IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF ASHES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE, AND IN THE SEPARATION OF CINDERS THEREPROM, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLI- CABLE TO THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Petrie, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PREPARATION OF ASHES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE, AND IN THE
SEPARATION OF CINDERS THEREPROM, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLI-
CABLE TO THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
BRICKS AND TILES."
Sealed the 13th May 1870, and dated the 18th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Petrie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1869.
I, GEORGE PETRIE, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PREPARATION OF ASHES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE, AND IN THE
SEPARATION OF CINDERS THEREPROM, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND
TILES,"; to be as follows:-
The object of my 'Invention as regards ashes for manure is to operate
upon them so as to obtain economically a finely divided condition.to.be

page_text: mixed with fertilizing substances as now practised. To accomplish this
I propose to use a series of sieves of different degrees of fineness of mesh
placed one above another, and to which a reciprocating or "jigger
motion is imparted. The uppermost of these sieves allows the particles
of material beneath a certain size to pass to the second, and so on
through the series, each sieve delivering that which will not pass
through it into a separate chamber, the last containing the material in
the required condition.
I also propose to use a pair or pairs of crushing rollers to receive and
pulverize the coarser particles which are rejected by one or more of the
sieves.
At present I propose to adapt the said rollers to the last sieve only,
and to cause them to deliver the material into the last chamber. The
coarsest particles which are delivered into the first and second chambers
may be used as fuel or for other ordinary purpose.
I also propose to feed the first sieve by an elevator, the lower part of
which extends into the material to be operated upon. Instead of the
sieves being placed over each other they may be disposed in one horizontal
plaue.
The above-described apparatus I also apply to the preparation of
materials used in the manufacture of bricks and tiles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Petric in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 18th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
PETRIE, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
⚫
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Petrie, Her special license that
I, the said George Petrie, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Petrie, my executors, adminis-
drators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,

page_text: 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 Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PREPARATION OF ASHES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE, AND IN THE SEPARA-
TION OF CINDERS THEREFROM, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE
PREPARATION OF MATERIALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Petrie, 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 George Petrie, do hereby declaro
that nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (and accompanying Drawings) (that is to say) :-
The object of my Invention as regards ashes for manure is to operate
upon them so as to obtain economically a finely divided condition to
be mixed with human excrement or other fertilizing agents, and I also
at the same time separate the coarser particles or cinders therefrom to
be used as fuel or for other ordinary purposes.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a side, elevation
partly in section of the apparatus I employ; Fig. 2 in an end view thereof
also partly in section, and Fig. 3 a plan view.
In describing this apparatus I shall refer to certain arrangements. by
which various parts are driven, but these arrangements may of course be
varied, and will necessarily be so varied according to the convenience
afforded by the premises where they are employed, but those which. I
shall describe are now in commercial use.
At 1 is the framework bolted to a foundation 2; at 3. is a wooden box.
provided on its interior sides with ledges 4 similar to those used in
ordinary drawers, and between these are placed sliding frames 5, 6, 7,.8,
furnished for a portion of their surfaces with wire or other sieves 9, 10,
11, 12, and the fronts of these frames have handles 13 by which any
one of them inay be withdrawn at pleasure. The sieves 9, 10, 11, 12,
are of different degrees of fineness in mesh, that at the top being the

page_text: coarsest, and those beneath it successively finer, the last having such
apertures as will only allow such ash to pass as is suitable for the
.desired purpose. To the box 3 are attached four lugs 14, which are
:connected by rods 15 to standards 16 by universal joints, one of which
as I construct them is shew at the attached Fig. 4. To the lug 14 is
jointed a link 18, which at its other end is jointed to the rod 15, but
the centre pins of these joints are at right angles to each other, and
this arrangement is adapted to the standards 16 as well as to the lugs
on the box 3.
At 19 is the main driving shaft, upon which there is a
pulley 20 driving by means of a strap another pulley 21, the shaft 22
of which carries a bevil wheel 23 gearing into one upon an upright
shaft 24, the lower end of which is formed as a crank 25 driving
a pin 26 attached to the upper part of the box 3. When therefore
rotatory motion is communicated to the aforesaid pullies and wheels the
crank 25 will cause the box 3 and consequently sieves 9, 10, 11, 12, to
oscillate upon its joints with a compound or "jigger" motion. Upon
the line shaft 19 is a pulley 27 from whence a strap proceeds to another
pulley 28, on the axis of which is a roller 29 running nearly in con-
tact with a second roller 30, and the two are geared together by
pinions 31, the one being rather smaller than the other so as to cause
the rollers 29, 30, to run at different surface speeds. The line shaft 19
by means of bevil wheels drives a shaft 32 on which is a pulley 33
communicating motion by means of a strap to a shaft 34, on the other
end of which is a pulley 35 over which and another pulley 36
an endless band 37 passes. This band is provided with a series of
buckets 38, which as they travel onward pass through a trough 39 sunk
below the floor line. At 40 is a creeper or "brat" situate beneath the
rollers 29, 30, and caused to travel by a pulley 41 which drives another
'pulley 42 on the axis of a roller which carries the said creeper or
"brat." At 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, are partitions, the use of which
will be understood by the following description of the operation of the
machine-The rough material which has been taken from ash-pits is
placed by degrees into the trough 39 and is conveyed upward by the
buckets 38 and is discharged by them on to a shute, from whence it
falls upon the top sieve 9, which by its shaking motion causes a portion
.to pass through its meshes, while the coarser parts pass onward and arc
discharged so as to fall downward upon the outside of the partition 43,
it being rubbish consisting of various matters. The material which has
passed through the sieve 9 now undergoes a similar operation upon

page_text: the second sieve 10, some of it passing on to the third 11, and the
coarser portions being discharged into the chamber A, such portions
consisting of the larger cinders suitable for fuel. The same operation
now taking place on the third sieve finer cinders are discharged into the
chamber B, and these may also be used as fuel. By the operation of
the fourth sieve the finest particles or ashes and which are already in a
suitable condition to be used with manure pass through the meshes and
fall on to the creeper or "brat" 40 by which they are conveyed to any
desired situation. The portions which do not pass through the sieve 12
are delivered between the partitions 46, 47, which pass them to the
rollers 29, 30, and by these they are reduced to the required fineness,
after which they fall upon the aforesaid creeper.
The several sieves above described will vary somewhat in their meshes
and number according to the character of the material to be operated
upon, and they may readily be drawn out from the box 3 and replaced
by others.
I may however state that for general purposes meshes answer con-
sisting of 1,,, and . The fine ashes having been mixed
with the fertilizing material in any usual manner, my apparatus again
becomes useful for breaking up the said ashes now combined with the
manure, and which have become clogged together, but for this purpose
I have found that two sieves of 1 and 2 are sufficient.
In applying my Invention to material used in the manufacture of
bricks and tiles I use what is commonly called in the brick trade
dry clay, and when this has been crushed in the usual manner I pass it
through sieves after the method above described, and I have found in
practice that for this purpose three sieves of 1, 1, and may be
employed, the produce of the two first passing between rollers similar to
those shewn at 29, 30, that of the last being sufficiently fine for use
without treatment by rollers. In reference to this and to that part of
my Invention relating to the preparation of cinders and ashes I would
remark that the sieves should be moved at considerable speed; in practice
I have arranged for the crank 25 to run at from 150 to 200 revolutions
per minute.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it
to be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, and for the purposes above set forth, the series of

page_text: sieves and the several receptacles combined therewith for their produce,
substantially as described.
Also the use of the crushing rollers combined therewith...
In witness whereof, I, the said George Petric, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.