Certain types of cheese are formed and produced in large circular blocks or wheels which are cut to smaller sizes for sale. A cheese wheel often has a substantially flat top and bottom and has a curvilinear outer circumferential surface. Some examples of cheese types produced in a wheel include hard cheeses such as Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and Pecorino, as well as soft cheeses such as Gouda and Edam.
Although cheese production is a carefully monitored process, the size and shape of a block of cheese can only be controlled to a certain extent. Accordingly, the outer peripheral (diametral) dimension of a block quantity, or wheel, often varies. At retail or wholesale, cheese is often sold by weight, or in uniform sizes and shapes. Because of the variance in the size or shape of an unprocessed block of cheese, steps must be taken to produce cheese portions with a specified size.
In dimensioning portions of a cheese wheel, a device or tool is typically used to cut the cheese wheel. When a cutting device or tool passes through cheese, the interface between the tool and the cheese generates high levels of friction. When a slicing blade passes through cheese and the two sides of the cut are unable to deflect away from the surface of the blade, the cheese presses against the sides of the blade, resulting in high levels of friction. In order to reduce friction, it is preferred that the cheese separate from the sides of the blade. When multiple blades pass through a cheese wheel simultaneously, the ability of the sides of the cut to deflect from the blade may be reduced, and increased friction may result. Such friction can create irregular or damaged edges on the cut cheese, requires more power, and produces greater wear and tear on the cutting device.
In order to reduce friction, it is common for a cutting system to employ wires as cutting devices. However, a wire cut can be difficult to control with precision.
The height of a cheese wheel is often such that it is desirable to cut the wheel laterally, transverse to the central axis of the wheel. This results in stacked slabs or partial wheels, or smaller wheels. The slabs are also frequently cut to wheel wedges or food service quarters, in which the dictates of exact size and weight packaging for commercial uses must be followed. Accordingly, as the size of a wheel tends to vary, the production of specific-sized portions often requires removing the outer diametral periphery of the wheel to obtain a uniform diameter for the cheese wheel.
One method for cutting a cheese wheel involves using a manually-operated band saw. In this method, cheese wheels are first uwrapped and placed on a plastic lined pallet. One wheel is then secured in a fixture and placed on a band saw table. The fixture is manually adjusted for cutting the wheel into two identical halves. The wheel is then fed against the open blade. Once cut, the two halves are retrieved from behind the blade. Next, one of the halves is again placed in the fixture, which is adjusted so that the half is then cut into quarters. The quarters are then retrieved, and the other half is then placed in the fixture and cut. The fixture is then removed and a second fixture is utilized for cutting each of the four quarters into eighths. The eighths then are sequentially secured in a third fixture for making additional cuts.
There is a need for a more efficient method of dividing large masses of cheese.