Brew head of beverage preparation machine

• US 8,210,095 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2008
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Douwe Egberts BV (Mondelez International, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kraft Foods Incorporated (Mondelez International, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brezovnik, Peter, Pavlovic, Henrik, Sedovsek, Aleksander, Zibret, Igor
• Primary Examiner(s): FUQUA, SHAWNTINA T
• Application Number:
  US12/244,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20100083842A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,369 Days
• Field of Search: 992/95, 992/79, 992/81, 992/89.T, 992/89.R
• US Class Current: 99/295
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/369 Impermeable cartridges being employed

Abstract

A brew head for a beverage brewer includes a lid, a handle rotatably mounted to the lid and including a cam surface, and a spring mounted to the lid with a follower that engages the cam surface such that movement of the handle from an open position to a closed position relative to the lid, or vice-versa, by a user causes the user to experience a clicking feeling.

Claims

1. A brew head for a beverage brewer, comprising:

a lid;

a handle rotatably mounted to the lid and including a cam surface; and

a spring mounted to the lid with a follower that engages the cam surface such that movement of the handle from an open position to a closed position relative to the lid, or vice-versa, by a user causes the user to experience a clicking feeling.

2. The brew head of claim 1, wherein the handle is free to rotate between open and closed positions without any movement of the lid and vice-versa.

3. The brew head of claim 1, wherein the cam surface is sinusoidal.

4. The brew head of claim 1, further comprising a base, wherein the lid is pivotally mounted to the base.

5. The brew head of claim 4, wherein the base includes locking pins.

6. The brew head of claim 5, wherein the handle includes locking latches.

7. The brew head of claim 6, wherein the locking latches engage the locking pins when the lid is in a closed position and the handle is in the closed position such that the lid and the handle are maintained in a closed position.

8. The brew head of claim 6, wherein the locking latches engage the locking pins when the handle rotates from an open position to a closed position while the lid is maintained in a closed position.

9. The brew head of claim 4, further comprising a beverage cartridge receptacle that is pivotally mounted to the base.

10. The brew head of claim 9, wherein the handle is free to move between the open position and the closed position without any movement of the beverage cartridge receptacle and vice-versa.

11. The brew head of claim 4, wherein the base includes penetrating pins for penetrating the beverage cartridge positioned within a beverage cartridge receptacle and for applying a liquid to the beverage cartridge and retrieving a brewed beverage from the beverage cartridge.

12. The brew head of claim 11, wherein the receptacle is rotatable between an inclined position at which the receptacle holds a beverage cartridge away from the penetrating pins and a horizontal position at which the receptacle positions the beverage cartridge such that the penetrating pins penetrate the beverage cartridge.

13. The brew head of claim 12, further comprising a beverage receptacle spring that biases the beverage receptacle toward the inclined position.

14. The brew head of claim 9, wherein the lid and the receptacle rotate about the same axis and in the same direction away from a base of the brew head when moving from an open configuration to a closed configuration and vice-versa.

15. The brew head of claim 1, wherein the follower starts in a first position along the cam surface at the open position of the handle where the spring is deflected by a first amount of deflection, travels along the cam surface to increase the deflection of the spring from the first amount of deflection, and ends at a second position along the cam surface at the closed position of the handle where the spring is deflected by the same amount as the first amount of deflection.

16. The brew head of claim 1, further comprising a lid spring that biases the lid toward an open position away from a closed position.

17. The brew head of claim 1, wherein the follower is rotatable and is located at an end of the spring that is adjacent the cam surface.