Patent Application
20240215752
The present invention relates generally to small appliances, and more specifically to beverage makers.
Automatic drip coffeemakers are well known and widely used. They are effective to brew carafes of coffee, typically containing five to eight cups or more of liquid. Automatic drip coffee makers may also be used for brewing small batches (one to four cups).
A typical automatic drip coffeemaker includes a brew basket that contains ground coffee (presented loosely in a bowl-shaped filter, in a sealed packet, or within a “pod”-type package). Heated water is conveyed to the brew basket and released, where it gravimetrically flows downwardly through the coffee grounds and into a receptacle such as a carafe or pot. Exemplary automatic drip coffeemakers are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,969 to Moore et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,080 to Hsu; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,065,952 to Wang, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in full. Some coffeemakers are designed to brew coffee in different forms; for example, coffeemakers offered in the FLEXBREW® line of products available from Hamilton Beach Brands (Richmond, Virginia) include an insert that enables the user to choose between a pod or loose ground coffee.
Moreover, another coffeemaker offered in the FLEXBREW® line of coffeemakers has two different “stations,” one of which can brew a full pot or carafe, and the other of which brews a single serving (often utilizing a pod as described above). This coffeemaker can provide the user with the flexibility of brewing either a single serving, if that is all that is desired, or multiple servings in a pot or carafe.
It may be desirable to provide performance improvements to coffeemakers, and in particular coffeemakers that brew loose grounds.
As a first aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a beverage maker. The beverage maker comprises: a housing having a platform, a tower mounted to and extending upwardly from the platform, and a basket holder fixed to and extending generally horizontally from the tower and over the platform; a brew basket positioned in the basket holder; a fluid reservoir mounted to the housing; a heating unit; a fluid outlet positioned over the brew basket; piping fluidly connecting the fluid reservoir with the fluid outlet, the piping routed adjacent the heating unit to permit the heating unit to heat fluid in piping as it travels from the fluid reservoir to the fluid outlet; and a brew filter positioned in the brew basket, the brew filter being formed of a permeable material. The brew filter includes a first transparent window, and the brew basket includes a second transparent window. An illuminating unit is positioned in the basket holder. The first and second transparent windows are positioned so that light from the illuminating unit passes through the first and second windows.
As a second aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a beverage maker comprising: a housing having a platform, a tower mounted to and extending upwardly from the platform, and a basket holder fixed to and extending generally horizontally from the tower and over the platform; a fluid reservoir mounted to the housing; a heating unit; a fluid outlet positioned over the basket holder; piping fluidly connecting the fluid reservoir with the fluid outlet, the piping routed adjacent the heating unit to permit the heating unit to heat fluid in piping as it travels from the fluid reservoir to the fluid outlet; and a brew filter positioned in the basket holder, the brew filter being formed of a permeable material. The brew filter includes a transparent window, the window including markings corresponding to a level of material contained in the brew filter. An illuminating unit is positioned in the basket holder. The transparent window is positioned so that light from the illuminating unit passes therethrough.
As a third aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a beverage maker comprising: a housing having a platform, a tower mounted to and extending upwardly from the platform, and a basket holder fixed to and extending generally horizontally from the tower and over the platform; a fluid reservoir mounted to the housing; a heating unit; a fluid outlet positioned over the basket holder; piping fluidly connecting the fluid reservoir with the fluid outlet, the piping routed adjacent the heating unit to permit the heating unit to heat fluid in piping as it travels from the fluid reservoir to the fluid outlet; and a brew filter positioned in the basket holder, the brew filter being formed of a permeable material. The brew filter includes a transparent window. An illuminating unit is positioned in the basket holder. The transparent window is positioned so that light from the illuminating unit passes therethrough. The beverage maker further comprises a controller operatively connected with the illuminating unit, wherein the controller activates the illuminating unit based on an action taken by a user of the beverage maker.
The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
In the figures, certain layers, components or features may be exaggerated for clarity, and broken lines illustrate optional features or operations unless specified otherwise. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present invention. The sequence of operations (or steps) is not limited to the order presented in the claims or figures unless specifically indicated otherwise.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”
Referring now to the drawings, a beverage maker according to embodiments of the invention is illustrated in
As is conventional for beverage makers of this general configuration, the beverage maker 20 includes piping 31 that is routed from the bottom of the water tank 30, below the platform 24 (where it is heated by a heating element 32 positioned directly under the platform 24), and upwardly to a shower arm 33. The shower arm 33, which is located predominantly in the lid 29, extends over the upper portion of the basket holder 28 to provide water that flows through grounds in a brew basket 40 positioned in the basket holder 28. Brewed beverage flows from the bottom of the brew basket 40 through an aperture in the floor of the basket holder 28 and into a vessel, such as a coffee pot 34, where it is collected until brewing is complete. A pump 34 is associated with the piping 31 to draw the water from the water tank 30 to the shower arm 33.
The pump 34 and the heating element 32 are operatively connected with a controller 200, which is also connected with selection buttons 35 on the front face of the tower 26. The controller 200 is also operatively connected with a power cord 36 for connecting the beverage maker 20 with an electrical outlet.
Referring now to
In addition, a tall, narrow transparent window 48 is present in the wall of the brew basket 40. The window 48 is generally trapezoidal but could be any number of shapes. The window 48 is typically formed of a clear plastic material, such as polystyrene.
The brew basket 40, which is typically formed of a polymeric material, is removable from the basket holder 28 for cleaning. The oblong shape of the lower end 44 of the brew basket 40 helps to orient the brew basket 40 correctly within the basket holder 28.
A brew filter 50 (see
Like the brew basket 40, the brew filter 50 includes a transparent window 58. The window 58 may be generally similar in shape to the window 48. The window 48 may be formed of the same material as the filter material 55, or may be formed of a different transparent material, such as polystyrene.
In the illustrated embodiment, the window 58 includes graduated markings or indicator lines 62 (see
The markings 62 can help to address a common issue when preparing coffee or other beverages with loose grounds. In many instances ground coffee is provided in a can, jar or bag, or may even be provided in the form of full beans that are freshly ground by the user prior to brewing. In these situations, often the ground coffee is not provided with a measuring device (e.g., a scoop). The markings 62 can provide an easy and convenient guide to the user as to how full of ground coffee the brew filter 50 should be for the brewing of a desired amount of coffee.
Referring now to
The illuminating unit 70 may be connected to the controller 200, which may control when the illuminating unit 70 is illuminated. For example, the illuminating unit 70 may be illuminated as a response to an action taken by the user. As one example, the illuminating unit 70 may be deactivated until the lid 29 is opened (e.g., the beverage maker 20 may include a sensor connected with the controller 200 that senses when the lid 29 is open), at which point the illuminating unit 70 may remain illuminated for a set period of time (e.g., 2 minutes) to allow the user to more easily fill the brew filter 50 with grounds. Alternatively, the illuminating unit 70 may remain illuminated when the lid 29 is open and may be deactivated when the lid 29 is closed. In some embodiments, the illuminating unit 70 may remain illuminated at all times that the beverage maker 20 is plugged into an electrical outlet or may illuminate when the unit is powered on. Other variations may also be employed.
Those of skill in this art will appreciate that different aspects of the beverage maker may take different forms. As one example, while the markings 62 are shown as graduated numbered lines, in other embodiments the markings may be a pictorial representation (e.g., two cups shown for the two-cup level, four cups shown for the four-cup level, etc., or may include printed text (e.g., “TWO CUPS”). Also, although the markings 62 are shown herein as appearing on the brew filter 50, in some embodiments the markings 62 may appear on the brew basket 40. Other possibilities may also be suitable.
In additional embodiments, the configuration of the beverage maker 20 itself may be different. For example, although a multi-serving beverage maker is shown herein, the beverage maker may also take the form of a multi-station beverage maker such as the FLEXBREW system described above, wherein the device includes both a single-serving station and a multi-serving station that can brew beverages using loose grounds. Also, the arrangement of the water tank 30, piping 31, pump 31 (if any) and heating element(s) may be varied considerably in other embodiments. Further, while in the illustrated embodiment the brew basket 40 and brew filter 50 are accessed by pivoting the lid 29 to a raised position, in other embodiments the basket holder 28, brew basket 40 and brew filter 50 may be pivotally attached to the remainder of the housing, such that they pivot about a vertical axis away from the shower arm to provide access to the brew filter 50 and brew basket 40. Moreover, in some embodiments the brew basket 40 itself may be omitted, such that the brew filter 50 resides directly in the basket holder 28. Other variations may also be suitable for use herein.
Some embodiments of the present invention are exemplarily described above in combination with the accompanying drawings. Those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs should understand that specific structures shown in the above embodiments are merely exemplary, rather than limiting. Moreover, those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs can combine a variety of technical features shown above according to a variety of possible manners to constitute new technical solutions or make other modifications, and these new technical solutions are encompassed within the scope of the present invention.
