Abstract: A coffee maker or another beverage brewing apparatus wherein a holder for flavoring agent or a filter in the holder has one or more valve-controlled outlets for gravitational descent of freshly brewed beverage into an open-top vessel beneath the holder. The top of the vessel has a rim and a spout which extends to a level below the rim. In order to automatically open the valve which controls the outlet or outlets, the holder or the housing of the apparatus carries a movable actuator which is engaged by the rim, irrespective of the orientation of the spout, and opens the valve as soon as the open top of the vessel is properly positioned beneath the outlet or outlets. The actuator has a rim-engaging follower the effective length of which in the circumferential direction of the open top of the vessel at least equals but normally exceeds the width of the spout. This ensures that the follower is engaged by the rim in any selected orientation of the vessel.

Abstract: A compact portable apparatus for brewing hot coffee, hot tea or another hot beverage has a housing with a first chamber for a supply of liquid to be heated and a filter assembly above the chamber. A cup which can receive, for example, a quantity of hot beverage to fill two standard cups confines the lower portion of the housing when the apparatus is ready for storage but the cup is placed next to the housing and beneath an outlet for hot beverage when the apparatus is to be put to use. The cup and the lower portion of the housing define an annular chamber which receives the convolutions of an electric cable serving to connect an electric heater for liquid in the first chamber with an energy source. A carrier of the filter assembly has a chamber for reception of hot beverage before the latter flows into the cup.

Abstract: A machine for brewing coffee, tea or other hot beverages has a hollow base with a top wall beneath the bottom wall of a container for fresh liquid. The top wall has a recess for two annular sealing elements, and the top wall portion beneath the recess has two downwardly extending sleeves. The base confines an electric heater having a liquid admitting inlet connected with one of the sleeves by a first conduit and a liquid discharging outlet connected with a riser in the container by way of a second conduit. The upper end portion of the first conduit extends through the respective sleeve and into the lower part of the corresponding sealing element, and such upper end portion constitutes a cage for the spherical valving element of a check valve which permits fresh liquid to flow from a first nipple of the container toward the inlet of the heater but prevents heated liquid from flowing back into the container.

Abstract: An electric coffee or tea making machine wherein the housing resembles a carafe and has an annular outer chamber for hot beverage and a centrally located chamber for a body of water. The centrally located chamber is located above a heating unit, such as a standard electric resistance heater, a halogen lamp or a heater with one or more thick film conductors, and the heated liquid flows upwardly through a riser to be distributed over a supply of comminuted coffee beans or tea leaves in a removable filtering unit which has an outlet for admission of freshly brewed coffee or tea into the outer chamber. A cover above the filtering unit is threadedly connected to the upper end of the housing to ensure that the interior of the housing can be maintained well above atmospheric pressure without risking escape of hot water or steam. The device for uniformly distributing heated water in the filtering unit can constitute a nozzle or a foraminous top wall above the supply of flavoring agent.

Abstract: A coffee or tea making machine wherein the receptacle for fresh water has an open top which is reinforced by a frame supporting two pivotable covers having flat walls defining a narrow straight clearance and being pivotally connected to each other for movement between substantially horizontal positions in which they overlie the respective portion of the receptacle and second or open positions in which the pivoted cover overlies the other cover. The hinge between the covers has a one-piece plastic carrier with two pairs of studs or with two pairs of sockets which extend into or receive complementary sockets or studs at the inner sides of the covers. The carrier has a median portion which extends across the clearance between the walls of the covers and two spaced-apart cheeks each of which carries two coaxial studs or two aligned sockets.

Abstract: A coffee brewing machine wherein a riser conveys heated liquid into the chamber of a liquid collecting receptacle above a filter holder containing a supply of flavoring agent, such as comminuted coffee beans. The bottom wall of the receptacle has one or more openings which admit heated liquid into the filter holder, and one or more apertures which discharge steam in such a way that the outflowing steam can or must bypass the filter holder. To this end, each aperture defines for steam a path which is inclined with reference to the bottom wall of the receptacle. An aperture can be provided in a hollow flow divider which is installed in the chamber to break up the flow of heated liquid from the riser toward the liquid discharging opening or openings. If the receptacle has a single aperture, the latter is preferably located in or at the central longitudinal vertical symmetry plane of the housing of the machine and causes the steam to leave the receptacle by flowing in such plane.

Abstract: A coffee brewing apparatus wherein the housing supports a thin-walled container for fresh water. The container has an open top and a marginal portion which surrounds the open top and carries a reinforcing frame which supports a closure having one or more pivotable lids serving to expose or close the open top of the container. A downwardly extending portion of the frame can be inserted into or can surround the marginal portion of the container, a horizontal flange-like second portion of the frame serves as a rest for the lid or lids of the closure, and a third portion of the frame integrally connects the first and second portions and surrounds the closure. The third portion of the frame has bearings for one or more pintles connecting the lid or lids of the closure to the frame. The combined thickness of marginal portion of the container and first portion of the frame equals or approximates the thickness of third portion of the frame and/or the thickness of major portion of the container.

Abstract: A machine for brewing coffee, tea or other hot beverages has a hollow housing for a water heater which is disposed beneath and can directly heat a warming plate serving to support a pot, a carafe, a vacuum bottle, a cup or another vessel for a freshly brewed beverage which is being discharged from the chamber of a filter holder above the warming plate. If the nature of the material of the vessel is such that the bottom wall of the vessel should not be heated to an elevated temperature, the operator inserts a distancing element between the warming plate and the casing of the heater. The area of contact between the heater and warming plate on the one hand, and the distancing element on the other hand, can be selected with a view to ensure a desirable reduction from that rate of heat tranfer which takes place when the heater is in direct and large-area contact with the warming plate.

Abstract: A portable electric hair dryer wherein the hot-air outlet of the housing is connectable with a nozzle having a smaller outlet for directing a concentrated stream of hot air against the hair for drying and/or styling. The maximum achievable output of the heating element in the housing is automatically reduced in response to attachment of the nozzle to the housing to a value such that the temperature of concentrated stream of hot air issuing from the nozzle cannot reach a value which would cause singing or burning of hair. In accordance with a presently preferred embodiment, attachment of the nozzle to the housing results in shifting of a rod-shaped mechanical adjusting member which thereby deactivates one or more stages of a multi-stage switch so that the latter can permit selection of one or more heating element outputs which do not result in overheating of air issuing from the nozzle.