US 4,308,789 AGranted

Automatic coffee machines

OwnerTaddeo Piloni, Paolo Valenteinventors

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Abstract

An automatic coffee machine comprising a stationary cylinder wherein the coffee infusion is made; a lower piston vertically reciprocable within said cylinder between a coffee making lower position and an exhausted coffee dreg discharging upper position in line with the upper edge of said cylinder; an upper piston vertically reciprocable between a coffee making lower position within said cylinder and an upper position outside said cylinder, said upper piston being shiftable, in its upper position, from its alignment with said cylinder, in order to leave a coffee powder dose feeding funnel to be aligned with said cylinder; hot water feeding means into said cylinder between said pistons when in their coffee making positions; means for collecting the coffee infusion as obtained by passage of said hot water through said powdered coffee dose; and means for mechanically and sequentially controlling said piston motions and hot water feeding means. For controlling the motions of upper piston and funnel, a double lever system effects a lifting of said upper piston and then an oscillation thereof, together with the funnel around a horizontal axis in order to alternately axially align said upper piston and said funnel with the cylinder.

Apparatus for preparing and delivering a coffee infusion comprising a fixed cylinder including a first end and a second end, said fixed cylinder including an upper rim located at said first end thereof, a first piston mounted for reciprocation within said fixed cylinder between a first position within said cylinder and displaced from said upper rim and a second position in alignment with said upper rim, a second piston mounted for movement along a path comprising first and second path portions, said first path portion being located in the plane of said fixed cylinder and including a first end and a second end, said first end of said first path portion being located within said fixed cylinder and said second end of said first path portion being located outside of said fixed cylinder, said second path portion comprising an arcuate path having a center defined by a horizontal axis and being located in the plane of said fixed cylinder, said second path portion comprising a first end and a second end, said first end of said second path portion coinciding with said second end of said first path portion, and said second end of said second path portion being displaced outside of the plane of said fixed cylinder, means for supplying hot water to said fixed cylinder when said first piston is in said first position and said second piston is located at said first end of said first path portion, collecting means for collecting coffee produced in said fixed cylinder by the passage of said hot water therethrough, control means for controlling the movement of said second piston along said path, funnel means for delivering a predetermined amount of coffee powder to said fixed cylinder, said funnel means having a first end and a second end, and being pivotable between a first position wherein said second end of said funnel means is in alignment with said fixed cylinder whereby said coffee powder may be fed thereinto, and a second position wherein said second end of said funnel means is pivoted out of the plane of said fixed cylinder, said funnel means being pivotable about a point corresponding to said center of said arcuate path at said first end of said funnel means.

Abstract

Claims7