Percolator. Coffee maker for the hotel industry

The coffee percolator is a gas appliance from the early 20th century that was manufactured for use in hotels in the French city of Avignon. We know every part of this invention and how it works and the Gas Museum collection contains an example of one thanks to a document preserved in the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation’s Historical Library. This small work, which was published by the “Société du Gaz du Paris” in 1916, is entitled “L’industrie du gaz. Les aplications du gaz”. The publication focused on the appliances that “modern” cafes must have and explained how the recipient on the left contained water that was heated by the lower parts using an intense gas flame.The steam pressure would make the water rise up the pipe until it reached the recipient on the right, where there was a filter with the ground coffee.. The water was then filtered through the coffee beans and the resulting drink was stored in the lower part of the right container, which was kept warm with a bain-marie. To prepare the coffee, the appliance has small glass indicators on both containers that show how much liquid is inside. After using the coffee maker, each container was emptied by a system of taps.Despite the good condition of this original item in the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation Gas Museum collection, the pipe connecting both containers has not been preserved.