Patent ID: 8191463

Claim:
An espresso coffee machine using a disposable filter or capsule and equipped with a semi-automatic system to brew espresso coffee, comprising: a chassis ( 1 ), a heat exchanger ( 5 ), an electro-pump ( 24 ), an infusion piston ( 6 ) operated by a coffee brewing cam ( 19 ), control and regulation means and supporting means; a semi-automatic mechanical system to load, hold and discard by gravity the disposable filter or capsule; a mechanical system of sealing and applying pressure on the disposable filter or capsule wherein the sealing effectiveness between a disposable filter or capsule ( 14 ) and the infusion piston ( 6 ) is ensured by the clamping given by a vertical mechanical motion of the infusion piston ( 6 ) caused by the rotation of a pressure cam ( 7 ) and wherein said sealing and applying pressure action is fully adjustable to compensate for any disposable filter's or capsule's size differences; said mechanical system of sealing between the capsule ( 14 ) and the infusion piston ( 6 ) is ensured by an O-ring ( 27 ) and by a macro-adjustment of the distance between the infusion piston ( 6 ) and the capsule ( 14 ), carried out by the rotation of the infusion piston ( 6 ), threaded to an infusion cycler ( 43 ), and by a micro-adjustment consisting in the sliding up or down of a tappet ( 9 ) controlled by the spring action of two Belleville washers ( 15 ) mounted on the tappet ( 9 ) which is locked in place to the heat exchanger ( 5 ) by a socket head screw ( 36 ); said infusion piston ( 6 ), connected to the heat exchanger ( 5 ) by an infusion cycler ( 43 ), has a truncated-conical shape near the contact area with the capsule ( 14 ), to avoid possible spurts of coffee or hot water; an electro-mechanical control system to verify that the disposable filter or capsule is properly lodged inside a capsule-holder body before allowing the brewing of the coffee.