IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE."-A communication
from abroad by Mr. Léopold Eugène Lavigne, of 29, Boulevart St.
Martin, Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineer.
Sealed the 19th September 1862, and dated the 1st April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
April 1862.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
5 Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," to be as
follows:-
Hitherto there has not been any manure produced forming a perfect sub-
stitute for or equal to stable dung, while many varieties, such as guano and

page_text: desiccated night soil soon impoverish the ground, as they form rather exciting
agents than manures. The value of the manure depends not only on the
amount of vegetable detritus, which supplies carbon in great abundance
mixed with animal detritus, but also on its maintaining a constant state of
fermentation, so as to better assimilate its elements.
For this purpose I
have endeavoured to produce similar results with various artificial preparations,
but unsatisfactorily. This Invention consists in employing peat, which furnishes
the most compact vegetable detritus, and is also abundant in most places,
it further contains a sufficient quantity of animal matters, and is obtained
from the bog in a partly decomposed state. I am aware that the use of peat
has been before suggested, but which has been abandoned, both because it
was regarded as infertile, in consequence of the presence of certain acids,
especially ulmic acid, and also from ignorance of the method of combining it
with the elements necessary for producing vegetation. I take dry pulverized
peat and mix it with animal substances which cause it to ferment. This
fermentation destroys the acids, and transforms the peat into a substance
similar to night soil, which facilitates its combination with mineral salts
necessary for producing its vegetating properties. As the quantity of azote
produced by the fermentation would be insufficient, I also add ammoniacal
salts for completing the mixture. I thus obtain a manure which not only
contains in a much smaller volume all the elements of stable dung, but
which possesses the latent fermenting properties of the former, which is
necessary for assimilating it to plants when vegetating, as well as during their
germination.
This improved artificial manure also has the great advantage of containing
a large quantity of carbon, and also of receiving its phosphate, its azote, and
its salts from different sources in suitable proportions according to the nature
of the ground to which it is to be applied, or the purposes required.
The Invention thus consists in the employment of peat of organic nature
like ordinary manure, which is rendered assimilable by au 'azoted fermentation
similar to that of an ordinary dung heap, which is effected by adding azoted
or earthy saline matters, such as blood, urine, fecal matters, guano, animal
detritus, ammoniacal salts furnishing azote, natural or fossil phosphates, such
as bones, calcined or otherwise, ashes, vegetables furnishing earthy phosphates,
sea-weed ashes, and salts of soda or potash, either natural or artificial, for
furnishing the necessary alkalies to the plants. The proportions of these
elements may be varied, as above mentioned, according to the purposes to

page_text: which the manure is to be applied. For example, I compose a manure for
beetroot as follows:-
Peat
Vitriolic ashes:
Brick ashes
- 50 parts, .
... 5 parts,
-
15 parts,
15 parts,
Animal black
Which I ferment by the addition of animal substances,. viz.:-
Blood or urine
Ammoniacal salts
Sea salt -
Sea salt dissolved in water
Plaster -
. I part,
15 parts,.
-
2 parts,
-
10 parts,
4 parts,
Total
117 parts.
The analysis of the manure for 100 parts is as follows:-
Organic matters 36 parts, furnishing 4.75 to 5% of azote.
Ashes
Water
34 parts, furnishing 10 to 12% of earthy phosphates.
30 parts, furnishing 3 to 4° of alkaline salts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and.
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I; the
said William Clark, 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," a com". to me from abroad by Mr.
Léopold Eugène Lavigne, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, in the Empire
of France, Civil Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said ..

page_text: William Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Clark, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :―.
་
Hitherto there has not been any manure produced forming a perfect sub-
stitute for night soil, or to equal stable dung, while many varieties, such as
guano and desiccated night soil soon impoverish the ground, as they form
rather exciting agents than manures. The value of the manure depends not
only on the amount of vegetable detritus, which supplies carbon in great
abundance mixed with animal detritus, but also on its maintaining a constant
state of fermentation, so as to better assimilate the elements. For this
purpose I have endeavoured to produce similar results with various artificial
preparations, but unsatisfactorily. This Invention consists in employing peat,
which furnishes most compact vegetable detritus, it is also abundant in most
places, it further contains a sufficient quantity of animal matters, and is
obtained from the bog in a partly decomposed state. I am aware that the
use of peat has been before suggested, but which has been abandoned, both
because it was regarded as infertile, in consequence of the presence of certain
acids, especially ulmic acid, and also from ignorance of the method of com-
bining it with the elements, necessary for producing vegetation. I take dry
pulverized peat and mix it with animal substances, which cause it to ferment;
this fermentation destroys the acids, and transforms the peat into a substance
similar to night soil, which facilitates its combination with mineral salts
necessary for producing its vegetating properties; as the quantity of azote
produced by fermentation would be insufficient, I also add ammoniacal salts
for completing the mixture. I thus obtain a manure which not only contains
in a much smaller volume all the elements of stable dung, but which also
possesses the latent fermenting properties of the former which is necessary for
assimilating it to plants when vegetating, as well as during their germination.
This improved artificial manure also has the great advantage of containing
a large quantity of carbon, and also of receiving its phosphate, its azote, and
its salts from different sources, and in suitable proportions according to the
nature of the ground to which it is to be applied, or the purposes required.

page_text: The Invention thus consists in the employment of peat or organic matters
like ordinary manure, which is rendered assimilable by an azoted fermentation
similar to that of an ordinary dung heap, which is effected by adding azoted
or earthy saline matters, such as blood, manure, urine, fecal matters, guano,
animal detritus, ammoniacal salts furnishing azote, natural and fossil phos-
phates, such as bones, calcined or otherwise, ashes, vegetables furnishing
earthy phosphates, sea-weed ashes, salts of soda or potash, either natural or
artificial, for furnishing the necessary alkalies to the plants. The proportion
of these elements may be varied, as above mentioned, according to the
purposes to which the manure is to be applied. For example, I compose a
manure for beetroot as follows:-
Peat
Vitriolic ashes
Brick ashes
Animal black
Which I ferment by the addition of animal substances,
Blood or urine
Ammoniacal salts
Sea salt-
Sea salt dissolved in water
Plaster -
- 50 parts,
-
5 parts,
15 parts,
15 parts,
I part,
15 parts,
2 parts,
10 parts,
4 parts,
Total
117 parts.
The analysis of the manure for 100 parts is as follows:-
Organic matters 36 parts, furnishing 4.75% to 5% of azote.
Ashos
24 narts furnishing 10 to 19° of earthy phosphate.
Witness,
W. G. SWINNOCK,
53, Chancery Lane, W.C.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)