Patent ID: 7806043

Claim:
Machine for preparing and dispensing beverages with the use of at least a capsule ( 200 ) containing an edible raw material, in which said capsule comprises a substantially cylindrical body portion ( 206 ) with an upper edge ( 209 ) and a lower edge ( 204 ), onto which there are applied respective sealing membranes ( 208 , 210 ), as well as with a bottom wall ( 202 ) provided with filtering orifices ( 203 ) and recessed with respect to said lower edge ( 204 ), so that between the corresponding sealing membrane ( 210 ) and the lower surface of the same bottom wall ( 202 ) there forms a chamber that fills up with the beverage percolating through said orifices ( 203 ) prior to dispensing, said machine comprising a functional unit ( 10 ) with a so-called active part ( 100 ) supported by a load-bearing structure of the machine and a so-called passive part ( 150 ) which is adapted to be coupled to said active part ( 100 ) and includes a container ( 151 ) with an open bottom ( 156 ) for holding and retaining the capsule ( 200 ), the said active part ( 100 ) including: (a) a base member ( 110 ), (b) a brewing device arranged so as to be aligned along a common vertical axis with the capsule ( 200 ) and the open bottom ( 156 ) retaining the capsule when said container ( 151 ) is fixedly received into said base member ( 110 ), (c) piercing means ( 173 ) associated to said brewing device to perforate said upper membrane ( 208 ) of the capsule ( 200 ), (d) means ( 175 ) for letting hot water or steam under pressure into the capsule ( 200 ), and (e) perforating means for the lower membrane ( 210 ) and consisting of punching means ( 119 ) adapted to be moved, either prior to the beverage being brewed or at the beginning of the brewing process, from a resting configuration of said functional unit ( 10 ) to an operating configuration with the result that the beverage is dispensed directly into the drinking vessel provided therebelow by falling freely thereinto from the capsule ( 200 ), characterized in that in said resting configuration the punching means ( 119 ) are offset of the vertical common axis of the brewing device and of the capsule ( 200 ) and are adapted to give shape to at least a spout ( 220 ) in the capsule ( 200 ) by rupturing said lower membrane ( 210 ) in said operating configuration.