System for controlling the grinding of roast coffee
US5350123A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 8, 1991 |
| Grant date | Sep 27, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 8, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA47J42/38
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A conveyor system for a coffee grinder for taking ground coffee from the grinder to the packing machinery, and a laser test-meter used to analyze the granulometry of ground coffee test samples and compare them with a granulometric reference sample that are known. The system of the invention includes improvements which include a first device which continually receives undisturbed ground coffee samples and delivers these samples to a second device in which a gas stream blows a stream of coffee grains down a tube to the test-meter and a second stream of gas flowing at right-angles to the tube disperses any partially aggregated particles before they reach the test-meter. A third device creates a pressurized safety area around each lens of the laser test-meter. The area is partly closed so that laser beams can freely pass, and gas under pressure enters the area preventing coffee grains from entering the area and disturbing the lens. A fourth device sucks the grains from the test area and delivers them into an eddy-chamber from which they are periodically transferred to the system for conveying ground coffee to the packing machinery.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.