Abstract: A conveyor system for a coffee grinder for taking ground coffee from the grinder to the packing machinery, and a laser test-meter used to analyze the granulometry of ground coffee test samples and compare them with a granulometric reference sample that are known. The system of the invention includes improvements which include a first device which continually receives undisturbed ground coffee samples and delivers these samples to a second device in which a gas stream blows a stream of coffee grains down a tube to the test-meter and a second stream of gas flowing at right-angles to the tube disperses any partially aggregated particles before they reach the test-meter. A third device creates a pressurized safety area around each lens of the laser test-meter. The area is partly closed so that laser beams can freely pass, and gas under pressure enters the area preventing coffee grains from entering the area and disturbing the lens.

Abstract: A coffee machine wherefrom an user may optionally request different coffees as to the volume of beverage and wherein the infusion water temperature in a heater (7) is made to lower as the quantity of the requested beverage increases; to this purpose, the machine is provided with a control means assembly comprising: a meter (12, 24) for the quantity of water moving to an extraction chamber (3), a temperature transducer (13) for sensing the temperatures the water achieves in the heater (7) and a calculator (14) adapted to receive the signals from said meter (12, 24) and temperature transducer (13) and control, according to a given algorithm, the water temperature in the heater (7) as a function of the moving water quantity.

Abstract: A method for making a ground coffee discoid pad for brewing an express coffee wherein a pressure means applies a pressure to a coffee pad placed in a pocket made of water and air permeable material and simultaneously rotates in contact with the coffee surface about an axis perpendicular to said surface and the applied pressure ranges from 22 to 65 atmospheres.

Abstract: The procedure includes observation of each grain by optic-electronic devices and consists of an initial stage during which several values, representing color signals, are extracted and read and are then processed by a computer to reduce all the signals to two numbers only, defining a pair of coordinates on a plane where the colorimetric characteristics of the grains are represented, and of a second stage in which each grain is automatically classified within an electronic grid, related to the above plane, wherein an operator has already assigned the squares for classes of unacceptable grains. The machine includes an analog-to-digital converter able to convert the analog signals received from the observation devices into binary form, two adapter circuits, a computer and a memory for controlling, sampling and analog-numerical conversion of the color signals, also for storing all samples obtained, as well as for executing the above first and second stages of the procedure.

Abstract: Roasted coffee beans are delivered to an airtight container. The container is purged with CO.sub.2 or N.sub.2 until the O.sub.2 concentration is between 0.2 and 2%. The container is then sealed and the coffee beans are aged under an atmosphere consisting of CO.sub.2 or N.sub.2 with small amounts of O.sub.2. During the aging process, which involves a liberation by the coffee beans of a gas rich in CO.sub.2, the pressure in the container is maintained between 0.4 and 1.8 atmospheres. Aging may take place at temperatures between 20.degree. and 25.degree. C. and, under such circumstances, the O.sub.2 concentration in the container is maintained within the range of 0.2 to 1% throughout the aging period. The aging period at these temperatures is between 15 days and 31 days. Alternatively, aging may take place at temperatures between 30.degree. and 50.degree. C. The O.sub.2 concentration in the container is then maintained within the range of 0.2 to 2% throughout the aging period which is now only 4 to 10 days.

Abstract: Apparatus for monitoring and analyzing a stream of powdered coal has an upright cylindrical vessel whose upper end receives the end portion of a conduit serving to deliver a stream of comminuted material in a gaseous carrier medium. The end portion of the conduit is coaxial with the vessel and is surrounded by a single annular nozzle or by an annulus of discrete nozzles serving to discharge first currents of compressed air into the vessel at a level above the discharge end of the conduit. The descending stream of comminuted material is traversed by several radial currents of compressed air close to the open lower end of the vessel and the thus treated stream of comminuted solid material descends into a second vessel wherein it is traversed and analyzed by a laser beam or a light beam.

Abstract: A strip of coherent packets of compacted batches of ground coffee between two overlapping webs of water-permeable material is formed along the upper reach of an endless conveyor with plates having supporting surfaces facing upwardly during travel along the upper reach and provided with recesses which communicate with a suction generating device. The first web is deposited onto the supporting surfaces of successive plates at a first station, followed by deformation of the web at a second station to form therein pockets which extend into the respective recesses and receive batches containing metered quantities of ground coffee at a third station. The batches are compacted in two stages to form cakes from which loose particles are sucked up by a nozzle before the second web is placed over the first web and the cakes.

Abstract: The automatic espresso coffee machine brews coffee from coffee pods placed in an extraction head or in a plurality of extraction heads and is characterized in that it comprises an electronic control system, including a microprocessor and memory means, which operate all the operations of the machine. In particular, the machine carries out a continuous control of the water temperature in a boiler in order to keep that temperature in a narrow range of a selected temperature. It also controls the volume of the hot water delivered to each extraction head to be within a narrow range of predetermined volume. The machine diagnoses itself for possible failures and depleted supplies by showing on a display in code the kind of failure or of needed supply, i.e. coffee.

Abstract: An expresso machine has a hot water distributor and an adapter which is removably connectable to the distributor to receive hot water therefrom. A box is in turn removably connectable to the adapter and defines with the same an extraction chamber adapted to house a prefabricated coffee pod through which the hot water must pass on its way to an outlet of the box, thus brewing a portion of coffee.

Abstract: An espresso machine has a coffee brewing chamber, a water reservoir and a water heater. Two electrical pumps are provided, one capable of supplying a smaller quantity of water from the reservoir via the heater to the brewing chamber so as to make a regular-strength coffee beverage, and the other capable of supplying a considerably larger quantity of water from the reservoir via the heater to the brewing chamber, so as to make a weaker-strength coffee beverage from an identical quantity of coffee. A selector at the outside of the machine allows a user to select which one of the pumps he wishes to energize.

Abstract: A coffee machine has an assembly provided with a chamber for receiving a permanent filter selected, according to the taste preference of a user, from a set of such filters which each offer different flow resistance to water per unit time. A pod of ground compressed coffee is also removably receivable in the chamber; the characteristics of pod and filter are so selected that during each operation of the machine between 22-26% of the total aromatic substances present in the coffee in the pod, are extracted by hot water flowing through the pod. However, due to the different flow resistance offered by different filters, the quantity of beverage produced during a predetermined operating time will vary. In dependence upon the particular selected filter, the extracted aromatic substances will therefore be more or less diluted in the beverage, to suit a particular taste.

Abstract: The invention relates to a coffee brewing machine which is particularly suitable for family use and for a small commercial establishment, such as a refreshment room. The machine extracts the coffee beverage from a pod which contains ground coffee and is housed in a chamber defined by an upper block and by a removable lower box, between a jet-forming member fixed to the upper block and a filter housed in the removable lower box. It includes a water container, a heater and a pump which supplies the water to the chamber at the proper temperature and pressure. In the chamber the water penetrates the pod and extracts the coffee beverage therefrom and then the coffee beverage flows out of the machine.