Personalized picture playing cards

Dec. 22, 1953

E. GRUNWALD

PERSONALIZED PICTURE PLAYING CARDS

Filed Feb. 14, 1951

2,663,418

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Patented Dec. 22, 1953

2,663,418

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,663,418

P.E.liSONALIZED,BI(;TURE PLAYING CARDS Edward Grunwald, New York, N. Y.

Application:. February, 14,1951, Serial No. 210,959.

Claims. (C 1

This invention relates, to new, and useful improvements in playing cards; and, more particularly, the aim is to provide a, novel and valuable deck of playing cards characterized, by the' fact that each of the cards of the deck may readily ⁵be individualized, or, more accurately, personalized to the owner of the deck, as by carrying, on the face or on the back of, all or some of said cards, a reproduction of the signature of said owner, a picturization of the. said owner’s home ¹⁰or of himself or of a member of his family, or the like.

According to one way. of carrying the invention, into practise, a, reproduction or picturization of the kind just indicated, is effected photograph- ¹⁵ipally, as by the owner of the deck of cards following his purchase of said deck.

In the connection immediately above, a feature of the invention is that each of the cards of the deck as manufactured for sale carries on the ²⁰face and/or back of said card a coating of sensitized material of the kind used in the making of photographic plates and film

An ancillary object is, in the, same connection, to. provide a deck of cards, each card of which is ²⁵sensitized as just stated, yet with each card protected against any- chance of accidentally permitting said sensitized material to become light struck, even.though, nevertheless,.said card deck may be used, one or more times, in playing a card 30 game before making use of said sensitized material to. effect photographic transfer to a card of the desired personalizing addition.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, ref- 35 erence will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set'forth.

In the. accompanying- drawings forming a ma- 40 terial part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 elevationally shows the face of one of the cards of a deck of cards of the. conventional four suit kind; with the card thus shown being the four of hearts. ₄₅

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2__2 of

Fig. 1, showing a coating, of sensitized material on the back of the card. ...... ........

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of said card, after a personalizing addition has been photographically 50 added thereto by utilization of said coating of sensitized material.

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective showing a card in the condition indicated in the case of the card shown in Figs. 1 and 2, with said card in an 55 envelope.

(Cl. 206—62)

Fig. 5 drawn to a scale about twice that of any of the, other views, is a section takbn on the line 5—5: of Fig,4. ‘ ~

Fig, 6, is. a fragmentary section, taken on the ⁵ line 6— 6 of Fig. 5. ‘

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section, taken on the line 7—7. of Fig. 0.

Referring now, to the drajving more in detail, the said card, is designatedIOj and as the sarte ¹⁰ is, herein shown, it has. a, single coating of sensitized material, with, this, coating, designated I I, on the back of the card. ’ ~

In. the, embodiment.illustrated, said coating 1I constitutes an important part of the’ means ¹⁵ whereby each card of the deck, is to carry permanently, and, by photographic transfer (as from a, photographic negative in the possession of the owner) a. perspnalizing addition, in the form of a reproduction of the owner’s signature or. a pic²⁰ turization of an appropriate kind. Some but not all of the ppspi.ble. picturizatipns. have been already mentidned,herein, '

The said perspnalizing. addition, is obtained, in the case of each card of the deck, by a procedure ²⁵ which involves placing oyer said coating Ila Photographic negative (as indicated at 12 in Figi 2). carrying the perspnalizing matter desired to be added to the card; Subjecting these parts 1 ( and 1.2; to, a sufficient light, exposure to effect a 30 Photographic transfer from the negative 12 to the coating ί I; separating the. negative from the card; developing the coating 11; fixing the image so developed, as the one shown at 14. in Fig, 3, and, then washing and drying- the card.'' Said 35 Wage,'is illustrated as the photograph of a little daughter of the owner of the deck. ^r

Thus, when this, procedure, is completed, as. tp all, the cards of the deck, a deck is finally had all the, different, cards of, which have identical 40 backs, as is usual and necessary so that the suits and values of the different cards cannot be detected merely from looking at the card backs, yet each of said' cards is personalized according to the invention. . ......45 It is to be noted that in carrying the invent tion into practise, the sensitized coating may be W the. face of a card, so that the/face of the card may carry the. personalized addition, ’ Tn «iirh case, the backs of the cards will be^ made fdenti50 cal in any suitable manner, as by having all of said backs plain, as of a solid color, or by having them all carry the same geometrical, floral or other design. The picture may be of either black and white or colored photographs or paintings

Also, in carrying out the invention, all the cards of the deck may have identical backs, with this similarity of One backs resulting from making them all plain, or all of one color, or all having the same design, or all having added thereto an initial corresponding to that of the owner of the deck, or all carrying the same photographically transferred addition pursuant to the invention, and, at the same time, the faces of the cards may carry photographically transferred additions, pursuant to the invention, with each of these last named additions, for example, different in the case of the cards of different suits, but with all of them, also, pursuant to the invention, personalized to the owner of the deck of cards. Any such personalized addition will be referred to as a personalized indicium.

After making the cards themselves, as, for instance, the deck of cards one of which is that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said deck is finally prepared for marketing by packaging the same in a way to protect the sensitized coatings on the cards from becoming light struck pending photographic transfer thereto of the personalizing indicia. Desirably, the deck is thus packaged by placing each card in an envelope such as the one illustrated at 15 in Figs. 4 through 7.

Said envelope, it will be noted, is an open top sack having two side walls 16 and 17, with each wall of the same shape and size as the card ID. These walls, like said card, have rounded corners of very small radius; and, with said walls joined suitably all along their bottoms and all along both sides up to small roundings corresponding to the two rounded corners at an end of the card, the sack 15 would be light-tight (except at its open top) if made of opaque material. Accordingly, said sack is made opaque all over, except at a transparent area of the wall 16, this area being sufficiently large and being suitably placed to expose therethrough the suit and value indications of the face of the card. The sack ! 5 is desirably made of a very thin highly flexible material such as Pliofilm, cellophane or the like.

A coating 18 of adhesive is extended band-like across the top of the wall 17 at the inner side thereof; and three spots 19 of said adhesive are spaced across the top of the wall 16 at the inside of said wall.

The adhesive desirably used is one of the well known kinds, which is normally tacky, adherent consequent upon application of slight pressure, 50 and releasable by slight pull.

Following insertion of a card into its said envelope 15, with the sensitized back of the card facing the wall 17, the item is completed for merchandising by effecting a rubbing stroke un- 55 der pressure against the outer side of said wall 17 opposite to and along the direction of extension of the adhesive coating 18. By this simple single step, the interior of the envelope 15 is sealed off across its top thereby to insure 60 that no light can strike the sensitized coating 11; and at the same time the wall 16 is attached to the face of the card at points corresponding to the locations of the three adhesive spots 19.

With all the cards of the deck thus individually 65 enveloped, the deck of cards may be used for the playing of any desired number of games;

2,663,418 and then, when the owner of the deck is ready to effect the desired photographic transfers of personalized indicia to the different cards, these may be removed one by one from their envelopes for the purpose of making said photographic additions. Removal from a card 10 of its envelope 1'5 is easily and quickly accomplished in a darkroom or like place; as, following insertion of a spatula or the like into the space between any two of the adhesive spots 19, all said spots may be readily separated from the card by pull on the upper end of the wall 16, after which the envelope may be expeditiously ripped off the card, with separation of the adhesive band ί 8 away from the card the last effected occurrence.

While I have illustraed and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming Within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.