Beverage brewer with power driven tubular hot water dispense valve and method
First Claim
1. In an electrical beverage brewer having, a start brew switch, a controller responsive to the start switch to operate a brew cycle, a water tank and a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient, the improvement being a water dispense system for selectively passing water from the water tank to the brew basket, comprising:
- a rotary tubular valve with an elongate, non-straight, tubular body with an elongate interior swinging section joined at a non-straight angle to an exterior rotary section, said interior swinging section having an inlet opening and said rotary section having a central axis of rotation, and an outlet opening in fluid communication with the inlet opening and;
means for mounting the tubular body to the water tank for rotation about an axis aligned with the rotary section, between an open position in which the inlet is in a relatively elevated position and a closed position at a lower elevation relative to the open position, said tubular body being mounted with the swinging section and inlet located within the water tank and at least a part of the rotary section located without the water tank with the outlet in fluid communication with the brew basket to pass water to the brew basket; and
an inline, rotary, drive mechanism with a rotor having a rotary axis aligned with the central axis of rotation of the rotary section and axially linked, inline, with the rotary section to axially drive the rotary section and thereby move the swinging section between the open position and the closed position without applying lateral forces to the rotary section.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electrical beverage brewer (10) having a controller (26) responsive to a start switch (72) to operate a brew cycle by dispensing hot water from a tank (42) to beverage ingredient within a brew basket (38) through a bent tube (78) mounted to the water tank (42) for rotation about an axis aligned with an external horizontal rotary section (90) of the bent tube (78) between a closed position in which an inlet (80) of a swinging tubular section (79) is in a relatively elevated, closed position and an open position at a lower elevation relative to the closed position. A rotary electromechanical solenoid (96), a pneumatic rotary solenoid (134) or a stepper motor (126) or other like rotary, drive mechanism requiring no positional sensors has a rotary axis aligned with the central axis of rotation of the rotary section (90) and axially linked, inline, with the rotary section (90) to axially drive the rotary section (90) and thereby move the swinging section (79) between the open position and the closed position without applying lateral forces to the rotary section (90).
25 Citations
25 Claims
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1. In an electrical beverage brewer having, a start brew switch, a controller responsive to the start switch to operate a brew cycle, a water tank and a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient, the improvement being a water dispense system for selectively passing water from the water tank to the brew basket, comprising:
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a rotary tubular valve with an elongate, non-straight, tubular body with an elongate interior swinging section joined at a non-straight angle to an exterior rotary section, said interior swinging section having an inlet opening and said rotary section having a central axis of rotation, and an outlet opening in fluid communication with the inlet opening and; means for mounting the tubular body to the water tank for rotation about an axis aligned with the rotary section, between an open position in which the inlet is in a relatively elevated position and a closed position at a lower elevation relative to the open position, said tubular body being mounted with the swinging section and inlet located within the water tank and at least a part of the rotary section located without the water tank with the outlet in fluid communication with the brew basket to pass water to the brew basket; and an inline, rotary, drive mechanism with a rotor having a rotary axis aligned with the central axis of rotation of the rotary section and axially linked, inline, with the rotary section to axially drive the rotary section and thereby move the swinging section between the open position and the closed position without applying lateral forces to the rotary section. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. For use in an electrical beverage brewer having, a start brew switch, a controller responsive to the start switch to operate a brew cycle, a water tank and a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient, the improvement being a water dispense system for selectively passing water from the water tank to the brew basket, a method of brewing comprising the steps of:
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mounting a generally bent dispense tube to a water tank for rotation between a closed position in which an inlet of the tube is in a relatively elevated, close position, and an open position at a lower elevation relative to the closed position, said tubular body being mounted with the swinging section and inlet located within the water tank and at least part of the rotary section defining an exterior rotating section located without the water tank with the outlet in fluid communication with the brew basket to pass water to the brew basket; rotating the exterior rotating section with a powered inline, rotary, drive mechanism with a rotary axis aligned with a central axis of rotation of the rotary section and axially linked, inline, with the rotary section to axially drive the rotary section and thereby move the swinging section between the open position and the closed position without applying lateral forces to the rotary section; holding the rotary section stationary with the swinging section in the open position to pass a preselected amount of water to the brew basket through the bent dispense tube from the water tank to the brew basket; and after the preselected quantity of water has been passed to the brew basket, rotating the exterior rotary section with the powered, inline, rotary, drive mechanism to axially drive the rotary section and thereby move the swinging section from the open position to the close position without the application of lateral forces to the rotary section. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. In an electrical beverage brewer having a water tank and a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient, the improvement being a water dispense system for selectively passing water from the water tank to the brew basket, comprising:
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a rotary tubular valve with an elongate, non-straight, tubular body with an elongate interior swinging section joined to an exterior rotary section, said interior swinging section having an inlet opening and said rotary section having a central axis of rotation and an outlet opening in fluid communication with the inlet opening; means for mounting the tubular body to the water tank for rotation about an axis aligned with the rotary section, between a closed position in which the inlet is in a relatively elevated position and an open position at a lower elevation relative to the closed position; said tubular body being mounted with the swinging section and inlet located within the water tank and at least a part of the rotary section located without the water tank with the outlet in fluid communication with the brew basket to pass water to the brew basket; and means for automatically driving the rotary section with a solenoid by energizing the solenoid, said solenoid imparting a preselected fixed amount of rotary movement to the exterior rotary section in one direction to move the inlet from the closed position to the open position and imparting a preselected fixed amount of rotary movement in an opposite direction to move the inlet from the open position to the closed position to pass water to the brew basket from the water tank. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. For use in an electrical beverage brewer having a water tank and a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient, the improvement being a method of dispensing water from the water tank to the brew basket, comprising the steps of:
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providing a rotary, tubular valve with an elongate, non-straight, tubular body with an elongate interior swinging section joined to an exterior rotary section, said interior swinging section having an inlet opening and said rotary section having a central axis of rotation, and an outlet opening in fluid communication with the inlet opening; and mounting the tubular body to the water tank for rotation about an axis or rotation aligned with the rotary section, between a closed position, in which the inlet is in a relatively elevated position, and an open position at a lower elevation relative to the closed position; and automatically driving the rotary section with a solenoid by energizing the solenoid, said solenoid imparting a preselected fixed amount of rotary movement to the exterior rotary section in one direction to move the inlet from the closed position to the open position when energized, and imparting a preselected fixed amount of rotary movement in an opposite direction to move the inlet from the open position to the closed position to pass water to the brew basket from the water tank when the energization is terminated.
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Specification