Patent Application
20240206671
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The disclosure relates to coffeemaker apparatuses and more particularly pertains to a new coffeemaker apparatus for brewing, storing, and reheating coffee.
The prior art relates to coffeemaker apparatuses including at least one device which keeps water at an elevated temperature and brews a batch of coffee with the preheated water. The device then stores the batch of coffee at an unheated temperature and dispenses individual servings of the coffee, heating the coffee by exchanging heat with the preheated water. Numerous other devices include components for selecting a temperature of a dispensed amount of coffee, for cooling brewed coffee, and for dispensing a metered quantity of coffee. The prior art fails to address a coffeemaker apparatus which has structure for dispensing selectable sizes of coffee using a separate heating device.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing having an outer wall, the outer wall defining an interior space. A supply tank is coupled to the housing and is positioned within the interior space at a rear side of the interior space. Water is contained in the supply tank. A brew tank is coupled to the housing and is positioned within the interior space at a front side of the interior space. The brew tank has a top wall and a hole extending through the top wall into the brew tank. A filter basket is removably engaged with the housing such that the filter basket is retained above the brew tank. The filter basket has a bowl with an open top and a bottom wall. The bowl has an orifice extending through the bottom wall. Coffee grounds are contained in the filter basket.
A supply pipe is fluidly coupled to the supply tank. The supply pipe extends from a bottom end of the supply tank upwardly and terminates in a discharge end positioned above the filter basket. The discharge end is open. A supply heater is coupled to the supply pipe for selectively heating the water flowing through the supply pipe from the supply tank. The supply heater includes pumping means for urging the water through the supply pipe away from supply tank. Water urged through the discharge end of the supply pipe infuses with the coffee grounds to define a brewed coffee which dispenses into the brew tank.
A dispenser pipe is fluidly coupled to the brew tank. The dispenser pipe extends from a bottom side of the brew tank and terminates in a dispensing end. The dispensing end is positioned forwardly of the brew tank and faces downwardly. The dispensing end is open. A dispenser pump is coupled to the dispenser pipe for selectively urging the brewed coffee from the brew tank through the dispenser pipe to the dispensing end, and a dispenser heater is coupled to the dispenser pipe for selectively heating the brewed coffee flowing through the dispenser pipe.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A brew tank 30 is coupled to the housing 12 and is positioned within the interior space 16 at a front side 32 of the interior space 16. The brew tank 30 has a top wall 34 and a hole 36 extending through the top wall 34 into the brew tank 30. The top wall 34 is integrated with the housing 12. The brew tank 30 is fixed relative to the supply tank 18.
A filter basket 38 is removably engaged with the housing 12 such that the filter basket 38 is retained above the brew tank 30. The filter basket 38 has a bowl 40 with an open top 42 and a bottom wall 44, and an orifice 46 extends through the bottom wall 44. The filter basket 38 also has a handle 48 extending outwardly from the bowl 40. The housing 12 has an overhang portion 50 which is spaced above the brew tank 30 and a pair of ledges 52 extending downwardly from the overhang portion 50 and inwardly to engage the bowl 40 to retain the filter basket 38 above the brew tank 30. Alternatively, the filter basket 38 may alternatively be supported by the brew tank 30, the housing 12 below the filter basket 38, or the like. Coffee grounds 54 are contained in the filter basket 38. The filter basket 38 may have a mesh screen or like filter for retaining the coffee grounds 54 in the filter basket 38, or a separate coffee filter 56 may be used.
A supply pipe 58 is fluidly coupled to the supply tank 18. The supply pipe 58 extends from a bottom end 60 of the supply tank 18 upwardly and terminates in a discharge end 62 positioned above the filter basket 38. The discharge end 62 is open. A nozzle 64 is coupled to the discharge end 62 of the supply pipe 58 which has a plurality of apertures 66 extending into a bottom surface 68 of the nozzle 64. The plurality of apertures 66 is arranged across an area 70 which may have a circular shape. The water 22 is dispensed downwardly through the nozzle 64 across the area 70 to evenly soak the coffee grounds 54 in the water 22.
A one-way valve 72 is coupled to the supply pipe 58 adjacent to the supply tank 18 to permit the water 22 to flow only out of the supply tank 18. A supply heater 74 is coupled to the supply pipe 58 for selectively heating the water 22 flowing through the supply pipe 58 from the supply tank 18. The supply heater 74 is positioned lower than the discharge end 62 of the supply pipe 58 and defines a bubble pump 76 for urging the water 22 upwardly through the supply pipe 58 away from the supply tank 18 while simultaneously heating the water 22. Alternative pumping means may be used such as a positive-displacement pump, a centrifugal pump, or the like. Water 22 urged through the discharge end 62 of the supply pipe 58 infuses with the coffee grounds 54 to define a brewed coffee 78 which dispenses into the brew tank 30.
A dispenser pipe 80 is fluidly coupled to the brew tank 30. The dispenser pipe 80 extends from a bottom side 82 of the brew tank 30 and terminates in a dispensing end 84 which is positioned forwardly of the brew tank 30 and faces downwardly. The dispensing end 84 is open. The dispenser pipe 80 is formed adjacent to the dispensing end 84 to extend forwardly from the brew tank 30 through the housing 12 and to curve downwardly outside of the housing 12. A dispenser pump 86 is coupled to the dispenser pipe 80 for selectively urging the brewed coffee 78 from the brew tank 30 through the dispenser pipe 80 to the dispensing end 84. A dispenser heater 88 is coupled to the dispenser pipe 80 for selectively heating the brewed coffee 78 flowing through the dispenser pipe 80.
A hot water pipe 90 is fluidly coupled to the supply pipe 58 at a first junction 92 and the dispenser pipe 80 at a second junction 94 for facilitating transmission of the water 22 from the supply tank 18 to the dispensing end 84 of the dispenser pipe 80. The first junction 92 is positioned between the supply heater 74 and the discharge end 62 of the supply pipe 58, and the second junction 94 is positioned between the dispenser heater 88 and the dispensing end 84 of the dispenser pipe 80. A hot water valve 96 is coupled to the hot water pipe 90. The hot water valve 96 is selectively closable to prevent transmission of the water 22 and the brewed coffee 78 through the hot water pipe 90 and selectively openable to permit transmission of the water 22 urged by the bubble pump 76 to the dispenser pipe 80.
A hot coffee valve 98 is coupled to the dispenser pipe 80 between the brew tank 30 and the second junction 94 and adjacent to the second junction 94. The hot coffee valve 98 is selectively closable to prevent transmission of the water 22 into the dispenser pipe 80 between the second junction 94 and the brew tank 30 and selectively openable to permit transmission of the brewed coffee 78 urged by the dispenser pump 86 to the dispenser end of the dispenser pipe 80.
A control circuit 100 is positioned within the housing 12 and is electrically coupled to the supply heater 74, the dispenser pump 86, the dispenser heater 88, the hot water valve 96, and the hot coffee valve 98. An electrical wire 102 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 100. The electrical wire 102 extends laterally through the housing 12 and is configured for electrically coupling to a power supply 104. An input 106 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 100 and comprises a brew actuator 108, a temperature setting actuator 110, a dispenser actuator 112, and a hot water actuator 114.
The brew actuator 108 is programmed for activating the supply heater 74 and activating the hot water valve 96 to close. The brew actuator 108 comprises a switch 116 positioned on the overhang portion 50 of the housing 12.
The temperature setting actuator 110 is programmed for selecting a temperature of a volume of the brewed coffee 78 to be dispensed through the dispenser end of the dispenser pipe 80. The temperature setting actuator 110 selectively adjusts at least one of a heat rate of the dispenser heater 88 and a flow rate of the dispenser pump 86 to set the temperature. The temperature setting actuator 110 comprises a dial 118 positioned on the overhang portion 50 of the housing 12. The dispenser actuator 112 is programmed for selecting a size of the volume of the brewed coffee 78 to be dispensed and dispensing the volume through the dispenser end of the dispenser pipe 80. The dispenser actuator 112 activates the dispenser pump 86, the dispenser heater 88, the hot coffee valve 98 to open, and the hot water valve 96 to close. The dispenser actuator 112 comprises a plurality of size buttons 120 positioned on the overhang portion 50 of the housing 12, and each size button 120 corresponds to one of a plurality of cup sizes.
The hot water actuator 114 is programmed for dispensing heated water 22 through the dispenser end of the dispenser pipe 80. The hot water actuator 114 activates the supply heater 74 and activates the hot water valve 96 to open. The hot water actuator 114 comprises a hot water button 122 positioned on the overhang portion 50 of the housing 12.
In use, the coffeemaker apparatus 10 brews coffee when the brew actuator 108 is actuated and operates as described above to heat water 22 coming from the supply tank 18 and urge it out of the discharge end 62 of the supply pipe 58 to infuse with the coffee grounds 54. Brewed coffee 78 is deposited through the hole 36 of the top wall 34 of the brew tank 30 and into the brew tank 30. To dispense the brewed coffee 78, the temperature setting actuator 110 is actuated to select the temperature of the volume of the brewed coffee 78 to be dispensed, and the dispenser actuator 112 is actuated to dispense the volume of the brewed coffee 78 in a cup size corresponding to a selected one of the plurality of size buttons 120. To dispense only hot water 22, the hot water actuator 114 is actuated to heat the water 22 from the supply tank 18 and urge it to the dispensing end 84 of the dispenser pipe 80.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
