Edmund Abel

Edmund Angel Abel, Jr. (May 12, 1921 – April 21, 2014) was an American engineer and inventor who designed and patented the heating element for Mr. Coffee, one of the first automatic drip coffee makers to be introduced to the American consumer market. Mr. Coffee, which was first sold in 1972, soon became the dominant coffeemaker in the United States, reaching sales of approximately $150 million by the late 1970s. Abel's invention, the heating element, brewed a milder coffee than traditional methods, largely replaced the percolator in American homes.Home Furnishings News listed Mr. Coffee as one of the most important household consumer products introduced in the previous seventy-five years in a list published in 2002. Prior to his work on the coffeemaker, he held patents in film developing and aviation. Despite his role in the invention of the Mr. Coffee machine, Abel did not drink coffee.

Abel was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 12, 1921, at the family home at 8111 Madison Avenue. to Edmund A. Abel, Sr., a laborer, and Rose Schoeffel Abel, a homemaker. Abel, who had two older sisters, was his parents' only son. He also had a younger sister.

He became a student pilot and an amateur radio operator as a high school student. However, his interest in electrical and mechanical engineering began during his early teens while working for his uncle, Joe Schoeffel, who built homes for a living. Abel graduated from West High School on Franklin Avenue, Cleveland, in 1942. He was drafted into the U.S. Army shortly after his graduation at the height of World War II. Abel constructed early remote-controlled flying drones, which were used as target practice during the war. He was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, and later landed at Cebu, Philippines, towards the end of the war. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 1945. He returned to Ohio following the war, where he studied aeronautical engineering at the AeroWays using the G.I. Bill. Abel, who held patents in aviation and film developing, worked for Westinghouse earlier in his career.

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