US20170210553A1

US20170210553A1 - Coffee Pod for Point of Sale Device

Info

Publication number: US20170210553A1
Application number: US15/005,528
Authority: US
Inventors: Edward Francis Burress; Kurt Allen Jenkins; Darryl Ingvard Jensen; James Bernard Jensen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2016-01-25
Filing date: 2016-01-25
Publication date: 2017-07-27

Abstract

A shell less, biodegradable coffee pod for use with a point of sale coffee pod dispensing device. The pod is compressible for pleated or stacked storage and linearly linked to a series of substantially similar pods by a flexible, hingeable separable tab bridging between adjacent pods. The pods have a support structure that is affixed to a fillable well. Each well is expandable with an expanding means (utilizing a burst of air, a vacuum or mechanical pusher) as the series of pods is mechanically advanced along a tractor feed style conveyor belt that passes the pod to a ground coffee bean filling unit, a sealing unit and a pod separating unit.

Description

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to individualized packaging for coffee, tea, herbs, organics and generally elutable or dissolvable material and more particularly to personal brewing technology.

BACKGROUND

The American populace loves their coffee. Most people begin their day with a cup of their favorite blend while others continue to partake throughout the day, commonly obtaining it from a commercial vendor such as Starbucks®. However, of lately, many brew their own coffee using an individual brewing device such as a Keurig® brand coffee brewer. These allow for individual sized brewings using what have been come to be known as “k cups” or “coffee pods”.
Along with a populace that loves their coffee, come a segment of coffee aficionados. This breed of coffee drinker seeks specific coffee beans or coffee bean blends. The commercial coffee vendor market has rallied to meet this segment's demand, with most stores offering a plethora of coffee beans, however the selection of available coffee pods lags far behind. This is understandable, as to stock numerous blends of quantity boxed coffee pods takes up valuable store space. Thus, the coffee aficionado that relies on their individual brewing device has a rather limited selection.
This situation worsens when the coffee aficionado is at a location away from his individual brewing device or only has bulk brewing capabilities. Such an example would be rough woods camping. With the cost of these specialty beans as high as they are, no one wants to waste good coffee on the unappreciative or those with an undiscerning palate.
Additionally, to date the commercially available coffee pods are made from non biodegradable polymers. In the absence of standards governing the reporting of all “green” product packaging, manufactures report low weight percentages of non biodegradable materials in their pods based on the inclusion of the coffee (often even wet).
Henceforth, an improved system that allows the coffee aficionado that uses an individual brewing device (or that only has the most rudimentary brewing equipment such as a pot a fire and water) to brew their favorite blend would fulfill a long felt need in the coffee industry. Such a system made truly “green” would further offer an ecological benefit. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems and accomplish this.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In accordance with various embodiments, an apparatus for allowing the individualized brewing of specialty coffee is provided.
In one aspect, a specialty coffee pod is provided that is made from 100% by weight biodegradable materials, therein reducing the amount of non biodegradable material going into the landfills.
In another aspect, an apparatus that requires the bare minimum of equipment to brew a cup of coffee and that can be tailored to user specific tastes is provided.
In yet another aspect, a custom fillable coffee pod that can be used with a high speed, high volume, point of sale mechanized coffee distributing device is provided.
Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, while the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments having different combination of features and embodiments that do not include all of the above described features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particular embodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label is associated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similar components. When reference is made to a reference numeral without specification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the intended process flow and use for an embodiment of the coffee pod;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representative illustration of an embodiment of the coffee pod as used in a mechanized point of sale coffee dispensing device;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of a first embodiment coffee distributing machine using an embodiment of the coffee pod;

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of a second embodiment coffee distributing machine using an embodiment of the coffee pod;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a single linear array of coffee pods showing its structural evolution throughout the coffee filling process;

FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of the first embodiment coffee pod;

FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of the second embodiment coffee pod;

FIG. 8 is a front perspective view of the third embodiment coffee pod;

FIGS. 9a and 9b are front perspective views of the coffee pod in the compressed and inflated configurations;

FIG. 10 is a front perspective view of the fourth embodiment of the coffee pod utilizing a carrier tape for liner connection; and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a double linear array of coffee pods showing its structural evolution throughout the coffee filling process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have been summarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a few exemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice such embodiments. The described examples are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, certain structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. Several embodiments are described herein, and while various features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that the features described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no single feature or features of any described embodiment should be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments of the invention may omit such features.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers herein used to express quantities, dimensions, and so forth, should be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, the use of the singular includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unless otherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as well as other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considered non-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompass both elements and components comprising one unit and elements and components that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically stated otherwise.
As used herein, the term “coffee pod” refers to the individualized coffee bean filled containers of the present invention, however it is known that tea, herbs, coco, powdered milk, and other dissolvable or elutable materials may be substituted for the coffee beans packaged in the containers of the present invention. Any reference to coffee herein shall be understood to incorporate the aforementioned materials.
As used herein the terms “inflatable” and “inflatably expanedable” refer to the characteristic of a body in a spatially compressed configuration that may be expanded to its full spatial configuration with the application of air, application of a vacuum or application of a mechanical pusher there into. The body need not be airtight to allow this expansion.
As used herein the term “means for separation” refers to a mechanical device disposed between adjacent coffee pods that allows for the separation of the pods by such means as tearing, increasing in physical spacing between pods, twisting or stretching and cutting. Perforations incorporated onto the tab joining adjacent coffee pods would be one example thereof.
As used herein the term “compressible” refers to the ability for an article to be reduced to a spatially compressed configuration that represents a fraction of the space that it occupies in its expanded or operational state.
As used herein, the term “biodegradable” means 100% natural material capable of breaking down to a cellular level by decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.
The terms “means for separation” and “means for the connected movement of an array of separable individual pods” as used herein including the claims, is to be interpreted according to 35 USC 112, [para] 6.
The present invention relates to a novel design for a coffee pod that may be utilized in conjunction with a high speed, high volume point of sale, mechanized coffee distributing device.
While certain features and aspects have been described with respect to exemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications are possible. For example, while various methods and processes described herein may be described with respect to particular structural and/or functional components for ease of description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limited to any particular structural and/or functional architecture. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed to certain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionality can be distributed among various other system components in accordance with the several embodiments.
The coffee pod is best disclosed after an brief explanation of the point of sale device in which the pod is designed to be stored, expanded, filled, sealed, detached from its array, and dispensed. This is best illustrated with reference to FIGS. 1-4 explaining the concept, general operation and various embodiments of the point of sale coffee pod device. This device allows a user to fill a series of coffee pods with their choice of a particular ground coffee bean or a blend thereof. These pods will be operationally compatible with most of the popular, commercially available, individual cup coffee brewing machines
Looking at FIG. 1 it can be seen that the process flow for the point of sale coffee pod dispensing device involves advancing a compressed coffee pod 2 from out of its stored configuration in tube 3, expanding the pod, filling the expanded pod 4 with ground coffee, and sealing the top of the filled, expanded pod 4 with an advancing roll of adhesive lids 6. This generally progresses along a linear path within the device. Simply stated, it utilizes linked, continuous-feed capable array of compressible coffee pods. In this conceptual process flow the storage of the compressed coffee pods is done in a tube 4 while it is envisioned that the compressed pods 2 may be stored in a plethora of other configurations as would be well known in the industry. One such configuration would be in a repeating “Z” folded configuration while connected to adjacent compressed pods 2. The number of compressed pods 2 between folds is variable.
FIG. 2 shows an alternate process flow for the point of sale coffee pod dispensing device 5 involving advancing a compressed coffee pod 2 stored in an coiled belt configuration 8, expanding the pod with air expander 7, filling the expanded pod 4 with freshly ground coffee from a grinding/dosing unit 10, cleaning the section of advancing belt from debris and coffee grinds with a surface cleaner 12, sealing the top of the filled, expanded pod 4 with a cap, ejecting the pod 4 from the belt with an ejector 14 into a vacuum pack bag 16 for dispensing to the customer.
FIGS. 3 and 4 show the general arrangement and operation of the preferred embodiment. The embodiment of FIG. 3 shows the advancement of a connected linear series of compressed pods 2 along a tractor style conveyor belt 18 that passes through a means for well expanding which in the referred embodiment is an air inflation unit 20, a grinding/dosing unit 10, a cap sealing unit 22, a separation station 24 and an ejection station 26. The compressed coffee pod 2 evolves into an expanded coffee pod 4 that is then filled and sealed to become a dispensable coffee pod 21. The embodiment of FIG. 4 varies only by the number of grinding/dosing units 10 available. With the embodiment of FIG. 4 it is possible to blend multiple coffee beans into each individual pod for an individualized flavor.
As can be seen the preferred embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4, the advancement of the coffee pods from their compressed storage state to the dispensed, filled and sealed coffee pods is best mechanized utilizing a means for the connected movement of an array of individually separable coffee pods 28 (a ribbon format). This array of coffee pods is made into a single linear configuration wherein each compressed pod 2 is connected to its two adjacent compressed pods 2 (the one in front and the one behind) by a connection tab 31 with a means for separation 30 disposed thereon. (FIG. 5) (Alternate versions of this design utilize a tape format wherein there are multiple ribbon formats of the series of coffee pods that reside parallel to one another and are conjoined on their sides as disclosed further herein and illustrated in FIG. 11.)
In the preferred embodiment the pods will reside on a specific location on a conveyor belt or track 36. This positioning may be accomplished with a revolving toothed cog or gear that advances and locates the linear array of pods via a series of perforations (not illustrated) formed through the upper face of the pod, as is well known in the industry. In the preferred embodiment there are a series of orifices formed through the track 36 in which the well section of the pods reside, once inflated/expanded.
In the preferred embodiment, this means for separation is a series of perforations formed through the approximate center of the connection tab 31 joining the coffee pods. (FIG. 6) Looking at the manner of separation of the expanded, filled coffee pods 4 in the preferred embodiment, it can be seen that as the pods 4 reach the curved end of the track 36 the leading pod 38 drops from the planar path the linear array 28 has been traversing and follows the oval path of the track 18. In doing so, two effects are put into motion. First, the tab hinges about its approximate midpoint which is where the means for separation 30 resides. Second, the distance between the tops of the adjacent filled coffee pods increases. Each of these effects put stress on the means for separation 30 causing the perforations to tear and the adjacent pods to separate.
There is a plethora of other embodiments which the means for separation 30 could take. It could be a line of flexible mastic joining two short tabs that abut each other, it could be a releasable, flexible, adhesive strip spanning and affixed to two short tabs extending from each coffee pod top, it could be a frangible strip residing between two short tabs extending from the coffee pod top, or the like. In an other embodiment of the means to separate, the filter media used to form the fillable well could be made from a roll of filter media extended beyond the well to conjoin adjacent coffee pods 4, possibly forming the wells on adjacent coffee pods. The coffee pods would then lack a tab but rather, would be conjoined in a linear fashion by the length of filter media that formed all of the wells. There could be notches or perforation lines on any of the aforementioned means to allow separation in the way described that occurs at the curved end of the track 36, The primary criteria for selection would be the resilience to minor twisting or expansive forces below a critical level without allowing the release of adjacent pods.
In the first, simplest, embodiment of FIG. 6 the filter pod 4 is but a support structure affixed to a well section 50. The well section 50 is a concave formed filter element, generally having filaments approximately 20 micrometres wide, which allow particles to pass through which are less than approximately 10 to 15 micrometres in diameter. This will allow capture of the oily organic components called diterpenes present in unfiltered coffee. It will be made of a natural, 100% biodegradable fibre. The well section 50 will have an upper flange 52 that has its top face adhesively affixed to the periphery of a bottom face of the upper lid 56 by a 100% biodegradable adhesive 54. (Generally this will be of a cellulose food grade sealable gum.) The well will generally be constructed of material flexible enough to avoid any bottom piercing actions of certain single serve coffee brewing equipment.
In this embodiment the support structure is only the upper lid 56 and adhesive 54. The well section may be stretched or pleat folded with or without the use of a concave mold to form its concave configuration. The upper lid 56 is generally circular and has a pair of connection tabs 31 extending therefrom its exterior periphery. The upper lid 56 is made in a connected linear series with upper lids used for the adjacent coffee pods 4. The connection tabs 31 are disposed 180 radial degrees apart on the upper lid 56. The means for separating 30 is seen as a linear series of perforations extending axially across the tabs 31 at the midpoint between adjacent upper lids 56. The cap 62 is separate from the rest of the coffee pod 4 and is adhesively affixed to the periphery of the upper face of the upper lid 56 by a 100% biodegradable adhesive 54.
It is to be noted that the upper lid 56 has an orifice 64 therein to accommodate both the means for well expanding (air inflater) and the doser so as to allow the expansion of the pod 4 and the insertion of ground coffee beans. The upper lid 56 will be made of a 100% biodegradable material such as a natural paper or cellulose fiber. The upper lid 56 will act as a stiffener and be of thick enough material and will have enough material existing about its planar surface to ensure that the coffee pod 4 does not collapse when being pierced by a single serving coffee brewing machine. The cap 62 will also be made of a 100% biodegradable material.
The second embodiment coffee pod of FIG. 7 retains the same structural elements as the first embodiment but to the support structure is added an additional stiffener ring 68 that has its upper face adhesively affixed by the biodegradable adhesive 54 to the bottom face of the well section 50. The stiffener ring 68 is also made of a 100% biodegradable material, preferably from the same natural paper or cellulose fiber the upper lid 56 is made from.
The third embodiment of FIG. 8 retains many of the same structural elements as the first embodiment except it incorporates the cap 62 and its adhesive layer 54 onto an upper lid assembly 70 in a hingeable fashion. This type of coffee pod is used with an embodiment of coffee pod dispensing device that folds the upper lid assembly 70 onto itself about its hinge point 72. Although not illustrated, the upper lid assembly 70 may be utilized with the first embodiment coffee pod as well by the elimination of the stiffener ring 68 and its adhesive layer 54.
FIG. 10 shows yet another coffee pod embodiment that has an additional deep stiffener ring 74 that may be used with or without the stiffener ring 68. The deep stiffener ring 74 is not planar but rather has a short cylindrical extension 76 the extends perpendicularly from the flange section 78. This adds rigidity to the entire support structure thus allowing for the use of thinner elements. The deep stiffener ring 74 may be made from 100% biodegradable material or where extreme strength is needed, it may be fabricated from a polymer. The embodiment with the deep stiffener ring has drawbacks in that these pods do not stack as well as those pods without it.
FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of a double linear array of coffee pods (tape format) 80 showing its structural evolution throughout the coffee filling process. This is similar to the single linear array of FIG. 5 but instead of being in a ribbon format, (single linear array) it has at least another adjacent single linear array arranged in parallel so as to form a tape format (two or more parallel and conjoined linear arrays). This would allow for better stacking. The pods would thus be joined on three or four sides, depending on the width of the tape format which is based on the number of conjoined single linear arrays in the tape.
It is to be noted that similar to the ribbon format, in the tape format each compressed pod 2 is seperably connected to its three or four adjacent compressed pods 2 (the one in front, the one behind, and the one on the left or right side, or the two on both the left and right sides) by a connection tab 31 with a means for separation 30 disposed thereon. Alternate embodiments of the means for separation, as discussed above, may be utilized and more than one embodiment of means for separation may be used on the conjoined pods in a single tape format 80.
The expansion of the compressed coffee pod 2 (FIG. 9a ) into the expanded coffee pod 4 (FIG. 9b ) is accomplished by an air expander that provides a burst of past the upper lid orifice 64 and into the well section 50 to inflateably expand the well section into its concave configuration. In an alternate embodiment, a mechanical rod may pass beyond the upper lid orifice 64 and into the well section 50 to mechanically expand the well section 50.
As can be seen from the above disclosure, a linear series of successively linked compressible, shell less coffee pods having a means for separating coffee pods located on the hingeable connection tabs, allows for the rapid commercial filling of individual coffee pods. Elimination of the conventional water-tight polymer pods results in a coffee pod that may be used with or without a single serving coffee machine. It is ideal for making a single hot cup of coffee from a cup of boiling water or a single cold cup of tea.
The packaging of the conventional polymer hard shell coffee pods adds an upcharge to the price of the coffee by approximately 30%. Not only does the present invention drastically minimize this, it allows the user to select their own, fresh blend of coffee (or their desired brewable organ material) in an amount of coffee pods that they need. The biodegradable feature of the entire coffee pod just adds to the environmental friendliness of the device.
The system components described according to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect to one embodiment may be organized in alternative structural architectures. Hence, while various embodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease of description and to illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the various components and/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodiment can be substituted, added, and/or subtracted from among other described embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise. Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are described above, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A brewable organic material pod array for use with a point of sale brewable material pod packaging dispenser comprising:

a means for the connected movement of an array of separable individual pods; wherein said means is separable into at least one individual pod.

2. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 1 wherein said individual pods are connected to an adjacent pod by a tab.

3. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 2 wherein said individual pods connected to said adjacent pods form a linear array, and wherein said tab is hingeable and separable about a means for separation disposed on said tab between said adjacent pods.

4. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 2 wherein said pod has a fillable well section affixed to a support section.

5. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 3 wherein said well section is compressible for planar storage and pleated stacking.

6. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 5 wherein said well section is expandable.

7. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 5 wherein said pod is top sealable by the application of a membrane atop of said support section.

8. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 1 further comprising at least one of a portion of brewable material disposed within at least one of said pods.

9. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 4 wherein said support section is comprised of an upper lid, adhesively affixed to an upper face of said well section.

10. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 9 wherein said support section also comprises a stiffener ring adhesively affixed to a lower face of said well section.

11. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 10 wherein said upper lid also comprises a cap hingeably extending from said lid, said cap adhesively affixable to said upper lid.

12. A brewable organic material pod array for use with a point of sale brewable material pod packaging dispenser comprising:

a linear array of at least two compressible, brewable adjacent material pods; and

a connecting member residing between said adjacent material pods wherein said connecting member allows for the brewable material pods to hingeably pivot with respect to said adjacent material pods.

13. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 12 further comprising:

a means for separating connected adjacent pods disposed on said connecting member; said separating means allowing the forcible detachment of pods from said material pod array.

14. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 4 wherein said material pods have a support section comprised of an upper lid, adhesively affixed to an upper face of a compressible well section for the retention of brewable material therein.

15. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 14 wherein said well section is inflatably or mechanically expandable.

16. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 15 wherein said support section also comprises a stiffener ring adhesively affixed to a lower face of said well section.

17. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 16 further comprising a cap adhesively affixable to said upper lid.

18. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 17 further comprising an adhesive, said adhesive disposed between said stiffener ring and said lower face as well as between said upper lid and said upper face; and wherein said adhesive is completely biodegradable.

19. The brewable organic material pod array of claim 17 wherein said stiffener ring, said cap, said upper lid and said well section are made of completely biodegradable materials.

20. A brewable organic material pod array for use with a point of sale brewable material pod packaging dispenser comprising a linked, continuous-feed capable linear array of expandable, compressed coffee pods.