In order to make cheese, milk is added to a cheese kettle, rennet is added to a cheesemaker, and the milk is continuously stirred for the cheesing process by means of agitating and cutting blades. Resultant gelatinous cheese blocks are cut by means of the agitating and cutting blades, for example see DE 29812845 U1. In the cutting process, the cheese curd is cut into grains, if possible grains of a uniform size. The cheese curd is made solid, brittle and fragile through exposure to the rennet and heat. This cheese curd is thus sensitive to mechanical loads, so that the mixing process is performed carefully. The whey must also be siphoned off carefully, so as to transfer the small pieces of cheese curd in a stable, granular state.
According to CH 563142 A, the whey is siphoned off by means of a draining device, in which the whey is siphoned off through a whey collecting chamber that is enveloped by a screen jacket and connected with a drain pipe. The screen jacket is intended to prevent cheese curd from penetrating into the whey collecting chamber.
However, the cheese curd can cause the screen surface to become clogged. In order to prevent this, the draining device can perform alternating swiveling movements in the cheese kettle (CH 573142 A), or the screen jacket or the draining device can be designed to rotate (DE 29812845 U1 or FR 2146532 A).
These two proposals share in common that the draining device for siphoning off the whey is used in the working area of the agitating and cutting blades, and the agitating and cutting blades must therefore be standing still in the siphoning process.
To avoid this disadvantage, it was also proposed that the draining device or whey collecting chamber be arranged in a recess of the cheese kettle wall, so that it cannot come into contact with the rotating agitator (DE 821572), which can have a telescoping design (DE 878577). However, devices of this kind are especially susceptible to blockage, since the screen openings can become easily clogged with pieces of cheese curd.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds