Card shuffler with gravity feed system for playing cards
View Patent ↗A card feed system for feeding cards into a card handling system. The card feed system includes a card input compartment with a playing card support surface, a front wall, a rear wall and two side walls. The playing card support surface slopes toward the front wall at an angle between 12 degrees and 22 degrees. A slot is provided in the front wall to allow single cards to pass into the card handling system. The card feed system also includes a card moving system to advance cards through the slot.
1. A feed system for feeding playing cards, the feed system comprising:
a playing card input compartment comprising:
a front portion having an opening sized and configured to allow move ent of at least one card out of the playing card input compartment; and
a rear wall;
a base plate for supporting cards inserted into the playing card input compartment, wherein the base plate slopes downwardly from the rear wall toward the front portion; and
a glide member affixed to the rear wall and positioned to contact cards inserted into the playing card input compartment to urge the cards to fall toward the front portion of the playing card input compartment.
2. The feed system of claim 1 , wherein the front portion comprises a vertical wall.
3. The feed system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one card mover for contacting a lowermost card within the card input compartment through an opening in the base plate.
4. The feed system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one card mover comprises at least one roller.
5. The feed system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one movable blocking element for selectively allowing cards to pass through the opening in the front portion of the playing card input compartment.
6. The feed system of claim 1 , wherein the glide member comprises a hard material.
7. The feed system of claim 6 , wherein the hard material is selected from the group consisting of a hard plastic and metal.
8. The feed system of claim 1 , wherein the glide member comprises a material selected from the group consisting of rubber and a soft plastic.
9. The feed system of claim 1 , wherein the playing card input compartment further comprises two opposite, spaced apart side walls, each side wall connecting to the compartment rear wall and to the front portion.
10. The feed system of claim 1 , wherein the glide member is configured as a nub protruding from the rear wall.
11. The feed system of claim 10 , wherein the nub comprises a convex surface.
12. A method of inserting cards into a playing card input compartment of a feed system, comprising:
providing a playing card input compartment with a front portion, a rear wall and a support surface that slopes downwardly from the rear wall toward the front portion and a glide member affixed to the rear wall;
inserting at least one card into the compartment to cause at least one edge of the at least one card to contact the glide member prior to the at least one edge contacting the support surface, to urge the at least one card toward the front portion when the at least one card rests on the support surface.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one card comprises a deck of cards and further comprising inserting the deck of cards through an upper opening of the card input compartment.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising individually removing cards from the playing card input compartment through a slot in the front portion.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising removing cards using at least one roller.
16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising using a movable barrier to control removal of cards through the slot.
17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising causing the at least one edge of the at least one card to contact a convex surface of the glide member.