During the 1890s and early 1900s Joseph Gornall was employed by the council to give instruction in cheese making to the farmhouse producers of Lancashire. There was huge variation in taste and quality, due to the numerous small farms with limited amounts of milk, all producing cheese. Left over milk would be stored and added to in subsequent days until there was enough curd to make a cheese. Gornall advised the producers of the importance of keeping detailed records regarding all stages of production so that they might have a better knowledge of how their best cheeses had been made. He also developed a standardised method of blending curds of differing maturity to create a Lancashire cheese.

In order to make this method easier and more hygienic for small farmers, Gornall engaged the help of an ironmonger in Garstang to design and construct the 1892 Patent cheese maker. Essentially this was a large portable vat used to collect and curdle small volumes of milk. After letting the curd settle in the vat, the cylinder would be turned to drain out the excess whey, first one way then the other, until the curd was dry enough to cut into blocks and remove. Cheese could then be made with the blended curd, eaten ‘young’ after two to three months as creamy Lancashire, or matured for up to two years as extra special tasty Lancashire.