Pre-shuffler for a playing card shuffling machine

US7677566B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Shuffle Master GmbH & Co KG · AT

Inventors

• Peter Krenn · Neufeld, AT
• Ernst Blaha · Tullnerbach, AT

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 19, 2003
• Grant date: Mar 16, 2010
• Expiry date: Feb 7, 2027

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A63F1/12
• WIPO field: Furniture, games
• WIPO sector: Other fields

Abstract

The invention comprises a pre-shuffler that receives a quantity of cards to be shuffled, such as nine decks of cards. One embodiment of the pre-shuffler includes a horizontal moveable box having, for example, nine compartments with vertical walls for separating the cards to be shuffled into groups. Cards are placed into all or some of the compartments in the box, and a shuffling sequence is then commenced. A motor moves the box containing the cards so that the cards in the first compartment are deposited into an input tray of the main card shuffler. The main shuffler then forwards the cards in the input tray one by one, via rollers, to selected card receptacles in the main shuffler. The process is then continued for each group of cards in the pre-shuffler until all cards are in the main shuffler. The main shuffler then shuffles the cards in a normal fashion. The cards output from the main shuffler are in a more random order than had the cards not been pre-shuffled by the pre-shuffler.