Patent Application
20220273130
This application relates to cartridges for holding a brewing medium for use with an automated beverage brewer.
There are numerous devices available today for making a single-serve brewed beverage, such as the single-server brewers shown and described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,708,600, and 6,079,315, the disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
In a typical single-serve beverage brewer, a disposable beverage filter cartridge containing a dry beverage medium (such as tea or coffee) is disposed within a filter cartridge holder or brewing holster. To brew the beverage, the filter cartridge is pierced by inlet and outlet probes to accommodate a through-flow of metered hot water. The hot water infuses the dry beverage medium contained in the cartridge to thereby produce a single serving of the beverage. After the beverage is brewed, the cartridge is removed from the cartridge holder and it is discarded.
By requiring the use of the disposable cartridges, the consumer is limited to the beverage selection of the cartridges on hand. Moreover, with each cartridge being disposed of after use, there is much needless waste. Thus there is a need for a reusable cartridge filter suitable for use with a beverage brewer described above that can be used with any desired dry beverage medium (coffee, tea, etc.).
The apparatus and methods disclosed herein provide an improved approach for preparing brewed beverages using a beverage brewer designed to use disposable cartridges.
In one aspect of the invention, a beverage brewing cartridge includes: a bottom having a bottom perimeter, the bottom having an inner bottom surface and an outer bottom surface opposite the inner bottom surface; a sidewall including an inner sidewall surface and an outer sidewall surface, the sidewall extending upwardly and outwardly from the bottom perimeter to an upper rim, the upper rim defining a top opening, the bottom and the sidewall combining to define an interior space; a lid defining an inlet probe opening extending through the lid, the lid being moveable between an open position and a closed position, the lid further being sized to cover the top opening when in the closed position, the lid defining a central inlet probe opening and a plurality of perimeter inlet probe openings distributed around the central inlet probe opening; a receptacle indentation positioned at the bottom perimeter and being formed in a portion of the bottom and a portion of the sidewall, the receptacle indentation extending upwardly from the inner bottom surface and inwardly from the inner sidewall surface, the receptacle indentation forming a first interior receptacle indentation wall protruding into the interior space and being surrounded by the inner bottom surface and the inner sidewall surface; and one or more filter areas defined in the sidewall; and wherein the inner sidewall surface, the first interior receptacle indentation wall, the inner bottom surface, and the one or more filter areas are configured to combine to hold a brewing material when the brewing material is placed in the interior space.
In some embodiments, the upper rim defines one or more notches and one or more circumferential grooves extending around the outer sidewall surface; and the lid defines one or more inwardly protruding tabs configured to insert within the one or more notches and slide into the one or more circumferential grooves. In some embodiments, the lid includes a cylindrical surface, the inwardly protruding tabs being formed on the cylindrical surface.
In some embodiments, the receptacle indentation extends partially toward the center of the bottom surface.
In some embodiments, the sidewall is integrally formed with the bottom and the receptacle indentation is integrally formed with the bottom and the sidewall. In some embodiments, the one or more filter areas are included in the sidewall. In some embodiments, the one or more filter areas include mesh secured across filter openings in the sidewall. In some embodiments, the filter openings include two or more rows of filter openings, each row of the two or more rows of filter openings including a plurality of filter openings distributed circumferentially around the sidewall. In some embodiments, the lid includes a plurality of indentations around a perimeter of the lid.
In another aspect of the invention, a beverage brewing cartridge includes a lid defining an inlet probe opening and one or more first twist-lock features; a body comprising: a sidewall having a circular upper rim for engagement with the lid in the closed position, a lower edge defining a lower perimeter, and an inner sidewall surface extending between the upper rim and the lower edge and an outer sidewall surface extending between the upper rim and the lower edge, the sidewall defining one or more second twist-lock features configured to engage the first twist lock features; a bottom wall having an inner bottom surface and an outer bottom surface opposite the inner bottom surface, the bottom wall extending across the lower perimeter such that the inner bottom surface intersects the inner sidewall surface, the inner sidewall surface and inner bottom surface combining to form an internal volume; and one or more filter areas defined in the body; wherein the sidewall, the bottom surface, the receptacle wall, and the one or more filter areas are configured to, in combination, retain a dry beverage medium within the internal volume.
In some embodiments, the one or more first twist-lock features include one or more tabs secures to the lid. In some embodiments, the one or more second twist-lock features include: one or more notches extending into the sidewall from the upper rim and sized to receive the one or more tabs; and one or more circumferential grooves extending around the sidewall from the one or more notches and positioned to receive the one or more tabs responsive to rotation of the lid with the tabs positioned within the one or more notches. In some embodiments, a cylindrical surface is defined by the lid, the one or more tabs extending inwardly from the cylindrical surface. In some embodiments, the one or more circumferential grooves extend inwardly from the outer sidewall surface.
In some embodiments, an outlet probe receptacle extends inwardly from the inner sidewall surface and inwardly into the bottom surface toward a center of the bottom surface, the outlet probe receptacle further having a receptacle wall configured as an indentation extending into the internal volume.
In some embodiments, the lid defines a plurality of perimeter inlet probe openings distributed around the inlet probe opening. In some embodiments, the one or more filter areas are defined in the sidewall. The one or more filter areas may include mesh secured across filter openings in the sidewall. The filter openings may include two or more rows of filter openings, each row of the two or more rows of filter openings including a plurality of filter openings distributed circumferentially around the sidewall. The lid may include a plurality of indentations around a perimeter of the lid.
Preferred and alternative examples of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings:
Referring to
One or more outlet probe receptacles 18 protrude inwardly from one or both of the sidewall 14 and the bottom wall 16. In the illustrated embodiment, one outlet probe receptacles 18 protrude upwardly through the bottom wall 16. In other embodiments, two outlet probe receptacles are disposed 180 degrees apart about the axis of symmetry 12. The outlet probe receptacle 18 may include a pocket made of continuous, imperforated, impermeable material (e.g., the same material as the base cup) that isolate the contents of the base cup 10 from an outlet probe protruding into the outlet probe receptacle. In other embodiments, the receptacle 18 may include one or more perforations. In a typical beverage brewer, only one outlet probe is present such that only one receptacle 18 is used in some embodiments. However, providing two receptacles 18 enables the user to position the base cup in two positions without interference from the outlet probe.
In the illustrated embodiment, the receptacles 18 are embodied as indentations positioned inwardly from a bottom perimeter of the sidewall and formed by a portion of the bottom wall 16 and a portion of the sidewall. The indentation of each receptacle 18 may extend upwardly from the inner bottom surface of the bottom wall 16 and inwardly from an inner sidewall surface of the sidewall 14. The receptacle 18 may include a first interior receptacle indentation wall protruding into an interior space defined by the sidewall 14 and bottom wall 16 and be surrounded by the inner bottom surface and the inner sidewall surface. As is apparent in
The sidewall 14 further defines one or more filter apertures 20. The filter apertures 20 may be large and occupy a major portion (e.g., between 20 and 50 percent) of the vertical (e.g., parallel to the axis of symmetry 12) and circumferential (e.g., about the axis of symmetry 12) extent of the sidewall 14 between the topmost and bottommost edges thereof.
In the illustrated embodiment, there are two rows of filter apertures 20 in the sidewall 14. In the illustrated embodiment, each aperture 20 includes a straight top edge, straight bottom edge, and rounded end portions extending between the straight top edge and straight bottom edge. In the illustrated embodiment, each row includes three filter apertures 20 distributed circumferentially about the axis or symmetry 12 around the sidewall 14. For example, in the embodiment shown in
The filter apertures 20 are completely covered by filter material 22. Any suitable reusable, durable filter may be used, such as a micro-screen mesh filter made from metal (such as gold or stainless steel, gold-tone filters), plastic, or fabric. The filter material 22 may be molded into the material of the sidewall 14 in order to resist separation from the sidewall 14 after repeated use. Filter material 22 may include a plurality of perforations in the sidewall 14.
The bottom wall 16 may be continuous piece of material or may include perforations functioning as filter material or may include additional openings 20 covered by filter material 22. In the embodiment of
An upper rim 24 of the sidewall 14 may include a fastening structure such as threads, a snap-type fitting, or any other type of fastening structure. The filter cartridge further includes a lid 26 that selectively engages the upper rim 24. The lid 26 defines an inlet probe receptacle 28 for receiving the inlet probe of a brewing device. The lid 24, sidewall 14, and bottom wall 16 define a brewing chamber for holding a dry beverage medium.
Referring to
In the illustrated embodiment, a distributor 32 is positioned on an underside of the lid 24 over the receptacle 28. The distributor 32 may include a conical member with the point of the conical member pointed downward when the lid 26 is positioned on the rim 24. The conical portion may include a plurality of openings to distribute fluid dispensed into the inlet probe receptacle 28. The conical portion may be connected to the lid 26 by means of a cylinder that may include or omit additional openings. Distributors 32 may be positioned under the receptacles 30 or may be omitted.
The perimeter of the lid 26 may include indentations 34 distributed around the entirety of the lid 26 as shown in
Referring to
In the illustrated embodiment, there are four tabs 38 and four notches 40 distributed uniformly about the axis of symmetry 12 on the lid 26 and rim 24, respectively. Other numbers of tabs 38 and notches 40 may be used and their distribution may be non-uniform. Tabs 38 may extend outwardly from the rim 24 and the cylindrical surface 36 may define the notches 40 and grooves 42 for receiving the tabs 38.
Referring to
In use, the cup 10 and lid 26 may be used by:
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.
