The Wigomat was the world’s first electrical drip coffee maker and patented in 1954 in Germany. It was named after the inventor Gottlob Widmann “Wi-go-mat”, although some early machines were delivered as “FK-1” (for filter coffee machine).
The device consists of a glass reservoir for up to one litre of water. Below the reservoir is a heating element that heats the water, causing it to rise through the riser tube to the coffee filter. This filter basket is filled with ground coffee inside a round paper filter. The coffee then drips into the glass coffee pot, which is on a hot plate.
Coffee was, until the late 1950s, brewed by hand or made in a percolator. In both cases the temperature was considered to be too high. Therefore, at the launch of the Wigomat it was advertised to have the best brewing temperature.
In the 1970s many machines followed the principle of drip coffee, but the Wigomat remained one of the best: “The people at Zabar’s tell us that their Wigomat Coffee Maker is one of the best of the currently popular instant-drip coffee makers” wrote a New York-based magazine in 1975.
