A COFFEE AND/OR TEA MACHINE

Abstract: A coffee and/or tea machine (1) has an upper water container (2) which serves to receive the amount of fresh water necessary for the brewing, and downwardly has at least one outlet opening (5) leading to a lower water container (3) where, in operation, the water is heated by means of e.g. an electric heating member (8). With a view to softening the water a ring (13) of a magnetizable ceramic material is placed on the bottom (4) of the upper water container (2) in axial alignment with an outlet opening (5) in said bottom. During the passage to the lower water container (3) the water is then subjected to the action from the highly concentrated magnetic field of the central opening of the ring so that the water is softened and already formed lime deposits are loosened.

Description: A coffee and/or tea machine The invention concerns a coffee and/or tea machine with an upper water container which serves to receive the amount of fresh water necessary for the brewing and downwardly has at least one outlet opening leading to a lower water container where, in operation, the water is heated by means of e.g. an electric heating member. It is known that incrustation successively takes place in such machines in operation since part of the lime content of the water sticks to the internal faces of the machine, in particular the heating member. This entails that the brewing will gradually take a disproportionately long time, and that the energy consumption increases consider¬ ably so that the machine has to be scaled off frequently. Such scaling-off usually takes place by adding to the machine various chemicals which loosen the lime, Which, together with the chemicals, is then removed from the machine by means of several flushings. This process, how¬ ever, is relatively expensive and also cumbersome and time-consuming, and to this should be added that, in spite of all safety measures, it always involves the risk of chemicals being left at inaccessible places in the machine, which will later enter into the coffee or he tea and make it undrinkable or directly unhealthy. The object of the invention is to provide a coffee and/or tea machine of the type stated in the opening paragraph, which is so arranged that, without addition of chemicals, encrustation is automatically prevented during operation. This is achieved in that the coffee and/or tea machine of the invention is characterized by comprising a suitably strong magnet disposed in or at the outlet opening. Then, in and/or around the outlet opening there will be formed a strong magnetic field which is traversed by the water during its passage from the upper to the lower water container, so that the lime content of the water is prevented in a known manner from sticking to the internal faces of the machine, e.g. the heating member, and lime which might possibly already have deposited on these faces is gradually loosened and removed from the machine. Further, according to the invention, the magnet may be a detachably mounted permanent magnet shaped as a ring which is axially flush with the outlet opening and which is dis¬ posed in the upper water container. This entails that an optimum advantageous flow rate is imparted to the water through the magnetic field, and that the magnet may be mounted in new as well as already existing machines. Moreover, according to the invention, in a particularly advantageous embodiment the magnet may consist of a mag¬ netizable cheramic material. The invention will be explained more fully below with reference to the drawing, in which fig. 1 schematically shows a coffee and/or tea machine according to the invention, and fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a ring-shaped magnet as¬ sociated with the machine shown in fig. 1. Fig. 1 schematically shows a coffee and/or tea machine 1 comprising an upper water container 2 and a lower water container 3. The upper water container 2 has a bottom 4 with an outlet opening 5 communicating with the lower container 3 via a channel 6. When the machine is to be used, fresh water for the brewing is poured into the upper container 2 after removal of a cover 7 loosely applied on the upper container. The water then successively runs via the outlet opening 5 and the channel 6 down into the lower container 3, where the water is heated by means of an electric heating member 8, and then it rises through a riser 9 and runs down into a funnel 10 in which an amount of coffee or tea has been positioned in advance over a suitable filter (not shown). Finally, the water penetrates through the coffee or tea layer and runs through the filter down into a pot 11 for collection of the brewed coffee or tea. The pot 11 stands loosely on an electrical¬ ly heated heating plate 12, which serves to keep the coffee or tea hot until it is to be consumed. As shown, a permanent magnet 13 in the form of a ring, which is shown more clearly in fig. 2, is placed on the bottom of the upper water container 2. This ring 13 is axially flush with the opening 5, so that the water is forced to pass the highly concentrated magnetic field in the central opening of the ring 13 on the way to the lower water container 3. During this movement, the water is af¬ fected in a manner known per se such that the lime in the water does not stick to the internal faces of the machine, e.g. the heating member, and such that previously settled lime deposits on these faces are loosened and can be re- moved from the machine. In this connection, the flow rate of the water plays an important part, and when the magnet is shaped precisely as a ring so positioned as to form an elongation of the out- let opening, an optimum favourable water softening and scaling-off effect will be obtained. The ring 13 may be a loose ring which merely with its weight rests on the bottom 4 of the upper water container 2 over the outlet opening 5, and this provides the ad- _. vantage that the ring can readily be mounted in the large number of coffee and/or tea machines which are already in use today. The ring 13 may also be an electro-magnet, but is pre- ferably a permanent magnet which may be made of any suitable magnetizable material. This may be a magnetizable cheramic material in a particularly advantageous embodi¬ ment. Dimensionally, the ring may e.g. have an outer diameter of about 45 mm, an inner diameter of about 22 mm and a height of about 9 mm.

Claims: P a t e n t C l a i m s 1. A coffee and/or tea machine with an upper water container which serves to receive the amount of fresh water necessary for the brewing and downwardly has at least one outlet opening leading to a lower water con¬ tainer where, in operation, the water is heated by means of e.g. an electric heating member, c h a r a c t e r¬ i z e d in that the machine comprises a suitably strong magnet mounted in or at the outlet opening. 2. A coffee and/or tea machine according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the magnet is a detachably mounted permanent magnet. 3. A coffee and/or tea machine according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the magnet is in the form of a ring which is axially flush with the outlet opening. 4. A coffee and/or tea machine according to claim 1, 2 or 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the magnet is positioned in the upper water container. 5. A coffee and/or tea machine according to one or more of claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the magnet consists of a magnetizable cheramic material.

Inventors: HVARRE JOHN NIKOLAJ, HVARRE, JOHN, NIKOLAJ
Applicants: HVARRE JOHN NIKOLAJ, HVARRE, JOHN, NIKOLAJ
Application year: 1989
Main classification: A47J31
IPC codes: A47J31, C02F1