The Spaniard who invented the capsule coffee maker and the secret that stopped him from becoming a billionaire

A two meter high coffee maker in a house in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) and weighs more than a hundred kilos Which continues to be used and a small sound comes out: “Wait, thank you!”. LOC tells the special story of its creator.

it was called jose marlet barrera (1908–1988), a man who was born in Sabadell and who is almost unknown to anyone. He created 15 prototypes of coffee machines. One of them was taken away from him for two and a half months. He was honored for: received gold medal In Third Annual Inventors and New Products Exhibition An exhibition in New York and another in Brussels in 1969 had the same merits. This is where everything went wrong.

Marlet returned to Catalonia but his coffee maker did not. Like the inventions of other participants, the machine was shipped on the aircraft of the Sabena company. Seeing that he did not return without informing Missing report filed in court Number 10 in Barcelona and investigations began, but always with negative results.

The director of Belgian Airlines, Mr. Georges Volcker, set out to find out what had happened to his coffee maker. The loss became a topic of national and international relevance (and was picked up by newspapers) because it was not a loss. This was a possible case of “industrial espionage”: That they stole the machine to study and repeat it.

I was sure of it. “I believe this is industrial theft,” he said in an interview.

-Was the machine insured?
-Yes, but it does not cover more than its physical value

In its construction, he said, he invested approximately 25 million pesetas, It was registered in Germany, France, Italy, England, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Canada and Japan. Still nothing could be found out. it went so far beyond that They also created fake news: There was a rumor that his coffee maker was found in New York, but it was not real.

He did not see his machine again until two and a half months later. He was seen covered with a tarpaulin in the Barajas warehouse.

An airport foreman was ordered to clear one of the outer warehouses and check its cleanliness, and they found him there, like nothing, Volckaert of the Belgian airline recognized the rarity: “A series of strange and coincidental circumstances have precipitated its disappearance. We believe the mistake was made in Brussels, Someone made a mistake while writing the numbers corresponding to the label or perhaps on the label itself. “I say that several strange circumstances arose because Brussels inexplicably did not respond to the telegram sent by Iberia.”

The press covering the meeting remained skeptical: the package was forgotten in Barajas, covered with the same tarpaulin that had been covered when it rained one day and “none of the various people had seen Several times he tried to figure it out.” Marlet also suspected that it was simply “a mistake” and went to a notary to have his coffee maker checked. He noticed that the machine had been tampered with, Its mechanisms were not inside like this Sabadellian left it. but nothing was done about it, He concluded in one of the articles of the time, “It is difficult to know the truth about what happened one day.”

The genius preferred to look ahead. “All for me That strange story has already been forgotten“, he assured in his last interview.

This information came to LOC through one of his granddaughters – he does not want her identity to be revealed – who kept every line about her grandfather in an album. Marlette’s immortality This is thanks to the libretto Masolivar, his wife. “He compiled all the press articles, I don’t know whether he did it out of love or out of novelistic interest.” They were complete opposites. “They lived in two parallel worlds”Explains to her granddaughter. But they respected each other.

Liberata (1911–1988) was a writer. He published about twenty novels and children’s stories. He wrote a lot: more than a hundred stories and detective stories. She was an unusual woman for that time., “I clashed with Jose because he had a great character, he was not polite.” They met because Sabadell’s man was a friend of Liberata’s brother. And they maintained their relationship till the end not because of love but because of the tradition of that time. They married because Liberata “wanted to leave home and he” seemed like a legal man. According to her granddaughter, she was a thoughtful woman. Marlette defined herself as “A mechanical bohemian” Dedicated to textile machinery since the 50s.

He had about 50 registered inventions. The first thing his granddaughter found is from 1934. But his first creation with coffee scent is from 1957. As confirmed by LOC Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) Several models followed each other and a new feature was added with each. A coffee maker equipped with automation; With water tank, thermal balancer and dispenser; A better cap for coffee makers, With loading cartridges… Each invention seems to be the predecessor to the next. That’s why he hated the word inventor.

“I believe that throughout history there have been only two or three individuals like Marconi or Edison who can properly be considered inventors. Others have done nothing more than work from an idea already known. That is to say: They have improved an idea. And I believe this is one of my best qualities. “I see something and I’m always thinking of something to make it better.”

He mastered this technology until he had what he defined as “an honest and educated machine”, which he named HIMCA. ,The most modern and revolutionary coffee vending machine, After the coin has been deposited, a voice is heard: ‘Wait, thank you!'”. Soon after, a fragrant coffee was served and another and another, as many coins had been deposited.

From the kindness and sound in coffee machines, it reached the caps or what could be a Nespresso capsule today. According to a study by OXFAM, Since the development of Nespresso in the 1990s, capsules have become increasingly popular among consumers. It is estimated that Nespresso alone produces approximately 14 billion capsules every year.

Marlett had made his debut in them almost ten years before he became famous in all the newspapers as the inventor of the coffee capsule. Eric Favre, He is the official inventor, his discovery dates back to 1976. An Italian who became president of a coffee company. Marlette always believed he would be so lucky.

His granddaughter claims he repeatedly repeated “Aquest ans farem Miloranis” (This year we will become millionaires). But this never happened.

He did not get any money from any medal or his invention because he spent whatever money came in. ,“I invested in new patents and improvements”, Every time he found an improved version of his previous invention, he created another patent. And so on, until the end. I didn’t have a pension or anything.

He enjoyed meeting his friends at jazz sessions held at his home in Sant Cugat del Vallès. “People from young and old generations living around him would often visit, They were informal gatherings of friends and acquaintances, “He played the drums with great enthusiasm and little technique.”
His daughter and son-in-law were also with him. In neither case did the libretto participate – here too they clashed – who described jazz music as “unbearable noise”, recalls his granddaughter.

To her he too was a stranger, an eccentric who was always smiling. For the rest, a generous person (who distributed the little money he earned For the one who needed it) and to his environment as “someone very familiar to him who was in poor health”. His loved ones remained with him till the end. “He died without a single penny in his pocket” And his inventions did not receive any recognition. He always said that if he had been born in the United States, he would have been a millionaire.