Foods and beverages: apparatus – Beverage – Infusors
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-13
2001-10-23
Alexander, Reginald L. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Beverage
Infusors
C099S280000, C099S285000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305268
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrically operated machine for preparing hot beverages, comprising a water tank that can be filled with water and a brewing unit into which an ingredient such as ground coffee or tea leaves can be introduced, wherein the water is heated in an electric water heater and supplied to the brewing unit for extraction, and the beverage extracted flows into a container.
In an electric machine for preparing hot beverages which is operated as a coffee machine, it is prior disclosed to place a paper filter into the filter basket member and to then fill it with an ingredient, preferably coffee. To indicate to a user which amount of ingredients is required depending on the number of cups, indicia in the form of lines or circles have been marked in the interior of the paper filter. Thus, when a user chooses five cups of water, for example, he/she will fill the corresponding amount of water into the water tank. Subsequently, the user fills so great an amount of ingredients into the paper filter until the ingredient covers the fifth mark or just about ends flush with it.
Marks of this type which are provided on the paper filter represent a dosing aid to a user, but they are relatively inexact, especially because paper filters generally taper downwards in a V-type configuration and are often crushed so much that their receiving volume is comparatively inexact.
Further, the fact that it is necessary to shake the amount of coffee introduced into the brewing unit until it is positioned substantially horizontally to the marks is complicated and difficult to handle. If the shaking action is omitted, an exact dosing process is not possible.
It is further disclosed in the art in a machine for preparing hot beverages to apply two scales side by side on the outside wall of the water tank, one of the scales indicating the amount of water by showing the number of cups and the second scale indicating the amount of ground coffee by showing the number of scoops required. Thus, when an amount of water has been introduced into the tank, the scale shows the water level for the number of cups desired and, simultaneously, the adjacent scale for the amount of ground coffee indicates the number of scoops of ground coffee needed for this amount of water. However, only average values can be achieved by a dosing aid of this type which do not allow accurately determining the strength of a brew that is individually desired by a user.
In spite of this simplified dosing aid, a user is initially required to read the correct number of measuring scoops for the quantity of brew desired, to then count them when ground coffee in filled in and pay attention that the measuring scoops are always filled to an almost equal extent in order to obtain a hot beverage of equal taste. This process is comparatively complicated and necessitates great attention by a user.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a machine for preparing hot beverages which provides greater ease to a user in dosing the ingredients and water and which, irrespective of the number of cups, permits making coffee which may always be reproduced with the same quality, and with the ratio of the amount of ingredients and water in dependence on the strength of brew desired being always correct. Another objective is to render the machine for preparing hot beverages as inexpensive as possible and especially economical in the consumption of the amount of ingredients required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by one of the following three aspects of the invention. The first aspect is a machine for preparing hot beverages, comprising a water tank that can be filled with water and a brewing unit into which an ingredient such as ground coffee or tea leaves can be filled, wherein the water is heated and supplied to the brewing unit for extraction and, after the extraction process, flows as a hot beverage into a container, characterized in that the machine for preparing hot beverages includes a device for sensing the amount of water and ingredients, in that the device sends corresponding electric signals to an electronic evaluation device, and in that the electronic evaluation device indicates the resulting degree of strength of the hot beverage on an indicator instrument. The second aspect is a machine for preparing hot beverages, comprising a water tank that can be filled with water and a brewing unit into which an ingredient such as ground coffee or tea leaves can be filled, wherein the water is heated and supplied to the brewing unit for extraction and, after the extraction process, flows as a hot beverage into a container, characterized in that the machine for preparing hot beverages includes a devices for sensing the amount of water and the degree of strength of the desired hot beverage, in that the device sends corresponding electric signals to an electronic evaluation device, and in that the electronic evaluation device indicates the necessary amount of ingredients on an indicator instrument. The third aspect is a machine for preparing hot beverages, comprising a water tank that can be filled with water and a brewing unit into which an ingredient such as ground coffee or tea leaves can be filled, wherein the water is heated and supplied to the brewing unit for extraction and, after the extraction process, flows as a hot beverage into a container, characterized in that the machine for preparing hot beverages includes a device for sensing the amount of ingredients and the degree of strength, in that the device sends corresponding electric signals to an electronic evaluation device, and in that the electronic evaluation device indicates the amount of water for the hot beverage on an indicator instrument.
In the first aspect of the invention, the amount of water disposed in the water tank and the amount of ingredients introduced into the brewing unit is sensed electronically, and corresponding signals can be sent to an electronic evaluation device which causes activation of an indicator instrument, such as a display, light-emitting diodes of different colours, or a speech memory, which output the strength of the brew. In addition, the amount of water and ingredients may of course also be indicated. Thus, the first invention renders it possible to determine an accurately defined degree of strength of the brew in dependence on the number of cups and the amount of ingredients. In case the brew is too strong, an amount of ingredients is removed from the brewing unit, if it is too mild, an amount of ingredients will be added. This process is carried out until the desired strength of the brew on the indicator instrument is in conformity with the actual degree of strength. Consequently, only that amount of ingredients required for the desired strength of the brew and the number of cups is used in the present invention. This means that dosing for a hot beverage is for the first time performed by an electronic evaluation device rather than by a user, the said device exactly dosing the strength of the beverage in dependence on the ratio of the amount of water to the amount of ingredients. This first invention is applicable in all machines for preparing hot beverages, especially in coffeemakers for household requirements which hold the major market share as far as machines for preparing hot beverages are concerned. However, it is also possible to implement the first invention in tea makers. For such an implementation, the sensor device that is required for sensing the necessary amount of tea leaves must only be rendered comparatively sensitive because the weight or the volume of tea leaves is substantially lower than that of ground coffee. However, the first invention is also applicable in other brewing operations, such as for preparing a bouillon, hot chocolate, etc. In such a case, it is only required to install another and different type of electronic evaluation device.
Because it is easier to manually dose water than ground coffee, t
Kelterborn Heinz
Schamberg Stefan
Schober Uwe
Trebitz Bernd
Alexander Reginald L.
Braun GmbH
Fish & Richardson P.C.
LandOfFree
Machine for preparing hot beverages does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Machine for preparing hot beverages, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Machine for preparing hot beverages will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2556021