Claims
- 1. In combination with a coffee bean grinder having a bean grinding mechanism, an electric motor operably connected in driving relationship with said grinding mechanism, at least one bean hopper mounted in gravity feed relationship with said grinding mechanism, and gate means interposed between said hopper and said grinding mechanism and operable variably to connect said hopper in gravity feeding relationship with said grinding mechanism for measuring and dispensing different quantities of beans to the grinding mechanism, a coffee brewer operatively associated with said grinder and including a brewer control circuit providing multiple brewing modes and providing a control effect on said grinder indicative of a selected brewing mode, said control effect selecting a quantity of beans to be measured and ground by said grinder based on a selected volume of coffee to be brewed by said brewer, said grinder including a grinder control circuit comprising:
- user-actuable switch means for entering a user-selected grinding mechanism cycle time;
- user-actuable grinder activation means;
- first digital storage means for storing a first user-selected grinding mechanism cycle time appropriate for one brewing mode entered by said switch means;
- second digital storage means for storing an alternate user-selected grinding mechanism cycle time appropriate for another brewing mode entered by said switch means;
- hopper control circuit means operable upon actuation of said activation means for opening the gate means for a selected one of said stored user-selected grinding mechanism cycle times;
- grinder motor control circuit means operable upon actuation of said activation means for operating the grinder motor for a grinder time cycle at least as long as said selected one of said stored user-selected grinding mechanism cycle times; and
- selection circuit means communicating with said grinder control circuit and responsive to said control effect provided by said brewer control circuit and rendering said hopper control circuit means and said grinder motor control circuit means responsive to said first digital storage means when the associated coffee brewer is in a first brewing mode, and responsive to said second digital storage means when the associated coffee brewer is in the second brewing mode.
- 2. The grinder control system as defined in claim 1 wherein said first and second digital storage means each comprises a non-volatile memory device.
- 3. The grinder control system as defined in claim 1 wherein the grinder includes an additional bean hopper and an additional gate means associated therewith, user-actuable switch means for selecting one of said hoppers for supplying beans to said grinding mechanism, and additional digital storage means for storing additional user-selected cycle times associated with said additional hopper, and wherein said hopper control circuit means and said grinder motor control circuit are responsive to said additional cycle times stored in said additional digital storage means upon user-selection of said additional paper.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 447,171, filed Dec. 7, 1989, and now abandoned, which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 226,675, filed Aug. 1, 1988, and now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
226675 |
Aug 1988 |
|
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
447161 |
Dec 1989 |
|