US698541A - Index-card for duplicate whist. - Google Patents

Description

No. 698,54l. Patented Apr. 29, I902.

C. W. NEELY.

INDEX CARD FOR DUPLICATE WHIST.

(Application filed Apr. 5, 1901.

2 sheets-sheet I.

(No Model.)

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Patented Apr; 29, I902;

C. W. NEELY. INDEX CARD$FOB DUPLICATE WHIST.

No. 698,54l.

(Application filed Apr. 5, 1901.)

2 Sheets-Sheat 2.

(No Model.)

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\NVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT 'OFFICE.

CHARLES W. NEELY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

INDEX-omen FOR DUPLICATE WHIST.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part'of Letters Patent No. 698,541, dated April 29, 1902.

Application filed April 5, 1901.

To all whom/it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. NEELY, a

aitizen of the United States, residing at Philal properly redistributed for the duplicate play.

For each pack of playing-cards there are four index-cards, one for each player. The indexcards are of any four different colors, preferon the face.

to the left.

ably red, white, blue, as hereinafter explained, and any fourth color, and they are of the same size and shape as the playing-cards, usually two and one-half by three and onehalf inches. Each index-card is of one color The back, however, is of a different color, so that for the duplicate play the whist-hands are shifted either to the right or The players are indicated by colors, each player taking the index-cards of one and the same color for each and every pack of playing-cards and for both the origi nal and the duplicate play. On the face of eachof the four index-cards belonging to each pack of playing-cards is printed the number of the pack and on one of the four a star is printed to indicate the lead. On the back there is no printing except the star to indicate the lead on the duplicate play. The index-cards are attached to the playing-cards by rubber bands.

As the index-cards are colored I have used throughout the drawings vertical ruling to indicate red, a plain surface for white, horizontal ruling for blue, and double diagonal ruling for brown.

Figure 1 illustrates the position of the players at the table, Red and Blue being partners against White and Brown. Figs.

2, 3, 4., and 5 in the upper part illustrate the face and in the lower part the back of each of the four index-cards for the first of a number Serial No. 54,455. (No model.)

of packs of playingcards, the number 1 being printed on the face of each card. The star appears on the first card, both on its red face and its white back, and indicates the players who lead on the original and the duplicate plays, respectively. Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9 illustrate similarly the faces and backs of the index-cards for the second pack of playingcards. The index-cards for pack No. 3 are the same as those for pack No. 1 except that the number 3 is substituted for the number 1 and the star is on the card with the blue face and the brown back. The indexcards for pack No. 4 are the same as those for pack No. 2 except as to the number thereon and the fact that the star is on the card with the brown face and the blue back. The in- Any number of packs of playing-cards may be used. When the number is deter mined for any given play, the cards are all dealt before play begins. The first pack is divided or dealt into four parts or whist-hands of thirteen (13) cards each. To each part is attached by a rubber band, face or numbered side up, one of the index-cards with the number l thereon, and a fifth rubber band binds together the four hands of that pack. The next pack is similarly divided or dealt, and the index-cards numbered 2 are similarly attached, and so on until the dealing is completed. The trump-suit is agreed upon and remains the same during the entire play. The player selected to distribute the cards is preferably designated by Brown, who

therefore takes up pack No. 1 and passes the four whist-hands around to the left, as usual, 1

Each player then turns his card; of that trick face down, vertically to the winners, horizontally to the losers. The second trick is then played and similarly turned down on the first and, as before, vertically to the winners, horizontally to the losers, and so on for all of the cards in the pack. The number of tricks taken by Redand Blue is then recorded on the score-card in the column headed by the players Red and Blue opposite No. 1 and will equal the number of cards which Red and Blue have each played vertically in front of them and on which all of the four players will have a check. In case of dispute the trick or tricks which any player has placed incorrectly may be readily located. Each player takes up his thirteen cards, places his index-card on them face or numbered side down, and binds them with a rubber band. A fifth rubber band is again placed around the entire pack, and it is set aside until the original play of all the packs is completed. The second pack is then taken up, the hands distributed, played, and the number of tricks taken by Red and Blue is scored as before, and similarly for as many packs as are used. The duplicate play then commences. Anypackistakenupatrandom. Its numberis not known. As before, Brown distributes the four hands to the left, Red, White, Blue, again taking for himself the hand to which the brown index-card is attached. Thus the index-cards which any one player receives during the entire sitting for both the original and the duplicate play will always be the same color,- so that there can be no misunderstanding or confusion as to the proper whist-hand of any pack which he should receive. The index cards are removed and placed face down on the table, the players having no right to look at the face. The number of the pack which is being played is therefore unknown, and consequently the score which Red and Blue made with that pack is also unknown. The play proceeds as on the original. The cards, similarly, by their position mark the winners of each trick, and when the thirteen tricks have been played the nu mber of the pack is ascertained by examining the face of the indexcards, the number of tricks taken by White and Brown determined and entered on the score-card in the column headed by the players White and Brown opposite the number of the pack,

and when compared with the number of tricks taken by Red and Blue on the original play of the same pack the difference will be the gain by either side, which gain is then recorded on the score-card in the proper column under the heading Gain. When the duplicate play is concluded, the totals of the scorecard will show the result of'the contest.

Many good whist-players object to duplicate whist from the fact that when playing over the hands the second time the cards are remembered; but this objection is almost wholly removed in the simplex system by so shifting the colors that on the duplicate play it is impossible for a player to know which of his opponents held his hand on the original play. This feature is of considerable importance and can be better explained by a reference to the drawings. Thus on the duplicate play of pack N0. 1 (see Fig. 2) White holds the cards which his right-hand opponent (Red) held on the original play, but on the duplicate play of pack No. 2 (see Fig. 8) White holds the cards which his lefthand opponent (Blue held on the original play.

While colors and numbers have preferably been used in this specification, the same object may be attained by using a device or character instead of a color and a letter instead of a number but the essential features of the invention are, first, that the same color, device, or character shall not appear on both the face and the back of the same index-card; second, that the number or letter shall appear on the face of the index-card only and not on its back; third, that the color, device, or char acter on the back of the index-card shall be such as to shift the whist-hands for theduplicate play at one time to the right and at another to the left and not in a constant and regular rotation in one and the same direc tion; fourth, that the colors, devices, or char= acters shall be so arranged that, assuming the number of packs used to be four or a multiple thereof, each player shall have the same number of leads, which number shall be the same for both the original and the duplicate play; fifth, that the colors, devices, or charac ters shall be so arranged that if the number of packs used shall not be four or a multiple thereof any two partners in the duplicate play will have the same number of leads as their adversaries had on the original play; sixth, that for the sake of simplicity the word Deal or Dealer is entirely omitted from the index cards as unnecessary, the star always indicating the leader. Also the double-score record (that for both sides) for both the original and duplicate plays is unnecessary, as a comparison of the score of one side on the origi nal play with the score of the other side on the duplicate play will give correct results.

I therefore claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A set of colored index-cards for separatin g the four whist-hands of a pack of playingcards in the game of duplicate whist, comprising an index-card for each player, the faces and backs being so colored that the face of each card has the same color as the back of another whereby the hands of the respective players are indicated for the original play and'shifted to the opponents for the duplicate play, substantially as described.

2. In combination a series of sets of colored index-cards for duplicate whist comprising four index-cards for each pack of playtoo Ito

ing-cardsnsed, with an appropriate charac name to this specification in the presence of ter on the face of each index-card te identify two subscribing witnesses. the pack to which it belengs and an appro priate character on the face and back bf one CHARLES NEELY 5 of the four index-cards of each set to indicate Witnesses:

the lead, substantially as described. JAS. F. SMYTH,

In testimony whereof I have signed my HARRY B. RUMRILL.

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