U.S. patent application number 12/153202 was filed with the patent office on 2009-11-19 for automatic poker shuffling machine.
Invention is credited to Tzu-Hsiang Tseng.
Application Number | 20090283969 12/153202 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41315432 |
Filed Date | 2009-11-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090283969 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Tseng; Tzu-Hsiang |
November 19, 2009 |
Automatic poker shuffling machine
Abstract
An automatic poker shuffling machine includes a frame having a
first container, a second container and a card chamber between the
first container and the second container, an elevating device has a
table in the card chamber, a card cutting device for sending the
cards on the table to the first and second containers alternately,
and a card shuffling device having first and second turning wheels
on the bottoms of the first and the second containers to stack the
cards alternately on the table again. The present invention further
includes a plurality of sensors to sense the cards and control the
corresponding elements action, and a collecting box to receive the
shuffled cards.
Inventors: |
Tseng; Tzu-Hsiang; (Taichung
City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BACON & THOMAS, PLLC
625 SLATERS LANE, FOURTH FLOOR
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314-1176
US
|
Family ID: |
41315432 |
Appl. No.: |
12/153202 |
Filed: |
May 15, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
273/149R |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 1/12 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
273/149.R |
International
Class: |
A63F 1/12 20060101
A63F001/12 |
Claims
1. An automatic poker shuffling machine, comprising: a frame having
a first container, a second container and a card chamber between
the first container and the second container, wherein the first
container has a first bore at a bottom thereof communicated with
the card chamber, and the second container has a second bore at a
bottom thereof communicated with the card chamber; an elevating
device having a table, on which cards stack, received in the card
chamber for vertical reciprocation; a card cutting device, which is
provided on a top of the frame, having a poking board for
transverse reciprocation, a first sensor, and a second sensor,
wherein the poking board is driven for transverse reciprocation to
send the cards to the first container and the second container
respectively when the first sensor senses the cards on the table,
and the card cutting device is stopped when the second sensor
senses no card on the table; and a card shuffling device having at
least a first turning wheel on the bottom of the first container
and at least a second turning wheel on the bottom of the second
container, wherein after the card cutting device is stopped, the
first turning wheel and the second turning wheel start turning to
send the cards in the first container and in the second container
to the card chamber via the first bore and the second bore
respectively, and stack the cards from the first container and from
the second container alternately on the table; wherein the frame is
provided with two stop boards respectively disposed above the first
container and the second container to be moved between a first
position, in which the stop boards carry the cards from the cutting
device thereon, and a second position, in which the cards on the
stop boards drop to the first container and the second container,
respectively; wherein the frame further includes a first side wheel
and a second side wheel on the stop board at a side adjacent to the
card chamber, a third sensor on a bottom of the poking board to
control rotation of the first side wheel and the second side wheel
for sending a sensed card back to the card chamber when the third
sensor senses cards thereunder not totally entering the stop boards
above the first container and the second container.
2. (canceled)
3. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 1,
wherein after the poking board has completed the reciprocation
once, the stop boards rapidly move to the second position from the
first position, and return to the first position immediately.
4. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 3,
wherein the stop boards are pivoted on the frame, each of which has
a board face to carry the cards, an arched guiding block on an end,
two pushing member on the frame out of the containers for vertical
reciprocation, and two driving members moving the pushing members
when the poking board of the card cutting device completes the
reciprocation once and sends signals to the driving members, and
further wherein when the pushing members are moved upwards and
against the arched guiding blocks, the board faces of the stop
boards are horizontal to carry the cards, and when the pushing
members are moved downwards to turn the arched guiding blocks, the
board faces of the stop boards are vertical to drop the cards
thereon.
5. (canceled)
6. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the frame has a first separating board between the card
chamber and the first container, wherein the first bore is formed
between a bottom edge of the first separating board and the first
turning wheel, a second board between the card chamber and the
second container, wherein the second bore is formed between a
bottom edge of the second separating board and the second turning
wheel, and at least a stop plate, which is connected to one of the
separating boards, to be adjusted for vertical movement to change
sizes of the bores that the cards pass.
7. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 6,
wherein the stop plate has a first stop plate and a second stop
plate, which the first stop plate is provided on the first
separating board and above the first turning wheel, and the second
stop plate is provided on the second separating board and above the
second turning wheel.
8. (canceled)
9. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the card shuffling device further includes a fourth sensor
on the frame to stop the table at a position under the first bore
and the second bore when the card cutting device completes a
cutting step and the table of the elevating device is moved
downwards and sensed by the fourth sensor.
10. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 9,
further comprising two fifth sensors on the bottoms of the first
container and the second container, wherein the first turning wheel
or the second turning wheel is stopped running when the fifth
sensors sense no card in the first container or in the second
container.
11. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 10,
further comprising a collecting box to collect the cards stacked on
the table, wherein the collecting box is detachably mounted on the
frame.
12. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 11,
further comprising two sixth sensors on the frame to sense the card
in the first bore and in the second bore, wherein the card
shuffling device is stopped when the sixth sensors sense no card in
the first bore and in the second bore.
13. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the elevating device has a cutting slot on the table to
have the poking board moving in the cutting slot, whereby all cards
on the table may be sent to the first container and the second
container by the poking board.
14. An automatic poker shuffling machine, comprising: a frame
having a first container, a second container and a card chamber
between the first container and the second container, wherein the
first container has a first bore at a bottom thereof communicated
with the card chamber, and the second container has a second bore
at a bottom thereof communicated with the card chamber; an
elevating device having a table, on which cards stack, received in
the card chamber for vertical reciprocation; a card cutting device,
which is provided on a top of the frame, having a poking board for
transverse reciprocation, a first sensor, and a second sensor,
wherein the poking board is driven for transverse reciprocation to
send the cards to the first container and the second container
respectively when the first sensor senses the cards on the table,
and the card cutting device is stopped when the second sensor
senses no card on the table; and a card shuffling device having at
least a first turning wheel on the bottom of the first container
and at least a second turning wheel on the bottom of the second
container, wherein after the card cutting device is stopped, the
first turning wheel and the second turning wheel start turning to
send the cards in the first container and in the second container
to the card chamber via the first bore and the second bore
respectively, and stack the cards from the first container and from
the second container alternately on the table; wherein the frame
includes a first scrap container under the first container and near
the first bore, a second scrap container under the second container
and near the second bore, and at least a fan at a back of the frame
to suck paper scraps in the frame to the first scrap container and
the second scrap container via the first bore and the second
bore.
15. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 14,
wherein the first scrap container and the second scrap container
are detachably mounted on the frame respectively.
16. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 15,
wherein the first scrap container and the second scrap container
are provided with a filter at backs thereof respectively to collect
the paper scraps in the first scrap container and the second scrap
container.
17. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the card shuffling device includes a pressing board and a
driving unit to move the pressing board between a down position, in
which the pressing board is in the card chamber of the frame to
guide the cards from the first bore and the second bore to the card
chamber, and an up position.
18. An automatic poker shuffling machine, comprising: a frame
having a first container, a second container and a card chamber
between the first container and the second container, wherein the
first container has a first bore at a bottom thereof communicated
with the card chamber, and the second container has a second bore
at a bottom thereof communicated with the card chamber; an
elevating device having a table, on which cards stack, received in
the card chamber for vertical reciprocation; a card cutting device,
which is provided on a top of the frame, having a poking board for
transverse reciprocation, a first sensor, and a second sensor,
wherein the poking board is driven for transverse reciprocation to
send the cards to the first container and the second container
respectively when the first sensor senses the cards on the table,
and the card cutting device is stopped when the second sensor
senses no card on the table; and a card shuffling device having at
least a first turning wheel on the bottom of the first container
and at least a second turning wheel on the bottom of the second
container, wherein after the card cutting device is stopped, the
first turning wheel and the second turning wheel start turning to
send the cards in the first container and in the second container
to the card chamber via the first bore and the second bore
respectively, and stack the cards from the first container and from
the second container alternately on the table, wherein the table is
controlled to vibrate up and down slightly to order the cards at
the same time.
19. The automatic poker shuffling machine as claimed in claim 18,
wherein the card shuffling device includes a pressing board and a
driving unit to move the pressing board between a down position, in
which the pressing board is in the card chamber of the frame to
guide the cards from the first bore and the second bore to the card
chamber, and an up position.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates generally to a device for
poker game and, more particularly, to an automatic poker shuffling
machine.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] In poker game, it needs a shuffler to shuffle cards to
random the cards for the game therefore players may have different
cards in the games.
[0005] To shuffle the cards by shuffler is doubtful because a
well-skill shuffler may cheat that the poker game becomes unfair,
and players have less will to play it.
[0006] In some professional poker games, the whole deck of cards
are destroyed after every game, and a brand new deck of cards are
used in the next game to avoid the cheating problem. However, it
needs a specific machine to destroy the cards, and it needs lots of
decks of cards. It expenses high for such poker game, and,
furthermore, it produces lots of dust and scraps of papers after
the cards are destroyed. For the reason above, the present
inventor, according to our experience in this field, creates the
present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide
an automatic poker shuffling machine, which may replace shuffler to
shuffle cards and make a fair game for every player.
[0008] To achieve the objective of the present invention, an
automatic poker shuffling machine includes a frame having a first
container, a second container and a card chamber between the first
container and the second container, wherein the first container has
a first bore at a bottom thereof communicated with the card
chamber, and the second container has a second bore at a bottom
thereof communicated with the card chamber; an elevating device
having a table, on which cards stack, received in the card chamber
for vertical reciprocation; a card cutting device, which is
provided on a top of the frame, having a poking board for
transverse reciprocation, a first sensor, and a second sensor,
wherein the poking board is driven for transverse reciprocation to
send the cards to the first container and the second container
respectively when the first sensor senses the cards on the table,
and the card cutting device is stopped when the second sensor
senses no card on the table; and a card shuffling device having at
least a first turning wheel on the bottom of the first container
and at least a second turning wheel on the bottom of the second
container, wherein after the card cutting device is stopped, the
first turning wheel and the second turning wheel start turning to
send the cards in the first container and in the second container
to the card chamber via the first bore and the second bore
respectively, and stack the cards from the first container and from
the second container alternately on the table.
[0009] Therefore, the present invention provides a machine to
replace shuffler that may have the cards well shuffled and avoid
the cheating problem. It doesn't needs to destroy the cards after
every game to reduce the cost.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of
the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the preferred
embodiment of the present invention, wherein the case is taken
off;
[0012] FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of FIG. 2;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a back perspective view of the preferred
embodiment of the present invention, wherein the case is taken
off;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a sectional view of FIG. 2;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a left front perspective view of the preferred
embodiment of the present invention, wherein the case is taken
off;
[0016] FIG. 7 is a front view of the cut slot of the poking board
crossing table of the preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
[0017] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the pressing board and
driving unit of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
and
[0018] FIG. 9 to FIG. 12 are sketch diagrams of the preferred
embodiment of the present invention, showing how to shuffle the
cards.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, an automatic poker shuffling
machine 100 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention
includes a frame 10, an elevating device 30, a card cutting device
40 and a card shuffling device 50.
[0020] The frame includes a card chamber A at a middle portion, in
which a first container 11 and a second container 12 are provided.
Between the first and second containers 11, 12, a first separating
board 13 and a second separating board 14 are provided. The first
and second containers 11, 12 have a first bore 11 and a second bore
121 at bottoms respectively to be communicated with the card
chamber A that cards may pass through the first and second bores
111, 121. Two stop boards 15, 16 are pivoted on the frame 10 and
above the containers. Each of the stop boards 15, 16 has a board
face 151, 161 and an arched guiding block 152, 162. Take the stop
board 15 for example, it may moved between a first position P1
(referring to FIG. 2) and a second position P2 (referring to FIG.
3). In the present embodiment, two pushing members 17, 18 are
provided on the frame 10 for vertical reciprocation, and two
driving members 19, 20 are provided on a bottom of the frame 10
that may move the stop boards 15, 16 respectively. Take the pushing
member 17 and the driving member 19 for example, the driving member
19 includes a motor 191 and a turn pole 192. The turn pole 192 is
swung by the motor 191 to move the pushing member 17 up and down.
FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 show the pushing member 17 at an up position, in
which a top end 171 of the pushing member 17 is against the arched
guiding block 152 to have the board face 151 of the stop board 15
at a horizontal position that cards may stack thereon. FIG. 3 and
FIG. 12 show the pushing member 17 at a down position, in which the
arched guiding block 152 is turned to have the board face 151 of
the stop board 15 at a vertical position that cards will drop to
the associated container.
[0021] A first side wheel 21 and a second side wheel 22 are pivoted
on the frame 10 at sides where the stop boards 15, 16 are adjacent
to the card chamber A. A first stop plate 23 and a second stop
plate 24 are connected to the first and second separating boards
13, 14 for vertical reciprocation relative to the separating boards
respectively. Take the second stop plate 24 for example (referring
to FIG. 5), the second stop plate 24 has a threaded hole 241 at an
upper portion to screw a bolt 141 therein. The bolt 141 has a body
portion 141a inserted into the threaded hole 241, and a head
portion 141b being restricted for rotation only. The second stop
plate 24 may be moved up and down by turning the bolt 141 clockwise
or counterclockwise that may change the size of the second bore
121. The first stop plate 23, with the same structure, may be
turned to change the size of the first bore 111.
[0022] A first scrap container 25 and a second scrap container 25
are provided in the frame 10 under the first and second containers
11, 12, and may be drawn out from the frame 10. Each scrap
container is provided with a filter (labeled 251 in FIG. 1) at a
back. Two fans 27 are provided on a back of the frame 10 to suck
the paper scraps in the frame 10 to the first scrap container 25
and the second scrap container 25, and the paper scraps will be
collected by the filters.
[0023] The frame 10 further includes a collecting box 29, which may
be drawn out of the frame, to collect the cards in the card chamber
A. User may insert or draw the collecting box 29 into or out of the
frame to move the card between the shuffling machine of the present
invention and other machines (such as dealing box).
[0024] The elevating device 30 includes a sliding base 31 on the
back of the frame 10 for vertical reciprocation and a table 32 on
the sliding base 31 extending into the card chamber A. Therefore,
the table may vertically move in the card chamber A. A worm (not
shown) and a motor (not shown) are provided to reciprocate the
sliding base 31. In addition, cards stack on the table 32, on which
a cutting slot 321 and a sensor board 322 are provided (they will
be described in following paragraphs).
[0025] As shown in FIG. 5, the card cutting device 40, which is
mounted on a top of the frame 10, includes a poking board 41 for
transverse movement, a first sensor 42, a second sensor 43, and a
third sensor 44, wherein:
[0026] The first sensor 42 is provided on the back of the frame 41
to sense whether there is card on the table 32. If do, the first
sensor 42 transmits a signal to a circuit board (not shown) and an
output signal to control the poking transversally reciprocating to
send the cards into the first container 11 and the second container
12 alternately. As shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, when the poking
board 41 reciprocates once, the stop boards 15, 16 above the first
and second containers 11, 12 will be moved to the second position
P2 from the first position P1, and return to the first position P1
immediately.
[0027] The second sensor 43 is provided on the table 32. When the
second sensor 43 doesn't sense any card on the table 32, it sends a
signal to stop the card cutting device.
[0028] The third sensor 44 is provided at a bottom of the poking
board 41 to sense whether there is card not totally entering the
first container 11 or the second container 12, as shown in FIG. 11.
If do, it sends a signal to control the first side wheel 21 and the
second side wheel 22 turning reversely to move the sensed card back
to the card chamber A. as shown in FIG. 7, the cutting slot 321 of
the table 32 is designed for the poking board 41 moving therein to
send all of the cards to the first container 11 or the second
container 12.
[0029] The card shuffling device 50 includes two first turning
wheels 51 in the first container 11 and two second turning wheels
32 in the second container 12. The first bore 111 is formed between
the first wheels 51 and the first separating board 13, and the
second bore 121 is form between the second wheels 52 and the second
separating board 14. The first turning wheel 51 and the second
turning wheel 52 are driven for turning to send the cards in the
first container 11 and the second container 12 to the card chamber
A via the first bore 111 and the second bore 121 respectively, and
then stacked on the table 32.
[0030] The card shuffling device further includes a fourth sensor
under the first and second bores 111, 121. When the card device 40
completes the cutting step, the table 32 of the elevating device 30
will move downward immediately and is sensed by the fourth sensor
53 to stop the table 32 for stacking the cards thereon.
[0031] The card shuffling device 50 further includes two fifth
sensors 54 in the first container 11 and the second container 12
respectively. The fifth sensors may sense whether the first
container 11 and the second container 12 are empty. If do, it sends
a signal to top the first or second turning wheel 51, 52.
[0032] To avoid cards jammed at the first bore 111 and the second
bore 121, the card shuffling device 50 of present embodiment is
provided with two sixth sensors 55 at the exits of the first bore
111 and the second bore 121 respectively to sense the jammed card.
If do, it sends a signal to control the turning wheel keeping
turning until no card is sensed by the sixth sensors 55.
[0033] The card shuffling device 50 further includes a pressing
board 56 and a driving unit 57 on the frame 10. The driving unit 57
includes a transmission set 571, a motor 572, and a sensor 573. The
sensor 573 may sense protrusions on a disk 571a on a bottom of the
transmission set 571 to drive the motor 472 turning the
transmission set 571 having bevel gears that will move the pressing
board 56 between a down position P3 and an up position P4. The
pressing board 56 will press the shuffling cards when it moves to
the down position P3 that will help ordering the cards.
[0034] Above are the elements and the relationship therebetween of
the automatic poker shuffling machine 100 of the present invention.
The following is the operation of shuffling of the present
invention:
[0035] As shown in FIGS. 1, and 9-12, user puts cards in the
collecting box 29, and then inserts the collecting box 29 into the
card chamber A of the frame 10, and now user may start the machine
100. After the machine started, the sliding seat 31 of the
elevating device 30 will move the table upwards to take the cards
in the collecting box 29. When the table 32 is elevated and is
sensed by the first sensor 42 (referring to FIG. 9), the worm of
the elevating device 30 is turned for random rounds to have the
card stack higher than the first sensor 42 a predetermined
distance. This distance affects the poking board 41 cutting the
cards at a very position. Because the worm is controlled by random,
the poking board 41 will cut the cards at different positions in
every shuffling step. After the poking 41 had moved left and right
once to send cards to the first container 11 and the second
container 12, the stop boards 15, 16 above the first and second
containers 11, 12 are moved to the second position P2 from the
first position P1, and return to the first position P1 immediately
that the cards will drop to the first and second containers 11, 12
from the stop boards 15, 16 respectively. In the following, the
poking board 41 and the stop boards 15, 16 repeat aforesaid step
unit the second sensor 43 senses that no card on the table 32 and
the card cutting device 40 is stopped. Of course, the stop boards
15, 16 may move to the second position P2 from the first position
P1 once after the cutting step is completed for the following
shuffling step. It has to be mentioned here that if there is a card
P not entering the second container 12 (referring to FIG. 11), the
third sensor 44 will senses the jammed card P and controls the
second side wheel turning reversely to move the card P back to the
card chamber A, waiting for the next cutting step.
[0036] When there is no card on the table 32, the table will be
moved downwards automatically to be sensed by the fourth sensor 53
and stops. As shown in FIG. 4, in this time, the pressing board 56
is switched to the down position P3, and the first turning wheels
51 and the second turning wheels 52 start turning to send the card
in the first and second containers 11, 12 to the card chamber A,
and stack the cards from the first and second containers 11, 12
alternately on the table 32. The pressing board 56 has two opposite
inclined edges that have function of guiding the cards. In the same
time, the table 32 is controlled to vibrate up and down slightly to
order the cards. When the fifth sensors 54 sense no card in the
first and the second container 11, 12, it will stop the shuffling
step. If there is card jammed at the first bore 111 or the second
bore 121, the sixth sensor 55 will control the first or the second
turning wheel 51 or 52 keeping turning until all cards enter the
card chamber A and stop the shuffling step.
[0037] In conclusion, the present invention provides the automatic
poker shuffling machine to replace shuffler that may have the cards
well shuffled and avoid the cheating problem. It doesn't needs to
destroy the cards after every game to reduce the cost.
[0038] Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been
described in detail for purposes of illustration, various
modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from
the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention
is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
* * * * *