IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF. ARTIFICIAL MANURES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Robert Wisc, of No. 8, Duke
Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF. ARTIFICIAL
MANURES."
Scaled the 19th March 1875, and dated the 4th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Robert
Wise at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th December 1874.
I, WILLIAM HENRY ROBERT WISE, of No. 8, Duke Street, Adelphi,
in the City of Westminster; Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL
MANURES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of artificial manures from
various animal, mineral, and vegetable matters, and consists in the mode
of treating such matters and the proportions in which they are mixed,
as herein-after described.
The principal animal matters which I use are blood, animal offal, fish,
fish offal; and bones. All these matters have been used for, manure

page_text: before, but I treat them according to a different method. from those
hitherto 'adopted.
To make the blood into manure I mix it intimately first-with from
two to four per.cent. by weight of dilute sulphuric acid of the specific
gravity of about 1·180, and then with about five per cent. of soot or
finely ground ashes, or both these materials mixed. The mixture must
then be allowed to dry, and will form a rich pulverulent manure.
To make the softer, i. c. muscular or fleshy kinds of animal and fish
offal into manure I first reduce the said offal to a pulpy state either by
grinding it under light edge runners or by treating it in a mixer, con-
sisting of a cylinder containing a revolving shaft carrying arms, or in
any other suitable way. I then mix the said offal with about 5 per cent.
of weak sulphuric acid of commerce known as "chamber acid," specific
gravity about 1700, or with a corresponding quantity of ordinary oil of
vitriol diluted to about the same strength, and finally add about five per
cent. of soot or finely ground ashes, or any suitable proportions of each,
as herein-before described, and then allow the mixture to dry. The
product will not be so rich in manurial constituents as that made from
blood.
To make the harder, i. e. bony parts of fish and offal and bones into
manure I proceed as follows:-I put the offal and bones into a suitable
boiler or digester, by preference constructed as herein-after described,
though any other suitable form may be used. I add a small quantity of
water and raise the temperature to the boiling point for a short time.
By this means I extract the greater part of the fat and gelatine from
the bones. The water containing the fat and gelatine is then run off
from the boiler, and these bye products are collected by skimming the
fat off and concentrating the residual liquor for making size or gelatine.
I then add a little more water to the bones and bony offal in the boiler
and apply heat so as to subject the bones to a steam pressure of from 40
to 50 pounds per square inch. By this treatment the bones will be softened.
and brought into a friable or non-coherent condition. I then treat these
boiled bones in a mixer with sulphuric acid (by preference weak
"chamber acid") for the manufacture of manure, using a sufficient
proportion of sulphuric acid to convert all, or nearly all, the insoluble
phosphate of lime present into soluble phosphate of lime. I then add
about five per cent. by weight of soot or finely ground ashes, or both,
and allow the mixture to dry.

page_text: By treating animal matters with dilute sulphuric acid of or about the
strength herein described I prevent the evolution of the greater part of
the offensive odour attendant on the treatment of such substances with
undiluted sulphuric acid, and I also avoid the necessity for concentrating
the mixture which exists when such matters are treated with dilute acid
of a strength below that here specified. By each of these processes a
valuable manure may be made, but I prefer for convenience of manu-
facture and uniformity of quality to make a manure containing all those
constituents, which I effect as follows:-I tako a quantity of the boiled
bones, above described, and put them into a suitable mixer. I then add
a quantity of blood which has been mixed with sulphuric acid, as before
described, and a quantity of offal. I stir the whole together in the
mixer, and add sulphuric acid in sufficient quantity, according to the
directions given before in the cases of offal and bones to convert the
whole into manure. I then add the soot or finely ground ashes, stir
thoroughly, and run the mixture out to dry. The compound manure
made in this manner will dry more rapidly and regularly than that
made from the blood or offal alone.
The form of boiler or digester which I prefer to use consists of a
vertical cylinder with a strong bottom, which is either connected by
steam pipes with a suitable high pressure boiler, or supported over a
furnace. The top of the cylinder should be strongly flanged to receive
and secure a flat or domed cover. The boiler is provided with an iron
basket or cage to contain the bones or other matters of such a size that
it will drop readily into the said boiler. I prefer to fill the said cage
with the bones or other matters to be treated, put it into the said boiler,
and boil with water, as herein directed, by means of the furnace afore-
said, or by admitting a small quantity of steam, not however allowing
the steam pressure at this time to rise above the atmospheric pressure,
or at most ten pounds per square inch above it. After drawing the
water off I add more water, and having secured the top of the said boiler
to the flange by its fastenings I proceed to boil the said bones under
pressure, or when I use the separate high-pressure boiler I admit high-
pressure steam to a pressure of say 40 or 60 pounds per square inch.
Any other suitable form of boiler may be used, but I consider this
Innafarahle

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Robert Wise in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 4th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY ROBERT WISE, of No. 8, Duke Street, Adelphi, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Henry Robert Wisc, Her special
license that I, the said William Henry Robert Wise, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
Robert Wisc, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL MANURES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Robert Wise,
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 Henry Robert Wise, 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, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of artificial manures from
` various animal, mineral, and vegetable matters, and consists in the mode
of treating such matters, and the proportions in which they are mixed as
herein-after described.
The principal animal matters which I use are blood, animal offal, fish,
fish offal, and bones, all these matters have been used for manure before,

page_text: but I treat them according to a different method from those hitherto
practised.
To make the blood into manure I mix it intimately first with from
two to four per cent. by weight of dilute sulphuric acid of the specific
gravity of about 1·180, and then with about 5 per cent. of soot or finely
ground ashes or both these materials mixed. The mixture must then be
allowed to dry and will form a rich pulverulent manure.
To make the softer i.c. muscular or fleshy kinds of animal and fish
offal into manure, I first reduce the said offal to a pulpy state either by
grinding it under light edge runners, or by treating it in a mixer con-
sisting of a cylinder containing a revolving shaft carrying arms, or in any
other suitable way. I then mix the said offal with about five per cent.
of weak sulphuric acid of commerce known as "chamber acid," specific
gravity about 1700 or with a corresponding quantity of ordinary oil of
vitriol diluted to about the same strength, and finally add about 5 per
cent. of soot or finely ground ashes (or any suitable proportions of each),
as hercin-before described, and then allow the mixture to dry. The
product will not be so rich in manurial constituents as that made from
blood.
To make the harder, i.c., bony parts of fish and offal and bones into
manure I proceed as follows:-I put the offal and bones into a suitable
boiler or digester, by preference constructed as herein-after described,
though any suitable kind of boiler or digester may be used. I add a
small quantity of water and raise the temperature to the boiling point
for a short time. By this means I extract the greater part of the fat
and gelatine from the bones. The water containing the fat and gelatine
is then run off from the boiler, and these bye products are collected by
skimming the fat off and concentrating the residual liquor for making
size or gelatine. I then add a little more water to the bones and bony
offal in the boiler, and apply heat so as to subject the bones to a steam
pressure of from 40 to 50 pounds per square inch. By this treatment
the bones will be softened and brought into a friable or non-coherent
condition. I then treat these boiled bones in a mixer with sulphuric
acid (by preference weak "chamber acid") for the manufacture of
manure, using a sufficient proportion of sulphuric acid to convert all or
nearly all the insoluble phosphate of lime present into soluble phosphate
of lime; I then add about 5 per cent. by weight of soot or finely ground
ashes, or both, and allow the mixture to dry.

page_text: By treating animal matters with dilute sulphuric acid of or about the
strength herein described, I prevent the evolution of the greater part of
the offensive odour attendant on the treatment of such substances with
undiluted sulphuric acid, and I also avoid the necessity for concentrating
the mixture which exists when such matters are treated with dilute acid
of a strength' below that herein specified. By each of these processes a
valuable manure may be mado, but I prefer for convenience of manu-
facture and uniformity of quality to make a manure containing all these
constituents, which I effect as follows:-I take a quantity of the boiled
bones above described and put them into a suitable mixer; I then add a
quantity of blood which has been mixed with sulphuric acid as herein-
before described and a quantity of offal; I stir the whole together in the
mixer and add sulphuric acid in sufficient quantity, according to the
directions given before in the cases of offal and bones to convert the
whole into manure; I then add the soot or finely ground ashes, stir
thoroughly, and run the mixture out to dry. The compound manure
made in this manner will dry more rapidly and regularly than that made
from the blood or offal alone.
The form of boiler or digester which I prefer to use consists of a
vertical cylinder with a strong bottom, which is either connected by
steam pipes with a suitable high-pressure boiler or supported over a
furnace. The top of the cylinder should be strongly flanged to receive
and secure a flat or domed cover. The boiler is provided with an iron
basket or cage to contain the bones or other matters of such a size that
it will drop readily into the said boiler. I prefer to fill the said cage
with the bones or other matters to be treated, put it into the said boiler,
and boil with water as herein directed by means of the furnace aforesaid,
or by admitting a small quantity of steam, not however allowing the
steam pressure at this time to rise above the atmospheric pressure, or at
most ten pounds per square inch above it. After drawing the water off
· I add more water, and having secured the top of the said boiler to the
flange by its fastenings I proceed to boil the said bones under pressure,
or when I use the separate high-pressure boiler I admit steam at a
pressure of say forty or sixty pounds per square inch.
Any other suitable form of boiler may be used, but I consider this
preferable.
Having described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner in which the same is to be performed.

page_text: I make four principal kinds of manure, namely, blood manure, fish
manure, bone manure, and compound nitro-phosphate manure, con-
sisting of a mixture of bone manure with one or other of the two other
kinds. My mode of procedure differs somewhat with the different kinds
of manure.
To make the blood manure I take blood from the slaughter-houses,
preferably perfectly fresh, and collected without admixture with water,
and mix it intimately in a mixer or other suitable apparatus with from
two to four per cent. of sulphuric acid of the specific gravity of about
1.180. If the blood is quite fresh the smaller quantity will be sufficient,
but if somewhat decomposed a slight increase up to four per cent.
will be advantageous.
After stirring the mixture for a few minutes until the action of the
acid is complete I add about five per cent. of sifted soot or of ground
ashics, or both. I prefer the soot, but in case it is not available I use the
ashes as a substitute. I continue the stirring or mixing a few minutes
longer. The blood, acid, and soot or ashes will then have assumed the
state of a semi-pulverulent paste, i.e., it will be in a semi-solid state, but
thoroughly granulated by the particles of soot. The manure must then
be allowed to dry in heaps, or in any other suitable way. If necessary
artificial heat may be used, but I prefer to let the manure dry naturally.
It will then form a very rich pulverulent manure, which if carefully
made will approximate to Peruvian guano in manurial value.
or
To make manure from fish or animal offal (other than bones) I proceed
as follows:-I grind the said offal under light edge runners
suitable stones, or in any other suitable grinding or mixing machine,
until such offal is reduced to a uniform pulpy' consistence. Edge runners
are generally most suitable for effecting this grinding. I then treat the
pulp in a suitable mixer with about five per cent. by weight sulphuric acid,
specific gravity about 1700, commonly known as "chamber acid." If
the pulp is unusually wet or fluid this proportion may be slightly
decreased, say to four per cent., or if it is very dry the proportion of acid
may be increased to say six per cent. After the action of the acid has
taken place I add as before about five per cent. of soot or ground ashes,
and dry in the same manner. The product will be a rich manure, not
equal in nitrogenous products to that made from blood, but containing a
large proportion of phosphates, and of great fertilizing value. If the

page_text: pulp obtained in this process is so wet as to allow a sensible proportion
of liquor to drain from it, I sometimes prefer to use this liquor to dilute
the sulphuric acid for the other kinds of manurc.
To make manure from animal bones or the bony parts of fish I prefer
to proceed as follows:-I introduce the bones into a suitable boiler, by
preference constructed as herein-after described, I add a quantity of
water, barely sufficient to cover the bones, and raise the temperature for a
short time to the boiling point. This extracts the greater part of the fat
and a portion of the gelatine from the bones. The fat may be skimmed off
as a byc-product, and the water containing the gelatine in solution run
off, and either concentrated for use as glue or size or used for the value
of its nitrogenous matter to dilute the sulphuric acid in the other stages
of the processes. I then add a fresh supply of water, much smaller in
quantity, say one-fourth of that added before, and having closed the lid
or outlet of the boiler I boil the bones a second time under a pressure
of from 40 to 60 pounds of steam per square inch. By this means I
extract all the gelatinous matter and reduce the bones to a porous
friable condition. I then remove the water, which I use for diluting
the acid, and pass the bones under light-edge runners, by which means
they are reduced to a very fine powder. I then treat these boiled and
ground bones in a mixer of suitable form with dilute sulphuric acid.
I prepare this acid, by preference, by diluting chamber acid with the
water obtained from the second boiling of the bones or with the surplus
water from the fish pulp. The quantity and strength of the acid added
must be proportioned according to the quantity of bone carth present in
the boiled bones, and in accordance with the well known chemical rules,
so as to convert the required proportion of the insoluble bone earth into
soluble phosphate of lime. I prefer to convert about 80 per cent. of
the total bone earth into soluble phosphate of lime, and this will
generally require chamber acid equal to about one half the weight of
the boiled bones. The manure in the mixer is treated as before with
5 per cent. of soot or ground ashes, or both. It will dry rapidly
without artificial heat and will form a very superior superphosphato
MONIA

page_text: the fish offal pulp which has been ground as herein-before described but
not treated with acid or soot, and a quantity of the blood which has
been treated with acid as herein-before described but not mixed with
soot, and introduce them in suitable proportions into the mixer; or, if
desired, either the fish offal or the blood may be omitted. The propor-
tions may of course be varied according to circumstances, but equal
parts by weight are very good proportions. I then add the necessary
quantity of diluted sulphuric acid, as described under the several heads,
and after the acid has acted on the materials I add soot or ground ashes,
or both, as herein-before described, and then allow the mixture to dry
naturally. By this means I make a very superior nitro-phosphate
manure of excellent quality, containing an abundance of nitrogenous
compounds and soluble phosphates, and of a granular friable character.
I consider this the best manure which can be.made for ordinary crops.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings represent in vertical
section and horizontal section respectively the boiler or digester which I
prefer to use in carrying my Invention into effect, but which I do not
claim as of my Invention; Figure 3 is a plan of the top of the
cylinder. The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the
several Figures.
A is the vertical boiler containing a cage B; C is the steam jacket of
the said boiler; D, D, is the foundation. The cage B consists of bars
6', 6', rivetted to hoops b³, b³; b³ is the hinged bottom of the cage; bʻ is
the hinged catch of the said bottom; 65 is the eye by which the said
cage is raised out of or lowered into the boiler as required. a' is a cover
which is secured to the boiler A by means of lugs a², a³, affixed to the
cover a³, and which being turned with it through a portion of a circle
by means of the lever a³ engage with snugs a, a, affixed to the flange a
of the boiler; a' is a pipe through which steam from a suitable boiler is
passed into the boiler A; a' is an outlet pipe through which the liquor
is drawn off as required. c¹, c², respectively are pipes through which
steam passes into and from the steam jacket C; c³ is a pipe through
which the water of condensation is drawn off. as is a cock for blowing
off the steam previous to removing the cover. The several pipes are
furnished with stop-cocks, as shown.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which it is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim the ingredients, or constituents, or the mixtures thereof herein-
:

page_text: before described irrespective of the modus operandi herein-before
described; but I claim as my said Invention,-
Firstly. Making a manure by mixing blood, dilute sulphuric acid, and
soot or ashes, or both soot and ashes, the relative proportions of these
constituents, the strength of the acid solution, and the mode of treat-
ment being essentially as herein-before stated.
. Secondly. Making a manure by reducing the muscular or fleshy
portions of animal and fish offal into pulp and mixing such pulp with
sulphuric acid and soot or ashes, or both soot and ashes, the relative
proportions of these constituents, the strength of the acid, and the mode
of treatment being essentially as herein-before stated.
Thirdly. Making a compound nitro-phosphate manure by mixing the
boiled bones, fish offal pulp, and blood herein-before referred to with the
necessary proportions of dilute sulphuric acid, and with soot or ashes, or
both soot and ashes, essentially as herein-before stated.
'
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Robert Wise, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
H. H. MURDOCH,
7, Staple Inn,
London.
W. H. R. WISE. (L.S.)