Cheese press

A cheese press at the Hadley Farm Museum in Hadley, Massachusetts

A cheese press is a device for pressing whey from curds when making cheese. Pressing influences the cheese's hardness and texture and will also determine the shape of the block or wheel of cheese.^[1]

Some sources state that Hazel Irwin, who received a patent for a cheese press in 1808,^[2] was the first American woman to receive a patent,^[3] although others state that Hannah Slater in 1793,^[4][5] or Mary Kies, in 1809, was the first.^[6][7]

References

1. Catherine Donnelly, ed. (2016), "Press", The Oxford Companion to Cheese, Oxford University Press, pp. 588–589, ISBN 9780199330881
2. ""Not for Ornament": Patenting Activity by Nineteenth-Century Women Inventors", by B. Zorina Khan, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, xxxi:2 (Autumn, 2000), 159–195" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-13. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
3. Progress and Potential: A profile of women inventors on U.S. patents Archived 2021-09-16 at the Wayback Machine United States Patent and Trademark Office.
4. "Women Inventors | History Detectives | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
5. "10 Key Dates in Women's History: The Early Modern Period | Britannica Blog". blogs.britannica.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
6. Blakemore, Erin. "Meet Mary Kies, America's First Woman to Become a Patent Holder". Retrieved 2016-08-11.
7. "First Women Inventors | History of American Women". www.womenhistoryblog.com. January 3, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.