IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREAT- MENT OF HUMAN FECAL MATTERS, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Alexander Manning, of the Inner Temple,
London, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREAT-
MENT OF HUMAN FECAL MATTERS, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS
EMPLOYED THEREIN.
"
Sealed the 6th May 1873, and dated the 11th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Alexander
Manning at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th November 1872.
I, JAMES ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London,
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF HUMAN FOCAL MATTERS, AND IN THE
APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates partly to improvements in the process for the
treatment of focal matters and the waste of towns, for which Letters
Patent were granted to me on or about the 26th of July 1869, No. 2269,
parts of which improvements are applicable to other manufacturing
purposes.

page_text: In the Specification of my said Patent provision was made for the
utilization of the carburetted hydrogen gas evolved during the combus-
tion of the coal employed in the manufacture of manure for lighting the
factory or for illuminating purposes generally, but owing to the large
amount of atmospheric air with which the said gas is combined as it
passes from the condensing tank into the gas holder, unless it be
napthalized, it would but ill fulfil the required purposes. Now I
propose, according to my present Invention, to utilize such gas for
another purpose, by which a great economy of coal, labour, and the cost
of construction, may be achieved.
By my said process, as specified under the said Patent of 1869, I
proposed to evaporate to dryness the solid and fluid collections of the
focal matters of towns, and amongst other things I proposed to quicken
the boiling of the excrete in my fire-brick evaporating chamber by
means of a coal furnace under the bottom or inverted arch of the said
chamber, with cylindrical fire-brick flues, conveying the heat gases and
smoke from such furnace under the whole length thereof, and returning
the same by side flues of a similar construction along the sides of the
said chamber, discharging the heat, smoke, and gases into the interior of
the chamber from which they were withdrawn or exhausted in combi-
nation with vapor, and discharged into the condensing tank by an
exhaust and discharge fan situate at the opposite extremity of the long
fire-brick evaporating chamber in question; I now find that instead of
employing this mode of heating the bottom of my said evaporating
chamber it will be more advantageous and economical in every respect
to utilize the carburetted hydrogen gas so charged with atmospheric air
as a heating power by introducing and burning the same as a gaseous
fuel under and along the sides of the said evaporating chamber, or
wherever it may be found advisable so to do. The said mixture of
carburetted hydrogen gas and air so obtained may obviously be applied
to other manufactures as a means of heating where large quantities of
coal are consumed.
In my said former Specification I stated that during the process of
evaporating the solid and fluid portion of the excrete to dryness, I
introduced a jet of steam into the chamber, but instead of simply
admitting one or more jets of steam into the chamber at the commence-
ment and near the end of the operation after the greater portion (say 75
or 80 per cent.) of the water is evaporated, I now propose to admit the

page_text: steam into the hollow shaft of the agitator, on the under side of which
small perforations are made, so that by the to-and-fro motion of such
agitator it will disseminate the said steam on either side, and thereby
effectually preventing injury to the agitator and fan, until shortly after
the commencement of the operation, when vapor will rise in sufficient
force to attain that object, whereupon the steam is turned off, as it is
also at the end of the process, when the sediment is reduced to dryness.
In order to render my said process for the treatment of focal matter
applicable to scwered towns as well as to those where sewers have no
existence, and thereby to purify the vitiated atmosphere arising from the
generation of napthitic gases and their admixture with the air, I
propose to insert under the basin of every watercloset a galvanized
iron, tin, or other suitable movable can or vessel, the neck of which
shall fit into the mouth of the soil pipe thereof, and I use the soil pipe
merely for the conveyance into the sewers of the water requisite for the
rinsing out and cleansing of the basin. The can or other vessel employed
contains a sufficient quantity of chemical deodorants to prevent the
possibility of fermentation or offensive odor arising therefrom, and it is
intended to be removed at convenient intervals, and to be replaced by a
clean can also provided with the chemical deodorants.
In carrying out this part of my Invention, the closet is arranged so
that in pulling up the handle the pan, which is now situate under the
bottom of the basin and over the soil pipe, shall be depressed or loosened
so as to permit all the solid and fluid excrete it contains to pass instantly
into the before-mentioned moveable can beneath; no part of the water used
for cleansing the basin being allowed to enter into the soil can or moveable
vessel in question. Upon lowering or returning the handle to its proper
place, the water from the reservoir above will rush into the basin and
cleanse the same, causing a valve at the side but near to the bottom of
the basin to open, so that all the water so admitted may flow out into
the existing drain pipe in connection with the common sewer.
Upon the removal of the cans, though no bad gases or offensive odor
could eminate therefrom, still each can is immediately covered by a tight
fitting lid or capsule, to prevent the possibly of the escape of any of its
contents, even should the can by any accident fall in its removal.
I propose to employ coal soot as well as sea weed or other charcoal
as deodorants, prepared and niixed together or used separately, and

page_text: combined or not with a sufficient quantity of sulphuric acid or other
chemical substances, which shall enable them to absorb and hold the
gases generated from the undigested and decomposing portions of the
human food, which constitute a considerable per centage of the soil found
in cess pits and the sewers of towns. I have found that one twentieth part
in weight of the common soot and a smaller proportion even of the prepared
soot or seaweed or other charcoal is more efficient than the earth now
employed under what is known as the "carth-closet" system, as in their
natural state they absorb the gases arising from the fermentation focal
matters as fast as they are generated, and when prepared as before
stated they prevent the possibility of fermentation, by which also the
whole of the nitrogen is preserved for manures, and the generation of
insect life is entirely prevented.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Alexander Manning in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ALEXANDER MANNING, of the Inner Temple, London, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Alexander Manning, Her special
license that I, the said James Alexander Manning, my executors, admin-
istrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Alexander
Manning, my executors, administrators, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF HUMAN FECAL MATTERS, AND IN THE
APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Alexander Manning, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands & seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the

page_text: 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 James Alexander Manning, do hereby
declare 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, and the Drawings therein referred to
(that is to say) :-
This Invention relates partly to improvements in the process for the
treatment of focal matters and the waste of towns, for which Letters
Patent were granted to me on or about the 26th of July 1869, No. 2269,
parts of which improvements are applicable to other manufacturing
purposes.
In the Specification of my said Patent provision was made for the
utilization of the carburetted hydrogen gas evolved during the combustion
of the coal employed in the manufacture of manure, for lighting the
factory or for illuminating purposes generally, but owing to the large
amount of atmospheric air with which the said gas is combined as it
passes from the condensing tank into the gas holder, unless it be
napthalized, it would but ill fulfil the required purposes. Now I
propose, according to my present Invention, to utilize such gas for
another purpose, by which a great economy of coal, labour, and the cost
of construction, may be achieved.
By my said process, as specified under the said Patent of 1869, I
proposed to evaporate to dryness the solid and the fluid collections of the
focal matters of towns, and amongst other things I proposed to quicken
the boiling of the excretæ in my fire-brick evaporating chamber by
means of a coal furnace under the bottom or inverted arch of the said
chamber, with cylindrical fire-brick flues, conveying the heat, gases, and
smoke from such furnace under the whole length thereof, and returning
the same by side flues of a similar construction along the sides of the
said chamber, discharging the beat, smoke, and gases into the interior of
the chamber from which they were withdrawn or exhausted in combina-
tion with vapor, and discharged into the condensing tank by an exhaust
and discharge fan situate at the opposite extremity of the long fire-brick
evaporating chamber in question; I now find that instead of employing

page_text: this mode of heating the bottom of my said evaporating chamber it
will be more advantageous and economical in every respect to utilize
the carburetted hydrogen gas so charged with atmospheric air as a
heating power, by introducing and burning the same as a gaseous
fuel under and along the sides of the said evaporating chamber, or
wherever it may be found advisable so to do. The said mixture of
carburetted hydrogen gas and air so obtained may obviously be applied
to other manufactures as a means of heating where large quantities of
coal are consumed.
In my said former Specification I stated that during the process of
evaporating the solid and fluid portion of the excreta to dryness I intro-
duced a jet of steam into the chamber; but instead of simply admitting
one or more jets of steam into the chamber at the commencement and
near the end of the operation, after the greater portion (say 75 or 80 per
cent.) of the water is evaporated, I now propose to admit the steam into
the hollow shaft of the agitator, on the under sido of which small
perforations are made, so that by the to-and-fro motion of such agitator
it will disseminate the said steam on either side, thereby effectually
preventing injury to the agitator and fan, until shortly after the com-
mencement of the operation, when vapor will arise in sufficient force to
attain that object, whereupon the steam is turned off, as it is also at the
end of the process when the sediment is reduced to dryness.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a sectional elevation of an
apparatus constructed according to my Invention, and Fig. 2 is a
transverse section of the same.
The evaporating vessels a (which I have shewn as made of cast iron)
arc each constructed with a removeable door b, and provided with a
hollow rocking agitator shaft c, perforated at its under side, and working
in suitable bearings. Through one of the bearings of each shaft steam
may be admitted into the shaft by a pipe, as shewn at d, regulated by a
suitable cock or tap. The evaporating vessels a are set in brickwork e,
the parts exposed to the heat being fire-brick, and the brickwork is
formed at one end with a bridge a', and a furnace or fire-place a² to each
of the said vessels, the brickwork being continued in the form of an
arched roof over each of the vessels a, so as to enclose a sort of flue
space g above it, into which flue space hang suitable baffles f suspended
to the roof. At the opposite end to the furnace or fire-place, each flue
space g communicates with an exhausting and forcing fan h, suitably

page_text: actuated, whence a tube i leads to the condenser tank j, which contains
water for absorbing the soluble gases, and is provided with an overflow
pipe dipping into an overflow tank l. The condenser tank j is formed
with a water jacket j', as shewn, and is also provided with a pump m for
withdrawing the permanent gases from the condensing tank, and forcing
them into the gas holder n. From this gas holder there are two pipes or
tubes o, each provided with a cock p, and with a suitable exit nozzle q,
or one pipe o with two branches may be used. Each nozzle is situated
just within the front part of a small fire-place 7, of which there is one to
each of the evaporating vessels a. From each of these little fire-places a
flues passes under the corresponding evaporating vessel, and thence to
a suitable chimney or exit t, as shewn, provided with suitable dampers
for regulating the draught, as well understood.
The operation of this arrangement is as follows:-By the action of the
fans the heat and products of combustion from the furnaces or fire-
places a² are drawn over the surface of the liquid contained in the
evaporating vessels a, being caused to impinge against the said liquid by
the baffles f, and the said products mixed with the gases evolved by the
liquid under treatment are drawn out of the flue spaces g, and forced by
the fans into the condenser tank, wherein they pass through the water
contained in the said tank, which water absorbs the soluble gases, the
permanent gases being drawn away by the pump m, and forced into the
gas holder from which they pass in regulated quantities, as required,
to the nozzles q, on issuing from which they are ignited by the small
fires, and are so burnt under the bottoms of the evaporating vessels,
which are thereby heated.
As the level of the liquid in the condenser rises it overflows into the
overflow tank, the liquid from which may be withdrawn as required for
utilization.
It will be obvious that the gases from the gasholder, besides being
burnt under the evaporating vessels a, may be applied as a means of
heating for other purposes.
Having described my said Invention and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I hereby declare that
I do not claim as novel the several parts or processes herein-before
described or referred to, except when the same are used in and for my
said Invention; with reference to which, what I claim as being novel

page_text: and original and therefore desire to have secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the utilization for heating
purposes of the carburetted hydrogen gas evolved during the combustion
of the coal employed in the manufacture of manure, and the general
arrangement and construction of apparatus for that purpose, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alexander Manning, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
JAMES ALEX. MANNING. (L.S.)