{
  "patent_number": "US 5325765",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Keurig's Original Single-Serve Coffee Pod System Works",
  "original_title": "Beverage filter cartridge",
  "summary": "This 1994 patent describes the original Keurig system for brewing single cups of coffee using a special filter pod that holds coffee grounds and separates them from the brewed liquid.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent details a system for brewing beverages, specifically coffee, using a special cartridge. The cartridge has a base and a cover, both impermeable and pierceable. Inside, a filter element divides the cartridge into two chambers: one for beverage extract (like coffee grounds) and another for the brewed liquid. When you use the machine, liquid is injected into the first chamber to combine with the extract. The filter then lets the brewed beverage pass into the second chamber, from where it flows out. Claims 1 and 2 describe the core components: a housing with a brewing chamber, a pierceable cartridge inside, and means to inject liquid and collect the beverage. For example, Claim 15 specifies how the liquid inlet might go through one part of the housing and the outlet through another.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Beverage cartridges that are not internally divided by a filter element.",
    "Systems where the filter element does not create two separate chambers within the cartridge.",
    "Cartridges that are not pierceable by inlet and outlet means.",
    "Brewing systems that do not use a removable cartridge.",
    "Methods of brewing that do not involve combining liquid with a beverage extract stored in a chamber."
  ],
  "filed": "1992-09-16",
  "granted": "1994-07-05",
  "expires": "2012-09-16",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Keurig Inc",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/keurig-inc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "John E. Sylvan",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/john-e-sylvan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peter B. Dragone",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/peter-b-dragone"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 359,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "food_and_beverage",
    "mechanical"
  ],
  "abstract": "A beverage filter cartridge includes an impermeable pierceable base having a predetermined shape and an opening at one end; a self-supporting wettable filter element disposed in the base sealingly engages with the opening in the base and has a form different and smaller than the predetermined shape of the base so that the filter element diverges from the base and divides the base into two sealed chambers, a first chamber for storing an extract of the beverage to be made, and a second empty chamber for accessing the beverage after the beverage outflow from the filter has been made by combining a liquid with the extract; and an impermeable pierceable cover sealingly engaged with the opening in the base to form an impermeable cartridge.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/5325765/keurig-single-serve-coffee-pod",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/5325765/keurig-single-serve-coffee-pod/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US5325765",
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}