Apparatus for producing plasticized cheese from raw curd

Claim 1

Apparatus for processing raw cheese curd into compact, homogeneous cheese, comprising: means providing an elevated hot water bath for softening the curd; conveyor belt means for moving cheese curd continuously through said bath from adjacent one end thereof to a place adjacent the opposite end thereof without removal from said bath; means for feeding the curd in a shallow layer onto said belt; means for elevating the softened curd out of the bath and discharging it downwardly; and means below said bath for agglomerating the softened curd, forming it into a shallow horizontally moving stream, and continually progressively compressing and kneading said stream into a ribbon of homogeneous cheese; a kneading belt having a receiving end beneath the discharge from the bath; means for delivering the discharged softened curd downwardly onto said kneading belt; and a plurality of kneading rolls positioned above sAid kneading belt, spaced longitudinally thereof, and operable for rolling kneading of the curd in the form of a ribbon against the belt; a plurality of gathering baffles disposed immediately above said kneading belt and converging in the direction of curd travel thereon, for narrowing and thickening the curd ribbon between the successive rolls.