Cyrus Melikian (1920–2008) was an
Armenian-American coffee industry pioneer
Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land.
In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...
credited with several
inventions that propelled coffee use into the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
public. He is credited, along with his
business partner, Lloyd Rudd, as the
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
of
coffee vending machine
The coffee vending machine is a vending machine that dispenses hot coffee and other coffee beverages. Older models used instant coffee or concentrated liquid coffee and hot or boiling water, and provided condiments such as cream and sugar. Some m ...
s and the first
US fresh-brew machine. Furthermore, Cyrus was instrumental in several other inventions, including
coffee pods, post-mix
vendor icemakers, and in-machine
coffee bean grinders.
He initiated the
Culinary Institute Culinary Institute may refer to:
* The Culinary Institute of America
* Culinary Institute of the Pacific
* Culinary Institute of St. Louis
* Indian Culinary Institute, Tirupati
* Louisiana Culinary Institute
* New England Culinary Institute
* Niaga ...
at Rockland Mansion in Fairmount Park. Melikian also established the
Flavor-Maker Culinary Chef's Training School, and
taught
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
there for 10
years. Melikian was
awarded
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An award ...
with the Person of the Year Award by the
Tea & Coffee Trade Journal in 2002.
People of the year: Cyrus Melikian
Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, 20 December 2002
After Rudd-Melikian was sold and became Refreshment Machinery, Melikian and his sons founded Automatic Brewers & Coffee Devices (Conshohocken, PA
Conshohocken ( ; Lenape: ''Kanshihàkink'') is a borough on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in suburban Philadelphia. Historically a large mill town and industrial and manufacturing center, after the decline of industry in ...
). Melikian had designed a method of sandwiching finely ground roast coffee between two long strips of filter paper, supplied in rolls for the RMi fresh-brew machine.
Melikian's entrepreneurial spirit and passion lives on through his grandchildren Pearce Fielding Lockwood Pearce may refer to:
Places
*Pearce, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb
*Division of Pearce, an electoral division in Western Australia
*Pearce, Arizona, United States, an unincorporated community
* RAAF Base Pearce, the main Royal Australian A ...
, Alexander Melikian, Anayis Melikian, Armen Melikian, Hunter Harrison, and Casey Harrison. All of whom had the rare privilege of learning from Mr. Melikian himself.
Patents
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melikian Cyrus
1920 births
2008 deaths
American people of Armenian descent
Businesspeople in coffee
20th-century American inventors