Apparatus for storing separating and filtering coffee filters

• US 7,640,851 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2005
• Issued: 01/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Joseph Allen Blair, Larry Moore Moore
• Original Assignee: Joseph Allen Blair, Larry Moore Moore
• Inventors: Moore, Larry Moore, Blair, Joseph Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): FUQUA, SHAWNTINA T
• Application Number:
  US11/286,588
• Publication Number:
  US 20070113743A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,504 Days
• Field of Search: 141/358, 141/165, 141/173, 992/83, 992/89.R, 995/04, 992/87, 993/02.R, 221259- 60, 221 36- 37, 221/210, 221/255, 221/283, 221/40, 221/45, 221/213, 222/368
• US Class Current: 99/504
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/007 for brewing on a large scale, e.g. for restaurants, or for use with more than one brewing container
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/10 Coffee-making apparatus, in which the brewing vessel , i.e. water heating container, is placed above or in the upper part of the beverage containers i.e. brewing vessel; Drip coffee-makers with the water heating container in a higher position than the brewing vessel A47J31/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/4403 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/52 Alarm-clock-controlled mechanisms for coffee- or tea-making apparatus ; Timers for coffee- or tea-making apparatus; Electronic control devices for coffee- or tea-making apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus for storing both coffee in a reservoir and nested stacks of cup-shaped coffee filters, and then automatically filling individual filters with selected amounts of coffee and brewing the coffee while protecting the reservoir. Through a series of gears, an electric motor rotates an elastic projection with teeth and a disengaging curved tooth against the topmost filter in the stack, dragging it into a filter well beneath a coffee storage receptacle and then dropping it. Simultaneously, a rotating coffee dispenser fills with a selectable quantity of coffee and then dumps the coffee into the filter. The apparatus also includes a stirring device for insuring the stored coffee falls to the bottom of the coffee receptacle. A hot water dispenser operates in conjunction with a valve means for cutting off steam from the coffee reservoir.

Claims

1. A device for delivering a single filter to be filled with coffee comprising:

(A) A housing;

(B) A first receptacle situated within said housing for storing coffee;

(C) A second receptacle situated within said housing for storing a stack of coffee filters;

(D) A filter well 4 means for holding a filter;

(E) A filter delivery means for moving a single filter from said stack of filters to the filter well below said first receptacle and wherein said filter delivery means further comprises a grasping means for rotationally contacting a filter and rotating said contacted filter and for frictionally contacting the filter at the initial contact of the filters and pushing the filter away when in place in the well and wherein the grasping means comprises a blocking means for preventing contact of the grasping means until the proper location of the filter is reached.

2. The invention of claim 1 where the proper location is the filter bottom side wall.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein the grasping means further comprises a flexible arm rotationally extendable against the blocking means and then into the second receptacle to contact the top filter along the bottom sidewall of the filter after moving against the glider means until the appropriate location along the filter is reached.

4. The invention of claim 3 wherein the grasping means further comprises at least one frictional contact means at the end of the flexible arm means.

5. The invention of claim 4 wherein the frictional contact means comprises at least one sharpened tooth for grasping the filter.

6. The invention of claim 5 further comprises a release means for pushing the filter away at a certain location.

7. The invention of claim 6 wherein the release means comprises a curved front surface in front of the at least one sharpened tooth.

8. The invention of claim 7 wherein the at least one tooth comprises a plurality of teeth.

9. The invention of claim 8 wherein the plurality of teeth comprise at least two approximately parallel teeth.