Claims
- 1. An apparatus for manufacturing cheese blocks from cheese curd particles containing whey comprising: a container having two open ends for holding said curd particles, said container adapted to be initially oriented in an upright position with said open ends being at the top and bottom of said container and being defined by sidewalls of said container; receiver means enclosing said bottom open end of said container, said receiver means having perforations for receiving draining whey from said curd particles; conduit means including two spaced apart generally parallel foraminous sidewalls defining a space therebetween, said space being communicating with the perforations in said receiver means, said foraminous sidewalls being of substantially parallel construction throughout their extent in the container and being of sufficient width and height in relation to the container such that the whey has a relatively short distance to travel to said sidewalls and thus is easily drainable over substantially the entire volume of said cheese curd, whereby said conduit means defines a path to allow a quantity of said whey to flow out of said container into said receiver means when pressure is applied to said curd particles.
- 2. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said receiver means comprises a drain plate including a planar wall having a plurality of spaced perforations aligned with said space.
- 3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sidewalls of said conduit means have circular openings, the openings being generally uniformly distributed in rows substantially throughout said sidewalls.
- 4. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sidewalls have a bottom edge abutting against said receiver means, and wherein said sidewalls straddle and enclose said perforations of said receiver means, whereby said draining whey from said conduit means passes through said perforations of said receiver means.
- 5. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said conduit means includes a press drain cloth formed of a porous material covering the outermost surfaces of said sidewalls of said conduit means and being in direct contact with the curd particles, said press drain cloth permitting the passage of said whey to said conduit means while maintaining said curd particles in said container.
- 6. An apparatus in accordance with claim 5 including means for positioning said press drain cloth adjacent to the outer surfaces of said conduit means.
- 7. An apparatus in according with claim 1 wherein said foraminous sidewalls of said conduit means are spaced inwardly from adjacent sidewalls of said container.
- 8. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 including a means for supporting and centering the conduit means in generally normal position relative to and on said receiver means.
- 9. An apparatus in accordance with claim 8 wherein said means for supporting and centering includes a multiplicity of legs extending outwardly from the bottom portion of said conduit means and generally parallel with and resting on said receiver means when said conduit means is placed within said container.
- 10. An apparatus in accordance with claim 8 wherein said means for supporting and centering comprises two rods with pin means on one end of each rod, each rod extending outwardly from one end wall of said conduit means adjacent the bottom edge of said conduit means, said rods being generally parallel to and resting on said receiver means when said conduit means is within said container, said receiver means having a pair of apertures, each aperture being spaced outwardly of one end wall of said conduit means, each pin means on each said rod extending in a direction normal to its said rod and in a downward direction and into one of said apertures.
- 11. An apparatus in accordance with claim 8 wherein said means for supporting and centering includes at least a pair of tabs on said receiver means facing the interior of said container, each tab embracing the outside surface of one of said sidewalls of said conduit means, when said conduit means is placed over said perforations of said receiver means.
- 12. An apparatus in accordance with claim 11 wherein said means for supporting and centering includes at least a further pair of tabs on said receiver means facing the interior of said container, each tab embracing the outside ends of said conduit means, when said conduit means is placed over said perforations of said receiver means.
- 13. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, further including a filler ring including a collar conforming to the outer configuration of the upper end of the container, said collar being removably mounted on the upper end of said container to prevent spillage of said curd particles while said curd particles are placed within said container.
- 14. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, further including means for holding said conduit means in a generally vertical position during filling of said container with said curd particles, said holding means extending down into the upper end of said container and engaging said conduit means, said holding means being removable once sufficient curd particles are placed into said container to support and maintain said conduit means vertical posture.
- 15. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 said receiver means including a base receptacle adapted to collect the whey discharged from said receiver means, said base being removable from said container.
- 16. An apparatus for manufacturing cheese blocks from cheese curd particles containing whey, comprising: an open ended container for holding said curd particles, said container adapted to be initially oriented in an upright position with open ends being at the top and bottom of said container and being defined by the walls of said container, a drain plate extending across the bottom end of said container and defining a row of spaced apertures, drain device means occupying a substantial vertical cross section of said container and being supported on said drain plate when positioned within said container to enclose said apertures of said drain plate, said drain device means including two fixed foraminous sidewalls that are of substantially parallel construction throughout their extent in the container and being of sufficient width and height in relation to the container such that the whey has a relatively short distance to travel to said sidewalls and thus is easily drainable over substantially the entire volume of said cheese curd, whereby said drain device means defines a path to allow a quantity of said whey to pass down said drain device means and out of said container through said apertures of said drain plate when pressure is applied to said curd particles, said pressure then being removed and said container invertable with the drain plate and said drain device means being removable from said container so that pressure can be applied to said curd particles to thereby produce a substantially homogeneously knitted curd providing a uniformly textured block of cheese.
- 17. An apparatus in accordance with claim 16 wherein said drain device means includes a multiplicity of tabs attaching said drain device means sidewalls to each other, thereby maintaining the fixed, spaced apart and generally parallel orientation of said drain screen sidewalls.
- 18. An apparatus in accordance with claim 16 wherein said drain device means comprises a single foraminous plate bent substantially to define two sidewalls.
- 19. An apparatus in accordance with claim 18 wherein said drain device means includes a multiplicity of tabs attaching said sidewalls to each other and spacing blocks to maintain the fixed, spaced apart and generally parallel orientation of said sidewalls.
- 20. An apparatus in accordance with claim 16 wherein said drain device means comprises two foraminous plates, a first of said plates having two opposing ends bent over to form a U-shaped channel at said opposing ends of said first plate and the second of said plates being configured to allow said second plate to slide into and be secured by said channels of said first plate, wherein said first and second plates define said foraminous sidewalls, wherein orienting said drain device means thereby allows said bent ends of said first plate to face the walls of said container.
- 21. An apparatus in accordance with claim 20 including spacing blocks welded to said first plate for maintaining said plates of said drain device means in spaced apart relation.
- 22. An apparatus for manufacturing cheese blocks from cheese curd particles containing whey, said apparatus including an open ended container for receiving said curd particles, said container including four wall members, said wall members comprising two pairs of two opposing parallel wall members, said container adapted initially to be oriented in an upright position with said open ends being at the top and bottom of said container, a drain plate enclosing said bottom end of said container including a row of plurality of openings located along a major central axis of said drain plate, a stainless steel drain screen including two sidewalls substantially parallel, spaced apart and fixed, said sidewalls being perforated, said perforations being in rows distributed uniformly in the entire said sidewalls, said sidewalls being spaced inwardly from adjacent said wall members of said container, a drain cloth envelope formed of a porous material covering the outermost surfaces of said drain screen sidewalls permitting the passage of said whey through to said drain screen, said drain screen sidewalls being positioned in said container embracing and being normal to said drain plate and extending to the top of said container, said drain screen sidewalls are positioned on said drain plate whereby, said drain screen sidewalls straddle said row of openings of said drain plate, thereby, permitting, while applying pressure through the top open end of said container to said curd particles, said whey being forced by said pressure from said curd particles to flow through said drain cloth envelope and to drain through said perforations of said drain screen and down through said openings of said drain plate whereby, a substantial amount of said whey is extracted from said container, subsequently removing said pressure and inverting said container extracting said drain plate and drain screen now from the top of said container and reapplying pressure through the top of said container whereby, closing residual voids in the curd material thereby completing a fusion of said curd particles providing a substantially homogeneously solid block of cheese.
- 23. An apparatus for manufacturing cheese blocks from cheese curd particles containing whey comprising: a container having two open ends for holding said curd particles, said container adapted to be initially oriented in an upright position with said open ends being at the top and bottom of said container and being defined by sidewalls of said container; receiver means enclosing said bottom open end of said container, said receiver means having perforations for receiving draining whey from said curd particles; conduit means including two spaced apart generally parallel foraminous sidewalls defining a space therebetween, said space being communicating with the perforations in said receiver means, said foraminous sidewalls being of substantially parallel construction throughout their extent in the container and being of sufficient width and height in relation to the container such that the whey has a relatively short distance to travel to said sidewalls and thus is easily drainable over substantially the entire volume of said cheese curd, whereby said conduit means defines a path to allow a quantity of said whey to flow out of said container into said receiver means when pressure is applied to said curd particles, said conduit means including a press drain cloth formed of a porous material covering the outermost surfaces of said sidewalls of said conduit means and being in direct contact with the curd particles, said press drain cloth permitting the passage of said whey to said conduit means while maintaining said curd particles in said container, and means for positioning said press drain cloth adjacent to the outer surfaces of said conduit means, said press drain cloth including a pocket at one end thereof, and said positioning means including a bar attached to said conduit means, said bar being parallel with the upper edge of said conduit means and extending through the pocket in said press drain cloth.
Parent Case Info
This is a division, of application Ser. No. 030,119, filed Apr. 16, 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,064.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3969995 |
Krueger et al. |
Jul 1976 |
|
4263330 |
Streeter et al. |
Apr 1981 |
|
4289793 |
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|
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
30119 |
Apr 1979 |
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