Food ingredient grinder assembly and method

In a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient having a frame, an ingredient hopper and a grinding chamber with an inlet for receiving unground ingredient from the hopper, powered grinding blades for grinding the ingredient and an outlet mounted to the frame, the improvement being a control system, comprising:

• a brew basket having a body extending between a bottom with a downwardly facing surface with a preselected configuration and an open top for receipt of ground ingredient;
• a support member with an upwardly facing surface conforming to the preselected configuration of the downwardly facing surface, for providing underlying support of the brew basket body in a stable, level, upright position, with the open top facing vertically upwardly toward the grinding chamber outlet to receive ground ingredient and;
• means for directly measuring the quantity of ground ingredient received within the brew basket including means located beneath the substantially planer support member and linked to the support member for weighing the brew basket and any ingredient contained within the brew basket when resting in the stable, level, upright position upon the conforming upwardly facing surface of the su ort member;
• and
• means responsive to the directly measuring means located beneath the support member for controlling the powered cutting blades.

In a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient having a frame, an ingredient hopper and a grinding chamber with an inlet for receiving unground ingredient from the hopper, powered grinding blades for grinding the ingredient and an outlet mounted to the frame, the improvement being a control system, comprising:

• means for mounting a brew basket in alignment with the grinding chamber outlet to receive ground ingredient;
• means for directly measuring the quantity of ground ingredient received within the brew basket;
• and
• means responsive to the measuring means for controlling the powered cutting blades and in which
• the ingredient hopper has
• an outlet opening for passing unground ingredient to the grinding chamber, and
• a closure member mounted for movement between
• a closed position in which the closure member is in a blocking position to close the outlet opening, and
• an open position in which the outlet opening is not blocked and enabled to drop ingredient directly into the grinding chamber, and in which
• the controlling means includes means for selectively controlling the movement of the closure member between the closed position and the open position in response to the measuring means.

In a method practiced in a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient having a frame, an ingredient hopper and a grinding chamber with an inlet for receiving unground ingredient from the hopper, powered grinding blades for grinding the ingredient and an outlet mounted to the frame, the method being a method of grinding the ingredient comprising the steps of:

• mounting a brew basket in alignment with the grinding chamber outlet to receive ground ingredient;
• directly measuring the quantity of ground ingredient received within the brew basket;
• and
• responding to the measuring means for controlling the powered cutting blades, said step of controlling includes the steps of
• storing a preselected ingredient quantity, and
• responding to the measuring means for terminating power to the powered cutting blades after the quantity of ground ingredient received within the brew basket equals the preselected quantity the step of terminating power including the steps of
• establishing a time delay period,
• responding to the quantity of ground ingredient received within the brew basket equaling the preselected quantity to start the time delay period, and
• responding to lapse of the time delay period to terminate power to powered cutting blades.

In a method practiced in a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient having a frame, an ingredient hopper and a grinding chamber with an inlet for receiving unground ingredient from the hopper, powered grinding blades for grinding the ingredient and an outlet mounted to the frame, the method being a method of grinding the ingredient comprising the steps of:

• mounting a brew basket having a body that extends between a bottom with a downwardly facing bottom surface having a preselected configuration and an open top in alignment with the grinding chamber outlet to receive ground ingredient, the step of mounting including the steps of
• moving the bottom support surface of the brew basket into a position in which underlying support of the weight of the brew basket is provided with a support member having an upwardly facing support surface with a configuration that conforms to the preselected configuration of the downwardly facing bottom surface to support the brew basket body in a stable, level, upright position with the open top facing vertically upwardly toward the grinding chamber outlet when the brew basket is aligned with the grinding chamber outlet;
• directly measuring the quantity of ground ingredient received within the brew basket with a weight measuring element lined to the support member for weighing the brew basket and any ingredient contained within the brew basket;
• and
• responding to the measuring means for controlling the powered cutting blades.

A method practiced in a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient having a frame, an ingredient hopper and a grinding chamber with an inlet for receiving unground ingredient from the hopper, powered grinding blades for grinding the ingredient and an outlet mounted to the frame, the method being a method of grinding the ingredient comprising the steps of:

• mounting a brew basket in alignment with the grinding chamber outlet to receive ground ingredient;
• directly measuring the quantity of ground ingredient received within the brew basket;
• responding to the measuring means for controlling the powered cutting blades, and in which
• the ingredient hopper has an outlet opening for passing unground ingredient to the grinding chamber;
• and including the steps of
• selectively moving a closure member between
• a closed position in which the closure member is in a blocking position to close the outlet opening, and
• an open position in which the outlet opening is not blocked and enabled to pass ingredient to the grinding chamber;
• and in which
• the step of controlling includes selectively controlling the movement of the closure member in response to the measuring means.

A grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient having a frame, an ingredient hopper with an outlet, and a grinding chamber with an inlet for receiving unground ingredient from the hopper, an electric motor, powered grinding blades in the grinding chamber for grinding the ingredient, and an outlet chute mounted to the frame for passing ground ingredient out from the grinding chamber, improvement being a control system, comprising:

• a closure member mounted for movement between a nonblocking position to a blocking position in which passage of unground ingredient from the ingredient hopper to the grinding chamber is blocked;
• an actuator for automatically moving the closure member from the nonblocking position to the blocking position when a preslected amount of ingredient has been ground during a grinding cycle;
• and
• means for automatically terminating power to the electric motor only after a preselected time period after automatic movement by the actuator of the closure member from the nonblocking position to the blocking position.