Drip coffeemaker having a condenser eliminating delivery of steam to the water spreader

Abstract

An electric thermostatically controlled drip coffeemaker has a generally upright C-shaped housing with a lower horizontal leg having a heated carafe support, an upper horizontal leg having a water spreader, and a vertical leg enclosing an accessible water reservoir. An electrically heated hot water generator in the lower leg has an inlet connected to the water reservoir and an outlet connected to the spreader by tubes through a separate definitive condenser located in the vertical leg entirely below the reservoir. The condenser includes an elongated generally cylindrical member larger in cross section than the connecting tubes and having an off-center radially directed water inlet from the hot water generator at the bottom thereof. Shaped and aligned baffle and flow directing means are disposed in the member to impart a non-swirling, vortex preventing, upward flow to the heated water. A captured, limited travel ball check valve disposed in an outlet at the top of the member permits vertical outflow only. The condenser provides a large condensing volume to eliminate steam delivery to the spreader while operating at lower average temperatures with surfaces almost continuously wetted and allowing high velocity fresh water flow to scrub or tear away accumulated scale deposits to reduce mineral deposition.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.