Abstract: Crumbled cheese curd is fed into the top of a hollow perforated column in a chamber maintained at a sub-atmospheric pressure so as to form in the column a pillar of curd devoid of air pockets, the curd in the lower portion of the pillar being compressed by the weight of superimposed curd to press out whey therefrom and consolidate the curd, the whey passing through the perforations in the wall of the column, and the pillar of curd is repeatedly lowered, the bottom end of the pillar severed to form a block of cheese, and fresh curd added to the top of the pillar. During the lowering of the pillar of curd, the gaseous pressure in the space between the column and the wall of the chamber is increased so as to effect a transverse compression of the pillar of curd and thereby reduce the frictional sliding resistance between the pillar of curd and the column.

Abstract: A perforated drainage plate for use as a lining in a cheese mould has parallel strips punched out of the plane of the plate to one side thereof to form two narrow slots on each side of each strip with the ends of the strips merging smoothly into the undeformed part of the plate. The plate is arranged with the strips abutting against the wall of the mould so that a narrow passageway is formed between the undeformed portion of the plate and the wall of the mould for draining away when forced through the slots. The strips are aligned in the direction in which a cheese block slides out of the mould after removal therefrom. The angle of inclination of the ends of the strips relative to the adjacent portion of the plate does not exceed 30 degrees, the width of the slots does not exceed 0.6 mm, and the radius of curvature of the recessed surfaces of each strip is not less than 1 mm.

Abstract: Crumbled cheese curd is fed into the top of a hollow column in a chamber maintained at a sub-atmospheric pressure so as to form in the column a pillar of curd devoid of air pockets, the curd in the lower portion of the pillar being compressed by the weight of superimposed curd to press out whey therefrom and consolidate the curd, the whey passing through perforations in the wall of the column, and the pillar of curd is repeatedly lowered, the bottom end of the pillar severed to form a block of cheese, and fresh curd added to the top of the pillar. The curd is fed into the chamber through a feedpipe connected between the top of the chamber and the outlet of a hopper containing curd under atmospheric pressure, the differential pressure between the hopper and the chamber causing curd to flow along the feedpipe. The feedpipe discharges into a cyclone separator in the top of the chamber for separating air from the curd.