Method for forming blocks of natural cheese from cheese curd

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG.
1, the apparatus comprises a hollow casing 10 of rectangular section mounted vertically on a hollow casing 11, the lower end of the casing 10 opening into the interior of the casing 11.
The interior of the casing 10 forms an upper vacuum chamber 12 and the interior of the casing 11 forms a lower vacuum chamber 13.
A guillotine blade 15 is mounted in guides (not shown) on the lower end of the casing 10, within the chamber 13, the blade being movable by a piston and cylinder motor 17 between a closed position in which it seals off the upper chamber 12 from the lower chamber 13, and an open position in which it is withdrawn wholly clear of the lower end of the upper chamber.
A thin-walled tubular column 20 of rectangular section is mounted in the upper chamber 12 with its lower end spaced close to the guillotine blade 15, when in the closed position, and a cyclone separator 21 is mounted on the upper end of the column and projects upwards through an opening in the top of the casing 10, the cyclone separator being a fluid tight fit in the opening in the casing.
The walls of the column 20 are perforated and co-operate with the casing 10 to form therebetween a space for drainage of liquid.
The walls of the column can conveniently be formed by perforated liners on the inside wall of the casing 10.
The liners may consist of thin stainless steel sheets, each sheet having small elongated strips punched out of the plane of the sheet to form two narrow slots on each side of each strip with the ends of the strips merging smoothly into the body of the sheet, as described in my United States patent application Ser.
No.
672,954 filed Apr.
2, 1976.
Such strips may be approximately 3/8 of an inch long and 1/16 of an inch wide with the strips one inch apart in rows, the strips in each row being staggered relative to the strips in the adjacent row.
The sheets are arranged so that the strips are vertical and project from the outside surfaces of the sheets