GB2063101A - Mill-equipped coffee maker - Google Patents

Abstract

In a coffee maker equipped with a mill, a grinding chamber (22) of the mill is closed by a removable mesh filter (24) and ground coffee passing through this filter (24) can fall into a filter cup (12) which is movable to the coffee maker part of the appliance. A safety switch (32) ensures that the mill is only operable when the filter (24) is in place. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Mill-equipped coffee maker This invention relates to a coffee maker equipped with a mill.

A variety of mill-equipped coffee makers are now known in which a coffee mill is integrally incorpo rated with an electric coffee maker. Such mill equipped coffee makers are not satisfactory in provisions for safety and easy operation. In some coffee makers, since hot water is directly poured into the mill, the mill is susceptible to damage and troublesome cleaning is required. In another exam ple, coffee particles ground by the mill and deposited in a receptacle is transferred to another container, usually a filter cup for coffee brewing. This type of coffee maker requires a step of transferring ground coffee as required when a separate mill is used. Although means for preventing careless ac cess to the dangerous rotary cutter of the mill should be provided for safety operation, prior art millequipped coffee makers are not fully designed in this respect.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a mill-equipped coffee maker in which the coffee mill can be actuated only when a filter for controlling the particle size of ground coffee or a filter cup of the coffee maker is placed in position so that the mill is safe to operate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mill-equipped coffee maker in which a filter cup of the coffee maker is also used as a receptacle for receiving coffee particles ground by the mill so that the coffee maker is easy to operate.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a mill-equipped coffee maker in which a support on which a filter cup of the coffee maker may be placed is provided with an opening and a removable bottom cover closes the opening so that the coffee maker is easy to clean and maintain.

A mill-equipped coffee maker according to the present invention which can attain the above and other objects is described in detail with reference to the drawing in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation, with a part in cross section, of a mill-equipped coffee maker according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a front elevation of a part of a coffee mill section in which a ground coffee particle size controlling filter and a filter cup are placed in position; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Ill-Ill of Figure 2; Figure 4 is an enlarged view of an engaging portion between a support opening and a bottom cover; Figure 5 is a cross section of the filter cup; and Figure 6 is an electrical circuit of the coffee mill section.

Referring to Figure 1, a mill-equipped coffee maker according to the present invention comprises a housing 1 which is divided by a partition 2 into a coffee maker section and a coffee mill section. Since the coffee maker section does not constitute the essential feature of a mill-equipped coffee maker according to the present utility model, it is briefly described below. With a cover 3 removed, water is poured into a tank 4. Water in the tank 4 enters a heater 6 as shown by an arrow 5 where water is heated. Hot water is pumped upward through a pipe 8 as shown by an arrow 7 and then discharged from an outlet 9 as shown by an arrow 10. On the heater 6 is placed a carafe 11 for receiving a coffee extractant.

On the carafe 11 is mounted a filter cup 12 on which a hot water dispenser 13 is mounted. Hot water discharged from the outlet 9 drops on the dispenser 13 which distributes hot water uniformly over a ground coffee charge in the filter cup 12 as shown by arrow 14. After extracting coffee, hot water passes a filter 15 at the bottom of the cup 12 (see Figure 5) and drops into the carafe 11.

The coffee mill section includes a motor 16 which is received in a sub-housing 17 defined between the housing 1 and the partition 2. A rotating shaft 18 extrudes from the motor 16 and has a rotary cutter 19 attached to the lower end thereof for grinding coffee grains. Between the housing 1 and the subhousing 17 is defined a hopper 20 in which coffee grains may be introduced with a cover 21 removed.

The hopper 20 communicates with a grinding chamber 22 in which the rotary cutter 19 is accommodated. The grinding chamber 22 is defined at the bottom by a filter 24 for controlling the particle size of ground coffee. The filter 24 is removably mounted on filter supports 23 (see Figures 2 and 3).

Below the grinding chamber 22 is located a support 25 on which the filter cup 12 may be placed as shown in Figure 2. For the purpose of facilitating cleaning and maintenance of the mill, the support 25 may preferably be provided with an opening 26. A bottom cover 28 closes the opening 26. As shown in a partial cross section of Figure 4, the bottom cover 28 has a protrusion 27 for engagement with the support 25 so that the bottom cover 28 is fixedly attached to the support 25. The support 25 may be provided at the lower side with cord clamps 29 as shown in Figures 1 and 4 so that a power cord (not shown) may be wound around the clamps 29 when the coffee maker is not used.

To ensure safe operation, the mill-equipped coffee maker of the present invention is constructed such that the motor 16 cannot be actuated unless the particle size controlling filter 24 is placed in position.

The filter 24 may be slidably inserted along the filter supports 23 as shown in Figures 1 - 3. The filter 24 includes a handle portion 30 having a tab 31. When the filter 24 is inserted along the supports 23 and the tab 31 is engaged by the edge of the housing 1,that is, the filter 24 is inserted in position, the leading edge of the filter 24 engages a normally opened switch 32 to close it, thereby closing a mill circuit including the motor 16 shown in Figure 6. In this condition, the motor 16 may be actuated by turning on a main switch 33, thereby rotating the rotary cutter 19 to grind coffee grains. The filter 24 is provided for controlling the particle size of ground coffee. Preferably, several interchangeable filters having different mesh sizes may be attached such that the user can select a proper mesh filter.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the filter cup 12 which is to be mounted on the carafe 11 during brewing may also be placed on the support 25 of the mill section. This eliminates one troublesome step of handling because conventional coffee makers require ground coffee in a separate receptable be transferred into a filter cup before coffee brewing. Further, it is preferred from a point of view of safety operation to construct the mill section such that the mill circuit can be turned on only when the filter cup 12 or the size controlling filter 24 is placed in position. In the illustrated embodiment, the mill circuit is ready for closing by the main switch 33 only when the size controlling filter 24 is inserted in position to close the switch 32.

Although not shown in the drawings, an additional switch similar to the switch 32 may be associated with the filter cup 12 such that it is closed when the filter cup 12 is placed on the support 25. The additional switch may be connected in the millcircuit of Figure 6 in series with the switch 32. The use of two switches provides double safety means for the coffee mill which is otherwise dangerous to operate.

The operation of the mill-equipped coffee maker is described below. First the filter 24 having a desired mesh size and the coffee filter cup 12 are placed in position on the supports 23 and 25, respectively.

After a desired quantity of coffee grains is introduced into the hopper 20, the main switch 33 is turned on to actuate the motor 16 and hence, to rotate the rotary cutter 19, thereby grinding the coffee grains. Coffee particles the size of which depends upon the mesh size of the filter 24 deposit on the filter 15 of the filter cup 12. The filter cup 12 containing ground coffee is moved from a position on the support 25 to a position on the carafe 11 in Figure 1. Then the coffee maker is ready for brewing without requiring any additional troublesome procedures. Steam from the outlet 9 tends to partially flow back towards the tank 4 during or after brewing and such steam back flow passes the cover 21 at the coffee grain inlet of the mill section to wet the interior of the hopper 20. To obviate such steam back flow, the partition 2 should be high enough, as shown in Figure 1,to prevent steam from entering the mill section. The present invention is believed to be novel since a mill-equipped coffee maker has never been found which is not only simple, convenient and safe to use, but also easy to clean and maintain.

Claims (6)

1. Acoffee maker equipped with a mill,characte- rized in that a coffee mill is vertically aligned in a housing of the coffee maker, a coffee grain grinding chamber surrounding a rotary cutter of the mill has at the upper portion an opening which extends to the top portion of the housing to form an inlet for introducing coffee grains, the bottom of said grinding chamber is defined by a filter for controlling the particle size of ground coffee which is removably and interchangeably inserted into the grinding chamber bottom, a first safety switch is provided for turning on an electrical circuit of the mill when said filter is inserted in position, and a support on which a filter cup of the coffee maker may be placed is located below said filter so that said filter cup serves both as a receptacle for receiving coffee particles ground by the mill and as a filter of the coffee maker for coffee brewing.

2. A mill-equipped coffee maker according to claim 1, wherein said support is provided with an opening for cleaning which is closed by a removable bottom cover.

3. A mill-equipped coffee maker according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein a second safety switch is providedforturning on the mill circuit when said filter cup is placed on the support, said second safety switch being electrically connected in series with said firstly safety switch.

4. A mill-equipped coffee maker according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said support is provided at the lower side with clamps around which a power cord of the coffee maker may be wound for storage.

5. A mill-equipped coffee maker according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein a central partition separates a water tank of the coffee maker and the coffee grain inlet of the mill so as to prevent hot steam from flowing from a heater section to the mill during or after coffee brewing.

6. A coffee maker equipped with a mill, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.