US2103780A - Self-measuring coffee basket - Google Patents

Description

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Dec 28, 1937. D. a. HADLEY SELF MEASURING COFFEE BASKET Filed Feb. 20,

INVENTOR Dona/d1; Had/e51.

WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 28, 1937 Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a. corporationof Pennsylvania Application February 20, 1936, Serial No. 64,865

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a coffee-making machine, and particularly to that type of machine in which hot water is delivered into a basket containing the ground coffee and by percolating through the coffee produces the infusion which is received in the space below the container.

It is an object of this invention to provide a container adapted to introduce into the machine a predetermined measured amount of coffee.

It is a further object of this invention to provide the container with two partitions, one of which is fixed and the other movable whereby the space between them may be regulated.

It is a further object of this invention to make the movable partition in the above-described container adjustable by rotation about a central standard.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means whereby the volume contained between the two partitions may be quickly and easily ascertained.

Other objects of the invention and details of the proposed structure; will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view of the container, and

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

This device is intended for use with coffeemaking machines of the sort ordinarily called percolators. In such machines, the ground coffee is usually located in a container, with foraminated walls and bottom, ordinarily called a basket. The portion of the percolator below the container contains water which upon being heated rises through a central tube and descends through the basket.

The basket I has a central standard 2 which may be slid over the tube of the percolator in-' tended to deliver the hot water, thus positioning the basket in the machine. This standard 2 is made hollow in order that it shall fit over the hot water tube. The basket is a circular cylinder and is intended to fit the upper portion of the percolator being supported therein by reason'of the flange 3 resting on the upper edge of the walls of the percolator.

Inside of the basket is a partition 4 secured to the side wall and to the standard. A notch 5' is provided inthe edge of the partition 4 which is secured to the standard 2. This notch is for the accommodation of a tongue 6 which has been formed into a cylindrical projection upon the inner edge of a second partition I.

The partition 1 extends from the standard 2 to the wall of the basket. It is secured to the standard 2 by having the tongue '6 curled around the standard but it is not rigidly fastened to the standard. Neither is it fastened to the bottom or the side wall. The partition 4 on the other hand may be fastened at the standard, the side wall and the bottom if desired. It is intended to be stationary. Graduations are provided upon the flange 3 by which the position of the partition 1 may be judged.

In the operation of the device, partition 1 is rotated about the upright tube until it is at the desired distance from the partition 4. To judge this distance, the graduations upon the flange 3 are used. These graduations are intended to show when the space between the partition 4 and the partition 1 will contain as much coffee as is needed to make the number of cups indicated by the graduation numerals. For example, in the illustration shown in Fig. 2, the device is set so that if the space between the partitions 4 and 1 is filled with the coffee to be cooked, it will be sufficient to produce six cups of the infusion resulting from the heat. In order to fill this space completely, the ground coffee is put therein until level with the flange 3. This may well be done by filling the basket to a greater height than the flange 3 and scraping the surplus away across the flange.

The device is then inserted in the percolator by slipping the hollow standard 2 into the hot water tube and the water in the percolator is then heated. Upon being heated it rises through the tube upon which the standard 2 fits and descends from the mouth of the standard 2 upon the coffee. It percolates through the coffee and descends into the percolator through the holes in the side walls and the bottom. When the coffee has been used, the container is removed from the percolator and the cooked coffee grounds emptied from it, after which it is washed and is ready for the next use.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications of this device are possible. The invention is, therefore, not to be limited by the specific description and illustration of the device herein. No limitations of the invention are intended, except those required by the prior art or indicated expressly in the claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a coifee-making machine, a cylindrical foraminate coffee container having a central tubular standard, a radial partition fixed to said portion of the container between said partitions may be varied, said tubular member being formed to receive a percolator tube, and graduations on the rim of said container adapted to cooperate with the movable partition to indicate the stationary volume between the partitions.

2. In a coffee-making machine, a. cylindrical foraminate cofiee container having a central tubular standard, a radial partition fixed to said standard and a movable radial partition pivotally secured on said standard whereby the closed portion of the container between said partitions may be varied, said tubular member being formed to receive a percolator tube.

partition being movable through an arc of at least 2'70 degrees. DONALD LEE HADLEY.

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