Foods and beverages: apparatus – Beverage – Infusors
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-12
2001-07-03
Alexander, Reginald L. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Beverage
Infusors
C099S287000, C099S28900D
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253664
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is the 35 USC 371 national stage of international application PCT/FR98/01906 filed on Sep. 4, 1998, which designated the United States of America.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an infusion assembly for automatically dispensing beverages made from powdered coffee or the like and comprising a body enclosing an infusion chamber with a vertical axis having a bottom and an outlet, comprising a filter plate movably mounted in said chamber by means of an ejection mechanism, and adapted to receive a presser piston mounted movably along said vertical axis, as well as a hydraulic jack whose piston is connected to said presser piston and can pass from a rest position to a working position, under the influence of a liquid under pressure; the presser piston being in compression in the chamber in the working position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In automatic beverage dispensers, there already exist different types with various infusion assemblies. These assemblies have complicated mechanical movements performed by electric motors and reducers, of high cost, as well as lever transmissions which must be very precise. These assemblies also require a very precise volumetric dosage of the coffee powder so as to avoid interfering with the movements and transmissions. It will be understood that the operation of such assemblies is delicate and require careful production and assembly of multiple mechanical pieces.
To overcome these delicate and difficult constructions, it has already been proposed to replace these motorized movements and lever transmissions with movements performed by double-acting hydraulic jacks. Unfortunately, this type of hydraulic jack is difficult to control, not only as to the movement of its piston, but also as to the equilibrium of the opposing pressures, and gives rise to prohibitive costs for automatic beverage dispensers, such as espresso coffee-making machines which must be mass-produced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to simplify the mechanisms and hence to render them more reliable and less costly on an industrial scale, whilst providing flexible and practical operation to guarantee the maximum results in the preparation of the infusion.
These objects are achieved by providing a single-acting hydraulic jack, the piston being returned to its rest position by compressible and extensible means.
Thus, the piston ensures, in a first step, the descent and compression of the presser piston into the infusion chamber under the force of the liquid under pressure, and in a second step the rising and automatic withdrawal of said presser piston from the chamber under the influence of the compressible and extensible means. Moreover, to produce real espresso coffee, it is necessary to ensure certain essential parameters which are the temperature of the water and the compaction of the coffee powder within the infusion chamber. This compaction, depending either on the degree of grinding of the ground coffee, or its hygrometry, can be guaranteed by this single-acting jack which adjusts automatically to the mass of ground coffee during its compression, and which is returned automatically by the compressible and extensible means at the end of an infusion cycle. Thus, said jack and the presser piston operate without an end of path microswitch at either end of the path and cannot become blocked in an intermediate position because there is no supplemental linkage with adjusted movement.
In a first embodiment, the compressible and extensible means is a coil spring and the single-acting jack has corresponding structure.
In a second embodiment, the compressible and extensible means is a gas and the single-acting jack has a slightly different structure from that of the spring jack.
According to a preferred characteristic of the invention, the body of the infusion assembly is arranged laterally of the cylinder and the upper rod of the hydraulic jack carries the arm forming a beam whose free end is connected to the presser piston, the paths of the pistons thus extending in practically parallel directions.
Thanks to such an arrangement, there is obtained a compact height of the assembly and a reliable operation despite the drawbacks or precision inherent in fabrication of pieces of mass production. Moreover, the space saving is connected directly to the reduction in sales price of the automatic beverage dispensing machine.
According to another characteristic of the invention, there is provided a means to dry the cakes of coffee grounds at the end of the infusion cycle, and for this, the presser piston comprises an internal conduit for passage of the infusion which has three openings, a first inlet opening for the infusion opening into the lower surface of the piston, a second outlet opening forming a small fountain for the outlet of the infusion and a third opening forming an air intake and arranged in the upper portion of the piston, said presser piston being mounted moreover movably axially on the pivot and said third opening comprising a joint adapted to close this opening when the piston comes into contact with the lower portion of the arm.
According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided an ejection mechanism for the cake of grounds formed in the infusion chamber and which comprises, on the one hand, a rod secured to the filter plate, mounted along a vertical axis, sliding in the body and having at its external end a small plate, said filter plate being returned resiliently downwardly of the infusion chamber by a spring arranged between the body and the small plate, and, on the other hand, an arm transversely connected to the lower rod of the jack, movably mounted rotatably on said rod, and which one end comes into engagement with a track of a cam carried by a wing extending in a vertical plane below the jack, whilst the other end is adapted either to come into engagement with the small plate when the piston head passes from its lower position to its upper position, or to escape from this plate when the head passes from its upper position to its lower position.
According to still another important characteristic of the invention, the infusion assembly comprises an expulsion device for the grounds comprising a guide console projecting upwardly, secured to the jack and having a lever pivotably mounted about an axis transverse to the vertical axis and carrying at its free end a scraper adapted to be moved transversely for pendular sweeping in the outlet region by means of a finger secured to the arm which comes into engagement with a notch on the lever at the level of the axis, when the piston head occupies its rest position.
This device is of extremely simple construction, requiring only a single movable member thus not requiring any precise adjustment after production and hence increasing the reliability of operation and concomitantly reducing the cost of production.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4852472 (1989-08-01), In-Albon et al.
patent: 5431088 (1995-07-01), Cia et al.
patent: 5479849 (1996-01-01), King et al.
patent: 20 12 503 (1970-10-01), None
patent: 42 03 088 (1992-10-01), None
patent: 0 270 141 (1988-06-01), None
Alexander Reginald L.
Moulinex (S.A.)
Young & Thompson
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