page_title: Angelo Moriondo
section_title: First espresso machine
hierarchical_section_title: Angelo Moriondo / First espresso machine
caption_attribution_description: English: First patent (vol. 33 n. 256) for the Espresso Machine, by Mr. Angelo Moriondo, dated May 16, 1884 and titled "Nuovi apparecchi a vapore per la confezione economica ed istantanea del caffè in bevanda. Sistema A. Moriondo" Italiano: Primo brevetto (vol. 33 n. 256) per la produzione del Caffé Espresso, di proprietà del Sig. Angelo Moriondo, datato 16 maggio 1884 e intitolato “Nuovi apparecchi a vapore per la confezione economica ed istantanea del caffè in bevanda. Sistema A. Moriondo”
context_page_description: Angelo Moriondo is the inventor who patented the earliest known espresso machine, in 1884.
  Angelo Moriondo came from an entrepreneurial family. His grandfather founded a liqueur producing company that was continued by his father Giacomo, who later founded the well-known chocolate company "Moriondo and Gariglio" along with his brother Agostino and cousin Gariglio. Angelo purchased the Grand-Hotel Ligure in the city-centre Piazza Carlo Felice and the American Bar in the Galleria Nazionale of Via Roma.
context_section_description: Moriondo presented his invention at the General Expo of Turin in 1884, where it was awarded the bronze medal. The patent was awarded for a period of six years on 16 May 1884 under the title of "New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method ‘A. Moriondo’." The machine was actually built by a mechanic named Martina, working under the direct supervision of the inventor.
  It was successively updated with a patent on 20 November 1884, Vol 34, No, 381. The invention was then confirmed by international patent after being registered in Paris on 23 October 1885. In the following years, Moriondo continued to improve his invention drastically, each improvement being patented.
  Angelo Moriondo never took the invention to industrial-scale production. He limited himself to the construction of a few hand-built, machines which he jealously conserved in his establishments, convinced that this was a significant advertisement for them.
  Ian Bersten, a historian chronicling the history of coffee, claims to be the first researcher to ever discover Moriondo’s patent. Bersten describes the device as "the first Italian bar machine that controlled the supply of steam and water separately through the coffee" and Moriondo as "one of the earliest discoverers of the expresso machine."
  Unlike true espresso machines, it was a bulk brewer, and did not brew coffee "expressly" for the individual customer.
caption: First patent (16 May 1884) of the espresso coffee machine
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