초록 ▼

An apparatus for matting and milling cheese curd. A mixture of curds and whey is fed onto a porous endless belt of a first conveyor to form a layer of curds with the whey draining through the belt. As the leading end of the curd layer reaches the downstream end of the first conveyor, the speed of th

An apparatus for matting and milling cheese curd. A mixture of curds and whey is fed onto a porous endless belt of a first conveyor to form a layer of curds with the whey draining through the belt. As the leading end of the curd layer reaches the downstream end of the first conveyor, the speed of the first conveyor is reduced to match the speed of a second conveyor which is located at a slightly lower level than the first conveyor, so that the curd layer is transferred from the first conveyor to the second conveyor while the conveyors are operating at the same speed. A third conveyor is positioned beneath the second conveyor and operates at the same speed as the second conveyor. As the curd layer is transferred to the third conveyor it is inverted. A fourth conveyor is positioned beneath the downstream end of the third conveyor and the curd layer is transferred to the fourth conveyor while the fourth conveyor is operating at the same speed as the third conveyor. The curd layer is then discharged from the fourth conveyor to a curd mill which acts to cut the curd layer into cube-like chunks.

대표청구항 ▼

In a continuous cheese matting apparatus first conveyor means including a first porous conveying member and having an upstream end and a downstream end, feed means for feeding separate quantities of curds and whey to the upstream end of said first conveyor means to form a plurality of curd layers th

In a continuous cheese matting apparatus first conveyor means including a first porous conveying member and having an upstream end and a downstream end, feed means for feeding separate quantities of curds and whey to the upstream end of said first conveyor means to form a plurality of curd layers that are spaced along the length of said first conveyor means, each curd layer having a leading end and a trailing end, said whey draining through said first porous conveying member, second conveyor means including a second porous conveying member and having an upstream end disposed at a lower level than the downstream end of said first conveyor means and disposed to receive each curd layer from the downstream end of said first conveyor means, means responsive to the leading end of each curd layer approaching the downstream end of said first conveyor means for varying the speed of said first conveyor means to approximate the speed of said second conveyor means so that each curd layer is transferred from said first conveyor means to said second conveyor means while said first conveyor means and said second conveyor means are operating at approximately the same speed.