1. A card dealing structure comprising a card supply recess sized to receive a deck of cards therein, card guide surface for guiding an advanced card of the deck of cards to a card dispensing slot when the advanced card is manually advanced by a user, a rotatable drive member located in said card dispensing slot for engaging said advanced card and ejecting the advanced card out of said card slot; said card dispensing slot cooperating with said card guide surface to separate only the advanced card from the deck of cards as the advanced card is manually advanced to said card dispensing slot, and a motor for driving said rotatable drive member.
2. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said structure is handheld to dispense cards individually with a single hand.
3. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 2 wherein said rotatable drive member is a foam wheel.
4. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 3 wherein said foam wheel is resiliently compressed as a card is dispensed through said slot.
5. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rotatable drive member allows slippage of a card being dispensed in accordance with a drag force exerted by a user on the card during the dispensing thereof to vary the dispensing speed of the card as it leaves the dispensing slot.
6. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 5 wherein said card supply recess is primarily open on at a top surface thereof and is closed on two sides and one end, with an opposite end of said card supply recess being limited by said card guide surface.
7. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 6 including a card restraint member position to extend across said top surface of said card supply recess.
8. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 5 including a card bias arrangement that cooperates with said card supply recess to adjust the level of said deck of cards consistently within a height of said card supply recess.
9. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 8 wherein said bias arrangement is a scissor structure.
10. A card dealing structure as claimed in claim 9 wherein said scissor structure extends in the length of said card supply recess and supports cards retained in said recess along the length of said cards.
11. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 4 wherein said foam drive member has a periphery immediately adjacent an opposed fixed member with a dispensed card passing therebetween, said foam drive member compressing to accommodate and engage a card as it is passing between said fixed member and said foam drive member.
12. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 11 wherein said fixed member is part of the housing of said card dealing arrangement.
13. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 12 including a battery supply for said motor.
14. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 13 including a card sensing arrangement positioned to sense a card being manually advanced by a user to said dispensing slot, said card sensing arrangement being connected to said motor for initiating said motor when a card is sensed.
15. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 14 including a timing circuit for maintaining the operation of said motor for a predetermined time period after a card has been sensed.
16. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 15 wherein said card sensing arrangement is a microswitch that is activated by a card being manually moved to said dispensing slot.
17. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 1 including a battery supply providing power to said motor and said dealing arrangement is handheld in one hand for dealing cards.
18. A card dealing arrangement as claimed in claim 17 wherein the top card is manually advanced by a user’s thumb of the hand supporting the card dealing arrangement.
19. A card dealing device comprising a card receiving cavity for receiving a supply of cards; a card drive arrangement located at one of said card receiving cavity positioned to receive a card advanced thereto from said supply of cards; said card drive arrangement including a rotatable drive member associated with a card dispensing slot through which advanced cards are ejected; said drive arrangement including an electric drive for rotating said drive member; and wherein said card receiving cavity includes a card guide surface forming a transition between said card receiving cavity and said card drive arrangement; said card guide surface causing a card being advanced from said card supply cavity to separate from said card supply and enter said drive arrangement and be ejected through said card dispensing slot.
20. A card dealing device as claimed in claim 19 wherein said drive arrangement includes a microswitch for sensing a card entering said drive arrangement; said microswitch activating an electric motor that rotates said rotatable drive arrangement.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A process for producing a dense boron carbide ceramic under normal pressure comprising:
forming a boron carbide powder material into a carbide green body by pressing without addition of a sintering additive; and
heating said boron carbide green body under normal pressure in a furnace in the presence of at least one material selected from aluminum and silicon, present in the furnace as at least one form selected from the group consisting of a powder, a green body, and a sintered body, which is discrete from the boron carbide green body,
wherein said heating occurs entirely in an atmosphere of an inert gas, in which at least one gas produced from said at least one form by the heating is present, and
wherein the heating produces boron carbide ceramic having a relative density of 89% or higher.
2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the heating step comprises:
heating said furnace to a first temperature sufficient to produce the at least one gas produced from said at least one form,
wherein said at least one gas is at least one as selected from the group consisting of an aluminum-containing gas, a silicon-containing carbide gas, and a silicon-containing gas other than the silicon-containing carbide gas; and
subsequently heating said furnace to a second temperature that is higher than said first temperature.
3. The process according to claim 2, wherein a concentration of the at least one gas of the aluminum-containing gas, the silicon-containing carbide gas, and the silicon-containing gas other than the silicon-containing carbide gas, present in the inert gas in the atmosphere inside the furnace during the heating step is 2\xd710\u22126 gcm3 or higher but 2\xd710\u22122 gcm3 or lower as a metal content.
4. The process according to claim 2, wherein the boron carbide green body is obtained by pressing a boron carbide powder having an average particle size of 0.2 \u03bcm or greater but 2.0 \u03bcm or smaller under a pressing pressure of 20 MPa or higher but 2,000 MPa or lower, without heating.
5. The process according to claim 1,
wherein the boron carbide green body is obtained by pressing a boron carbide powder having an average particle size of 0.2 \u03bcm or greater but 2.0 \u03bcm or smaller under a pressing pressure of 20 MPa or higher but 2,000 MPa or lower, without heating.
6. The process according to claim 1, wherein the at least one form present in the furnace in the heating step comprises the aluminum and the silicon.
7. The process according to claim 6, wherein the at least one gas produced from the at least one form of the powder, the green body, and the sintered body is a combination of an aluminum-containing gas and a silicon-containing gas.
8. The process according to claim 1, wherein the aluminum present in the furnace in the heating step is at least one material selected from the group consisting of metal aluminum, aluminum oxide, and aluminum nitride.
9. The process according to claim 1, wherein the silicon present in the furnace in the heating step is at least one material selected from the group consisting of metal silicon, silicon oxide, and silicon carbide.
10. A process for producing a dense boron carbide ceramic under normal pressure comprising:
forming a boron carbide powder material into a carbide green body by pressing without addition of a sintering additive; and
heating said boron carbide green body under normal pressure in a furnace,
wherein said heating occurs entirely in an inert atmosphere, in which at least one gas selected from the group consisting of an aluminum-containing gas, a silicon-containing carbide gas and a silicon-containing gas other than the silicon-containing carbide gas is present, and
wherein the heating produces boron carbide ceramic having a relative density of 89% or higher.
11. The process according to claim 10, wherein a concentration of the at least one gas of the aluminum-containing gas, the silicon-containing carbide gas, and the silicon-containing gas other than the silicon-containing carbide gas, present in the inert gas in the atmosphere inside the furnace during the heating step is 2\xd710\u22126 gcm3 or higher but 2\xd710\u22122 gcm3 or lower as a metal content.
12. The process according to claim 10, wherein the boron carbide green body is obtained by pressing a boron carbide powder having an average particle size of 0.2 \u03bcm or greater but 2.0 \u03bcm or smaller under a pressing pressure of 20 MPa or higher but 2,000 MPa or lower, without heating.
13. The process according to claim 10, wherein the at least one gas is a combination of the aluminum-containing gas and the silicon-containing carbide gas or a combination of the aluminum-containing gas and the silicon-containing gas other than the silicon-containing carbide gas.
14. The process according to claim 10, wherein the aluminum-containing gas is generated from least one material selected from the group consisting of metal aluminum, aluminum oxide, and aluminum nitride.
15. The process according to claim 10,
wherein the silicon-containing carbide gas is generated from silicon carbide, and
the silicon-containing gas other than the silicon-containing carbide gas is generated from at least one material selected from metal silicon and silicon oxide.