Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-07-12
the MAKING OF
PLAYING CARDS
Care Used to Prevent the Pos.
sibility Of Cheat.
ing.
GAMEsTERs ARE TRICKY
Fifty Seven Million Packages Of Play.
ing Cards Are Annually Sold in
the United States
Alone.


~ IN 49, Wv"
Last year more than 100000 packs
Of playing cards We're printed and sold
at Il profit by the manufacturers i'll
Great Britain. France. Germany and
the United states. lndustrially re-
garled. The playing ard business is
,nc of the best manufacturing add
iuncts To the world of Workers. AS Il
contributor to the revenues of those
countries where cards are produced
in quantity. says the Chicago Tribune,
it is a gold mine.
At the same time. however. the cX-
pert player who is making IA record at
ards. or who has u desire To win
money at the gaming table, finds lit
Tie use for Il card costing more than
p or 81 cents Il pack. His objection to
he finer card is that it doesn't feel
light and shutlies too easily. For the
ard sharp" too. IA card which has
The standard back serves his illicit
purpose of "marking'' better than the
most elaborate of art backs that can
oe designed in gold and colors. Incl
lcntally, too. the necessities which the
players feel for IL frequent renewal of
he pack makes the item of expense
.or hand made cards seem useless in
whist games. where some n OF the
tour players is likely to ask for a new
deck after two or three games at the
most. Cards at retail may be bought
for 10 cents. 10 cents, 20 cents, 80 ana
30 cents a pack.
Considering the hand made cards
that cost from 10 cents To 81 Il pack. 1t
is interesting to remark that whatever
elaborate departure may be made IN the
artistic effects of the back. the con-
suming public will have no change
made in the conventional card face.
which has been in use for more than
fifty years. This card face, as an eX-
preston of artistic design, is consid-
cred far below the standards of the
designer of the present time. For the
person who will afford Il bible in an
edition de luxe up to SO, on ever $50.
he STANDARD card face is quite enough
to satisfy his artistic temperament.
Time and again some enterprising card
manufacturer who has made Il hit with
A novelty in Il card back has tried to
make the face of the card meet in ar
.istic measure-and has failed. Not
aven the variation of the card spots
Will be tolerated, not even the "squeez-
ar' mark in the corners may be altered.
The players first wish is that he snail
recognize Il card the instant that he
turns its face, and to do this he in
iists upon the card face as it has stood
for half Il century ut least.
That the back of Il ard shall not
soil easily is one of the first desid-
aratums of the player. Ii many of the
ornate backs that have been put on the
market there is too much light surface
to carry the imprint of a finger. Then
in the cardboard base there are two
sheets OF paper pasted together. max
ing the handmade card too thick. walle
the double coat of enamel With its COM
position slip" makes it too smooth
for handling by the player, who does
not stick always to this style of card.
The cheaper cards are printed from u
continuous roll of cardboard, the backs
printed first and the faces last. after
ward covered with n coat of enamel.
which has the slip" introduced by Sc
cret process. The handsome article is
made virtually a deck at Il time from
II HAT sheet of cardboard. On this the
backs are printed first upon the first
coat of enanel then the faces are
printed upon the enamel, each color
on back and face necessitating its sep
arate imprint and when these coats
have dried another coat finishing the
card with enamel and slip is applied
front and back. Another Trying pro-
, cess prepares the cardboard with it's
/, tifty-two imprints ready for the
punches.
i, 1t is in punching the ard from the
strip into which sheets are cut that the
highest degree of precision must be
reached. The card die fits into the die
+; us closely as polished. tempered, sharp
/, ened steel can be made to fit. and aft
!, er the punch has been perfected the
greatest care must be taken of it in
preserving the edges. so that not the
, SilSileSl DldS.Cil oT HTeSuliilIy SIlal
exist in a pack of cards after they are
assembled.
, Only one punch can be used in cutting
u a pack. There nay be 100 punches ~
work in the factory, but not one o
e these can cut a card effectively for tn,
y completion of a deck cut by anothe
II punch. Somewhere in the edge of sucl
Il card an unevenness would serve t.
identify it in the hands of a man VIII,
n might try to use the pack into which i
~ was placed. Punching the fifty-tw
cards of the deck with the same shar
e punch, however. the result is Il smooth
!" even surface as unintelligible to tn
Is touch as the faces or backs of the in
lie dividual cards themselves.
fl When a card pack of good grade ha
t. been as carefully printed and cut as
t. possible. there is still the closest inspeo
te ton of each card entering the box. N
e spot or miSprint on face or back N
v ~roughness of edge or any possibility a
unevenness of width is allowed to pass
IS But when all these %aut hay
,r been taken to the best of expert skill
n the man who is past master of card
may mark Il deck inside of three min
.e utes' play until every card he NAV nee
: in the game is his for the looking at tn
back of it..
e This fact. together with the superst!
II tons of card players in general doe
more for the playing lard business thai
Almost anything else. If even tn
,haracters of the players in any gam
Ire irreproachable, his element O
: superstitution appeals to some play
srs. For instance. one has Il run O
f BAD luck in Il pack of cards having
ed back. he is likely to lay the fact t
he co!or and to ask for Il blue back, o
4 green one. or for one having SOM
,oior combination in which he ha'
.hought to have discovered luck II
n :iirea past.
: IN many of the great card tourna
rents where whist is played no pacl
: Il cards ever is used n second time. ]
;, ,lays one gam and is thrown aside
>oweyer serviceable it may prove Il
amateurs. into whose hands there ar,
possibilities of its falling.
9 Found His Weak Point.
/ 'Ia your fortieth year" said the palm
st. you will encounter a great peril"
G Guess not." said the nan who wa