An Improved Apparatus for Use in Making Cheese.
Year: 1896

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for Use in Making Cheese.
I, JAN HELDER, of Dokkum, in the Kingdom of The Netherlands, do hereby
declare the nature of my said invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
It is a well-known fact, that with many sorts of cheese the quality of the same
depends greatly on the more or less perfect separation of the whey or watery part
of the milk from the curd or coagulated part thereof; and it is further well-known,
that to attain that result the mass resulting from the action of the rennet upon
the milk should be reduced to pieces of the smallest size possible. To perform
this in a mechanical or automatic way, a number of apparatus has already been
constructed, but as far as known to me not one of them have up to now met with
the desired success.
In view of the great advantages in industrial as well as in commercial respects
that may be attained by an apparatus performing the separation and reduction
above mentioned in a practically perfect mauner, I have constructed the apparatus
shown in the accompanying drawing, in which similar letters denote similar parts
throughout the different views, and in which:
Figure 1 is a front-view of said improved apparatus, showing a drum, and the
means for moving the same;
Figure 2 is a similar view, the drum being, however, turned for 90° around a
horizontal axis, and shown in section.
Figure 3 is a side-view of said drum, the right hand standard of the apparatus
being left away,
Figure 4 shows one of the standards, and
Figure 5 represents a portion of the mantle of the drum, together with a grate-
like attachment consisting of wires, or thin bars, and forming part of my invention;
this figure being drawn on a larger scale.
The apparatus consists, first of all, of the drum A (Figs. 2 & 3), which is
provided with two bottoms al a 2, two concentric inantles a 3 a 4, and a cover a.
The latter may be secured in position by screws b, or by any other suitable means.
The bottom a 2 is furnished with a cock or valve c, through which steam, hot air
or the like may be admitted into the spaces between said two bottoms, as well as
said concentric mantles. The purpose of said steam or the like is, as a matter of
course, to heat, and keep hot, the mass contained within said drum.
The mantle a4 of the drum is provided with two pairs of tracks d running
around said inantle, and adapted to support the whole drum with its contents upon
the rolls e (Fig. 1). The latter may be rotated by any suitable means, so as
thereby to cause the drum to turn around a horizontal axis, that may be thought
to pass through the centers of the cover or lid a and the bottoms a¹ a 2. The
mantle of the drum is, further, furnished with pivots f (Figs. 1 & 2), by means of
which the drum may be. supported independent of the rolls e afore mentioned.
Said pivots come into use, when the drum is to be turned into a horizontal position
(Fig. 2). This position is the first employed in the process, and the drum is then
provided with a loose sieve g, placed upon the bottom a'; said sieve has handles g'
extending up into close proximity to the cover a.
In order to raise the drum from the rolls e, and to support it in its horizontal
position, the apparatus possesses two standards (Figs. 1, 2 & 4) having each a

page_text: threaded vertical spindle i, and a hand-wheel k fixed to said spindle. The latter
support slides forming the benrings for the pivots f.
In using my improved apparatus I first raise the drum from the rolls e by means
of the parts ki and just mentioned, and I then turn the drum for 90° so as to
bring it into horizontal position, and I fix it in this position by any suitable means.
The screws are now loosened, the cover a is removed, the sieve is put into the
drum, and the latter is then filled with the milk to be turned into cheese. Sail
milk is first turned into curd and whey by adding rennet thereto, and the whey is
then let off through the piece of tube m (Figs. 2 & 3). There remains, however,
a large portion of the whey within or among the curd, and this portion is now to
be removed.
For this purpose I first cut the curd (which is a comparatively solid mass) into a
large number of parallel prisms by drawing the sieve through it, which may be
performed by any suitable means. The sieve proper consists of steel-wire, is rather
wide-meshed, and strongly strained or stretched, so that the wires on being drawn
upwards through the mass cut the latter into a large number of prisms.
The sieve, thus removed, is now replaced by some sets of curved knives a
(Fig. 5). The latter are preferably formed also by steel-wires, and I firmly
connect the wires belonging to one set by plates adapted to take between
guides psecured to the inner side of the wall a 3. After said sets of knives n
are secured in place, the cover or lid a is screwed fast, so as to be tight, and the
whole drum is then turned into vertical position, and lowere I down upon the rolls e.
The slides or hearings are lowered as far as to get free of the pivots , and the
drum is now caused to rotate by the mediation of said rolls e.
Owing to the weight of the mass contained within the drum, the lower portions
of the sume are pressed by the upper portions into and among the knives or
wires n of that set or sets, which on its, or their, revolution passes, or pass,
jast through the lower half of its, or their, way. The prisms afore mentioned are
thus cut into pieces, and the rotation of the drum is continued until the pieces
produced are so small that the mass represents a sort of pulp, without, however,
being a pulp proper in the true sense of this word. The mass is now fit to be
let off the drum (after having the latter again turned into horizontal position) and
to be pressed in the usual way, so as to remove the whey freed by the cutting
operation described. The curd remaining is then further treated in the usual way
known to every one versed in the art in question, and I have therefore thought it
unnecessary to describe the operations employed for turning the curd into
eatable cheese, the more so as the said operations have nothing to do with the
apparatus forming the subject matter of my invention.
The main purpose of my invention is to produce a mass, that is of perfectly
-uniform condition throughout its whole bulk."
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In an apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
adapted to be tightly closed, and with means for rotating it around a horizontal
axis, of means for turning said drum also around another horizontal axis
forming angles of ninety degrees with said former axis, for the purpose as
described.
2. In an apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
adapted to he tightly closed, and to be rotated around a horizontal axis by means
of rolls or their equivalents, of frames having means adapted to raise said drum
from said rolls, to support it in its raised position, and to allow turning of the said
drum around another horizontal axis forming angles of ninety degrees with said
former axis, for the purpose ne described.
3. In an apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
adapted to be tightly closed, and to he rotated around a horizontal axis by ineans

page_text: of rolls or their equivalents, of frames having vertical threaded spindles carrying
slides forming bearings adapted to support said drum by means of pivots
secured to the said drum; means for turning said spindles, substantially as
described.
4. In an apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
adapted to be tightly closed, and to be rotated around one or the other of two
horizontal axes forming angles of ninety degrees, of a sieve adapted to be placed
upon the bottom of said drum, and to cover the whole surface of the latter; said
sieve having handles extending up to the cover of the said drum, substantially as
described.
5. In au apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
adapted to be tightly closed, and to be rotated around one or the other of two
horizontal axes forming angles of ninety degrees. of sets of knives adapted to be
attached to, and to be removed from, the mantle of said drum, for the purpose as
described.
6. In an apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
adapted to be tightly closed, and to be rotated around one or the other of two
horizontal axes forming angles of ninety degrees, of sets of knives adapted to be
attached to, and to be removed from, the mantle of said drum; said sets consisting
of curved parallel knives arranged so as to extend in the circumference of said
mantle, substantially as described.
7. In an apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
adapted to be tightly closed, and to be rotated around one or the other of two
horizontal axes forming angles of ninety degrees, of sets of knives adapted to be
attached to, and to be removed from, the mantle of said drum; said sets consisting
each of curved parallel wires connected by plates, and adapted to be arranged so
as to extend in the circumference of said mantle; means for detachably attaching
said plates to the said mantle, for the purpose as described.
8. In an apparatus for use in making cheese, the combination with a drum
having a double bottom, a double mantle, and a cover adapted to be tightly
closed, and with means for rotating said drum around one or the other of two
horizontal axes forming angles of ninety degrees with each other, of a wide-
meshed sieve consisting of strained wires, and having handles extending up to said
cover, and of sets of parallel curved knives connected, and adapted to be arranged,
so as to extend in the circumference of said mantle; said sieve baving an extent
equal to the inner of said bottom; said knives consisting also of wire, substantially
as described.
Dated this 8th day of To 1900
By Geo. Thos. Hyde,
JAN HELDER,
1 Broad Street Buildings, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.