Abstract: An apparatus for separating curd fines from whey including a closed housing having an inlet to receive whey that contains a substantial portion of curd fines. The whey is introduced onto an inclined delivery trough and is discharged from the lower end of the trough onto a stationary inclined screen which is inclined in the opposite direction from the delivery trough. In passing from the delivery trough to the screen the whey passes through a slot which distributes the whey in a thin layer over the screen. In flowing down the screen a portion of the whey drains through the screen and is collected in a whey bin, while the remaining portion of the whey and fines, in the form of a slurry, is collected in a separate bin and can be returned to the cheese making vat.

Abstract: Cheese having zones of contrasting characteristics is prepared by filling a cheese vat with milk, inserting in the vat a partition that prevents free fluid interchange between parts of the vat to divide the milk into separate parts, treating the different parts of milk so that cheese made from one part will exhibit characteristics different from those of cheese made from milk of another part, treating each part to form a mass of curd and whey, removing the partition to unify the interior of the vat, cutting the curd of each part and stirring the pieces of curd until the pieces of all parts of the vat are mixed throughout the vat.

Abstract: Blocks of curd, solidified and formed in open tank-like trucks, are transferred to a brine tank by overhead monorail and floated in brine to withdraw moisture. The blocks are moved along the tank by a floating boom and/or an air-induced circulation of the brine solution, and are removed at one end of the tank by an inclined, partially submerged, conveyor. The blocks are conveyed from the tank, seal in an evacuated bag, weighed, and conveyed to a crating station where a crate is placed up side down over the block and the block and crate are rotated vertically by a tiltable portion of a conveyor to invert the crate and block for further handling, storage and curing.

Abstract: A conveyor mechanism for automatically removing articles, such as cheeses, floating in a liquid includes a horizontal section adapted to be positioned below the surface of the liquid and an integral upwardly inclined section. Articles that float upon the horizontal section are moved to the inclined section which lifts them out of the liquid and delivers them to an elevated point. The articles are prevented from jamming the conveyor by moving stepped walls located on either side of the horizontal section at the location where jamming is likely to occur. The stepped walls move longitudinally back and forth 180.degree. out of phase with one another to gently bump and align the articles. In the preferred embodiment, a single motor drives the conveyor and rotates cam wheels which move the stepped walls.

Abstract: In a milk processing system wherein heat treated milk is initially separated into high-fat and low-fat milk and subsequently reconstituted by adding a selected proportion of high-fat milk to the low-fat milk, control means are provided for automatically controlling the proportion of high-fat milk mixed with the low-fat milk to provide a milk blend of standardized butterfat content which is then homogenized. The control means includes a photoelectric monitoring system for continuously measuring the butterfat content of a sample of the homogenized milk as the latter flows continuously through the processing system under pressure of the homogenizer in the system. The butterfat content measurement is converted to digital signals which are compared to a pre-set digital signal corresponding to a desired butterfat content level to produce a digital corrective signal which controls a digital valve regulating the proportion of high-fat milk blended with the low-fat milk in the processing system.

Abstract: A process and apparatus for the continuous manufacture of cheese starting with the ultrafiltration retentate of milk or a milk product until the solids content is approximately that of the desired cheese. Additional constituents such fat are added so that the resulting cheese precursor or precheese has solids content and fat to solids ratio substantially the same as the desired cheese. The cheese precursor is heated and mixed with rennet. The rate of flow of this mixture into a coagulation cylinder is controlled so that the flow in the coagulation cylinder is laminar throughout. The temperature of the cylinder wall is maintained slightly below that of entering mixture so as to obtain, in equilibrium, the formation of a coagulation front which is substantially plane and at right angles to the axis of the coagulation cylinder, thereby homogenizing the texture of the resulting curd. The cylinder cross section is approximately that of the desired cheese.

Abstract: A horizontal supply conveyor carrying a board with a number of loaves of cheese thereon is mounted for vertical adjustment in front of the open ends of a multiplicity of horizontal guideways disposed in superimposed and in juxtaposed relationship. By selective adjustment and selective operation of the conveyor the board is moved into registry with a selected one of said guideways whereupon a pushing device pushes the board from the conveyor and into the guideway in which similar loaded boards are stored the last one of which is thus discharged from the rear of the selected guideway onto another conveyor to be moved back to the first conveyor by transporting means which include a device for turning over the loaf. The walls separating adjacent units constitute ducts for the supply and discharge of air to the guideways accommodating the loaves of cheese.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a device for the continuous production of cheese material through coagulation of milk, comprising a horizontal trough-shaped container, whose ends extend funnel-shaped toward the flattened face edges, a flexible inner wall covering the container wall on the inside, which inner wall can be displaced along the wall of the container and runs as endless band around the face edges of the container, a device for feeding at the inlet and a predetermined amount of milk suitably pretreated for the manufacture of cheese, a transportation of such introduced milk from such inlet end to the outlet end by means of the flexible inner wall at such a velocity that during such a displacement inside the container the milk coagulates to a coagulate which can be cut and, further, comprising a cutting device at the outlet end of the container for cutting the coagulate to cheese curd, which is removed by the rotating inner wall over the face edge at the outlet end of the container for the purpose of furthe

Abstract: An apparatus for carrying out the process for solubilizing a suspension of casein in powder form in an aqueous medium, the casein suspension containing at most 270 g of casein per liter of aqueous medium, which comprises leaving the casein suspension to age for at least 10 minutes, after which a solubilizing agent is progressively added to this suspension until a homogeneous solution is obtained.Application to acid casein, the solubilizing agent being an alkaline agent. Application to phosphocalcic and rennet caseins, the solubilizing agent being a calcium-complexing agent.

Abstract: A dasher is described for whipping fluid food products in a chamber. In this embodiment the dasher includes axially spaced frame members supported in the chamber and at least two cages mounted between the frame members. At least one of the cages is radially displaced from a longitudinal axis of the chamber. At least one of the cages is rotatable with respect to one of the other cages.

Abstract: Cheese manufacturing operations of demolding and brine soaking are carried out by a method and with an apparatus wherein the operations are automated and carried out in a continuous manner starting with placing cheese molds on a conveyer on which they are moved to a demolding station where cheese is ejected from the molds, and continuing with movement of the cheese blocks from the demolding station to the brine soaking tank. These blocks are introduced into the brine soaking tank in regular rows, with the rows being advanced from one end of the tank to the other.

Abstract: White cheese or yogurt is made by coagulating a coagulatable milk composition to form curd and serum in one chamber of a container having two intercommunicating chambers, and changing the orientation of the container so that serum liberated during coagulation drains into the other chamber. The curds are prevented from passing from one chamber to the other by a divider which serves to define the two chambers and provide communicating passages between the chambers. This process enables white cheese or yogurt to be formed in a container from which it is to be consumed, without necessitating handling of pre-formed white cheese or yogurt during packaging.

Abstract: A horizontal supply conveyor carrying a board with a number of loaves of cheese thereon is mounted for vertical adjustment in front of the open ends of a multiplicity of horizontal guideways disposed in superimposed and in juxtaposed relationship. By selective adjustment and selective operation of the conveyor the board is moved into registry with a selected one of said guideways whereupon a pushing device pushes the board from the conveyor and into the guideway in which similar loaded boards are stored the last one of which is thus discharged from the rear of the selected guideway onto another conveyor to be moved back to the first conveyor by transporting means which include a device for turning over the loaf.

Abstract: In a heat exchanger unit having a heating section and a regenerative section, the product to be heat treated is first passed through the regenerative section to preheat the product, thence through the heating section and then back through the regenerative section to recover heat from the product. In the regenerative section, the return flow of the product is counter-current to its incoming flow; but when the exchanger unit is to be heated, as for cleaning or sterilizing, a liquid other than the product is passed through the regenerative and heating sections in the same path as the product flow except that the incoming and return flows of the liquid through the regenerative section are concurrent to each other.

Abstract: A process for the production of cheese which comprises treating milk by ultrafiltration to obtain a liquid product containing at least some of the protein constituents of the milk, subjecting this liquid to a heat treatment to bring it to the coagulation temperature, renneting the liquid product after inoculation with suitable ferments, introducing a batch of the renneted liquid into at least one vertical chamber in which it is left to coagulate in the stationary phase until a coherent mass is obtained, displacing the coagulated mass obtained upwards under the effect of a pressure uniformly distributed over the base of the mass, and cutting unit slabs of coagulum which will each constitute a cheese at the top of the chamber after the mass has emerged by a predetermined height.

Abstract: An improvement in the method and apparatus for obtaining the specific fat content of milk wherein whole milk and skimmed milk are mixed together as they flow, and the amount of skimmed milk is added according to the previously determined fat content of the whole milk, the fluid quantities of the whole milk and skimmed milk being continuously measured. The method and apparatus are improved by continuously taking samples of the whole milk and continuously determining their fat content, and in between taking the samples and the admixture of the skimmed milk while the whole milk is retained in its supply line for the period of time between the taking and/or evaluation of the particular sample and the controlling of the skimmed milk admixture.

Abstract: Apparatus for the continuous production of curds for use in cheese making, wherein renneted or acidified milk or mixture thereof is introduced under pulsation into a conduit whose wall is deformed under the effect of the pulsations and in which the curd is formed, and wherein the curd is collected at the outlet end of this conduit.