CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARDS USUALLY DENOMINATED PLAYING CARDS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME OR BE MADE
KNOWN, I, JOSEPH REYNOLDS, of Vere Street, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of
May, in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Reynolds, my exors,
admors and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Joseph Reynolds, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Joseph Reynolds, my exors, admors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise and vend, within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,
and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the communication
made to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARDS USUALLY DENOMINATED PLAYING CARDS;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said Joseph
Reynolds, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the com-
munication so forwarded or made to me by a foreigner as aforesaid, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the proviso so contained in
the said Royal Letters Patent, I, the said Joseph Reynolds, have prepared
the following description of the Invention so communicated to me from abroad,
together with a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the process by which it is
carried into practical effect, said Drawing being hereunto annexed, and forming
part of my Specification, and bearing thereupon figures and letters of reference
to the description or Specification. And I declare my Invention of "Certain
Improvements in the Manufacture of Cards usually denominated Playing
Cards," to consist in or of the application of punches (having rims with geo-
metrical outlines,) to the cutting of those cards commonly called and known
as playing cards, which outlines may be varied at pleasure, and may consist of
patterns formed of rectileneal or curvileneal outlines, or of a mixture of both;
and it is found that cards so edged afford a greater facility in holding the
pack in hand, shuffling, and dealing the same, and perforations of various
kinds may also be added (as at Figures 1 and 2). When desirable, the cards
so perforated to be carefully pressed in a press, so that no raised edge or
irregularity may remain on the face or surface of the card. The punch has
two guide rods A, B, and C, D, and is used in a screw press of the ordinary
construction, to which is added a plate for guiding the strips of cardboard
from which the cards are made under the punch.
Figure 1 and Figure 2 in the Drawing represent two varieties of punched
playing cards, the first having edges cut simply with small segments of circles,
and the second being in addition thereto perforated at each of the centres of
said segments. The designs may be varied at pleasure, and these two Figures
are only given as specimens of cards punched with geometrical peripheries.
Figure 3 is an elevation of the punch G, the inner edge of which coincides
with the outline of the card shewn at Figuro 1. A, B, and C, D, are the guide
rods, fitting in coinciding apertures made in the upper side of the outer box,
as shewn in section, taken longitudinally through the line A, B, at Figure 4, in
which E, E', and F, F, shew a double parallel plate corresponding in outline
with the design of the particular punch to be used, the one F, F, being the
'cutter. The four first Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 are drawn to the full usual size;
but Figure 5 is an elevation, reduced for convenience of illustration to a small
geometrical scale of the screw press, by which the punches are put into
operation. Similar letters of reference are placed upon and denote similar

page_text: parts in each of the Figures 3, 4, and 5. P, P, is the guide receiving plate,
on which the strips of cardboard are placed for punching. They are guided
to the punch by the raised rim R, R, of the plate P, P, which is furnished
with stops to indicate when the card has arrived at the precise spot for
punching, thus preventing waste of material.
Having now described the nature of the communication made to me from
abroad as aforesaid, and the manner the same is to be carried into practical
effect, I would here observe that I am fully aware that cardboard has been
cut or punched at its edge or edges with various shapes, and perforated for
many purposes in various ways, so that in the fact of edging or perforating
cards there is no novelty; also, that although several parts of the apparatus
employed by me as shewn in the Drawing are new, I lay no claim to their
exclusive use; but what I do claim is the application to, and producing on
the cards usually called and known as playing cards, edges as described in
the beginning of this description, in whatever form or pattern, or by whatever
means such edges may be cut or produced; also, the perforation of playing
cards, whether such perforations be as berein-before described and shewn, or
of whatever form or shape, or by whatever means such perforations may be
made.
In witness whereof, the said Joseph Reynolds, has hereunto set his hands
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, One thousand eight hun-