US 5,778,765 · Granted 1998-07-14

Beverage brewing apparatus

The invention is directed to a beverage brewing apparatus having a water reservoir (1) and a pump (6) powered by an electric motor (45), the pump pressurizing water from the water reservoir (1) and delivering it to a flow-through heater (11) heated by an electric heater (14). In the flow-through heater (11), water is heated in a water conduit (13) and subsequently fed to a pressure chamber (35), adapted to be filled with coffee grinds, of a brewing unit (34) from which, following an extraction operation, the brewed coffee flows into a receptacle (38, 39). According to the invention, a valve device (20) opening when a predetermined pressure is exceeded is provided in the fluid path (9, 13, 15) between the flow-through heater (11) and the brewing unit (34). As a result, the water current delivered by the pump (6) and flowing through the flow-through heater (11) is maintained nearly constant, causing a uniform transfer of heat in the flow-through heater (11) and avoiding a standstill condition of the electric motor (45). This also keeps the temperature control of both the flow-through heater (11) and the water heated in the flow-through heater (11) at an approximately constant level.

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