Fazekas Éva: A fekete leves, a kávéfőzés története, időszaki kiállítás, 2010. április 23 - 2010. október 25, a Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum, a Magyar Műszaki és Közlekedési Múzeum és a Fazekas & Kimmel Gyűjtemény közös időszaki kiállítása (Budapest, Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum, 2010)
Éva Fazekas-József Kimmel: POTS, FLASKS AND PERCOLATORS
PERCOLATORS - Early percolators The industrial revolution reached slowly, from England through Northern Europe, France and the rest of the states of the continent. At this time the stratum of entrepreneurs independent of manufactures gained in importance. It was no more subject to the production system manufacturing luxury goods, working exclusively for the rich strata, and enjoying privileges. Therefore, following the 1790s the demand for patenting slowly started spreading which became - from the aspect of industrial development - of great importance. In the 19 th century the patents aimed at improving coffee preparation were mostly submitted by craftsmen that had own workshops and were able to produce a greater number of devices. However, due to keen competition and illegal copying, patents did not grant advantages for a long time, and trials against those infringing patent rights were - at the times - difficult and lengthy procedures at court. Owing to the possibility of patent protection, and with strengthening industrial production, the methods of coffee preparation were also renewed in a revolutionary way. As a following step of development, a new technology, the ancestor of the percolator appeared. Hot water was no more poured on the coffee in the vessel, neither was it boiled together with it, it reached ground coffee raised through a tube which meant hotter water, a system better preserving volatile oils and resulting in slower extraction. The overpressure necessary for raising the water resulted from the difference in pressure between the water being heated and its environment. As in the closed vessel the liquid cannot dilate in any other direction, it rises. Percolators have two basic types. In one of them, water is raised discontinuously, then flows down from above, in the other one the heated liquid flows in one step through the milled product in the cylinder. The invention of the percolator is also attributed to a French plumber with the name of Laurens. His device belonged to the percolators of the first type which constituted an open system. In 1820 another Frenchman, Gaudet, developed a percolator, in which the ground product was placed between two filters, with a tube in the middle. Cold water was carefully poured, through the tube, into the lower part until its level reached the lower filter. Upon boiling, the water rose in the cylinder and dripped onto the ground coffee that was also humidified by the liquid from below. The plug placed in the lip further increased atmospheric pressure. A textile filter was applied to the metal filter in order to prevent mixing of the ground coffee with the ready coffee drink. In 1827 the French manufacturer Nicholas-Felix Durante invented a device in which - during the first phase of coffee-making - the alcohol burner was in operation, then, at the appropriate moment it was automatically extinguished. When the boiling water passed through the cylinder, the water drops set into action a complicated mechanism that consisted of springs, valves and hooks. This put into movement a releasing rod that closed the lid of the heater. As soon as the hot air cooled down, the water dripped back to the water tank through the ground goods. Spreading of the invention was prevented by the too complicated mechanism. After having it patented, Durante formed the opinion that his device was too vulnerable and not safe enough, thus he ceded his invention to the French lantern master Louis-François Capi who simplified it. In his apparatus the weight of the boiler filled with cold water held the lid of the alcohol burner. As soon as the water had reached the boiling point and rose through the tube, the supported lid fell down, and the alcohol burner ceased 91
