Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.

Joel Swerchesky

Peter David Cauwood

Iain James Sabberton

Keith Paul Thompson

Matthew John Maitland

Nikolas Kastor

Bo Ma

Peter Jerome Warren

Hongchuan Zhu

Beverage cartridge holder

A method and apparatus for opening and closing a cartridge holder of a beverage forming machine. The cartridge holder may have an opening arranged to receive and hold a cartridge with the cartridge holder in an open position, e.g., the opening may face a front of the beverage forming machine and be in an upwardly inclined position in the open position. A cam and cam follower may cause the cartridge holder to pivot and move to a closed position, e.g., in which the opening of the cartridge holder is in a downwardly inclined orientation. Rotation of the cartridge holder may be damped in at least a portion of movement between the open and closed positions.

Beverage machine cartridge holder with damped movement

A method and apparatus for dispensing a beverage from a beverage forming machine with reduced gas bubbles or foam. An outlet chamber may be arranged to separate beverage flow into a liquid component and a gas/liquid component such that the liquid component flows downwardly to a first outlet opening and the gas/liquid component flows upwardly and/or through a tortuous path to condition the gas/liquid component and reduce foam prior to the gas/liquid component exiting a second outlet opening.

Beverage machine outlet

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Derry, NH, United States of America

Joel Swerchesky