{
  "patent_number": "US 3693535",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How a Coffee Maker Uses a Floating Valve to Heat Water",
  "original_title": "Pour-in, instant brewing electric coffee maker",
  "summary": "A 1971 invention for a coffee maker that uses a floating valve to control water flow, ensuring water is heated efficiently without needing a massive, power-hungry heating element.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a coffee maker that manages water flow using a gravity-fed reservoir and a float-controlled valve. As water drains from the reservoir, the float drops, which mechanically shifts a valve to increase the size of the water outlet. This variable flow rate ensures that water enters the heating block at a speed that matches the heater's capacity, preventing the water from cooling down the heating element too quickly. Additionally, the reservoir sits directly on top of the heating block, using steam and heat rising from the brewing process to pre-warm the water in the reservoir.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover coffee makers that use pumps to force water through the heating element.",
    "Does not cover systems that lack a floating valve mechanism to adjust flow based on water level.",
    "Does not cover brewing methods that do not rely on gravity-fed water flow.",
    "Does not cover heating systems that do not utilize the reservoir as a heat-transfer surface for steam condensation."
  ],
  "filed": "1971-07-26",
  "granted": "1972-09-26",
  "expires": "1991-07-26",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Individual",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/individual",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Edmund A Abel Jr",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/edmund-a-abel-jr"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 26,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "mechanical"
  ],
  "abstract": "In a pour-in, instant brewing type coffee maker, gravity flow of water, from a receiving tray bottom orifice to an electric resistance heated block of a unit heating the water as it passes to a brewing funnel discharging hot brewed coffee, is controlled by a float-varied orifice structure, and the tray overlies the block for tray water heating by water vapor latent heat; thus eliminating need of a large block mass or excessive heater wattage to provide requisite hot water temperature in an acceptable cycle time, and permitting a simple molded plastic housing design. Baffling in a block water flow top cavity conduces to efficient heat transfer and to reduction of steaming and of attendant noise.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/3693535/mr-coffee-drip-coffee-maker",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/3693535/mr-coffee-drip-coffee-maker/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US3693535",
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}