This is a metal cheese press used in production of (you guessed it!) pressed cheeses such as cheddar and gouda. This device is used in the final step of the cheesemaking process to press the coagulated curds into a solid form. The cheese press featured in this picture is of the kind that would have been familiar on many North American farms in the late-19th and early 20th-centuries, prior to the widespread adoption of industrial cheese production.