Abstract: An electric automatic water heating apparatus for drip type beverage, e.g., coffee makers has a housing provided with a reservoir composed of a material of low thermal conductivity arranged to supply water by gravity to a sealed heating chamber having an inlet communicating with the reservoir and an outlet for discharging heated water for use. The sealed heating chamber includes an open top, cup-shaped, metallic casting having an electric rod-type resistance heating element embedded therein, and a metallic cover member closing the open top of the casting for confining steam generated during heating to the heating chamber. The cover is secured to and forms a bottom surface portion of the reservoir exposed to the water in therein. The cover serves as a support for a bimetallic member which controls the flow of water through the inlet into the heating chamber in response to the temperature in the heating chamber.

Abstract: An automatic electric coffee maker has a housing including a base and a hood mounted atop the base. The base includes a horizontal support for supporting a coffee decanter so as to be located immediately underneath an overhanging portion of the hood from which a coffee basket is supported. The base has a body which extends from one side of the decanter support and extends upwardly toward and is attached to the hood. The hood has walls defining a water chamber for containing water to be heated. An electric water pump heater is mounted within the body adjacent its upper end and has a pump tube extending from a pump well thereof upwardly through an aperture in the top wall of the body through the water chamber to a discharge spout which extends through the overhanging hood portion and terminates in a discharge outlet which extends downwardly through the hood so as to discharge heated water into a coffee basket located therebelow.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an infusion apparatus, particularly such an apparatus for brewing coffee or the like where a receptacle such as a coffee basket is mounted on a water heating apparatus and a carafe is positioned underneath the infusion chamber. The infusion chamber is made with relatively movable walls so that the cross-sectional area transverse to the direction of flow of liquid may be varied to vary the depth of infusion bed for a given quantity of coffee or the like in the chamber. Two movable walls are disclosed together with an actuating mechanism with the movable walls and the actuating mechanism being of simple construction and readily assembled so that the use of screws, rivets, and so forth is not required. The relatively movable walls are actuated by a rotatable plate connected to the walls which are positioned internally of the infusion chamber with rotation of the plate moving the walls toward and away from each other.