Drink cartridge and method of manufacturing the same

Abstract

A cartridge for preparation of a drink comprises a chamber having a top end for allowing flow of water under pressure into the chamber, a side wall and a bottom end for allowing flow of drink out of the chamber, a supply of soluble solids in the chamber, a solubility promoter adapted to move downward and to conform to the side wall of the chamber during its downward movement within the chamber for facilitating the dissolution of the soluble solids, a flow promoter for facilitating the flow of the drink out of bottom end of the chamber, and a dryer adapted to produce a supply of gas upon contacting the water for drying the cartridge for mess-free disposal.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 09 / 748,495 filed Dec. 22, 2000, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,345 and of application Ser. No. 10 / 190,399 filed Jul. 6, 2002, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,007, and a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10 / 338,151.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Drinks can be made by adding soluble solids such as cocoa, instant coffee, milk or creamer into hot water and by stirring the water. Such soluble solids can also be enclosed in filter pouches and drinks can made by delivering water through the pouches as taught by Seward et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,674 and Kraft in EP0756844A1. Seward et al. taught a sachet containing a web material for supporting the soluble solids and a nozzle for injecting water into the sachet. Kraft taught a unitary cappuccino kit comprising an outer wall and an intermediate layer attached to the outer wall to define a coffee pouch to con...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a cartridge and method for making drinks. The cartridge has a chamber with a top end for water to enter and a bottom end for the drink to flow out of. It also includes a solubility promoter, flow promoter, and dryer for easy disposal. The solubility promoter helps dissolve the soluble solids in the chamber, while the flow promoter helps the drink flow out of the chamber. The dryer uses gas-generating materials to push the residual water out of the chamber. The cartridge also has a brew head for extracting and dissolving the flavor-containing materials in the cartridge. The manufacturing method involves aligning a mold with an expandable piston, placing a bottom filter paper in the mold, inflating the expandable piston to form a containing chamber, adding flavor-containing materials, and sealing the chamber. The invention provides a solution for making drinks more efficiently and easily."

Problems solved by technology

A drawback with Seward et al's sachet and Kraft's cappuccino kit is that water tends to channel through without contacting some of the soluble solids in the sachet or pouch, causing some soluble solids to remain in the sachet or pouch after brewing and wasteful of the soluble solids.

The amount of soluble solids remaining in the pouch or sachet after brewing became unacceptably large when certain types of soluble solids that are less soluble or tend to gel in water were used.

A second drawback with Seward et al's sachet and Kraft's cappuccino kit is their complex structure and associated high manufacturing cost, which prevents them from being affordable by general public.

A third drawback with Seward et al's sachet and Kraft's cappuccino kit is that the space occupied by the soluble solids prior to brewing tends to be filled with beverage after brewing, which beverage drips on countertop or kitchen floor to cause a mess when disposing the used sachet and kit.

An additional drawback with Kraft's cappuccino kit is that the collapse of the creamer pouch after water introduction would cause deformation of the coffee pouch connected to the creamer pouch, which deformation can cause water leakage around the coffee pouch and therefore weak extraction of the coffee grounds.

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