Cartridge for preparing a beverage

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 12/675,592, filed Feb. 26, 2010, which is the U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT/IB2007/054490 filed 6 Nov. 2007 which designated the U.S. and claims priority to IB Application No. PCT/IB2007/053542 filed 3 Sep. 2007, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

The present invention is situated in the field of preparing drinks, e.g. based on coffee, by extraction of a concentrated dose, e.g. of ground coffee, contained in a cartridge. It relates more particularly to the doses used for this purpose and to the devices using such doses.

Cartridges and machines operating according to the aforementioned principle have existed for many decades.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,899,886, U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,560, U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,617 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,297 describe devices in which the cartridge is initially perforated in several places, and then traversed by pressurized water.

The cartridge described in patent CH 605 293 or in patent EP 0 242 556 B1 comprises a membrane in its lower portion. Pressurized water is initially inserted into the upper portion of the cartridge, which causes a swelling of the cartridge, mainly at the membrane. At a certain pressure, the membrane tears, thereby allowing the water-coffee mixture to flow out.

Other cartridges furnished with a membrane are described in the following patent documents: EP 0 468 079 A, EP 0 806 373 A, EP 0 554 469 A.

One of the objects of the present invention lies in an improvement in the water-coffee mixture that occurs inside the cartridge.

This object is achieved by furnishing the side wall and/or the upper face of the cartridge with several protrusions which each comprise a perforation zone.

The protrusions are placed and designed so as to be perforated, preferably simultaneously, by a perforating element, e.g. a circular blade.

In the present invention, the protrusions may be formed by embossing, stamping, thermoforming or any other method adapted to the desired object.

The protrusions are characterized in that they form a relatively small surface area, in all cases much smaller than the total surface area of the side face and/or of the upper face of the cartridge. Moreover, the thickness of the wall at the protrusions is substantially identical to the thickness of the walls of the cartridge. The result of this is that the force of the perforating element per unit of surface area is particularly high at the protrusions. Therefore, when the perforating element is actuated, it is at the protrusions that the cartridge is pierced.

Note finally that without such protrusions, the cartridge could not be pierced.

The invention is described in greater detail below by means of examples illustrated by the following figures:

FIG. 1 is a first example of a cartridge according to the invention

FIG. 2 is a second example of a cartridge according to the invention

FIG. 3 is a third example of a cartridge according to the invention

FIG. 4 is a fourth example of a cartridge according to the invention

FIG. 5 illustrates schematically an example of a device using a cartridge according to the invention

FIG. 6 shows an example of perforation of a cartridge according to the invention

FIG. 7 shows an embossing according to the invention, after having sustained a perforation

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an example of cartridge cage elongation

FIGS. 10 and 11 show another example of cartridge cage elongation.

FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate cartridges comprising a hollow body 1 , a side wall 2 , an upper face 3 and a lower face 4 , the latter comprising an extraction membrane (not illustrated).

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the upper face 3 comprises a series of protrusions 5 , 6 .

The cartridge illustrated in FIG. 3 comprises a peripheral zone of annular shape that is placed at a lower level than the remaining surface of the upper face 3 . In this cartridge, the protrusions 7 are placed on the periphery of the upper face 3 .

FIG. 4 shows a cartridge in which the protrusions 8 are placed on the side wall 2 .

According to a variant of the invention that is not illustrated, the protrusions are placed both on the upper face 3 and on the side wall 2 .

Each protrusion 5 - 8 has at least one zone of sharp curvature, in order to create a zone of high pressure when a perforation element is applied to this zone.

FIG. 5 illustrates schematically a device comprising a perforation element in the form of an annular blade 9 . The blade 9 is mounted in translation in a vertical direction in order to perforate the protrusions 7 when it is lowered.

In this device, the cartridge is held in place by means of a cartridge holder (retention block) 13 and a spring.

FIG. 5 also illustrates the path followed by the water prior to its entry into the cartridge via the protrusions 7 . The water enters initially through an inlet orifice 15 , is first housed in a space and then passes through a series of orifices 14 placed above the blade 9 .

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the blade 9 on which are placed blade reliefs 10 , the object of which is in particular to ensure a better flow of the water through the perforations made in the protrusions.

FIG. 7 shows a perforation 11 made in a protrusion 7 after actuation of the blade 9 .

The presence of several protrusions 5 - 8 in various places on the cartridge, and consequently of several locations of perforation, has the advantage of considerably improving the water-coffee mixture inside the cartridge.

The invention is not limited to the examples illustrated.

Any shape of protrusion can be envisaged. The same applies to the distribution and the number of protrusions.

Similarly, any perforating element may be used, e.g. a set of blades at a distance from one another, several pointed elements, etc.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show schematically a first embodiment of cartridge cage elongation.

The elongation illustrated here consists of two pivoting semicircles which are initially at a distance when the cartridge is inserted and then placed in contact when the cartridge is housed in the cage.

FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate a second variant of cartridge cage elongation in which the elongation consists of a closed ring which pivots about a vertical axis. The ring is furnished with an actuator.

The invention also relates to a cartridge made of a biodegradable material.

Advantageously, the biodegradable martial may be of plant origin.

According to one variant, the material comprises the following components:

Starch (>70%), fibers, proteins, lipids, glycerin of plant origin, biodegradable resins.

According to another variant, the material comprises the following components:

Starch (>70%), fibers, proteins, lipids, biodegradable resins, mineral colorant.