Foods and beverages: apparatus – Beverage – Infusors
Patent
1998-02-05
1999-11-09
Alexander, Reginald L.
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Beverage
Infusors
99295, 426433, A47J 3120
Patent
active
059792990
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a beverage infuser comprising a container, a plunger, and a beverage infuser insert.
One known beverage infuser is the cafetiere (a trade mark) plunge-filter beverage infuser (also known as a French Press--a trade mark) which generally comprises a cylindrical container, for example of glass or ceramic, and a plunge-filter comprising a perforated plunger. In use, coffee grounds are placed in the base of the container and boiling water is poured into the container. The infusion is left to brew, and the plunger is inserted into the container and pushed to the bottom of the container to confine the coffee grounds and allow the coffee to be poured.
A problem arises with this known arrangement, however, when it is desired to wash the container after use. At that stage the plunger is removed and the coffee grounds are poured from the container into a sink or a bin. The operation is generally very messy and it is usually necessary to flush residual coffee grounds down the sink with copious quantities of water which is time consuming and wasteful.
According to the present invention there is provided a beverage infuser comprising a beverage container, a plunger having a perforated head slidable within the container and a cup-shaped insert, wherein the plunger head is slidable into engagement with the insert to releasably attach the insert to the plunger. In that arrangement, the insert is placed in the container, together with infusible material, for example uninfused coffee grounds, and, after the infusion period, the grounds are confined in the insert by sliding the plunger into the container and into engagement with the insert so that the insert attaches to the plunger. When it is desired to dispose of the coffee grounds, the plunger and insert are withdrawn from the container, the insert is detached from the plunger and the residual coffee grounds are disposed of quickly and without mess simply by tipping them from the insert into a suitable receptacle. The cup-shaped insert comprises any suitable retentive insert for holding infusible material, may be any of a range of heights depending on, for example, the quantity of infusible material required and is generally slidable within the container. The term "cup-shaped" embraces any suitable cross-section profile viewed in the vertical plane--for example rectangular or hemispherical, and any is suitable cross-sectional base profile--for example linear, concave or convex.
The plunger head may have an outwardly resiliently biased perimeter of larger dimension than the inside of the insert for engaging the inside surface of the insert. A simple method of engagement, attachment and detachment is thereby provided.
The container, plunger head and insert may be of circular cross-section, the head may include a perforated gauze material extending across the head and a spring extending around the perimeter of the head to provide an outward bias, the external diameter of the head being greater than the internal diameter of the insert. According to that example the insert can be simply and inexpensively manufactured as it is not necessary to provide complex attachment means on the insert. In addition, the insert is suitable for use with an unmodified conventional plunge filter infuser and plunger. The insert may be shaped to be a snug fit in the container. The insert can easily be stored in the container and in addition will allow both the plunger and the insert to be retracted from the container easily when the plunger is in engagement with an inside surface of the insert.
At least a portion of the insert may be perforated. For example, the insert may comprise a side wall in the form of a sleeve, and a perforated base. As a result, manufacture of the insert may be yet simpler and cheaper. The perforated base may, for example, be formed of a metallic gauze suitable for straining the beverage from the infusible material such as the gauze commonly forming part of a plunge filter. A portion of the base may be reinforced in order to avoid wear or d
REFERENCES:
patent: 3657993 (1972-04-01), Close
patent: 5275089 (1994-01-01), Armellin
Dineen Barry J.
Hornsby David J.
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