| The Bruni Brunella Espresso Machine: This is the Brunella, manufactured by A. Bruni, Milano, Italy. We've found very little information concerning the history of this beautiful machine. To us, it represents the pinacle of Italian Industrial Design - absolutely streamlined form, pastel colors (we have seen yellow, as well as the green we have here), nothing extra - perfect form and function. For many in the US this machine screams out 1940's, or 1950's - it would be right at home on the backbar of a Soda Fountain, next to the Jadite Green Milk Shake Maker! 
The body & base of the machine are a single cast piece coated with a thick porcelain finish. The water reservoir extends down into the column, and is contiguous with the piston area - joined by a series of large holes inside, at the back. The heating element is at the base of the reservoir, behind the drip tray. The piston and cylinder is a one-piece unit, held in place with a single ring tightened with a large spanner wrench. The entire construction provides amazing heat stability, with the entire body of the machine heating up, the cylinder bathed in the hot water at the top of the boiler - once the machine is brought to boiling it remains at a good temperature for quite a long time. The temperature is thermostatically controlled. There is no switch - plug it in to turn it on, unplug it to turn it off. It does have a pilot light on the front. The 700 watt element is fairly slow to heat the first time, but the machine will quickly resume boiling in consequent cycles. The large front skirt, which becomes plenty hot, serves as a cup warmer! 
The machine holds some parts in common to other vintage open boiler espresso machines. The piston & cylinder is the same size as the Arrarex Caravel. The dispersion screen is identical to the Caravel, and is held in place using the same spring clip system. The portafilter baskets are 45mm, identical to the FE-AR La Peppina baskets, though the portafilter body is not interchangeable with the La Peppina. 
Perhaps not an innovation on the Brunella, but one very nice design feature is in the maintenance of the piston seals & lubrication of the cylinder. The brass piston has 2 holes in the end, and is threaded onto the piston rod. With the face of the piston at the dispersion screen, the spring is barely engaged, by removing the dispersion screen, and backing the piston out (unthreading about 1/8"), the spring is no longer engaged, and the piston can be removed without any further disassembly - no clamps are needed to remove the seal bearing piston! This makes it very easy to inspect, change seals, and lubricate it. Also, with the face of the piston just above the screen there is about 1/2" of thread showing on the rod, indicating that the spring tension is adjustable by changing the position of piston further up into the cylinder, thereby tightening the spring! 
The Brunella, with very high build quality, innovative features, outstanding counter presence, strong spring coupled with a small diameter cylinder and very long lever, was, and is, a serious open boiler espresso machine!
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