Bedford Systems LLC

Gwynn Masada

Jeremy B Gordon

Thomas Paul Dutremble

Thomas Fedorka

William Philip McHugh

Bradford Range

Trevor John Beckett

Miles Hember

Charles Evan O'Neill

Enrico Raffaele Cafaro

Scott James Grubb

Peter Rae Peterson

Michael Sack

Thomas J Novak

Steven R Raphaelson

Steven Mackey

Brian B Johnson

William Philip Mchugh

Scott Grubb

Steven Raphaelson

Charles Evan O'neill

Trevor Beckett

A beverage making machine may include a cartridge holder to hold a cartridge used to form a beverage. The cartridge holder may include a lower portion arranged to receive and hold the cartridge and a movable upper portion arranged to clamp the cartridge in place. The cartridge holder may be arranged to hold upper and lower compartments of the cartridge in spaces having a different pressure, e.g., an upper compartment of the cartridge may be held under relatively high pressure, and a lower compartment may be held in a space at ambient pressure. The cartridge holder may pierce upper and/or lower compartments of the cartridge to introduce activating fluid and/or receive carbonating gas from the upper compartment, and/or to introduced pressurized air into the lower compartment to force beverage medium to exit.

Cartridge holder for beverage machine

A beverage making machine having a cartridge holder with an upper portion movable in pivotal and/or linear ways relative to a lower portion. An actuator for the cartridge portion may include a handle-actuated spur gear and link to move the upper portion, which may be guided in movement via a cam and cam follower engagement. Information from a cartridge detector may be used based on movement of cartridge holder portions, e.g., as an upper portion moves from an open position to a closed position. A mixing chamber may be held by a drawer so as to be removable, and movement of the drawer may engage/disengage the mixing chamber from a fluid supply.

A beverage making machine may employ a mixing chamber to mix a beverage medium with a precursor liquid, such as carbonated water. The mixing chamber may have a precursor liquid inlet coupled to a precursor liquid supply, a beverage medium chamber to receive a beverage medium into the beverage medium chamber, and a dispense outlet from which beverage medium and precursor liquid are dispensed, e.g., into a user's cup. The beverage medium chamber may include a chamber inlet coupled to the precursor liquid inlet, e.g., so precursor liquid can enter the chamber when a pressure is low in the beverage medium chamber, and a chamber outlet downstream of the chamber inlet that is coupled to the dispense outlet, e.g., so that beverage medium can exit the chamber.

Mixing chamber for beverage machine

Method of preparing a beverage with mixing chamber

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Portola Valley, CA, United States of America

Gwynn Masada