Thomas Page, a New York millwright, began the manufacture of a pull-out coffee roaster similar to the old Carter machine, in 1868. Later, Chris Abele, who was foreman in the Page shop, succeeded to the business; and in 1882, he was granted a United States patent on an improvement on a coffee roaster similar to the original Burns machine (the patent had then expired) which he marketed under the name of Knickerbocker.
German Coffee Machinery
The Germans first began to show an active interest in coffee machinery in 1860. In that year, Alexius Van Gulpen, of Emmerich, produced a green-coffee grader; and later (1868), in partnership with J.H. Lensing and Theodore von Gimborn, began the manufacture of coffee-roasting machines. From this start there developed in Emmerich quite an industry in coffee-machinery building. In 1870, Alexius Van Gulpen introduced to the German trade a globular coffee roaster employing wood and coke as fuel and having perforations and an exhauster. Van Gulpen and von Gimborn are the two names most often met with in the development of German coffee-roasting machinery.
The first recorded German patent on a coffee roaster was issued to G. Tubermann's Son in 1877, for "a coffee burner with vertically adjusted stirring works." German patents were issued in 1878 to R. Muhlberg, of Taucha, for coffee roasters with movable partitions and "screw-shaped declining walls." Six roaster patents were issued to other inventors in 1878–79.
Peter Pearson, of Manchester, took out a German patent on a coffee-roasting apparatus in 1880. Fleury & Barker, of London, were granted a coffee-roaster patent in Germany in 1881.
After 1870, Van Gulpen devoted himself to the cylinder type of roaster, on which he obtained several patents. The partnership between Messrs. Van Gulpen, Lensing and von Gimborn was dissolved in 1906. They were succeeded by the Emmericher Maschinenfabrik und Eissengiesserei, and Van Gulpen & Co. Van Gulpen died in 1920. Among his inventions were a circular air fan to supply fresh air to the beans while roasting; a fire-dampening device; roasting and cooling exhausters; and a "withdrawable" mixer remaining inside the cylinder during the roasting process, but designed to be withdrawn at the end, discharging the contents with a jerk into a circular cooler. These improvements are featured in Van Gulpen & Co.'s latest Meteor machine. They make also the Typhoon and Comet machines, and a line of globular roasters.
A dozen coffee-roaster patents were issued in Germany in 1880–82. Among them was one to the Emmerich Machine Factory and Iron Foundry, Van Gulpen, Lensing & von Gimborn, Emmerich, in 1882.
Numerous coffee-cooling, coffee-grinding, and coffee-making devices were patented in Germany from 1877 to 1885; among them Newstadt's coffee-extract machine in 1882, safety attachments, rapid filters, Vienna coffee makers, etc. The first Vienna coffee maker seems to have been patented in Germany in 1879.
The Emmerich Machine Factory and Iron Foundry acquired certain Danish and Austrian coffee-roaster patents in 1881, and in 1892 it was granted a German patent on a ball roaster. In the eighties this concern began the manufacture of a closed ball, or globular, roaster with gas-heater attachment. It acquired, in 1889, the rights for Germany to manufacture gas roasters under the Dutch Henneman patents of 1888. In 1892, Theodore von Gimborn was granted French and English patents on a coffee roaster employing a naked gas flame in a rotary cylinder. In 1897, the Emmericher concern was granted a German patent on an automatic circular tipping cooler with power drive. Today, this factory features the Probat and Perfekt roasters, but manufactures a general line of cylinder and ball machines for coal, coke, and gas.
Among others engaged in the manufacture of coffee machines in Germany are G. W. Barth, Ludwigsburg, and Ferd. Gothot, Mulheim on Rhur. The latter manufactures a coke or gas heated quick-roaster known as the Ideal-Rapid, and a smaller hand-power machine, of the same type, called Favour.
American, French, and British Machines
In 1869, Élie Moneuse and L. Duparquet, of New York, were granted three United States patents on a coffee pot or urn made of sheet copper and lined with pure sheet block tin. These patents were the foundation of the successful coffee-urn business afterward built up under the name of the Duparquet, Huot & Moneuse Co.
Thomas Smith & Son (Elkington & Co., Ltd., successors) began, in 1870, the manufacture of the Napierian coffee-making machine at Glasgow, Scotland. This was a device for making coffee by distillation, employing a metal globe syphon and brewer with filter cloth. The principle was subsequently used in the Napier-List steam coffee machine for ships and institutions, patented in England in 1891.
John Gulick Baker, of Philadelphia, one of the founders of the Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Pennsylvania, was granted a United States patent in 1870, on a coffee grinder introduced to the trade as the Enterprise Champion No. 1 store mill. Another Baker patent was granted in 1873, and this became known as the Enterprise Champion Globe No. 0. These mills were the pioneer machines for store use.
In 1870, Delphine, Sr., of Marourme, France, was granted a French patent on a tubular coffee roaster which turned over a flame.
In the sixties and seventies, French inventors became quite active on coffee-roaster improvements. Many patents were granted, and quite a few were for practical small-capacity machines that have survived, and are in use today in France and on the continent. Some supplied inspiration for inventors in neighboring countries. Among the more notable names, mention should be made of Martin, of St. Quentin, who produced a sheet-iron cylinder roaster with "interior gatherer" in 1860; Marchand, of Paris, "fan roaster with movable fire box," 1866 and 1869; Lauzaune, Paris, "rocking system of roasting coffee in a round stove," 1873; Ittel's glass sphere, Lyons, 1874; and Marchand and Hignette, Paris, 1877, a ball coffee roaster.
Evolution of the Gas Roaster
According to the patent records, Roure, of Marseilles, appears to have produced the original gas coffee roaster in 1877. The evolution of the gas roasting-machine was as follows:
In 1879, H. Faulder, of Stockport, England, obtained an English patent on an external air-blast burner applied to a cylinder gas machine, which is still being manufactured by the Grocers Engineering and Whitmee, Ltd., of London. Fleury and Barker, of London, followed with another English gas machine in 1880, the heat being supplied from gas jets over the roasting cylinder. In 1881, Peter Pearson, of Manchester, produced a gas roaster which consisted of a wire-gauze cylinder revolving under a metal plate heated by gas.
Beeston Tupholme, of London, was granted an English patent in 1887, on a direct-flame gas roaster which he assigned to Joseph Baker & Sons.
Karel F. Henneman, the Hague, Netherlands, took out his first patent on the Henneman direct-flame gas roaster in Spain in 1888; and the following year, he obtained patents in Belgium, France, and England. His United States patents were granted in 1893–95.
Postulart secured a patent in France for a gas coffee roaster in 1888.
The Germans also began, in the eighties, to take the quick gas coffee roaster seriously. In 1889, Carl Alexander Otto, of Dresden, secured a German patent on a spiral tubular machine to roast coffee in three and a half minutes. It was first manufactured and sold by Max Thurmer, of Dresden, in 1891–93.
The subject of quick roasting has greatly agitated German and French coffee men. Otto found that coffee roasted in small quantities (say fifty grams) on a sample-roaster produced a finer flavor and aroma than that roasted in the big machines. He set out to produce a machine that would roast continuous small quantities in the shortest time. He built the first commercial machine under his patent in 1893. It was shown at the International Food Exhibition in Dresden in 1894. The latest type manufactured by Max Thurmer, Dresden, in which firm Otto is a partner, has a spiral five meters long and an hourly production of about 450 pounds. The Thurmer machine, as it is called, has been sold to the trade since 1914.
Quick roasting is gone in for quite extensively in Germany, even in the big trade-roasting plants, where machines to roast in ten to seventeen minutes are common. Natural, slow cooling is most necessary with quick roasting, according to Thurmer. On the other hand, A. Mottant, of Paris, who also manufactures a line of quick gas-roasting machines, called Magic, argues that quick cooling is essential after quick roasting. Three of the Mottant machines are illustrated on pages 642 and 644.
Other quick-roasting machines of German make are the Combinator, Tornado, and Rekord.
In a lecture before the Society of Medical Officers of Health, London, October 24, 1912, William Lawton demonstrated to the satisfaction of his audience that coffee could be roasted in 3 minutes, using a perforated gas-roaster of his own invention.[365]
The first direct-flame gas coffee roaster in America was installed in the plant of the Potter-Parlin Co., New York, by F.T. Holmes, in 1893. This was Tupholme's machine, patented in England in 1887, and in the United States in 1896–97. The Potter-Parlin Co. subsequently placed the Tupholme machines throughout the United States on a daily rental basis, limiting its leases to one firm in a city, having obtained the exclusive American rights from the Waygood, Tupholme Co., now the Grocers Engineering and Whitmee, Ltd.
Natural gas was first used in the United States as fuel for roasting coffee in 1896, when it was introduced under coal roasting cylinders in Pennsylvania and Indiana by improvised gas burners.
Edwin Crawley and W.T. Johnston, Newport, Ky., assignors to the Potter-Parlin Co., New York, were granted four United States patents on gas coffee-roasting machines.
In 1897, a special gas burner, not to be confused with the direct-flame machine, was first attached to a regular Burns roaster in the United States, and was made the basis of application for a patent.
In 1897–99, David B. Fraser, of New York, began to market in the United States a central-heated gas-fuel machine with an inner wire-cloth cylinder to keep the coffee from dropping into the flame, developed under United States patents granted to Carl H. Duehring, of Hoboken, in 1897, and to D.B. Fraser in 1899.
M.F. Hamsley, of Brooklyn, was granted a United States patent on an improved direct-flame gas roaster in 1898.
Ellis M. Potter, New York, was granted in 1899, a United States patent on an improved direct-flame gas roaster in which the flame was spread over a large area to avoid scorching and to insure a more thorough and uniform roast. In the Tupholme machine, the gas flame entered at one end, and the smoke and flame went out through a stack on top. In the Potter machine, the stack was put on the end opposite the gas intake, with a fan to pull the flame all the way through.
The Burns direct-flame gas roaster, with patented swing-gate head for feeding and discharging, was introduced to the trade in 1900. The Burns gas sample-roaster followed.
In 1901, Joseph Lambert, of Marshall, Mich., introduced to the trade one of the earliest indirect gas roasting machines.
In 1901, also, T.C. Morewood, of Brentford, England, was granted an English patent on a gas roaster fitted with a sliding burner and a removable sampling tube. This machine is now being made by the Grocers Engineering and Whitmee, Ltd.
In the same year, 1901, F.T. Holmes, formerly with the Potter-Parlin Co., joined the Huntley Manufacturing Co., Silver Creek, N.Y., which then began to build the Monitor direct-flame gas coffee roaster. Mr. Holmes still further improved the Tupholme idea by putting gas burners in both ends of the roasting cylinder, with the pipes bent down so as to cause the gas flame to go first to the bottom and then up to the stack on top. This improvement was never patented.
The Henneman direct-flame gas roaster was introduced to the United States trade in 1905, by C.A. Cross & Co., wholesale grocers, of Fitchburg, Mass. It was marketed here seven years, but was never a great success.
In 1906, F.T. Holmes was granted a United States patent on a coffee roaster which he assigned to the Huntley Manufacturing Co.
J.C. Prims, of Battle Creek, Mich., was granted a United States patent in 1908, on a corrugated cylinder improvement for a gas and coal roaster designed for retail stores. The A.J. Deer Co., Hornell, N.Y., acquired this machine in 1909, and began to market it as the Royal coffee roaster. An improvement patented in 1915 by J.C. Prims was assigned to the A.J. Deer Co.
In 1915, and again in 1919, Jabez Burns & Sons, New York, patented their Jubilee roaster, an inner-heated machine in which the gas is burned inside a revolving cylinder in a combustion chamber protected from direct coffee contact. The heat is deflected downward and then passes upward through the coffee.
In 1919, William Fullard (d. 1921), of Philadelphia, was granted a United States patent on a "heated fresh air system" roaster, in which the fresh air is forced by an electric fan through a pipe to a set of coils over gas, coal, or oil flame. At the top of the coils is a manifold, the hot air being forced through small holes to circulate in and around a regulation perforated roasting cylinder; the vapors and spent air are then drawn into an overhead exhaust pipe that connects with a pipe provided with a fresh-air intake, the idea being to return them to the roasting cylinder after being mixed with fresh air and heated in the coils as before. This patent has not been successfully marketed at the time of writing. The purpose is to roast by heated air not mixed with any furnace gases. Whether this can be done with sufficient fuel economy, and whether coffee thus roasted would have any greater value, are questions that are raised by the coffee experts.
Coffee-Grinding and Coffee-Making Chronology
To return to our coffee-grinding and coffee-making chronology, it is to be noted that in 1875–76–78, Turner Strowbridge, of New Brighton, Pa., was granted three United States patents on a box coffee mill, first made by Logan & Strowbridge, later the Logan & Strowbridge Iron Company, the latter being succeeded by the Wrightsville Hardware Co. in 1906.
In 1878, a United States patent was issued to Rudolphus L. Webb, assignor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Conn., on an improved box coffee grinder for home use.
In 1878, and in 1880, United States patents were issued to John C. Dell of Philadelphia on a store coffee mill.
In 1879, and in 1880, United States patents were issued to Orson W. Stowe, of the Peck, Stowe & Wilcox Co., Southington, Conn., on a household coffee mill.
In 1879, Charles Halstead, of New York, was granted the first United States patent on a metal coffee pot having a china interior. It was an infuser for home use.
In 1880, coffee pots, with tops having muslin bottoms for clarifying and straining, were first made in the United States by the Duparquet, Huot & Moneuse Co., of New York.
The name Hungerford first appears in the United States patent records in 1880–81, in connection with patents granted to G.W. and G.S. Hungerford on machines for cleaning, scouring, and polishing coffee. In 1882, the Hungerfords, father and son, brought out a roaster. This machine and the one patented by Chris Abele, of New York, already referred to, were constructions resulting from the expiration of the original Burns patent of 1864. In 1881, Jabez Burns patented the improved Burns roaster, comprising a turn-over front head serving for both feeding and discharging. Additional United States coffee-roaster patents were issued to G.W. Hungerford in 1887–89. In the latter year, David Fraser, who came to the United States from Glasgow in 1886, established the Hungerford Co., succeeding the business of the Hungerfords, and later being granted certain United States patents, already mentioned. In 1910, the Hungerford Co. business was discontinued in New York; and David B. Fraser moved to Jersey City, where he continued to operate as the Fraser Manufacturing Co. This business was discontinued in 1918.
Chris Abele was an active competitor of the Hungerfords and of the Fraser Manufacturing Co.; and his Knickerbocker roaster was sold over a wide territory. He died in 1910; and his son-in-law, Gottfried Bay, succeeded to the business.
In 1881, the Morgan Brothers, Edgar H. and Charles, began the manufacture of household coffee mills, the business being acquired in 1885 by the Arcade Manufacturing Co., of Freeport, Ill. The latter concern brought out the first pound coffee mill in 1889. Its mills became very popular in the United States. In 1900, Charles Morgan was granted a United States patent on a glass-jar coffee mill, with removable glass measuring cup.
In 1881, Harvey Ricker, of Brooklyn, later of Minneapolis, introduced to the trade in the United States a "minute coffee pot" and urn known as the Boss, the name being subsequently changed to Minute. He improved and patented the device in 1901 as the Half-Minute coffee pot. It is a filtration device employing a cotton sack with a thickened bottom.
In 1882, Chris Abele, of New York, patented an improvement on the old-style Burns roaster, with openings cut in the front plate. It was known as the Knickerbocker. As already noted, the machine was a competitor of the Hungerford machine patented the same year.
In 1882, a German patent was granted to Emil Newstadt, of Berlin, on one of the earliest coffee-extract machines.
In 1883, Jabez Burns was granted a United States patent on his improved sample-coffee roaster.
In 1884, the Star coffee pot, later known as the Marion Harland, was introduced to the trade. It employed a wire-gauze drip device, called a "filter," which was fitted to a metal pot. It was extensively advertised and attained considerable popularity. The same year, Finley Acker, of Philadelphia, brought out an improved coffee pot for family trade. Later, he produced his Mo-Kof-Fee pot and an individual porcelain drip pot for testing-table use.
In 1885, F.A. Cauchois, New York, brought out an improved porcelain-lined urn.
In 1887–88, the Etruscan coffee pot was invented and put on the market by the Etruscan Coffee Pot Co., of Philadelphia. It employed a muslin cylinder with metal ends and a mechanism for combining "agitation, distillation and infusion." It was not unlike the Dakin device of 1848, previously mentioned.
In 1890, A. Mottant, Bar-le-Duc, France, began to manufacture a line of coffee-roasting machinery which included vertical ball-and-cylinder machines, using wood, coal, coke, or gas for fuel. His best known makes are Magic and Sirocco (see page 642).
Before 1895, the commercial roaster was little used in France. Since then, the industry has developed, but without displacing the smaller roaster for family use. Ball roasters are popular with shop-keepers, especially the variety manufactured by the Établissements Lauzaune at Paris, and known as Aromatic, being equipped with electric motors. This firm builds also a larger machine known as Moderne.
Other makes of roasters that have attained prominence in France are the Lambert, equipped with a steam condenser; Van den Brouck's, having the roasting cylinder lined with wire gauze; and Resson's machine for wholesale plants.
The French led off with glass-cylinder roasters for home use in the early seventies. They are still popular. One of the developments of the last decade was known as the Bijou, and was operated by clock work. A similar automatic machine, made of glass, was manufactured and sold in New York in 1908 under the name of the Home roaster. As late as 1914, an American inventor produced a home roaster for use in a stove hole. This device had a stirrer in the cover to be rotated by hand. A similar device was sold in 1917 under the name Savo. Home roasting, however, has become a lost art in America.
In 1897, Joseph Lambert, of Vermont, began the manufacture and sale in Battle Creek, Mich., of the Lambert self-contained coffee roaster without the brick setting then required for coffee-roasting machines. In 1900, he was joined by A.P. Grohens. In 1901, the Lambert Food and Machinery Co. was organized. In 1904, the company was reorganized. Since then, many improvements have been made under Mr. Grohens' direction. The Lambert gas roaster, one of the first machines employing gas as fuel for indirect roasting, dates back to 1901, as previously mentioned. The Economic roaster is Mr. Grohens' latest development for coal or coke fuel. It is a compact self-contained equipment operating in connection with a new-type rotary cooler. He has also recently (1922) brought out a gas-fired, electrically operated 600-pound Victory roaster and a fifty-pound miniature coffee-roasting plant designed for retail stores.
In 1897, the Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Pennsylvania was the first regularly to employ electric motors for driving commercial coffee mills by means of belt-and-pulley attachments.
In 1898, the Hobart Manufacturing Co., of Troy, Ohio, introduced to the trade another early coffee grinder connected with an electric motor and driven by belt-and-pulley attachment.
In 1900, the first gear-driven electric coffee grinder was put on the market by the Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Pennsylvania.
In 1902, the Coles Manufacturing Co., (Braun Co., successor) and Henry Troemner, of Philadelphia, began the manufacture and sale of gear-driven electric coffee grinders.
In 1905, the A.J. Deer Co., Buffalo, N.Y., (now at Hornell, N.Y.) began to sell its Royal electric coffee mills direct to dealers on the instalment plan, revolutionizing the former practise of selling coffee mills through hardware jobbers.
In 1905, H.L. Johnston was granted a United States patent on a coffee mill. He assigned the patent to the Hobart Manufacturing Co.
In 1900, Charles Lewis was granted a United States patent on an improved reversible filtration coffee pot known as the Kin-Hee. This pot has since been further improved, and the patent rights sold in several foreign countries. It employs a filter cloth in place of the metal or china strainer used in the French drip pot.
In 1901, Landers, Frary & Clark's improved Universal percolator was patented in the United States. This pot has proved to be one of the most popular percolators on the American market. This firm brought out the Universal Cafenoira, a double glass filtration device, in 1916. It is covered by design and structural patents issued in 1916 and 1917.
In 1900, the Burns swing-gate sample-roasting outfit was patented in the United States.
In 1901, Robert Burns, of New York, was granted two United States patents on a coffee roaster and cooler.
In 1901, Freidrich Kuchelmeister, Brux, Austria-Hungary, was granted a United States patent on a coffee roaster having a double-walled drum, the inner being of wire gauze, and the outer of solid iron, designed to prevent scorching of the beans.
In 1902, W.M. Still & Sons, London, were granted an English patent on a steam coffee-making machine employing twelve ounces of coffee to the gallon.
In 1902, T.K. Baker, of Minneapolis, was granted two United States patents on a cloth-filter coffee-making device.
In 1903, A.E. Bronson, Jr., assignor to the Bronson-Walton Company, Cleveland, Ohio, was granted a United States patent on a coffee mill.
In 1903, John Arbuckle was granted a United States patent on a coffee-roasting apparatus employing a fan to force the hot fire gases into the roasting cylinder. From this was developed the Jumbo roaster, now used in the Arbuckle plant, which roasts ten thousand pounds an hour.
Electric Coffee-Roasting
In 1903, George C. Lester, of New York, was granted a United States patent on an electric coffee roaster, that is, a machine to roast by electric heat. There were two cylinders, the inner being of wire gauze, and the outer of copper and asbestos. Between the two, four electric heaters were placed.
There was demonstrated in Germany, in 1906, an electric coffee roaster employing a number of resistance coils, consisting of strips of Krupp metal two and one-half mm. thick, five mm. broad, and thirteen and one-half mm. long, wound on porcelain tubes, which transmitted the heat to the air within the roasting cylinder. Analysis showed that coffee electrically roasted contained more substances soluble in water than that roasted by coke, as well as considerably more material soluble in ether. This machine was invented by Captain Carl Moegling about 1900.
Another electric-fuel-machine patent was granted in the United States to Robert H. Talbutt, of Baltimore, in 1911. This machine had the electric heater in the center of the roasting cylinder. An electrically heated machine called the Ben Franklin was demonstrated in New York in 1918.
In 1919, Everett T. Shortt, Dallas, Tex., was granted a United States patent on an electrical roaster.
Up to the present writing, no great progress has been made in the United States with the roasting of coffee by electric heat.
The Phoenix Electrical Heating Co. manufactured, and the Uno Company, Ltd., of London, marketed an electrically heated roaster as far back as 1909. The machine was not altogether satisfactory, even to the makers; and the Uno Company is now (1922) experimenting with a new type of electric roaster which it expects will remedy the defects of the early machine. The 1909 roaster was made of two concentric cylinders revolving around a set of fixed heating elements, consisting of a series of spiral wires held in position on fireproof clay insulators, these wires being assembled, insulated, and brought out through the fixed center to a terminal, or a set of terminals, at one end. In this way, no contact brushes or rings were needed. The machine had a sampling device at one end which threw out a few berries each time it was operated. It was not possible to return these sample berries. Such an arrangement appeared necessary, however, unless one was prepared to have the heating element on the outside of the machine and to pick up the current by means of rings or brushes. When the operator became accustomed to the coffee he was roasting, this was not a matter of great moment, because in England, at least, the average coffee roaster does not require a testing sample until he is about ready to turn out and to cool the roast.
The Uno machine had a capacity of seven pounds, and the time occupied in roasting was from eight to ten minutes, depending on whether the roaster had been freshly switched on or had been running for a few minutes. The wattage was 5,520. The consumption per hundred-weight was under thirteen units. The makers gave, as the most economical pressure on which to work, 220 to 240 volts. The machine was operated for eighteen months in the show window of a London retail grocer.
In 1921, a United States patent was granted to Mark T. Seymour, Stowe, N.Y., on an electric coffee and peanut roaster, which has the heating element embedded in a cement-lined cylinder that contains a roasting cage.
In 1921, Fred J. Kuhlemeir and Ralph J. Quelle, of Burlington, Ia., were granted a United States patent on a small household coffee roaster electrically equipped, and roasting by electric heat.
Other Machinery Patents
In 1903, Luigi Giacomini, of Florence, Italy, was granted a United States patent on a process for roasting coffee.
In 1905, A.A. Warner, assignor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Conn., was granted two United States patents on a coffee mill.
In 1906, Ludwig Schmidt, assignor to the Essmueller Mill Furnishing Co., St. Louis, was granted a United States patent on a coffee roaster. This company and the Reuter-Jones Manufacturing Co., also of St. Louis, were making machines similar to the original Burns model. The Reuter-Jones Manufacturing Co., in 1910, brought out a self-contained gas roaster called the St. Louis, Jr. In 1913, at a receiver's sale, A.P. Grohens, of the Lambert Machine Co., acquired all the machinery and patent rights of the Reuter-Jones Manufacturing Company.
In 1904, J.W. Chapman and G.W. Kooman, assignors to Manning, Bowman & Co., Meriden, Conn., were granted a United States patent on a coffee or tea pot. The same year, George E. Savage and G.W. Hope were granted two United States patents on coffee or tea pots, also assigned to Manning, Bowman & Co.
In 1904, Sigmund Sternau, J.P. Steppe, and L. Strassberger, assignors to S. Sternau & Co., New York, were granted a United States patent on a percolator. Six others were granted to Charles Nelson, and assigned to S. Sternau & Co., in 1912 and 1913, for a percolator, the manufacture and sale of which were discontinued in 1915.
In 1905, a celebrated case was decided in Kansas City involving litigation between William E. Baker, of Baker & Co., Minneapolis, and the F.A. Duncombe Manufacturing Co., of St. Joseph, Mo., over Mr. Baker's patent rights in a machine to produce steel-cut coffee. The suit was brought in 1903, and Mr. Baker contended that his patent gave him the exclusive right to the "uniformity of granules by means of the sharply dressed mechanism" and by the use of a fan for blowing away the silver skins, produced by his machine; while the defendant said he obtained the same result (steel-cut coffee) by grading the granules through screens or sieves. The defense was that Mr. Baker's process was not a discovery; because, grinding coffee was as old as the world's knowledge, and winnowing the chaff was equally ancient. The lower court dismissed the bill, because the "patents sued upon are devoid of patentable invention"; and the United States Court of Appeals confirmed the decision.
In 1905, Frederick A. Cauchois, of New York, brought out his Private Estate coffee maker, a clever combination of the French drip and filter processes, employing a thin layer of Japanese paper as a filtering agent. The same year, Finley Acker, of Philadelphia, was granted a United States patent on a percolator employing two cylinders, perforated on the sides, with a sheet of percolator paper placed between them to act as a filtering medium.
In 1906, George Savage and J.W. Chapman, assignors to Manning, Bowman & Co. of Meriden, Conn., were granted a United States patent on a coffee percolator.
In 1906, Alonzo A. Warner, assignor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Conn., was granted a United States patent on a coffee percolator.
In 1906, H.D. Kelly, Kansas City, was granted a United States patent on the Kellum Automatic coffee urn, employing a coffee extractor in which ground coffee is continually agitated before percolation by a vacuum process. Sixteen patents followed.
In 1907, Desiderio Pavoni, of Milan, Italy, was granted a patent in Italy for an improvement on the Bezzara system for preparing and serving coffee as a rapid infusion of a single cup, first introduced in 1903–1904. It is known as the Ideale urn, and makes 150 cups per hour. Among other Italian rapid coffee-making machines which, with this one, have attained considerable prominence in Europe and South America, mention should be made of La Victoria Arduino made by Pier Teresio Arduino, of Turin, Italy, introduced in 1909, that makes 1000 cups per hour. It was patented in the United States in 1920. There are, also, L'Italiana Sovereign Filter Machine (1440 cups per hour) made by Bossi, Vernetti & Bartolini, Turin, (subsequently merged with La Victoria Arduino-Societa Anonima); and José Baro's Express, Buenos Aires, making 600 cups an hour.
In 1908, A.E. White, Chicago, was granted a United States patent on a coffee urn. He assigned it to the James Heekin Co., of Cincinnati.
In 1908, I.D. Richheimer, Chicago, introduced his Tricolator to the trade and the consumer. This is an aluminum device to fit any coffee pot, combining French drip and filtration ideas, with Japanese paper as the filtration medium.
In 1908, an improved type of Burns roaster was patented in the United States. The improvement consisted of an open perforated cylinder with flexible back-head and balanced front bearing. The following year, the Burns tilting sample-roaster for gas or electric heating units was patented.
In 1909, Frederick A. Cauchois, of New York, was granted a United States patent on a coffee urn fitted with a centrifugal pump for repouring.
In 1909, C.F. Blanke, of St. Louis, was granted two United States patents on a china coffee pot with a cloth filter, the sides tightly, and the bottom loosely, woven.
In 1911, Edward Aborn, of New York, was granted a United States patent on his Make-Right coffee-filter device. This was later incorporated with improvements in a Tru-Bru coffee pot, on which he was granted another patent in 1920.
In 1912, John E. King, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on an improved coffee percolator for restaurants, employing a sheet of filter paper on a ring in a metal basket; the ring to be removed once the filter paper was in position on the perforated bottom plate of the percolator basket.
In 1913, F.F. Wear, Los Angeles, perfected a coffee-making device in which a metal perforated clamp was employed to apply a filter paper to the under-side of an English earthenware adaptation of the French drip pot.
In 1912, William Lawton demonstrated in London a gas coffee roaster of his own invention, by means of which he roasted coffee "in suspension" to a light brown color in three minutes.
Herbert L. Johnston, assignor to the Hobart Electric Manufacturing Co., Troy, Ohio, was granted a United States patent on a machine for refining coffee in 1913.
In 1914, the Phylax coffee maker, embodying an improvement on the French drip principle, was introduced to the trade. The process was demonstrated by Benjamin H. Calkin, of Detroit, in 1921, as "an art of brewing coffee."
In 1914, Robert Burns, assignor to Jabez Burns & Sons, New York, was granted a United States patent on a coffee-granulating mill.
In 1914–15, Herbert Galt, of Chicago, was granted three United States patents on the Gait coffee pot, made of aluminum, and having two parts, a removable cylinder employing the French drip principle, and the containing pot.
In 1915, the Burns Jubilee (inner-heated) gas coffee roaster was patented in the United States and put on the market.
In 1915, the National Coffee Roasters Association Home coffee mill, employing an improved set screw operating on a cog-and ratchet principle, was introduced to the trade.
In 1916, a United States patent was granted to I.D. Richheimer, Chicago, for an infuser improvement on his Tricolator.
In 1916, Saul Blickman, assignor to S. Blickman, New York, was granted a United States patent on an apparatus for making and dispensing coffee.
In 1916, Orville W. Chamberlain, New Orleans, was granted a United States patent on an automatic drip coffee pot.
In 1916, Jules Le Page, Darlington, Ind., obtained two United States patents on cutting rolls to cut—and not to grind or crush—corn, wheat, or coffee. These were subsequently incorporated in the Ideal steel-cut coffee mill and marketed to the trade by the B.F. Gump Co., Chicago.
In 1917, Richard A. Greene and William G. Burns, assignors to Jabez Burns & Sons, New York, were granted patents in the United States on the Burns flexible-arm cooler (for roasted batches) providing full fan-suction to a cooler box at all points in its track travel.
In 1919, Joseph F. Smart, assignor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Conn., was granted a United States patent on a percolator.
In 1919, Charles Morgan, assignor to the Arcade Manufacturing Co., Freeport, Ill., was granted a United States patent on an improved grinding mill.
In 1919, Edward F. Schnuck, assignor to Jabez Burns & Sons, New York, was granted a United States patent on an improvement for a gas coffee roaster. In 1920, he was granted a United States patent on an improved process of twice cutting coffee and removing the chaff after each cutting.
In 1920, Natale de Mattei, of Turin, Italy, was granted a United States patent on a rapid coffee-filtering machine.
In 1920, Frederick H. Muller, of Chicago, was granted a United States patent on "an art of making coffee," and on an improved apparatus for hotels and restaurants, which comprised a series of superposed metal containers, or cartridges, of ground coffee placed in a perforated bucket designed to rest in a coffee urn, the cartridges being lifted out as the boiling water poured on them sinks with the drawing off of the "decoction" at the faucet.