BEVERAGE MAKING MACHINE

摘要

BEVERAGE MAKING MACHINE A beverage making appliance operable either automatically or as a pour-in beverage maker. The appliance has a cold water basin located over a hot water tank with a cold water tube extending down into the hot water tank from a drain opening in the bottom of the basin whereby cold water discharges without restriction from the basin directly into the lower portion of the hot water tank and displaces an equal quantity of hot water through a siphon tube for discharge through a spray head onto the contents in a brew funnel postioned beneath the spray head. When the appliance is operated in its automatic mode, cold water is delivered to the cold water basin through a cold water conduit connected with a supply of cold water under pressure. The cold water supply conduit is provided with both a flow control valve and a timer-controlled solenoid valve whereby a predetermined volume of cold water may be repetitively delivered to the appliance on each actuation of the timer. The outlet or discharge end of the cold water conduit is pointed downwardly directly into the drain opening in the basin and upper end of the cold water tube. In normal operation, hot water is displaced from the top of the hot water tank as rapidly as cold water is discharged from the discharge end of the cold water conduit whereby there is no accumulation of cold water in the cold water basin. The discharge end of the cold water conduit is spaced above the drain opening and upper end of the cold water tube so as to provide an air gap between the discharge end and the drain opening and upper end of the cold water tube. This air gap prevents siphoning of water back through the cold water conduit in the event of loss of pressure therein, thereby eliminating the need for the protective devices normally required by codes to prevent siphoning or back-flow from appliances connected to water distribution systems. If desired, or required because of some failure in the normal cold water sypply, the appliance can be readily operated to brew coffee or tea by dumping batches of cold water into the cold water basin.