US 6,884,452 B1Granted

Method of serving freshly brewed beverage from a dispenser

AssigneeFood Equipment Technologies Company, Inc.

InventorZbigniew G. Lassota

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Abstract

A beverage dispenser(20) with a top assembly(26) having a cover closure, or cover(50) with an inlet access opening, structure for mounting the cover(50) for movement between an operative position in which the inlet access opening is aligned with the inlet and the cover overlies the top assembly, and an inoperative position and a stopper member(54) of contrasting color pivotally mounted to the underside of the cover for movement between a closed position in which it extends through an inlet access opening to block passage of liquid and heat from within the dispenser and to block movement of the dispenser beneath a brew basket of an associated brewer for receipt of beverage and an open position in which it is pivoted against the underside of a pivotally mounted cover. The cover (50) is pivotally mounted to a cover base and is limited in movement by a carry handle when in a lowered position, and is removable for cleaning and removal of a funnel assembly to enable access to the interior for cleaning.

Claims31

Dependent claims

In a beverage dispenser having a hollow body with a closed bottom, a top assembly with an inlet for passing beverage into the hollow body, an enclosing sidewall extending between the top assembly and the bottom, a faucet mounted to the hollow body adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage contained within the hollow body, the improvement being a method of brewing beverage into the hollow body, comprising the steps of:

moving a closure member from a closed position in which access to the inlet is closed and the closure member blocks location of the hollow body to a fill position beneath a source of beverage for passage of the beverage through the inlet to an open position in which access to the inlet is provided and the closure member is removed from a blocking position to enable movement of the hollow body to the fill position for receipt of beverage from the source through the inlet;
moving the hollow body to the fill location beneath the source for receipt of beverage through the inlet and into the hollow body;
passing beverage from the source through the inlet until a preselected amount of beverage has been passed into the hollow body while in the fill position;
after the preselected quantity of beverage has been passed, removing the hollow body from the fill position beneath the source;
returning the closure member to the closed position in which the closure member blocks movement of the dispenser to a fill position beneath a source of freshly brewed beverage;
and
serving beverage from the dispenser through the faucet at a serving location spaced from the source of freshly brewed beverage.

4 more elements

With a beverage dispenser having a hollow body with a closed bottom, a top assembly with an inlet for passing beverage into the hollow body, an enclosing sidewall extending between the top assembly and the bottom, a faucet mounted to the hollow body adjacent the bottom for dispensing beverage contained within the hollow body, a method of brewing, comprising the steps of:

mounting a cover with an inlet access opening for movement between an operative position in which the inlet access opening is aligned with the inlet and the cover overlies the top assembly, and an inoperative position;
and
movably mounting an inlet closure member to the cover for selectively closing the inlet access opening to prevent access to the inlet when the cover is in the operative position and the inlet access opening is aligned with the inlet;
passing freshly brewed beverage from a brewer directly into the hollow body through the inlet access opening and inlet when the inlet closure member is in the inoperative position;
and
removing the beverage dispenser from the brewer and to a serving location;
and
moving the inlet closure member to the operative position after the beverage dispenser is moved to the serving location.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.