Cheese molding process and apparatus therefor
AssigneeStainless Steel Fabricating, Inc.
InventorDonald G. Worden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for molding a cheese piece of a desired shape comprises filling a mold having a hollow interior of the desired shape with softened, uncured cheese, cooling the mold to harden and partially cure the cheese, and then opening the mold to release the cheese piece under the surface of a cold brine so that the fluid pressure of the brine prevents the shape of the partially cured cheese piece from being distorted. An apparatus for automatically performing the described method is disclosed.
Claims13
An apparatus for molding a cheese piece of a desired shape comprises at least one openable hollow mold of the desired interior shape, means for filling said mold with soft cheese, means for cooling the cheese in the mold to partially harden the cheese, a tank adapted to hold a liquid bath and means for transporting said mold to a location in the tank where the mold is opened to release the partially hardened cheese piece below the surface of the liquid bath so that the fluid pressure of the liquid will prevent the shape of the cheese piece from being distorted.
An apparatus for molding cheese pieces of a desired shape includes:
- (a) a plurality of mold assemblies each including a hollow openable mold, said mold assemblies being joined together to form an endless belt,
- (b) a filling station for filling the molds with soft cheese,
- (c) a cooling station with means for spraying the cheese filled molds with a cooling liquid,
- (d) a tank for a liquid bath,
- (e) means for driving the endless belt to transport the mold assemblies from the filling station, to the cooling station and into the tank, and
- (f) guide means which retain the openable molds in a closed position at the filling station and at the cooling station and permit the molds to open in the tank to release the partially hardened cheese.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.