All About Coffee Part 126

Another electric-fuel-machine patent was granted in the United States to Robert H. Talb.u.t.t, of Baltimore, in 1911. This machine had the electric heater in the center of the roasting cylinder. An electrically heated machine called the Ben Franklin was demonstrated in New York in 1918.

In 1919, Everett T. Shortt, Dallas, Tex., was granted a United States patent on an electrical roaster.

Up to the present writing, no great progress has been made in the United States with the roasting of coffee by electric heat.

The Phoenix Electrical Heating Co. manufactured, and the Uno Company, Ltd., of London, marketed an electrically heated roaster as far back as 1909. The machine was not altogether satisfactory, even to the makers; and the Uno Company is now (1922) experimenting with a new type of electric roaster which it expects will remedy the defects of the early machine. The 1909 roaster was made of two concentric cylinders revolving around a set of fixed heating elements, consisting of a series of spiral wires held in position on fireproof clay insulators, these wires being a.s.sembled, insulated, and brought out through the fixed center to a terminal, or a set of terminals, at one end. In this way, no contact brushes or rings were needed. The machine had a sampling device at one end which threw out a few berries each time it was operated. It was not possible to return these sample berries. Such an arrangement appeared necessary, however, unless one was prepared to have the heating element on the outside of the machine and to pick up the current by means of rings or brushes. When the operator became accustomed to the coffee he was roasting, this was not a matter of great moment, because in England, at least, the average coffee roaster does not require a testing sample until he is about ready to turn out and to cool the roast.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENGLISH ELECTRIC-FUEL ROASTER]

The Uno machine had a capacity of seven pounds, and the time occupied in roasting was from eight to ten minutes, depending on whether the roaster had been freshly switched on or had been running for a few minutes. The wattage was 5,520. The consumption per hundred-weight was under thirteen units. The makers gave, as the most economical pressure on which to work, 220 to 240 volts. The machine was operated for eighteen months in the show window of a London retail grocer.

In 1921, a United States patent was granted to Mark T. Seymour, Stowe, N.Y., on an electric coffee and peanut roaster, which has the heating element embedded in a cement-lined cylinder that contains a roasting cage.

In 1921, Fred J. Kuhlemeir and Ralph J. Quelle, of Burlington, Ia., were granted a United States patent on a small household coffee roaster electrically equipped, and roasting by electric heat.

_Other Machinery Patents_

In 1903, Luigi Giacomini, of Florence, Italy, was granted a United States patent on a process for roasting coffee.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BEN FRANKLIN ELECTRIC COFFEE ROASTER]

In 1905, A.A. Warner, a.s.signor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Conn., was granted two United States patents on a coffee mill.

In 1906, Ludwig Schmidt, a.s.signor to the Essmueller Mill Furnis.h.i.+ng Co., St. Louis, was granted a United States patent on a coffee roaster.

This company and the Reuter-Jones Manufacturing Co., also of St. Louis, were making machines similar to the original Burns model. The Reuter-Jones Manufacturing Co., in 1910, brought out a self-contained gas roaster called the St. Louis, Jr. In 1913, at a receiver's sale, A.P. Grohens, of the Lambert Machine Co., acquired all the machinery and patent rights of the Reuter-Jones Manufacturing Company.

In 1904, J.W. Chapman and G.W. Kooman, a.s.signors to Manning, Bowman & Co., Meriden, Conn., were granted a United States patent on a coffee or tea pot. The same year, George E. Savage and G.W. Hope were granted two United States patents on coffee or tea pots, also a.s.signed to Manning, Bowman & Co.

In 1904, Sigmund Sternau, J.P. Steppe, and L. Stra.s.sberger, a.s.signors to S. Sternau & Co., New York, were granted a United States patent on a percolator. Six others were granted to Charles Nelson, and a.s.signed to S. Sternau & Co., in 1912 and 1913, for a percolator, the manufacture and sale of which were discontinued in 1915.

In 1905, a celebrated case was decided in Kansas City involving litigation between William E. Baker, of Baker & Co., Minneapolis, and the F.A. Duncombe Manufacturing Co., of St. Joseph, Mo., over Mr.

Baker's patent rights in a machine to produce steel-cut coffee. The suit was brought in 1903, and Mr. Baker contended that his patent gave him the exclusive right to the "uniformity of granules by means of the sharply dressed mechanism" and by the use of a fan for blowing away the silver skins, produced by his machine; while the defendant said he obtained the same result (steel-cut coffee) by grading the granules through screens or sieves. The defense was that Mr. Baker's process was not a discovery; because, grinding coffee was as old as the world's knowledge, and winnowing the chaff was equally ancient. The lower court dismissed the bill, because the "patents sued upon are devoid of patentable invention"; and the United States Court of Appeals confirmed the decision.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENTERPRISE HAND STORE MILL]

In 1905, Frederick A. Cauchois, of New York, brought out his Private Estate coffee maker, a clever combination of the French drip and filter processes, employing a thin layer of j.a.panese paper as a filtering agent. The same year, Finley Acker, of Philadelphia, was granted a United States patent on a percolator employing two cylinders, perforated on the sides, with a sheet of percolator paper placed between them to act as a filtering medium.

In 1906, George Savage and J.W. Chapman, a.s.signors to Manning, Bowman & Co. of Meriden, Conn., were granted a United States patent on a coffee percolator.

In 1906, Alonzo A. Warner, a.s.signor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Conn., was granted a United States patent on a coffee percolator.

In 1906, H.D. Kelly, Kansas City, was granted a United States patent on the Kellum Automatic coffee urn, employing a coffee extractor in which ground coffee is continually agitated before percolation by a vacuum process. Sixteen patents followed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LATEST TYPES OF ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN STORE MILLS]

In 1907, Desiderio Pavoni, of Milan, Italy, was granted a patent in Italy for an improvement on the Bezzara system for preparing and serving coffee as a rapid infusion of a single cup, first introduced in 1903-1904. It is known as the Ideale urn, and makes 150 cups per hour.

Among other Italian rapid coffee-making machines which, with this one, have attained considerable prominence in Europe and South America, mention should be made of La Victoria Arduino made by Pier Teresio Arduino, of Turin, Italy, introduced in 1909, that makes 1000 cups per hour. It was patented in the United States in 1920. There are, also, L'Italiana Sovereign Filter Machine (1440 cups per hour) made by Bossi, Vernetti & Bartolini, Turin, (subsequently merged with La Victoria Arduino-Societa Anonima); and Jose Baro's Express, Buenos Aires, making 600 cups an hour.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE IDEALE MACHINE (CENTER) MAKES 150 CUPS OF COFFEE AN HOUR. THE MACHINE AT THE LEFT MAKES 1,000 CUPS AN HOUR

A MACHINE OF THE TYPE OF THE ONE AT THE RIGHT WILL PRODUCE FROM 1,440 TO 1,800 CUPS OF COFFEE AN HOUR

TYPES OF ITALIAN RAPID COFFEE-MAKING MACHINES]

In 1908, A.E. White, Chicago, was granted a United States patent on a coffee urn. He a.s.signed it to the James Heekin Co., of Cincinnati.

In 1908, I.D. Richheimer, Chicago, introduced his Tricolator to the trade and the consumer. This is an aluminum device to fit any coffee pot, combining French drip and filtration ideas, with j.a.panese paper as the filtration medium.

In 1908, an improved type of Burns roaster was patented in the United States. The improvement consisted of an open perforated cylinder with flexible back-head and balanced front bearing. The following year, the Burns tilting sample-roaster for gas or electric heating units was patented.

In 1909, Frederick A. Cauchois, of New York, was granted a United States patent on a coffee urn fitted with a centrifugal pump for repouring.

In 1909, C.F. Blanke, of St. Louis, was granted two United States patents on a china coffee pot with a cloth filter, the sides tightly, and the bottom loosely, woven.

In 1911, Edward Aborn, of New York, was granted a United States patent on his Make-Right coffee-filter device. This was later incorporated with improvements in a Tru-Bru coffee pot, on which he was granted another patent in 1920.

In 1912, John E. King, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on an improved coffee percolator for restaurants, employing a sheet of filter paper on a ring in a metal basket; the ring to be removed once the filter paper was in position on the perforated bottom plate of the percolator basket.

In 1913, F.F. Wear, Los Angeles, perfected a coffee-making device in which a metal perforated clamp was employed to apply a filter paper to the under-side of an English earthenware adaptation of the French drip pot.

In 1912, William Lawton demonstrated in London a gas coffee roaster of his own invention, by means of which he roasted coffee "in suspension"

to a light brown color in three minutes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHOWING HOW THE ITALIAN RAPID COFFEE MACHINE WORKS

Left, putting coffee in the filter--Center, applying filter to faucet--Right, turning on water and steam to make the drink]

Herbert L. Johnston, a.s.signor to the Hobart Electric Manufacturing Co., Troy, Ohio, was granted a United States patent on a machine for refining coffee in 1913.

In 1914, the Phylax coffee maker, embodying an improvement on the French drip principle, was introduced to the trade. The process was demonstrated by Benjamin H. Calkin, of Detroit, in 1921, as "an art of brewing coffee."

[Ill.u.s.tration: LA VICTORIA ARDUINO MIGNONNE

An electric rapid coffee maker]

In 1914, Robert Burns, a.s.signor to Jabez Burns & Sons, New York, was granted a United States patent on a coffee-granulating mill.

In 1914-15, Herbert Galt, of Chicago, was granted three United States patents on the Gait coffee pot, made of aluminum, and having two parts, a removable cylinder employing the French drip principle, and the containing pot.

In 1915, the Burns Jubilee (inner-heated) gas coffee roaster was patented in the United States and put on the market.

In 1915, the National Coffee Roasters a.s.sociation Home coffee mill, employing an improved set screw operating on a cog-and ratchet principle, was introduced to the trade.

In 1916, a United States patent was granted to I.D. Richheimer, Chicago, for an infuser improvement on his Tricolator.

In 1916, Saul Blickman, a.s.signor to S. Blickman, New York, was granted a United States patent on an apparatus for making and dispensing coffee.