Improvements in Flaying Oarus.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 13th Feb., 1897
Improvements in Flaying Oarus.
I, GEORGE HENRY SMITH, of 21 Parade Street, Providence, in the County of
Providence, and State of Rhode Island, United States of America, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention nud in what manner the same is Lu
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention bas relation to that class of playing cards in which a complete
Bot, deck or pack comprises fifty-two cards and is divided into four "suits" of
thirteen cards each-hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs-each suit consisting of
an ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eto.
Heretofore it has been common to provide the corners of cards with miniature
representations" pips "-indicating the value, character and suit of the
respective cards, in order that such value, character and suit may be seen without
disclosing the entire face of the card. This means has, however, been unsatis-
factory as far as disclosing the suit is concerned, especially in a whist hand, firstly
because the "pips" are so small that it is difficult to distinguish the suits of the
colors (for instauco hearts from diamonds, or spades from clubs) and secondly,
because the pips are so located and a whist hand has so many cards that said hand
cannot be "squeezed" so as to disclose a pip of each card.
The object of my invention is to provide a pack of cards (especially advan-
tageous for playing whist) in which the particular suit to which any card thereof
belongs can be seen at a glance and when any part of the border of the card is
exposed, whereby the player may quickly and conveniently arrange his hand
according to suit and can so arrange the cards in his hand that an indicator of the
suit of every card therein is always exposed without liability of exposing his hand
to an opponent.
To this end the invention consists in employing a distinguishing color for the
face of each suit, substantially as hereinafter described and particularly pointed
out in the subjoined claims.
In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention:
Fig. 1 is a face view of four cards, one of each suit, showing the whole face
thereof colored.
Fig. 2 is a view of a similar part of a deck of cards in which only the borders of
the cards are colored.
A designates a card considered ns a whole, 1 the face thereof, 2 the face illus
tration or emblem indicating, the value, character and suit of the card and 3 the
pip or miniature represention, all as now commonly provided.
In carrying my invention into practical effect, a particular color or shade for the
face of the card is employed as an additioual means to denote the suit, each suit to
be shown by a differeut color. For example instead of the faces of the cards of
the whole deck-exclusive of the emblems and pips-being of the same color
(usually white or cream) the faces of the cards for spades are printed in a green
tint, those for clubs are brown, diamonds may be denoted by pink, and hearts by
white (or any other four colors or tints sufficiently different to be distinguished at
a glance may be employed) as shown in Fig. 1, or the borders only of the cards
may be imprinted in a color selected to indicate the suit, as shown in Fig. 2.

page_text: The advantages of my invention will be appreciated by those who have
attempted so to arrange a whist hand that the suit of every card in the hand is
disclosed.
While the invention is particularly adapted for a whist deck, its advantages are
not limited thereto, as will be seen.
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. A playing card having its whole border imprinted in a color or shade denoting
the suit substantially as described and for the purposes specified.
2. A pack of playing cards of the character named, the suits of which are
indicated by a distinguishing color or tint covering the entire border of the face
thereof substantially as described and for the purposes specified.
3. A pack of playing cards of the character named in which the faces of the
cards are colored in shades or tints different from those of the emblems imprinted
thereon, to denote the suit.
4. A playing card, the face of which has a color imprinted thereon independent
of that of the face illustration or emblem to iudicate the suit.
Dated this 20th day of November 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.