CA3026541A1

CA3026541A1 - Microwave coffee-maker

Info

Publication number: CA3026541A1
Application number: CA3026541A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Gary I Swartz
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-12-05
Filing date: 2018-12-05
Publication date: 2019-07-09
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-05
Also published as: CA3026541C; WO2020113315A1

Abstract

A coffee-maker to make coffee in a microwave oven consists of: a plastic vessel having a bottom with a hole into which is inserted a downward facing umbrella valve;
expression vent holes covered by the valve; a side-wall; a plastic lid; and a plastic and nylon mesh filter basket with a flange on its bottom exterior, inserted into the vessel to create a shallow cavity above the valve and below the basket, and a larger cavity above the basket for ground coffee and water. The coffee-maker sits on a mug. When the water boils, steam opens the valve and hot coffee is expressed through the holes. If the valve fails, an upper umbrella valve relieves the pressure. The upper umbrella valve has a handle to open it manually, to equalize the pressure in order to remove the lid.

Description

Background of the Invention Easily-made, single-portion, freshly brewed coffee is very popular. Typical devices use disposable pods which have a negative environmental impact (metal). Individual servings are relatively expensive as they require a sophisticated manufacturing process beyond simply grinding coffee beans. The devices are not particularly mobile. The devices themselves are relatively expensive. The blends of coffee available in pods are restricted to those manufacturers choose to offer. There are multiple pod standards. There is limited flexibility as to the strength of the coffee made.
In view of the current state of the art, there is a need for a device that can quickly, conveniently and inexpensively brew a single cup of coffee; that allows flexibility as to the strength of the coffee; that can use any blend of coffee beans or ground coffee; and that is inexpensive to acquire.
Summary of the Invention The present invention is directed to a quick and convenient method and device to freshly brew coffee in a microwave oven.
Description of the Invention In one non-limiting aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clear plastic microwave coffee-maker that includes a round container vessel (1) having a bottom-wall with a downward facing exterior flange (11), a side-wall that extends upwardly from the bottom-wall to form a container cavity with threads around the lip (9); a nylon mesh filter basket (5) with a flange (13);
and a screw on lid (2) with a gasket (12) and threads on the interior side wall (10). The bottom-wall includes a food safe umbrella valve (4) plus 2 ¨4 expression vent holes (8) covered by the umbrella valve to enable a hot coffee infusion to be expressed from the container cavity. The lid is designed to create an air-tight seal with a food safe gasket around the interior diameter and has a food safe umbrella valve (3) with a pressure release handle (14) plus 1 or more pressure release vent holes (7) covered by the umbrella valve to allow for pressure release if the lower umbrella valve fails to open. The umbrella valves have concave flexible flaps (16) that become convex under sufficient steam pressure to allow venting. The nylon mesh filter basket is immersed in water and contains ground coffee. The nylon mesh (6) is sufficiently fine to prevent ground coffee granules from expressing out of the vessel expression vent holes and contaminating the freshly brewed coffee. There are one or more grooves (15) on outside bottom of the coffee-maker to allow air to easily vent from the cup being filled with coffee. The vessel is made of clear plastic to visually monitor boiling and venting.
In another and/or alternative aspect of the present invention, the coffee-maker could be made of coloured plastic, ceramic pottery, glass or similar non-metallic material.
Said aspect would require a method to maintain the airtight seal other than threads such as making the lid heavy enough to resist the steam pressure generated in the coffee-maker or clamps to hold the lid tight against the lip. Visual monitoring might not be possible.
In another aspect of the invention the umbrella valves are made of food safe rubber or similar material in place of silicon.

2 In another aspect of the invention the lower umbrella valve could be a duckbill or similar pressure operated one-way valve.
In another aspect of the invention the lid is made entirely of food-safe rubber or silicon or similar material with an umbrella release valve that would release at a higher pressure than the bottom valve and designed to wrap around a lid similar to the lid on some travel mugs. The vessel would require an exterior facing lip for the lid to wrap around. Said lid would be ideal for a ceramic vessel.
In another aspect the present invention it could be used to brew tea or an herbal infusion.
In another aspect, milk could be used instead of water.
In another aspect of the invention milk and sugar could be added to the water.
In another aspect of the present invention there are small handles on the lid and/or vessel.
In another aspect of the invention it uses a disposable paper filter and would include a plastic or ceramic device to help retain the integrity and shape of the paper filter in boiling water.
In another aspect of the invention it can use more or less than a cup of water.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following claims and drawings.
Citations US4577080A - Coffee maker adapted for use in a microwave oven US8485089B2 - Microwave coffee maker US5095185A - Microwave coffee maker

Claims

Claims I claim:

1. A clear plastic coffee-maker that sits on and partially within a typical coffee mug or cup comprising: a vessel having a bottom-wall, a side-wall extending upwardly from said bottom-wall to form a container cavity; a plastic and nylon mesh filter basket that forms a small cavity below it and a larger cavity above it; and a lid with a gasket and threads;
said bottom-wall including 2 ¨ 4 expression vent holes and an umbrella valve that covers the holes, said umbrella valve manufactured to immediately open under the pressure of steam generated by water in the vessel just brought to the boil and that by opening enables an infusion of hot, freshly brewed coffee to be expressed from said container cavities; said lid with a gasket that when screwed onto the vessel forms a locked, airtight seal over the top of said container cavities, said seal to provide greater resistance to the steam pressure generated by boiling water than an umbrella valve; said lid including 1 or more pressure release vent holes and an umbrella valve that covers the holes manufactured to open at slightly more pressure than the lower umbrella valve should the lower umbrella valve fail to open.

2. The coffee-maker as designed in claim 1 is equal to or larger in exterior diameter than the coffee cup upon which it will sit to prevent the bulk of the vessel from entering the coffee cup.

3. The coffee-maker as designed in claim 1 has a flange extending downward from the exterior bottom wall that is smaller in diameter than the exterior diameter of the main vessel and smaller in diameter than the interior diameter of a typical coffee cup or mug, so that the coffee-maker can snugly sit on and partially within a typical coffee cup.

4. The coffee-maker as designed in claim 1 has one or more grooves engraved in the outside bottom edge to allow air inside the coffee cup to freely escape from the coffee cup.

5. The coffee-maker as designed in claims 1 and 4 with the lid in position to create an airtight seal is so designed as to retain water for sufficient time for it to be heated to the boil point in order to form a typical infusion with ground coffee, and at the boiling point for the lower umbrella valve to open and for the infusion of coffee to express rapidly through the expression vent holes into a coffee cup or mug.

6. The side-wall as designed in claim 1 has at its exterior top threads to accommodate a screw on lid.

7. The screw on lid as designed in claim 5 has a top-wall with a food safe gasket on the interior and a side-wall that extends downward, has a very slightly larger inside diameter than the outside diameter of the main vessel threads and has its own threads that allow it to be screwed tightly onto the exterior side-wall of the vessel in order to press the gasket tightly against the rim of the vessel in order to form an airtight barrier requiring significant steam pressure to break the air-tight seal. There is an umbrella valve in the center of the lid with a pressure release handle and with 1 or more pressure release vent holes that releases under less steam pressure than would be required to break the gasket seal and more steam pressure than is required to open the lower umbrella valve.

8. The vent holes as designed in claim 1 and 7 are dispersed to evenly distribute pressure against the concave flexible flaps of the umbrella valve.

9. The coffee-maker as designed in claim 1 with the lid in position to create an airtight seal is so designed as to retain water for sufficient time for it to be heated to the boil point in order to form a typical infusion with ground coffee, and at the boiling point for the lower umbrella valve to open and for the infusion of coffee to express through the expression vent holes.

10. The umbrella valves as designed in claim 1 are food-safe and intended to be replaceable.

11. The plastic nylon mesh filter basket designed in claim 1 has downward facing flange on the interior of the bottom-wall to create a cavity above the umbrella vent and expression vent holes so as to not block the holes.

12. The nylon mesh designed in claim 11 is sufficiently fine to prevent coffee grinds from passing though it thereby contaminating the freshly brewed coffee.

13. The nylon mesh designed in claim 11 is strong enough when sufficiently supported by the plastic basket so as not to lose its shape or integrity in boiling water.

14. The plastic nylon mesh filter basket designed in claim 1 allows a sufficient volume of boiling water to pass through the ground coffee to create an acceptable coffee infusion before being expressed out of the expression vent holes.

15. The expression vent holes designed in claim 1 are intended to enable the vessel to express the coffee infusion as rapidly as possible to limit the time the coffee grinds are exposed to boiling water.