Coffee making appliance for brewing coffee

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10004354-B2
Application number	US-201514984513-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

A coffee making appliance includes a housing having a base for supporting a container configured to receive brewed coffee, a reservoir for receiving water to be heated, a hopper configured to receive a quantity of whole coffee beans, the hopper having an outlet, a vertically-oriented burr grinder positioned adjacent to the outlet of said hopper, the grinder being configured to transform the whole coffee beans into coffee grounds, a filter removably received by the housing for receiving the coffee grounds from the grinder, a pump configured to supply water from the reservoir to the filter, and a driving mechanism configured to rotate the filter while the water is supplied to the filter to cause the water to pass radially through the coffee grounds to produce the brewed coffee.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A coffee making appliance, comprising:
a housing having a base for supporting a container configured to receive brewed coffee;
a reservoir for receiving water to be heated;
a hopper configured to receive a quantity of whole coffee beans, said hopper having an outlet;
a vertically-oriented burr grinder positioned adjacent to said outlet of said hopper, said grinder being configured to transform said whole coffee beans into coffee grounds;
a filter removably received by said housing for receiving said coffee grounds from said grinder;
a pump configured to supply said water from said reservoir to said filter via a water inlet; and
a driving mechanism configured to rotate said filter while said water is supplied to said filter to cause said water to pass radially through said coffee grounds to produce said brewed coffee;
wherein said water inlet is arranged horizontally offset from the center of said filter so as to permitting said water being dispensed into said filter in a spiral pattern when said filter is rotated by said driving mechanism; said filter includes a non-porous floor having at least one rib, said at least one rib being configured to deflect a flow of water within said filter away from said floor.

2. The coffee making appliance of claim 1 , wherein:
said burr grinder includes a pair of vertically-oriented burrs configured to rotate about a generally horizontal axis and a grinder motor configured to rotate at least one of said burrs.

3. The coffee making appliance of claim 2 , further comprising:
a knob accessible from a front of said housing and operatively connected to at least one of said burrs, said knob being rotatable to selectively adjust a spacing between said pair of burrs.

4. The coffee making appliance of claim 1 , further comprising:
a control unit configured to control operation of said grinder, said driving mechanism and said pump;
wherein said control unit is configured to maintain operation of said driving mechanism to rotate said filter for a predetermined period of time after said pump is deactivated to dry said coffee grounds in said filter.

5. The coffee making appliance of claim 1 , wherein:
said filter is generally ball-shaped.

6. The coffee making appliance of claim 1 , further comprising:
a chute intermediate said grinder and said filter, said chute being configured to guide said coffee grounds from said grinder into said filter; and
a chute door beneath said chute, said chute door including an opening being movable between a first position, in which said opening is positioned beneath said chute to allow said coffee grounds to pass through said chute and into said filter, and a second position, in which said opening is spaced laterally relative to said chute and said chute door prevents said coffee grounds from entering said filter.

7. The coffee making appliance of claim 1 , wherein:
said hopper includes a curved lower portion adjacent to said outlet.

8. The coffee making appliance of claim 7 , wherein:
said hopper includes a door operable to drain said whole coffee beans from said hopper.

9. The coffee making appliance of claim 1 , further comprising:
a filter holder slidably received by said housing and defining a frame configured to receive said filter;
wherein said filter holder includes a plurality of rollers configured to support said filter and to facilitate rotation of said filter relative to said frame.

10. The coffee making appliance of claim 1 , wherein:
said driving mechanism is a driving motor having a rotatable output operatively connected to said filter via an array of gears.

11. A coffee making appliance, comprising:
a housing having a base for supporting a container configured to receive brewed coffee;
a hopper configured to receive a quantity of whole coffee beans, said hopper having an outlet;
a grinder positioned adjacent to said outlet of said hopper, said grinder being configured to transform said whole coffee beans into coffee grounds;
a filter removably received by said housing for receiving said coffee grounds from said grinder; and
a driving mechanism configured to rotate said filter while water is supplied to said filter;
wherein said filter is configured to rotate for a period of time after a flow of water to said filter is ceased to dry said coffee grounds within said filter; said filter includes a non-porous floor having at least one rib, said at least one rib being configured to deflect a flow of water within said filter away from said floor.

12. The coffee making appliance of claim 11 , wherein:
said grinder is a vertically-oriented burr grinder having a pair of vertically-oriented burrs configured to rotate about a generally horizontal axis and a grinder motor configured to rotate at least one of said burrs.

13. The coffee making appliance of claim 12 , further comprising:
a knob accessible from a front of said housing and operatively connected to at least one of said burrs, said knob being rotatable to selectively adjust a spacing between said pair of burrs to adjust a size of said coffee grounds.

14. The coffee making appliance of claim 11 , wherein:
said filter is generally ball-shaped.

15. The coffee making appliance of claim 11 , further comprising:
a chute intermediate said grinder and said filter, said chute being configured to guide said coffee grounds from said grinder into said filter; and
a chute door beneath said chute, said chute door including an opening being movable between a first position, in which said opening is positioned beneath said chute to allow said coffee grounds to pass through said chute and into said filter, and a second position, in which said opening is spaced laterally relative to said chute and said chute door prevents said coffee grounds from entering said filter.

16. The coffee making appliance of claim 11 , wherein:
said hopper includes a curved lower portion adjacent to said outlet.

17. The coffee making appliance of claim 16 , wherein:
said hopper includes a door operable to drain said whole coffee beans from said hopper.

18. A water supplying system for a coffee making appliance, comprising:
a housing;
a reservoir received by said housing for receiving water to be heated;
a filter removably received by said housing for receiving coffee grounds;
a pump configured to supply said water from said reservoir to said filter; and
a driving mechanism configured to rotate said filter while said water is supplied to said filter via a water inlet;
wherein said filter includes a non-porous floor having at least one rib, said at least one rib being configured to deflect a flow of water within said filter away from said floor.

19. The water supplying system for the coffee making appliance of claim 18 , wherein:
said rotation of said filter causes said water to pass radially through said coffee grounds to produce said brewed coffee.

Assignees

• Leung Anthony Kit Lun
• Fung Kam Fai
• Lai Benjamin
• Conair

Inventors

• Leung Anthony Kit Lun
• Fung Kam Fai
• Lai Benjamin

Classifications

• A23F5/26

  Extraction of water soluble constituents {(A23F5/246 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• A47J31/22

  Centrifuges for producing filtered coffee (A47J31/20 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A47J31/42 Primary

  Beverage-making apparatus with incorporated grinding or roasting means for coffee {(coffee mills A47J42/00; coffee roasters in general A23N12/08)} · CPC title

• A47J31/0631

  with means for better or quicker spreading the infusion liquid over the filter (spreader plates for drip coffee makers A47J31/4478) · CPC title

• A47J31/44

  Parts or details {or accessories} of beverage-making apparatus (filters or strainers A47J31/06) · CPC title