Back to results
US 4,860,461 AGranted
Coffee beans roasting device
AssigneesPokka Corporation, NGK Insulators, Ltd.
InventorsYoji Tamaki, Takuya Kino, Takashi Ito, Akihiko Nakamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The roasting body is composed of a roasting body, a rotary drum supported on the inside of the roasting body to rotate in a horizontal attitude to accommodate and stir the coffee beans, infrared heaters disposed on the inner wall surface of the roasting body to surround the rotary drum in order to heat the coffee beans accommodated in the rotary drum by radiant heat, and a circulating path to circulate the hot air in the rotary drum into the roasting body in order to utilize the thermal energy effectively.
Claims4
A coffee bean roasting device comprising in combination
- a roasting chamber,
- a drum mounted for rotary movement within said roasting chamber and serving as a container for coffee beans during the roasting operation,
- heating means mounted interiorly of said roasting chamber, exteriorly of said drum,
- means to circulate hot air withdrawn from the roasting chamber back into the roasting chamber,
- (a) said roasting chamber
- (1) being insulated so as to retain heat within the interior of the chamber,
- (2) having side walls and first and second end walls, said end walls containing an inlet air opening and an outlet opening for heated gases and vapors,
- (3) the first end wall of the roasting chamber having openings for the introduction of fresh coffee beans to said drum and an outlet opening for removing roasted coffee beans discharged from said drum,
- (b) said rotary drum
- (1) having cylindrically-shaped side walls that contain numerous small openings,
- (2) being mounted for rotary movement about a horizontal axis,
- (3) having a first end that is open and a second end that is closed, and
- (4) said first open end being positioned closely adjacent to said first end wall of said roasting chamber and being sufficiently open to both receive fresh coffee beans and to discharge coffee beans after they are roasted,
- (c) said heating means comprising a plurality of infrared heaters mounted around the interior of said roasting chamber and disposed around more than half of the outer circumference of said drum, and
- (d) said means to control the movement of the coffee beans within said drum comprising at least one spirally shaped vane fixed to the interior surface of the drum and twisted in one direction so as to move coffee beans in one direction upon rotation of the drum, and at least one other drum spirally shaped vane fixed to the interior surface of the drum and twisted in the opposite direction so as to move coffee beans in the opposite direction upon rotation of the drum.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.