CH690609A5 - Hopper for coffee mill - Google Patents

Abstract

The coffee mill has a hopper (13) having two compartments (18,19) with a common bottom (22). The outlet is covered by an apertured cap (21) inside which a rotatable inverted cup shaped closure fits and extends to a control knob (15) at the top of the hopper. - The closure has an aperture in its side which can cooperate with the apertured cap so that the closure can control coffee beans to flow out of one or both of the compartments according to its relative rotational position. A base of the hopper is thin, sloped and ribbed to improve the flow of beans towards the outlet.

Description

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CH 690 609 A5

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description

Conventional coffee grinders have a top hopper for coffee beans. These fall from a base plate of the hopper between a grinding wheel and a grinding cone, and ground coffee is transferred to a lower removable container for use in a coffee machine. It is not uncommon to have manually controllable settings to change the distance between the grinding wheel and the grinding cone so that coarse or fine-grained coffee is delivered as required, as well as a timer that determines how many beans flow through the grinder or how much more ground Coffee is produced.

Common coffee grinders have only a single hopper, which is why different types of coffee cannot be loaded into the hopper separately at the same time to allow separate grinding of normal and decaffeinated coffee or mixing in proportions of two types to provide a coffee blend. Furthermore, coffee beans can often pile up or adhere to the base plate of the filling funnel and thus flow poorly or not at all from the base plate of the filling funnel when the coffee grinder is used.

It is an object of this invention to overcome or at least alleviate one or both of these problems.

According to the invention, a coffee grinder is provided with a filling funnel with two separate compartments and a common lower outlet, a central one consisting of a control valve, which consists of a rotatable closure part in the form of an inverted cup of the outlet, a part of which is removed to allow coffee beans to flow selectively from the compartments through the outlet depending on the rotational position of the closure part.

The outlet is preferably formed with a cap that fits snugly over the closure member and has side openings through which coffee beans can flow to the outlet.

The closure member can be arranged to selectively flow coffee beans either from each compartment or from both compartments simultaneously to the outlet. The closure member can be arranged to allow the beans to flow in selectable relative proportions from each compartment to the outlet.

A central, lower area of the hopper is preferably beveled to steer beans down and away from a central axis of the closure member.

The base plate of the hopper may have a slope toward its center to give a flow of coffee beans a direction toward the outlet.

The base plate can be formed with a plurality of upstanding ribs on its upper surface.

The base plate is preferably formed from a thin, resilient material so that the base plate inherently and significantly vibrates while the mill is in operation.

The hopper can be integrally molded from plastic.

The coffee grinder can have a container that fits into a lower side of the grinder and a short, upright extension on the grinder that prevents an outer lower edge of the container from moving away from the grinder unless the container becomes overrated.

The coffee grinders can be formed with a one-compartment hopper and have a hopper base plate formed from thin material or a base plate that has a slope and is ribbed.

Coffee grinders according to the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

1 shows a side view of the mill;

Figure 2 is a partial side view of a hopper control valve for the mill;

Figure 3 shows a partial side view of a hopper for the mill;

Figure 4 shows the top view of the hopper;

Figure 5 illustrates a partial side view of the mill with the hopper removed.

With reference to the drawings, a housing 10 standing on a bench is shown in FIG. 1, provided with a control wheel 11 which regulates the grinding capacity for the coffee and a control button 12 which adjusts the working time of the mill. A hopper 13 for coffee beans fits on the top of the housing 10 and a container 14 fits on a lower side of the grinder to collect ground coffee. A closure control button 15 fits on the upper part of the hopper 13.

In Fig. 2 a rotatable closure comprises a shaft 16 which extends up to the closure part 17 in the form of an inverted cup. A part, in fact approximately 180 °, of the side of the closure part 17 is removed or absent and it should be noted that the upper part of the closure part 17 is chamfered downwards. This allows the closure member to fit snugly into the hopper and form part of a bearing, as will be seen below. Knob 15, which is manually accessible at the top of hopper 13 (see FIG. 1), can be rotated to rotate the closure to direct its open or distal side in any selected direction about the axis of shaft 16.

In Fig. 3 and 4, the hopper is integrally made of plastic and represents two separate compartments 18 and 19 for coffee beans. A central tube 20 created in the hopper receives the shaft 16 (Fig. 2) from below, after which the Button 15 is attached during assembly, which then holds the closure part 17 in position. The lower end of the tube 20 is designed to form a cap 21 which fits snugly over the closure part 17, but against which it is supported, but permits the required relative rotation. Part of the side of the cap 21, approximately 180 =, is removed or absent. This enables the Ver5

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closing part 17 to cooperate with the cap 21 so that coffee beans can flow from the compartments 18 and 19 to the central common outlet 22 of the hopper 13. For example, beans flow only from compartment 18 in one rotational position. Beans flow only from compartment 19 in another position. Beans from both compartments 18 and 19 can flow in the same amount or, if preferred according to the current one, in yet another rotational position of closure part 17 Position of the closure part 17, in a ratio of, for example 25% flow from one compartment and 75% from the other compartment. In other words, the operator can decide by his choice of the rotary positions of the button 15 whether he will grind a bean type or a selected mixture (by volume ratio) of the beans from both compartments 18 and 19.

It should be noted that the upper part of the cap 21 has a slope or is tapered downwards to direct beans away from the central axis of the tube 20. This eliminates any horizontal ledge that coffee beans would normally rest on. It should also be noted that a base plate 23 of the hopper

13 also has a slope towards the center of the hopper in order to direct the beans to the outlet 22.

The base plate 23 is intentionally made of relatively thin material so that the base plate vibrates when the mill is in use. Grinding the beans causes inevitable or inherent vibrations in the grinder and this is transmitted to the base plate 23. By making the base plate thin, the base plate 23 inherently absorbs these vibrations even more easily and forwards them to the coffee beans in compartments 18 and 19.

Elastic side clips 24 and 25 are provided to attach the hopper 13 to the housing 10 in a releasable manner.

The base plate 23 is also formed with a plurality of ribs in an upright order, best seen in FIG. Because of their natural oils, some coffee beans tend to adhere to the base plate. For this reason or in all cases, the ribs significantly reduce any adhesion between the beans and the base plate 23, so that the beans can flow out of the compartments more easily.

Fig. 5 shows an arrangement of the inside of the mill. An electric motor 26 is provided with gears to drive a grinding wheel 27 within a grinding core 28 which, when in use, is arranged below the outlet 22 (see FIG. 3). A driver is provided to push the ground coffee through a chute 29 into the container 14. It should be noted that a short extension 30 is embedded in the base plate of the mill. The approach holds an outer lower edge of the container

14 to prevent the container from moving against a lower side of the housing 10 when the grinder is in use. The container 14 can, if necessary, by lifting the container over the neck 30

be removed. Without the presence of the boss, the grinding wheel 27 could cause the container 14 to be removed from the housing 10, typically by vibrations in the mill.

The grinder described enables two different types of coffee to be ground separately or alternatively in a selected mixture. It is of course also easily possible to use the two compartments for the same type of coffee beans, the two compartments being regarded as one large, common container. Such a large container can be used to grind a large amount of coffee beans at the same time or in short but perhaps relatively short time intervals. In such a situation, the shutter 17 can simply be used as an ON / OFF control and for loading or controlling the operation of the mill.

It should be noted that in the arrangement described the base plate of the compartment is relatively thin, sloping and also ribbed. Such features can be applied to single-compartment coffee grinder hopper and, individually or collectively, provide new features to increase the performance of the grinders. Thus, it is contemplated to provide embodiments of the invention with single compartment hopper wherein the compartment baseplate is made relatively thin (to allow or stimulate baseplate vibration) or has a slope and ribs, or includes all three features and is therefore relatively thin, sloping and is ripped.

Claims (1)

Claims 1. Coffee grinder with a hopper (13) with two separate compartments (18, 19) characterized by a common lower outlet (22), a central control valve consisting of a rotatable closure part (17) in the form of an inverted cup of the outlet, the side is partially removed in order to allow coffee beans to flow selectively from the compartments through the outlet, depending on the rotational position of the closure part. 2. Coffee grinder according to claim 1, characterized in that the outlet is shaped with a cap (21) which fits snugly over the closure part (17) and has side openings through which coffee beans can flow to the outlet. 3. Coffee grinder according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the closure part (17) is arranged to selectively allow coffee beans to flow from either each compartment (18, 19) or both compartments simultaneously to the outlet. 4. Coffee grinder according to claim 3, characterized in that the closure part (17) is arranged to let the beans flow in selectable relative proportions from each compartment (18, 19) to the outlet. 5. Coffee grinder according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a central lower region (21) of the filling funnel is sloping in order to steer beans downwards and away from a central axis of the closure part. 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 3rd 5 CH 690 609 A5 6. Coffee grinder according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that a base plate (23) of the filling funnel has a slope towards its center in order to give a flow of coffee beans a direction towards the outlet. 7. Coffee grinder according to claim 6, characterized in that the base plate (23) is formed with a plurality of upstanding ribs on its upper surface. 8. Coffee grinder according to one of claims 6 to 7, characterized in that the base plate (23) is made of thin elastic material, so that the base plate vibrates inherently and significantly during operation of the mill. 9. Coffee grinder according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the filling funnel (13) is integrally molded from plastic. 10. Coffee grinder according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by a container (14) which fits on a lower side of the mill and a short upright extension (30) on the mill which prevents an outer lower edge of the container from moving away from the mill, unless the container is lifted over the neck. 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4th