Figure 5 similar to those in Figure 1 are similarly referenced but with an additional 100.

One of the two centres of the oval slot 216 is located in the centre of the roof 114.

The assembly includes a hood 202 which is of similar configuration to the holder 2 but without a base and has slightly larger dimensions than the holder 102. Parts of the hood 202 similar to those of the holder 102 are similarly referenced but with an additional 200.

As can be seen from the four walls 206,208, 210 and 212 of the hood 202 are higher than those of the holder 102 by just in excess the thickness of the roof of the holder 102. The length of the walls 206 and 208 are longer than those of the corresponding walls 106,108 of the holder 102 by just in excess of twice thickness of the walls of the holder 102, while the length of the walls 210 and 212 are longer than those of the corresponding walls 110 and 112 of the holder 102 by the thickness of the walls of the holder 102.

Thus, as can be seen in Figure 5, the hood 202 can be telescopically fitted over the holder 102 and dropped into a position where the hood 202 and holder 102 give the appearance of a normal holder but having walls and roof of twice the thickness. A lock 220 in the centre of the roof of the hood 202 (see Figure 7) has a vertical shaft 224 which extends downwardly and supports, at its lower end, a radially extending locking tongue 222. The tongue 222 is of oval configuration but slightly smaller than the oval slot 216 so that when the tongue 222 is aligned with slot 216 and when the hood 202 is fully telescoped onto the holder 102, the tongue 222 will pass through the oval slot 216. Operation of a key (not shown) in the lock 220 allows the shaft 224 to rotate and this will move the tongue 222 to a position in which it cannot be withdrawn through the slot 216, thus locking the hood 202 to the holder 102 while they are telescoped together.

If now the hood 202 is raised above the holder 102 to disengage the holder 102 and rotated through 180 it can again be lowered into telescopic engagement with the holder (see Figure 6). When the hood 202 and holder 102 are fully telescoped together, the hood will fully cover all the open sides of the holder 102 to imprison the contents in the holder

102. The hood 202 can then be locked to the holder using the lock 220.

If the hood 202 and holder 102 are made of transparent plastics, the cards will remain in view but not accessible by unauthorised parties without the correct key while the dealer is away from the table.

It will be appreciated that since the card holder can retain cards in a secure manner, any cards remaining in the shoe when the dealer wants to leave the table, can be transferred to his discard card holder before it is rendered secure.

Claims

1. A playing card holder security assembly comprising a holder of generally three dimensional rectangular configuration in which portions of two adjacent sides and a roof are cut away to define an opening of sufficient size to accommodate a stack of playing cards and to retain the cards therein in stacked formation and into which individual cards or groups of cards can be deposited, a hood having a roof and walls of complementary configuration to the holder which in a first orientation, relative to the holder, can telescopically engage the holder with the openings in the holder and hood aligned and in a second orientation, relative to the holder, can telescopically engage the holder with the walls and roof of the hood closing the opening in the holder, and locking means for locking the hood to the holder when the two are fully telescoped together in the second orientation of the hood.

2. An assembly according to Claim 1, wherein the locking means is able to lock the hood to the holder when the two are fully telescoped together in the first orientation of the hood.

3. An assembly according to Claim 1 or to Claim 2, wherein the locking means comprises a key operated cylinder mounted on the roof of the hood and having a rotary shaft extending at right angles to the plane of the roof, and a radially extending tongue mounted on the shaft for engaging a correspondingly shaped aperture in the roof of the holder to pass there through so that upon rotation of the shaft the tongue locks the hood to

the roof

4. An assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the opening in the holder lies in a plane extending parallel to the plane which diagonally intersects the holder through opposite comers thereof but lies spaced there from.

5. An assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein both the holder and the hood are of transparent material.

6. An assembly according to Claim 5, wherein the holder and hood are of plastics.

7. A playing card holder and security assembly, substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.