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US 4,308,791 AGranted
Enclosed finishing vat for cheese making
AssigneeDEC International, Inc.
InventorGretz L. Hazen
Life of this patent
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AssigneeDEC International, Inc.
InventorGretz L. Hazen
Estimating the term…
An enclosed finishing vat for cheese making. The vat has a generally oval configuration and an agitating unit is mounted for reciprocating movement on a frame above the vat and includes a vertical drive shaft that extends through a slot in the top of the vat. The lower end of the drive shaft carries a rotatable support arm and at each end of the arm both a stirring paddle and an unloading paddle are pivotally mounted. The stirring paddle and unloading paddle extend in opposite directions from the respective end of the arm. In operation, the agitating unit reciprocates along the length of the vat, and the arm is rotated such that the stirring paddles lead in the direction of rotation and stir the curd, while the unloading paddles trail and float on the curd. To unload the curd from the vat, a discharge opening in the bottom of the vat is opened and the direction of rotation of the arm is reversed, whereby the unloading paddles lead in the direction of rotation and scrape along the bottom of the vat and deliver the curd through the discharge opening.
A finishing vat for cheese making, comprising a vat having a generally flat bottom wall and a side wall and adapted to contain a quantity of cheese curd and whey, an agitator unit mounted to move in a reciprocating path relative to the vat, said agitator unit including a vertical drive shaft and reversible drive means to selectively rotate the shaft in a stirring direction and an opposite unloading direction, an arm secured to the lower end of the shaft and disposed within the vat, a stirring paddle pivotally connected for floating vertical movement to the arm, said stirring paddle having a curd engaging edge facing in said stirring direction and disposed to stir the curd as the shaft is rotated in said stirring direction, a whey discharge outlet in the bottom wall of the vat, a curd discharge outlet in the bottom wall of the vat, and separate from the whey outlet, and an unloading paddle pivotally connected for free vertical movement to the arm, said unloading paddle having a curd engaging unloading edge facing in said unloading direction and disposed to ride along the bottom wall of the vat to deliver the entire quantity of curd in the vat through the curd discharge outlet when the shaft is rotated in the unloading direction, stirring and unloading selectively occurring on reversal of said drive means and without removal of said paddles from said arm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.