Bean grinding apparatus
AssigneeNicholson Design Consultants Limited
InventorMartin Nicholson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bean grinding apparatus including a body; grinding burrs mounted in the body, the burrs including a non-driven burr and a rotationally driven burr, the rotationally driven burr having a rotational axis about which it rotates; a drive motor operatively coupled to the rotationally driven burr; a grounds flow path defined within the body; and an exit spout, the exit spout having an inlet in communication with the grounds flow path and an outlet, wherein the exit spout defines a longitudinal axis and the longitudinal axis of the exit spout is angled with respect to the rotational axis of the driven burr.
Claims28
A bean grinding apparatus comprising:
- a body;
- grinding burrs mounted in the body, the burrs comprising a non-driven burr and a rotationally driven burr, the rotationally driven burr having a rotational axis about which it rotates, the rotationally driven burr being an axially restrained inner burr, and the non-driven burr being a complementary, rotationally restrained and axially moveable outer burr;
- an outer burr support which defines a recess within which the outer burr is located;
- an adjustment mechanism for axially moving the outer burr towards or away from the inner burr, the adjustment mechanism counteracting a thrust exerted on the outer burr away from the inner burr that is generated during a grinding process, the adjustment mechanism including a biasing member which biases the outer burr away from the inner burr;
- a drive motor operatively coupled to the rotationally driven burr;
- a grounds flow path defined within the body;
- and
- an exit spout, the exit spout having an inlet in communication with the grounds flow path and an outlet;
- wherein the exit spout defines a longitudinal axis and the longitudinal axis of the exit spout is angled with respect to the rotational axis of the driven burr;
- wherein both the rotational axis and the longitudinal axis of the exit spout are angled with respect to a vertical plane;
- wherein the apparatus further includes a grounds directing element located below the burrs;
- and
- wherein the grounds directing element includes one or more fingers which sweep the grounds into the grounds flow path.
The bean grinding apparatus comprising:
- a body;
- grinding burrs mounted in the body, the burrs comprising a non-driven burr and a rotationally driven burr, the rotationally driven burr having a rotational axis about which it rotates;
- a drive motor operatively coupled to the rotationally driven burr;
- a grounds flow path defined within the body;
- and
- an exit spout, the exit spout having an inlet in communication with the grounds flow path and an outlet, wherein the exit spout defines a longitudinal axis and the longitudinal axis of the exit spout is angled with respect to the rotational axis of the driven burr;
- wherein the rotationally driven burr is an axially restrained inner grinding burr;
- wherein the non-driven burr is a complementary, rotationally restrained and axially moveable outer grinding burr;
- wherein the apparatus further includes an outer burr support which defines a recess within which the outer burr is located;
- wherein an adjustment mechanism for axially moving the outer burr towards or away from the inner burr;
- wherein the adjustment mechanism counteracts the thrust exerted on the outer burr away from the inner burr that is generated during a grinding process;
- and
- wherein the adjustment mechanism includes a biasing member which biases the outer burr away from the inner burr.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.