IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Oxland, of Plymouth, for the Inven-
tion of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE."
Scaled the 27th October 1853, and dated the 1st September 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Oxland
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st September 1858.
I, ROBERT ONLAND, of Plymouth, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
be as follows:-
to
To convert waste or refuse matters, such as woollen rags, hair, horn
shavings, hoofs, fish or animal offal, into such condition as shall render
their elementary constituents, especially the nitrogen, most readily
available for the purposes of manure, I digest these substances sepa-
rately or together in sulphuric acid and water in a lead boiler with
slight heat until they are reduced to a homogenous pulpy mass; then
add finely ground boue-ash or animal charcoal, and turn the mixture
aside to a heap or expose it on hot plates to a low heat until suffi-
ciently dry to allow of its being ground to powder in a suitable mill.
The proportions of the materials to the acid employed may be much
varied, but I have obtained excellent results by digesting two parts of.
the woollen rags, hair, &c. in one part of sulphuric acid, and adding

page_text: thereto one and a half parts of ground bone-ash, obtaining therefrom,
when dried, a mixture easily ground to a fine powder containing the
most valuable constituents of guano in large proportions. Instead of
using the acid, or as a preparation for its use, I reduce the substances
before specified to a condition suitable for grinding to fine powder by
closing them in an iron or earthen retort kept at a temperature of 300°
to 400° Fahrenheit by a flue circulating around it, at the same time
passing through the retort steami super-heated to a temperature of 300°
to 400° until the contents are rendered perfectly dry and brittle. The
steam issuing from the retort should be passed through sulphuric acid
for the condensing of any ammoniacal products evolved through the
employment of too high a temperature.
My claim is for the use of sulphuric acid, as herein described, for
the manufacture of manures from the substances specified, and for the
employment of superheated steam for bringing those substances into a
condition suitable for reducing them to a powder for use as a manure
either alone or in combination with sulphuric acid, as herein de-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Oxland in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ROBERT OXLAND, of Plymouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Oxland, Her special licence
that I, the said Robert Oxland, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Oxland, my exécutors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Chan-

page_text: nel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Robert Oxland, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Oxland, do hereby de-
clare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof (that is to say):
These improvements consist in the employment of sulphuric acid, of
super-heated steam, of heated atmospheric air, or of the heated products
of combustion of coke, coal, or other fuel, for the manufacture of
manure from woollen rags, shoddy, hair, horn, or other refuse animal
matter or fishi.
The substances above mentioned, either separately or together, I
digest in sulphuric acid at a temperature of 100 to 200° Fahren-
heit. For this purpose I employ a lead or thick cast iron boiler,
which should be preferably of an oblong form, say eight feet long, four
feet broad, and two feet deep. The materials should be put into the
acid in small quantities at a time, so that every portion may be brought
into perfect contact with it; the addition may be continued as long as
the action of the acid is maintained, the whole of the mixture having
been reduced to a homogeneous pulpy mass; to this should then be
added bone-ash or animal charcoal ground to fine powder; and after
being well mixed the whole should be removed and preferably set
aside to a heap for some time, or at once dried by exposure on iron.
plates or brickwork to a low degree of heat until sufficiently dry to
allow of its being ground to powder.
The proportions of the materials employed may be much varied, but
excellent results have becu obtained by digesting two parts of woollen
rags,
hair, &c. in one part of sulphuric acid, and then adding thereto one
and a half part of ground bone-ash. This product, carefully dried at a

page_text: low temperature, may be easily ground to a fine powder containing the
niost valuable constituents of guana in large proportions.
Instead of using the acid, or as a preparation for its use, the sub-
stances before specified may be reduced to a suitable condition for
grinding into fine powder by putting them into an iron or earthen
retort kept at a temperature of about three hundred degrees Fahrenheit
by a flue circulating around it, at the same time passing through the
retort steam super-heated to a temperature of 300 to 400° Fahrenheit
by passing it from the boiler where generated, through a series of
heated iron tubes, until the contents are perfectly dry, and sufficiently
friable for grinding.
The temperature should not be sufficiently high to drive off any
gaseous matters from the contents; but to obviate any loss from the
accidental employment of excess of heat, the steam issuing from the
retort should be passed through a pipe dipping a few inches under the
surface of dilute sulphuric acid, which will absorb any ammoniacal
vapors evolved. Instead of super-heated steam, atmospheric air heated
in a similar manner may be employed; or preferably the products of
combustion obtained by passing atmospheric air over coke or other fuel
kept red hot in pipes or retorts.
My claim is for the use of sulphuric acid, as above described, and for
the employment of super-heated steam, heated air, or the products of
the combustion of coke or other fuel, for the conversion of refuse
animal matter into a form suitable for employment as a manure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Oxland, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JOHN TRELOAR,
Plymouth.
ROBERT OXLAND. (L.S.)