Beverage brewer with automatic safety brew basket lock and method
First Claim
1. In a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, a housing, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket safely funnels beverage to a container and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket, the improvement being a safety brew basket lock assembly, comprising:
- an automatic lock mechanism for selectively locking the brew basket to the housing in the operative position when the brew basket is in the operative position; and
a controller responsive to actuation of the start switch to actuate the automatic lock mechanism to prevent removal of the brew basket from the housing during a preselected time period after actuation of the start switch
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A beverage brewer (20) with a brew basket sensor (48) that senses when the brew basket is fully mounted to a brew basket mount (38) to enable initiation of a brew cycle. A controller 14 responds to the brew basket sensor (48) and internal programming that times the brew cycle including the drip period to actuate an automatic remote controlled brew basket lock (50) to lock the brew basket to the mount (38) during the entire brew cycle. After the brew cycle is over, the lock is automatically deactuated to enable release of the brew basket (40)
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Citations
4 Claims
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1. In a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, a housing, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket safely funnels beverage to a container and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket, the improvement being a safety brew basket lock assembly, comprising:
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an automatic lock mechanism for selectively locking the brew basket to the housing in the operative position when the brew basket is in the operative position; and
a controller responsive to actuation of the start switch to actuate the automatic lock mechanism to prevent removal of the brew basket from the housing during a preselected time period after actuation of the start switch
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2. In a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, a housing, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket funnels beverage to an urn and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket, the improvement being a safety brew basket lock assembly, comprising:
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a sensor that senses when the brew basket is not in the operative position for making beverage and passing the beverage to a container;
an automatic lock mechanism that locks the brew basket to the housing in the operative position when the brew basket is in the operative position and the lock mechanism is actuated, said lock mechanism blocking, if actuated, blocking placing the brew basket in the operative position; and
a controller responsive to the sensor to disable the lock mechanism when the brew basket is removed from the operative position to enable placement of the brew basket into the operative position.
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3. In a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, a housing, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket safely funnels beverage to a container and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket in response to actuation of a brew start switch, the improvement being a safety method of brewing, comprising the steps of:
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automatically selectively locking the brew basket to the housing in the operative position when the brew basket is in the operative position; and
responding to actuation of the start switch to actuate the automatic lock mechanism to prevent removal of the brew basket from the housing during a preselected time period after actuation of the start switch
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4.n. In a beverage brewer having a water tank, a brew basket for holding beverage ingredient to be mixed with the water from the water tank, means for mounting the brew basket for removal from an operative position in which the brew basket funnels beverage to an urn and an inoperative position removed from the brewer housing and a remote controlled brew valve that selectively passes water from the water tank to the brew basket, the improvement being a safety method, comprising the steps of:
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sensing when the brew basket is not in the operative position for making beverage and passing the beverage to a container;
selectively locking the brew basket to the housing in the operative position with an automatic lock when the brew basket is in the operative position;
controlling the lock mechanism in response to the sensor to disable the lock mechanism when the brew basket is removed from the operative position.
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Specification