The Tricolette, a Paper-Filter Device for a Single Cup
Above; In position on cup—Below; opened, showing parts
Among foreign coffee makers applying the French drip principle, the Vienna coffee-making machine, known in the United States as the Bohemian coffee pot, has met with much favor in this country. Elsewhere it is known as the Carlsbad. It is made of china, and the European manufacturer has a patent on the porcelain strainer, or grid, which is provided with slits that are very fine on the inner side but that widen on the outer side to permit careful straining and to facilitate cleaning.
Some of the latest developments in coffee apparatus were shown at the industrial exposition at the National Coffee Roasters Association, held in New York, November 1–3, 1921. Among items of distinction not heretofore included in this work, mention should be made of: an American-French coffee biggin, being a French drip pot made of American porcelain and fitted with a muslin strainer; a glass urn-liner, intended to supplant the porcelain liner; and an electric repouring pump, designed to be attached to any type of coffee urn.
Careful research of the records of the United States patent office discloses that the number of patents relating to coffee apparatus and coffee preparations, issued from 1789 to 1921, is as follows:
| United States Coffee Patents | |
| Devices | Patents |
| Coffee Mills | 185 |
| Coffee-roasting devices, and improvements thereon | 312 |
| Coffee-making devices | 835 |
| Coffee-cleaning, hulling, drying, polishing, and plantation machinery in general | 175 |
| Miscellaneous patents (for coating, glazing, treated coffees, substitutes, etc.) | 300 |
| ——— | |
| Total | 1,807 |
It must be borne in mind that there was a number of patents granted on machines that were intended for, and used for, coffee, but that did not mention coffee in the specifications. Many coffee driers were listed as "grain driers," for instance. Also, many excellent devices have been made that were never patented.
