Appliance for Grinding of Foodstuffs

An apparatus, comprising:

• a grinder burr;
• a grinder housing being designed to mount the grinder burr in a consumer countertop appliance and to:
• receive drive power from a motor of the countertop appliance for drive of the grinder burr;
• retain a container for unground foodstuffs as a container/grinder assembly, with the container positioned for gravity feed into the grinder burr, and for handling of the container and grinder burr as an assembly;
• retain the grinder burr in a fashion and location to direct foodstuffs to flow from the container into the grinder burr, and to direct ground foodstuffs to be delivered into a receptacle;
• a grinder-to-appliance coupling being designed to permit a user to readily mount the container/grinder assembly in and remove from the countertop appliance assembly, and replacement in the appliance with another container/grinder assembly.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a container for unground foodstuffs, the container having a connector for connection to a grinder housing, the grinder housing being designed to mount a grinder burr in a consumer countertop appliance and to:
• receive drive power from a motor of the countertop appliance for drive of the grinder burr;
• retain the container for unground foodstuffs as a container/grinder assembly, with the container positioned for gravity feed into the grinder burr, and for handling of the container and grinder burr as an assembly;
• retain the grinder burr in a fashion and location designed to direct foodstuffs to flow from the container into the grinder burr, and to direct ground foodstuffs to be delivered into a receptacle;
• a grinder-to-appliance coupling of the grinder housing being designed to permit a user to readily mount the container/grinder assembly in and remove from the countertop appliance assembly, and replacement in the appliance with another container/grinder assembly.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a container for unground foodstuffs, the container having a connector for connection to a grinder housing, the container designed to hold a quantity of foodstuff up to about 3 liters, the grinder housing being designed to mount a grinder burr in a consumer countertop appliance and to:
• receive drive power from a motor of the countertop appliance for drive of the grinder burr;
• retain the container for unground foodstuffs as a container/grinder assembly, with the container positioned for gravity feed into the grinder burr, and for handling of the container and grinder burr as an assembly;
• retain the grinder burr in a fashion and location to direct foodstuffs to flow from the container into the grinder burr;
• a grinder-to-appliance coupling of the grinder housing being designed to permit a user to readily mount the container/grinder assembly in and remove from the countertop appliance assembly;
• the container and/or container-to-grinder coupling being designed to deter refilling of the container.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a grinder burr designed to grind foodstuff;
• a filter basket designed to hold ground foodstuff ground by the grinder burr and to direct flow of water in a manner designed to brew hot beverages,
• a steam shield designed to lie in an open position during operation of the grinder burr to direct passage of grounds from the grinder burr to the filter basket, and to lie in a closed position after grinding and during brewing to protect the grinder burr from escape of steam from the brewing process;
• the steam shield having on its lower surface one or more distribution openings designed to distribute water to the ground foodstuff in the filter basket for brewing.

Apparatus comprising:

• a container for unground foodstuffs, the container having a connector for connection to a grinder housing, the container designed to hold a quantity of foodstuff up to about 3 liters;
• a grinder burr arranged for rotation on a vertical axis;
• a grinder housing being designed to:
• retain the grinder burr in a consumer countertop appliance for rotation on a vertical axis;
• receive drive power from a motor of the countertop appliance for drive of the grinder burr, the burr to distribute grounds from its bottom in a conical distribution to land in an annulus;
• retain the container for unground foodstuffs as a container/grinder assembly, with the container positioned for gravity feed into the grinder burr, and for handling of the container and grinder burr as an assembly;
• retain the grinder burr in a fashion and location designed to direct foodstuffs to flow from the container into the grinder burr, and to direct ground foodstuffs to be delivered into a receptacle;
• a grinder-to-appliance coupling of the grinder housing being designed to permit a user to readily mount the container/grinder assembly in and remove from the countertop appliance assembly, and replacement in the appliance with another container/grinder assembly;
• the container and/or container-to-grinder coupling being designed to deter refilling of the container;
• the filter basket being formed of materials suitable for use with foodstuffs and exposure to hot water, the filter basket having features to engage with mating features of a grind-and-brew machine for hot beverages for consumer use, the bottom of the filter basket having a raised center sloping away from the center and designed to promote outward flow of water, and a surrounding annular volume arranged at a diameter to collect the grounds as they fall from the grinder burr, the filter basket having screen openings at or near the outer periphery of the filter basket, a ratio of the diameter to depth of the filter basket being at least about 2.5 to 1, and having screens of porosity to direct hot beverage to flow through the screens while preventing throughflow of grounds, the raised center and screens designed to encourage water flow through the grounds for a desired level of extraction;
• a water heating and distribution system;
• a computer control;
• and
• a steam shield designed to lie in an open position during operation of the grinder burr to direct passage of grounds from the grinder burr to the filter basket, and to lie in a closed position after grinding and during brewing to protect the grinder burr from escape of steam from the brewing process;
• the steam shield having on its lower surface one or more distribution openings designed to distribute water to the ground foodstuff in the filter basket for brewing.