US2038734A - Bridge practice and instruction board - Google Patents

Description

April 28, 1936. A. Y. HARDY BRIDGE Pl lACTICE AND INSTRUCTION BOARD Filed April 23, 1934 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 LEAD 1111 9 LEAD 2 WIN LEAD 5 WIN LEAD 113 7 WIN LEAD 8 NORTH m %4/?0/Y A 622w) auto WM;

April-28, 1 I A. Y. HARDY 2,038,734

BRIDGE PRACTICE AND INSTRUCTION BOARD Filed April 25, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I /7 /d g;

I 9 k/z' "3mm Patented Apr. 28, 1936 Ni'l'ED STATES PATENT OFFIE BRIDGE PRACTICE AND INSTRUCTION BOARD This invention relates to a game board, more particularly designed for practice and instruction in the game of bridge. The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple, compact,

board-like structure which will retain four complete bridge hands and provide retaining means for holding the tricks or plays from these hands so that the same may be repeated, studied and practiced.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for enabling the user to quickly and easily set up prearranged hands and for directing the user in the proper method of playing. these hands.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawings and throughout the description.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the complete board ready to receive the playing cards.

Fig. 2 is a cross section therethrough, taken on the line 22, Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a face view of an indicating strip which may be employed with the board.

Fig. 4 illustrates the reverse face of the indicating strip.

Fig. 5 is a face view of the board, partially broken away to illustrate the internal structure. In this View, typical hands of playing cards are illustrated in the position they would occupy after three tricks have been played.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section through one edge of the board, illustrating a playing card and indicating strip in place therein.

The invention comprises a board, preferably built up from three relatively thick sheets of material such as cardboard, fiber board, wood,

or the like. In the drawing the three sheets forming the complete board are indicated by numeral as follows: face sheet l0, spacing sheet II, and backing sheet l2. The three sheets are glued, cemented, or otherwise secured together.

They are preferably bound with an ornamental binding strip I3.

The face sheet [0 is divided so as to form four player sections I4, preferably designated as West, North, East, and South. Within 5 the player sections is a trick area l5. The corners of the board may be suitably ornamented such'as by'indications I6 of the various suits employed in playing cards.

In the face sheet In, at each of the player sections, a slot is formed which will be herein 6 designated as the hand slot H. In the trick area l5 of the face sheet I0, four parallel lateral slots are formed which will be herein designated as the trick slots l8. Relatively wide slots l9 and 20 are formed in the spacing sheet H 10 immediately below the slots l1 and I8, respectively. The slots l9 and 20 extend considerably to one side of the slots in the sheet l0 so as to provide a space into which the lower edge of the cards may be slid, as shown in Fig. 6.

Spacing markers 2| are printed on the face sheet) along each of the hand slots l1, and similar spacing markers 22 are formed along the trick slots IS. The latter slots are also designated by an initial corresponding to one of the player positions, as W, N, E, and S, respectively. Immediately below the lowermost trick slot I8 is an index 23 to designate the number of the-tricks above.

The board as thus far described, may be em.- ployed for studying or practicing either accidental or preset hands. The hands are set up in each of the hand slots I! with one edge of each card aligning with one of the spacing markers 2|. The 3 hands may be then played in rotation and, as each card is played, it is placed in its corresponding trick slot l8. After a game has been completed, the player can study the tricks as they are all exposed before him in the trick area l5. He 35 can see instantly which hand played any given card, and can plan his future plays so as to improve his game.

The board can be employed to set up preset hands, and the plays can be indicated so that 40 these hands will be played in a preplanned manner. This may be accomplished by employing indicating strips 24, such as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. These strips are of a length substantially equal to the length of the hand slots l1, and car- 45 ry a designation 26 of one of the hands. The strips are marked off in spaces similar to'the spacing of the indicating markers 2|. On one face of each of the strips 24 are indications 25 for setting up a preset hand. On the reverse side 50 of the strip 24, a series of numerals 21 may be placed to indicate the order in which the cards of that hand should be played. If a card in that hand is to be led, it is preferred to indicate this by the word lead as shown at 28. If the trick is to'be won by a card of that hand, this is also indicated by the word win as shown at 29.

I1 below the indicating strips 24, as shown in. Figs. 5 and 6. When all of the handshave been set up, the player may play them according to his own judgment, or he may reverse each'of the indicating strips 24 and play the hands according to the directions thereon, thus receiving an expert example ,as to how the hands would be played by an expert.-

A variety of diiferent strips 24Vcan be furnished with each board and additional strips may be obtained from time to time sothat a very broad 'knowledge as to the professional manner of handling different situations may be obtained by r the user.

It will be noted that the cards areautomatical- 1y aligned since their bottom edges are aligned by the sides of the slots [9 and 20, in the spacing strip I I.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described andillustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claim,'without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what'is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:V a 7 -A bridge practice board comprising: a boardlike member having rectangularly positioned slots in one of its faces for receiving hands of cards and having an additional series of slots for receiving the card tricks played from said hands; and a series of indicating strips formed to be re ceived in said first slots and carrying designations for designating the proper card and position along said slots; 7

' AARON Y. HARDY.

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