Milk heating and dispensing and flavor dispensing system, method, and apparatus

US9386878B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Bunn-O-Matic Corporation · US

Inventors

• William E. Midden · Rochester, US
• Suresh Radhakrishnan · Springfield, US
• Rex Allen Rogers · Springfield, US
• Daniel Hansen · Springfield, US
• John Bodjack · Sanford, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 24, 2013
• Grant date: Jul 12, 2016
• Expiry date: Jan 24, 2033

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A47J31/4485
• WIPO field: Furniture, games
• WIPO sector: Other fields

Abstract

The present disclosure includes a milk heating system, methods, and apparatus for combining milk, which is heated, ambient, or chilled, selectively with or without being infused with air, and selectively dispensed with or without flavorings. The apparatus and method disclosed includes structures for selectively combining milk with air and flavorings to dispense a selected combination of ingredients. The assembly includes a dispensing head assembly having a flavoring dispensing component and a milk dispensing component. The flavoring dispensing component can be coupled to the milk dispensing component for combining ingredients and dispensing into a container. The milk dispensing component includes a single path for the introduction of a flow of milk and a single path for the introduction of steam. The milk path and steam path are oriented to be fed into an intermediate passage which communicates with a swirl cavity defined by the mixing chamber. The introduction of milk and steam is controlled to provide a variety of selected conditions of the resulting combination. The flavor dispensing component introduces flavorings at least partially downstream from the mixing of the milk and st…