Improvements in Playing Cards.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 29th July, 1890-Accepted, 30th Aug., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Playing Cards.
I, HARRY LIONEL HOOK of 9, Smeaton Street, North Ormesby in the County of
York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The invention relates to cards for playing games of skill or chance, such as whist,
bézique, rouge-et-noir, et cetera.
The playing cards which have generally been used hitherto are very apt to be torn
or mutilated at the corners with frequent use, and they cannot always be packed the
way they are picked up by the player, owing to the shape of the cards and the position
in which they lie on the card table, and he has, therefore, to re-arrange their positions
before he can pack them.
By my invention, I make the cards circular or approximately circular in shape, and
on their respective faces I print or otherwise cause to be displayed any suitable devices,
names or numbers, indicative of their description or face value. By shaping them in
this way, there are no corners to mutilate, and the cards can be easily packed by the
player, in whatever position they may happen to lie upon the card table.
Dated this 25th day of April 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Playing Cards.
I, HARRY LIONEL HOOK, of 9, Smeaton Street, North Ormesby in the County of
York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The invention relates to cards for playing games of skill or chance, such as whist,
bézique, rouge-et-noir, et cetera.
Playing cards, which have generally been used hitherto, are very apt to be torn or
mutilated at the corners with frequent use, and they cannot always be packed the way
they are picked up by the player, owing to the shape of the cards and the position in
which they lie on the card table, and he has, therefore, to re-arrange their positions
before he can pack them.
By my invention, I make the cards circular or approximately circular in shape, and
on their respective faces I print or otherwise cause to be displayed any suitable devices,
names or numbers, indicative of their description or face value.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figures 1 to 6 represent the ace, king, nine, five, tray and deuce of diamonds
respectively.
Figure 7 is a view of the same cards as they would appear in the hand.
The devices, names or numbers are printed or otherwise marked upon the cards in
any suitable manner, but they are, preferably, so arranged that the cards can be readily
identified when held in the hand without the necessity of turning them round, that is,
about their centres.
In the examples depicted in the drawings, I have shown each plain card with its
value stamped or marked on each of the outermost Figures. This enables the player
to tell the value of these cards at a glance when they are held as shown in Figure 7.
1 do not, however, confine myself to this arrangement of marking. If thought
desirable, a border may be marked upon each card (as shown in Figure 1) consisting

page_text: of a representation of the suit to which it belongs alternated by letters or numbers
indicating the value of the particular card. This, or a similar arrangement, is
especially applicable to the ace and face cards. Other obvious ways, however, of
marking the cards may be employed.
In practice, it is found that cards made in accordance with this invention are very
convenient to "make" or shuffle, and that, being of a circular contour, they may be
tossed to a distance (as is sometimes necessary when playing round a large table) with
greater regularity than ordinary cards.
By shaping them as above described, there are no corners to mutilate, and the cards
can be easily packed by the player, in whatever position they may happen to lie upon
the card table. It will be obvious that cards having a regular polygonal contour
would answer the purpose to a certain extent, but they would not be nearly so good as
circular cards.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Playing cards having a circular or approximately circular shape and having
their face values printed or otherwise marked thereon in such a manner that they can
he readily identified in whatever position they may be held in the hand, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
2. The improvement in playing cards which consists in making them of a circular
or regular polygonal form whereby they will readily pack.
.
Dated this 28th day of July 1890
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, and London, Patent Agents.