| Card shoe for holding playing cards -> Monitor Keywords |
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  Card shoe for holding playing cardsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070216092. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/782,492 filed Mar. 15, 2006. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002]1. Field of the Invention [0003]This description generally relates to the field of table gaming, and more particularly to card holding devices, for example card shoes that hold a number of cards during a playing card game and allow cards to be extracted from the card shoe one at a time. [0004]2. Description of the Related Art [0005]Conventional card shoes are typically sized to receive two to eight standard decks of playing cards, with fifty-two (52) playing cards per standard playing card deck. Such card shoes are used during professional card games (e.g., casino blackjack, poker, Texas Hold'em etc) so as to allow a dealer to readily extract cards during a fast paced card game. [0006]U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,142 shows one card shoe configuration that includes a housing having an opening formed at a front of the housing from which playing cards can be extracted. The housing may include a playing card support surface sloping at a downward angle from a rear to the front of the housing, which is capable of supporting several standard decks of playing cards. The card shoe may include a playing card wedge, with a sloped face to contact and offset the playing cards in the housing relative one another. [0007]The wedge may optionally include a roller that allows the wedge to easily move down the playing card support surface. The playing cards are compressed between the sloped face of the playing card wedge and the front of the housing, which may also be sloped. The downward angle of the playing card support surface employs gravity to bias the playing cards toward the front of the housing under their own weight, as well as under the weight of the playing card wedge. As playing cards are removed, the weight biasing the remaining playing cards toward the front of the housing decreases. Hence, there is less resistance to the finger pressure applied by the dealer as the dealer attempts to remove a playing card from the housing. This makes it difficult for the dealer to establish sufficient friction or "purchase" with the playing card to remove the playing card. This also disadvantageously tends to push the playing cards into the housing. [0008]Another type of card shoe is similar to the above-described card shoe, but includes one or more springs that couple the playing card wedge to the housing. The springs operate alone, or in conjunction with the force of gravity, to bias the playing card wedge toward the opening in the housing. As the playing card wedge moves closer to the opening, the springs contribute appreciably less to the overall force biasing the playing card wedge toward the opening. The biasing force of the springs becomes negligible before all the playing cards are removed from the card shoe. For example, negligible spring force may occur when there are less than two decks (i.e., 104 playing cards) remaining in the card shoe. Consequently, there is little or no resistance to the finger pressure applied by the dealer as the dealer attempts to remove a playing card from the housing. This makes it difficult for the dealer to establish sufficient friction or "purchase" with the playing card to remove the playing card. This also disadvantageously tends to push the playing cards into the housing. [0009]As illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,142, the card shoe may include a detent mechanism that holds the card wedge at the back of the housing to facilitate refilling the housing with playing cards. After filling, the dealer must grab and exert force (e.g., pull, push, lift) on the wedge to disengage the wedge from the detent mechanism. The lack of gripping surfaces and the close proximity of the wedge to the back of the housing when in the locked position such that fingers cannot be inserted therebetween makes this task exceedingly difficult and time consuming, particularly during a fast paced card game. [0010]Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a card shoe that provides easier and smoother removal of each card from the card shoe, regardless of the number of playing cards remaining in the card shoe, in addition to quick and easy refilling of the card shoe. [0011]An additional problem typical of conventional card shoes is withdrawal of more than one playing card at a time. This may be accidental, for example, due to adjacent playing cards becoming stuck together, or may be intentional where a dealer is attempting to cheat. It would be advantageous to reduce or prevent such from happening in either circumstance. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0012]According to one aspect, an anti-reversing clutch assembly locks onto the roller and may prevent the wedge from rolling back into the card shoe as the dealer applies finger pressure to remove the card from the wedge. [0013]According to one aspect, a card shoe includes a housing forming a receptacle sized to receive a plurality of playing cards, the housing having a sloped front face, an opening formed in the front face, the opening sized to allow the withdrawal of playing cards from the receptacle, a card support surface proximate a bottom of the opening, and at least one protuberance extending upward from the card support surface, the protuberance proximate the opening of the front face of the housing such that playing cards pass over the protuberance when the playing cards are withdrawn from the receptacle through the opening. [0014]According to another aspect, the card shoe includes a housing forming a receptacle sized to receive a plurality of playing cards, the housing having a top and a sloped front face, an opening formed in the front face, the opening sized to allow the withdrawal of playing cards from the receptacle, and an anti-backsliding protrusion extending generally downwardly from at least proximate the top and positioned within the receptacle proximate the front face of the housing, wherein the anti-backsliding protrusion engages a portion of at least one playing card when the playing card is biased toward a back of the housing under force exerted by a dealer removing at least one of the playing cards from the housing. [0015]According to another aspect, the card shoe includes a housing forming a receptacle sized to receive a plurality of playing cards, the housing having a sloped front face, an opening formed in the front face, the opening sized to allow the withdrawal of playing cards from the receptacle, a wedge block having a bottom surface and a card engagement surface positioned at an angle relative to the bottom surface, the wedge block received in the receptacle of the housing to bias the playing cards toward the front face of the housing, and a lever pivotally mounted to selectively bias the wedge away from a back of the housing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) [0016]In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar elements or acts. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of various elements and angles are not drawn to scale, and some of these elements are arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility. Further, the particular shapes of the elements as drawn, are not intended to convey any information regarding the actual shape of the particular elements, and have been solely selected for ease of recognition in the drawings. [0017]FIG. 1A is an isometric view of an empty card shoe having a single protuberance proximate an opening for extracting playing cards from the card shoe, according to one illustrated embodiment. [0018]FIG. 1B is an isometric view of a card shoe holding a plurality of playing cards and having a pair of protuberances proximate an opening, according to another illustrated embodiment. [0019]FIG. 2 is a top, front, left side isometric view of a wedge assembly of FIGS. 1A and 1B mounted to a roller subassembly, according to one embodiment. [0020]FIG. 3 is a bottom, front, left side isometric view of the wedge assembly of FIGS. 1A and 1B mounted to a roller subassembly, according to one embodiment. Continue reading... Full patent description for Card shoe for holding playing cards Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Card shoe for holding playing cards patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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