Martinsburg statesman. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1869-1906, 1906-07-20
HOW PLAYING CARDS ARE MADE.
A Great Industry-care Used to Pre-
vent Cheating.

During the year 1905 more than ST.
100000 packs of playing cards were
I printed and sold at a profit by manu-
I facturers in Great Britain, France,
/ Germany and the United States. In
dustrially regarded, the playing card
( business is one of the best manufactur-
/ ing adjuncts to the world of workers.
/ As a contributor to the revenues OF
/ those countries where cards are pro-
duced In quantity, says the Chicago
Tribune it is gold mine.
At the same time, however, the ex-
! pert player who is making record
i at cards, or who has a desire to win
money at the gaming table, finds little
use for card costing more than rs
or IS cents pack. His objection to
the finer card is that it doesn't feel
/ right and shuffles too easily For the
(. card sharp" too, card which has
the standard back serves his Illicit
purpose of marking" better than the
most elaborate of art" back that can
be designed in gold and colors. In
| cfdentally, too, the necessities which
the players feel for frequent renewal
OF the pack makes the item of expense
for hand made cards seef useless in
whist games, where some one of the
four players Is likely to ask for
new deck after two or three games
at the most. Cards at retail may be
bought for 10 cents, Is cents, rs cents.
35 cents and so cents pack.
! Considering the hand made cards
| that cost from rs cents to 81 pack,
/ il is interesting to remark that what
! ever elaborate departure may be made
| in the artistic effects OF the back, the
, consuming 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 Bible in
an edition de luxe up to SIS, or even
| 500, the standard card face is quite
enough to satisfy his artistic tempera-
ment. Time and again some enterpris-
ing card manufacturer who has made
hit with a novelty in a card back
has tried to make the face of the card
meet in artistic measure-and mas
failed. Not even the variation OF the
card spots will be tolerated; not even
the "sQueezer" mark in the corners
may be altered. The players rst
wish is that he shall recognize card
the instant he turns its face, and to do
this he insists upon the card face as
has stood for half a century at least.
That the back of card shall not
soil easily is one of the first desider-
atums of the player. In many OF the
ornate backs that have been put on
the market there is too much light
surface to carry the print of finger.
| Then in the cardboard base there are
two sheets of paper pasted together,
making the hand made card too thick,
while the double coat of enamel with
it's composition snip" 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
a continuous roll Of cardboard, the
backs printed first and the faces last,
afterward covered with a coat of en-
amel which has the slip introduced
by secret process. The hand made ar
ticle is made virtually deck at time
/ from fiat sheet of cardboard. On
this the backs are printed first upon
| the first coat of enamel, each color
( on back and face necessitating it's
/ separate imprint, and when these coats
have dried another coat finishing the
card with enamel and slip is ap-
/ piled front and back, Another drying
/ process prepares the cardboard with
its fifty-two imprints ready for the
/ punches.
/ 1t is in punching the card from the
strips into which sheets are cut that
| the highest degree of precision must
be reached. The card punch fits into
the die as closely as polished. tenn
pered, sharpened steel can be made
10 fit, and after the punch has been
perfected the greatest care must be
taken of it in preserving the edges,
SO that not the slightest abrasion or
IRE regularity shall exist in pack OF
cards after they are assembled.
Only one punch can be used in cut
ting pack. There may be lUJ
punches at work in the factory, but
not one of these can cut card effec-
lively for the completion of deck
cut by another punch. Somewhere in
the edge of such card an uneven
ness would serve to identify it in the
hands of man who might try to use
the pack into which it was placed.
Punching the fifty-two cards of the
deck with the same sharp punch, how
ever, the result is a smooth, even sur
lace as unintelligible to the touch as
the faces or backs of the individual
cards themselves.