CARDS, PLAYING 727 



the card, by means of a sliding fork, tlio points of which are presented to the face of 

 the leather ; while the fork is made to advance and recede continually, by the agency 

 of levers worked by rotatory cams upon a revolving main shaft. 



The points of the fork being thus made to penetrate into the leather, the holes for 

 receiving the staples are pierced, at regular distances and in correct order, by shifting 

 the leather fillet so as to bring different parts of its surface opposite to the points of 

 the sliding fork. This is done by cams, or indented wheels and gear, which shift 

 the guide-rollers and confining drums laterally, as they revolve and consequently 

 move the fillet of leather at intervals a short distance, so as to present to the points 

 of the fork or piercers at every movement, a different part of the surface of the leather. 



Thirdly, the wire of which the teeth or points of the card are to be made, is supplied 

 from a coil on the side of the machine, and is brought forward at intervals, by a 

 pair of sliding pincers, which are slidden to and fro through the agency of levers 

 actuated by rotatory cams upon the main shaft. The pincers having advanced a 

 distance equal to the length of wire intended to form one staple, or two points, this 

 length of wire is pressed upon exactly in the middle by a square piece of steel, and 

 being there confined, a cutter is brought forward, which cuts it off from that part of 

 the wire held in the pincers. 



The length of wire thus separated and confined is now, by a movement of the 

 machine, bent up along the sides of the square steel holder, and shaped to three edges 

 of the square, that is, formed as a staple ; and in the same way, by the continued 

 movements of the machine, a succession of pieces of wire are cut off, and bent into 

 staples for making the teeth of the card as long as the mechanism is kept in action. 



Fourthly, the wire staple thus formed is held with its points or ends outwards, 

 closely contiguous to the forked piercer described above, and by another movement of 

 the mechanism the staple is protruded forward, its end entering in the two holes made 

 previously in the leather by sliding of the fork. 



While the wire staple is being thus introduced into the leather, its legs or points are 

 to be bent, that is, formed with a knee or angle, which is the fifth object to be effected. 

 This is done by means of a small apparatus consisting of a bar or bed, which bears up 

 against the under side of the wire staple when it has been passed half-way into the 

 holes in the leather, and another bar above it, which being brought down behind the 

 staple, bends it over the resisting bar to the angle required ; that is, forms the knee in 

 each leg. A pusher now acts behind the staple, and drives it home into the leather, 

 which completes the operation. 



The leather being thus conducted, and its position shifted before the piercer pro- 

 gressively, a succession of the above-described operations of cutting the wire, forming 

 the staple, passing it into the leather, and bending its legs to the angular form, produces 

 a sheet of card of the kind usually employed for carding or combing wool, cotton, and 

 other fibrous materials. It may be necessary to add, that as these wire staples are re- 

 quired to be set in the leathers, sometimes in lines crossing the sheet, which is called 

 ribbed, and at other times in oblique lines, called twilled, these variations are produced 

 by the positions of the notches or steps upon the edge or periphery of the cam, or 

 indented wheel, which shifts the guide rollers that hold the fillet or sheet of leather 

 as already described. 



CARDS, PIiAYIWG. (Cartes & jouer, Fr. ; Spidkarten, Ger.) Playing cards 

 were probably invented in the East. In Italy cards originally bore the name of Naibi, 

 and they are still, in Spain and Portugal, called Naipes, signifying, in the Oriental lan- 

 guages, divination. Cards were first painted by hand : the art of printing cards was 

 discovered in Germany between 1350 and 1360. It has been stated that cards were 

 in use in Spain in 1332 : in 1387, John I., King of Castile, prohibited their use. In 

 France, we find that card-playing was practised in 1361 ; and at the end of the 14th 

 century, we find Charles VI. amusing himself with cards during his sickness. The 

 figures on modern cards are of French origin, and are said to have been invented 

 between 1430 and 1461. 



Mr. De La Eue obtained, in February 1832, a patent for certain improvements in the 

 manufacture of playing cards, which he distributed under three heads : first, printing 

 the pips, and also the picture or court-cards, in oil colours by means of types or blocks ; 

 secondly, effecting the same in oil colours by means of lithography ; and thirdly, gilding 

 or silvering borders, and other parts of the characters, by the printing process, either 

 by types, blocks, or lithography. 



In the ordinary mode of manufacturing playing cards, their devices are partly pro- 

 duced by copperplate printing, and they are filled up with water-colours by the 

 means called stencilling. 



The patentee does not purpose any material alteration in the devices or forms upon 

 the cards, but only to produce them with oil colours ; and, to effect this, he follows 

 precisely the same mode as that practised by calico-printers. 



