BEVERAGE MAKING DEVICE

• US 3,811,373 A
• Filed: 10/22/1971
• Issued: 05/21/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Paul Telco
• Original Assignee: Paul Telco
• Inventors: Telco, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Miles, Tim R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weinstein, Steven L.
• Application Number:
  US05/191,876
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 99/77.1,66,171B,171P,295,306 206/.5 426/77,82
• US Class Current: 99/295
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 85/8061 Filters

Abstract

A beverage producing device comprising a receptacle for liquid and an envelope containing a predetermined quantity of finely divided beverage producing material e.g., coffee grounds sufficient for a single cup of coffee, the envelope being arranged in press fit sealing engagement with an envelope supporting portion of the receptacle and having a wick to assist in conveying liquid through the envelope. A dished lid serves as a tray for the receptacle after use.

Claims

1. In combination, an apertured support which is adapted to rest on the rim of a cup-shaped liquid container and has a beverage producing cartridge removably seated in the aperture thereof, said cartridge having a vertically oriented, tube-like passage therethrough, the surrounding wall of which passage is liquidimpermeable and sufficiently rigid to be form-sustaining in use, and two sheets of filter paper secured to the cartridge and extending in continuous uninterrupted condition across the passage, substantially coincident with cross-sectional planes thereof, so as to close the passage at the sites of the respective sheets, yet disposed in spaced relationship to one another axially of the passage, so as to be separated by a portion of the wall, the lower of said sheets having a charge of a liquid leachable beverage-producing substance disposed thereon, in the space between the sheets, and the upper of said sheets having a portion thereof which is deflected relatively away from the corresponding cross-sectional plane of the passage, so as to depend into the space from the main body of said upper sheet, independently of the lower sheet and within the confines of the wall portion, and which is disposed in contact with the charge so as to form a capillary bridge between the external surface of the upper sheet and the charge when liquid is applied to said surface.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the cartridge is press-fitted into the aperture of the support, and the cartridge and support have different rates of thermal expansion and contraction, so that when heated, the cartridge will shrink with respect to the support on cooling, for ease of removing the cartridge from the same.

3. The combination according to claim 1 further comprising a dished lid inverted on the support and adapted to serve as a tray for the cartridge when the cartridge and the lid are removed from the support and placed upright apart therefrom.

4. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the support has an annular shoulder about the aperture therein, and the cartridge has an annular flange thereon which is seated on the shoulder.

5. The combination according to claim 4 wherein the cartridge depends below the bottom of the aperture in the support.

6. In combination, a cartridge having a vertically oriented, tubelike passage therethrough, the surrounding wall of which passage is liquid-impermeable and sufficiently rigid to be form-sustaining in use, and two sheets of filter paper secured to the cartridge and extending in continuous uninterrupted condition across the passage, substantially coincident with cross-sectional planes thereof, so as to close the passage at the sites of the respective sheets, yet disposed in spaced relationship to one another axially of the passage, so as to be separated by a portion of the wall, the lower of said sheets having a charge of a liquid leachable beverage producing substance disposed thereon, in the space between the sheets, and the upper of said sheEts having a portion thereof which is deflected relatively away from the corresponding cross-sectional plane of the passage, so as to depend into the space from the main body of said upper sheet, independently of the lower sheet and within the confines of the wall portion, and which is disposed in contact with the charge so as to form a capillary bridge between the external surface of the upper sheet and the charge when liquid is applied to said surface.

7. The combination according to claim 6 wherein the beverage producing substance includes coffee granules.

8. The combination according to claim 6 wherein the upper sheet has a plurality of relatively deflected portions thereof depending into the space, in angularly spaced relationship to one another about the axis of the passage.

9. The combination according to claim 6 wherein the cartridge is substantially rigid.

10. The combination according to claim 6 wherein the passage is cylindrical and the upper sheet is normally square in outline but secured to the cartridge crosswise of the passage, with the corners thereof deflected away from the main body of the sheet, so that the corners depend into the space from the main body to form a plurality of capillary bridges which are angularly spaced about the axis of the passage.

11. The combination according to claim 10 wherein the passage has a multiapertured frame thereacross, and the main body of the upper sheet is secured to the frame across the apertures therein.

12. The combination according to claim 11 wherein the frame has concentric center and rim portions interconnected by a plurality of spaced oriented spokes therebetween.