Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Molding – casting – or shaping
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-28
2001-01-30
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Molding, casting, or shaping
C099S454000, C099S456000, C099S458000, C426S491000, C426S582000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06180153
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to cheesemaking, and more particularly to a cheese block forming machine for continuously making compressed blocks of cheese with a tower having two sections capable of having different vacuum pressures simultaneously.
Cheese block formers are commonly used to produce large blocks of cheeses. They generally do so by providing a tower or column having a large interior area. At the top of the column, a mixture of curd and whey is fed into the column under a vacuum. As the mixture flows down through the column, the whey is drained out of the mixture and the curd, under its own weight, becomes a solid cheese pillar. At the bottom of the column, the pillar is cut into blocks using a cutting apparatus, such as a guillotine blade. The cheese is prepared for packaging and shipment.
To be effective, the machines must be rugged so as to minimize maintenance and labor expenses, efficient, and capable of producing a variety of cheese types (ie., cheddar, colby, monterey jack, mozzarella, brick or muenster). Further, the block formers must produce cheese blocks that have consistent weights from block to block and have a uniform moisture content. Finally, the block formers themselves should allow for independent operation, or for operation in conjunction with multiple cheese block formers.
There have been many attempts to properly mass-produce cheese blocks using large cheese block formers in the prior art, but most have fallen short in at least one of a number of categories. One example is that the prior art processes have not provided for continuous cheese block production. That is, when a cheese block is cut, the vacuum had to be shut off so as to accommodate the opening of the guillotine blade in preparation for cutting the cheese block. Once the vacuum was shut off, curd feed could not be drawn into the block former. After the guillotine was closed, the vacuum could be turned on again. However, time is required to achieve the vacuum necessary to allow curd feed to begin. Therefore, the prior art processes required a certain amount of downtime, and thus there lacked continuity in the cheese block forming processes. Further, downtime in general adds to production expenses and reduces overall efficiency.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a cheese block former that solves the aforementioned problem, thus allowing large blocks of cheese to be produced continuously and without significant down time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides for an apparatus and method for cheese block forming with vacuum separated tower sections that overcomes the aforementioned problem.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the cheese block former has an upper tower section with an inner surface and an outer surface. The inner surface defines an interior area. The upper tower has a curd feed inlet at its top to allow curd to enter into the cheese block former. When the curd is inside the upper tower section, it comes in contact with the inner surface. The cheese block former also has a lower tower section that has inner and outer surfaces, as well as an interior area. The lower tower section is in fluid communication with the upper tower section, and has an inner screen along its inner surface. The inner screen is used to separate the whey from the cheese curd mixture under a vacuum. Finally, the upper tower section has a vacuum separator that serves to connect the upper and lower tower sections. The vacuum separator allows different pressures to exist simultaneously in the upper and lower tower sections to thereby provide continuous cheese block formation because as one block is being removed from the lower tower section, the upper tower section can be kept under high vacuum to draw in more cheese curd to keep the process operating continuously.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a cheese block former is disclosed to continuously make large blocks of bulk cheese from a cheese curd mixture, the block former again having an upper tower section. The upper tower section has top and bottom ends, inner and outer surfaces, and a curd feed inlet to allow curd to enter the interior area of the upper tower section. The block former also has a lower tower section having top and bottom ends. The block former further has separate vacuum sources for the upper and lower tower sections as well as a vacuum separator to permit different pressures to exist simultaneously in the upper and lower tower sections. The lower tower section also has at least one removeable perforated plate extending from the top to the bottom of the section. And finally, the lower tower section has a flange through which vacuum is provided.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method for continuously making blocks of cheese is disclosed. A mixture of curd and whey are fed into an opening at the top of the upper tower section. The mixture is drawn into the tower by providing a vacuum source to the upper section of the tower. The whey is separated from the curd in a lower tower section by providing another vacuum source to the lower tower section. The whey is drained from the cheese through an area between a perforated whey separation screen and an inner surface of the lower tower section. The vacuum source of the upper tower section is separated from the vacuum source of the lower tower section. A solid cheese column is formed from the curd by applying pressure from the weight of the cheese column. Properly sized blocks of solid cheese are obtained while simultaneously feeding additional curd mixture into the upper tower section.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a cheese block former which can continuously produce cheese blocks by providing a vacuum separation means between two sections of a cheese block former.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cheese block former which can produce larger cheese blocks of a variety of cheeses in a sanitary, efficient and reliable way by allowing a block of cheese to be discharged while at the same time drawing in fresh cheese curd.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description and the drawings.
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Halderson Blake A.
Palus Joseph J.
Stoelting, Inc.
Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek SC
Yeung George C.
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