Airpot beverage dispenser and method

摘要

An airpot beverage dispenser (10) having a composite dispense tube (40) with an exterior outlet (44) adjacent a top of a hollow body (20) and an interior inlet (110) located adjacent a bottom (16) for passing beverage (36) from adjacent the bottom (16) to the outlet when the interior of the hollow body (20) is pressurized has a brew-through assembly with a cover body (24) for substantially closing the open top (18) except for a centrally located brew-through passageway (95) substantially smaller than the open top (18) and extending between an upwardly facing exterior brew-through inlet (30) and an interior outlet (102) that passes through a central passageway extending through a double-walled bellows (74) or extends past a plurality of bellows (FIG. 16, 114) that are laterally spaced from the passageway has an electronic display (48) for indicating a plurality of levels of the beverage (36) within the hollow body and a resistive (FIGS. 11-14) or capacitive (FIG. 21) electronic level sensing assembly carried by the dispense tube (40) for sensing a plurality of different levels of beverage (36) within the hollow body and electrical leads (170, 172) printed on the dispense tube to pass the sensing signals to a display controller (127). The display, controller and portable power source (123) are protectively contained within a plastic watertight compartment (126) integrally formed with the cover body (24) is vented (FIG. 20) to prevent the accumulation of moisture within the compartment (126).