1916—Jules Le Page, Darlington, Ind., is granted two United States patents on cutting-rolls to cut, and not to grind or crush, coffee, later marketed by the B.F. Gump Co., Chicago, as the Ideal steel-cut coffee mill.
1916–17—The first hermetically-sealed all-paper cans for coffee are introduced to the United States trade, patented in 1919 by the National Paper Can Co., Milwaukee.
1917—The Baker Importing Co., Minneapolis and New York, puts on the United States market Barrington Hall soluble coffee.
1917—Richard A. Greene and William G. Burns, New York, assignors to Jabez Burns & Sons, are granted patents in the United States on the Burns flexible-arm cooler (for roasted batches), providing full fan-suction connection to a cooler box at all points in its track travel.
1918—John E. King, Detroit, Mich., is granted a United States patent on an irregular-grind of coffee, consisting of coarsely grinding ten percent of the product and finely grinding ninety percent.
1918—The Charles G. Hires Co., Philadelphia, brings out Hires soluble coffee.
1918—I.D. Richheimer, promoter of the original soluble coffee of Kato, and the Kato patent, organizes the Soluble Coffee Company of America to supply soluble coffee to the American army overseas; after the armistice, licensing other merchants under the Kato patents, or offering to process the merchants' own coffee for them, if desired.
1918—The United States government places coffee importers, brokers, jobbers, roasters, and wholesalers under a war-time licensing system to control imports and prices.
1918–19—The United States government coffee control results in the accumulation at Brazil ports of more than 9,000,000 bags; in spite of which, Brazil speculators force Brazil grades up 75 to 100 percent., costing United States traders millions of dollars.
1919—The Kaffee Hag Corporation becomes Americanized by the sale of 5,000 shares of its stock sold by the alien property custodian and by the purchase of the remaining 5,000 shares by George Gund, Cleveland, Ohio.