IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF NIGHT SOIL, SEWAGE, AND OTHER LIKE REFUSE MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEODORISING AND. CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Hughan, of Newton Stewart,.
North Britain, Postmaster and Guano and Seed Merchant, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF NIGHT SOIL, SEWAGE,
AND OTHER LIKE REFUSE MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEODORISING AND.
CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE."
Sealed the 16th March 1869, and dated the 19th September 1868...
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Hughan
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th September 1868.
I, WILLIAM HENRY HUGHAN, of Newton Stewart, North Britain,
Postmaster and Guano and Seed Merchant, do hereby declare the nature.
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN, THE TREATMENT OF NIGHT SOIL,
SEWAGE, AND OTHER LIKE REFUSE MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEODORISING AND.
CONVERTING THE SAME INTO MANURE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is accomplished by the process of
cementation. and what I claim to have discovered. is, the application of

page_text: "Portland" or other suitable cement in the setting process to deodorise
(where necessary) and solidify night soil, sewage, filth in general, refuse,
blood, offal, urinary and bestial products of farm steadings, sludge, and
other refuse of manufactories, fish, and the like.
The primary object of the discovery is to utilize night soil and the
contents of sewers and other like refuse matter found in large cities and
towns (which substances are known to be rich in ammonia, phosphoric
acid, magnesia, potash, soda, and which at present poison the air and water)
and to transform them into a valuable and portable substance or manure
for agricultural purposes. The contents of the sewers and cesspools
containing the nightsoil and other like refuse are introduced into a
mortar mill or such like grinding or reducing machinery, and therein
ground up and mixed with cement to the consistency and prepared con-
dition of mortar; after withdrawal from the mill the product begins to set
into a hard substance ultimately like a stone. Deodorisation commences
with the contact of the cement and proceeds with the setting property
until in a few hours the substance becomes as inodorous as imported guano
and without injury to its fertilizing properties. When the setting process
is completed in sufficient hardness it is crushed down into powder and
is then fit for use: In correct nomenclature I would now call the powder
"carbonic acid guano." It may be further improved. by the addition of
acids, or by calcination whilst in the indurated condition, but I prefer
it in the carbonic acidised state. An improvement in effectual deodori-
sation is caused by the addition of peat charcoal, salt to the raw
material when in the mortar mill, and it may also be enriched with bone
ash and other known fertilizing elements, and I therefore reserve the
right of introducing into the mixture all salts, acids, alkalies, earths, refuse
from alum, oil, alkali, cotton, wool, gas, soot, and tannery manufactories
and ironfoundries for the manufacture of given manures, as well as the
applying of cement to the mixing of substances for improvement or
extract.
For my purpose of cementation I manufacture a special cement having
powerful absorption, setting rapidly, and then disintegrating into powder,
but of all the cements at present in use I prefer the hydraulic building
Portland cement," on account of its great powers of absorption and its
rapid setting properties.
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It being an established fact that manures are improved in general

page_text: purpose is claimed. It must be used with water, the cement being in
the same proportion as when mixed with sand for mortar; carbonic acid
is formed by the setting process, and as this element is as essential to the
life of plants as ammonia and as difficult for the plants to forage, this
ready presentation (in an available form) of carbonic acid must prove of
material service to the growth of the plants, and therefore in the manu-
facture of my manures from night soil and such like refuse matter by
my system of cementation every encouragement will be given to the
generation of carbonic acid by introducing peat charcoal and other
sources of carbon to be acted upon by salts and the creative principle
of carbonic acid in the setting process of the cement. The carbonic acid
may be said to be in a soluble state as found in the crushed down
cemented night soil; and I claim the extension of this principle in all
mortars and cements when set with water, and afterwards ground up into
powder for agricultural purposes. I also claim the direct absoption of
acids by the setting process into cement for agricultural purposes, and
more particularly the production of carbonic acid; and I further claim
the use of carbonic acid as a manure in a direct, pure, or mixed form.
I may add that when I use Portland cement in the cementation of
night soil and sewage I allow the set substance to remain in that form
for a few weeks, until all feculent odour is absorbed before crushing
into powder. Spontaneous cementation may be attempted by allowing
the nightsoil or other matters treated to flow over or through the
cement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Hughan in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 17th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY HUGHAN, of Newton Stewart, North Britain, Postmaster and
Guano and Seed Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
3 ccssors, give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Hughan,

page_text: Her special license that I, the said William Henry Hughan, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Henry Hughan, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agrec 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF NIGHT SOIL, SEWAGE, AND
OTHER LIKE REFUSE MATTERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEODORIZING AND CONVERTING
THE SAME INTO MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Henry Hughan, 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 William Henry Hughau, do
hereby declare the 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, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates essentially to the application of Portland,
Roman, or other suitable cement to deodorise (where necessary) and
solidify night soil, sewage, filth, urinary and bestial products of farm
steadings, sludge, the waste of manufactories, and refuse in general.
The primary object of this Invention is to utilize night soil and the
contents of sewers and other like refuse matter found in large cities or
towns, which substances are known to be rich in ammonia, phosphoric
acid, magnesia, potash, and soda, and which at present poisen the air
and pollute our rivers, and to transform these substances into a valuable
and portable product or manure for agricultural purposes. In cases a
where the night soil, sewage, or other refuse material can be obtained in
a comparatively solid form it may at once be treated by introducing it
into a mortar mill, otherwise known as a pan mill or other suitable
apparatus, and therein ground and mixed with cement to the consistency
of prepared mortar. But in treating sewage where the water or impure 3
liquid predominates it may while flowing be mixed with cement at any
convenient part of its course through the sewers, as in large cities or
towns. One mode of mixing the sewage while flowing is carried out by

page_text: placing a wheel in the course of the sewer, and which may be driven by
the force of the flowing sewage. A hopper is fixed over this wheel, into
which hopper the powdered cement is filled, and from which the dis-
charge of cement may be regulated according to the volume and density
of sewage to be treated or mixed. The sewage thus impregnated is
conducted to a tank or reservoir, in which the cement settles and pre-
cipitates with it to the bottom all the mineral and organic matters, urea,
ammonia, phosphoric acid, and salts, leaving a comparatively pure water,
which may be run off or pumped off as circumstances may require. A
series of such tanks or reservoirs may be used, into which the impreg
nated sewage may be conducted successively according to the requirements
of the process. Instead of impregnating the sewage while flowing with
the cement, it may be conducted to proper tanks or reservoirs and
therein churned by any suitable means or appliance. As the mechanical
appliances or apparatus for mixing the sewage and cement form no part of
the present Invention, therefore no further modifications of them need
be referred to, as it will at once be evident to a practitioner that as
different kinds of sewage, night soil, and other refuse required to be
treated or mixed, different appliances for effecting the admixture are
necessary to be adopted according to circumstances; the process of
cementing sewage and other refuse matter therefore constitutes the
essential feature of this Invention.
The product obtained after the subsidence of the sewage by cementation,
and after the supernatant liquid is run off may be introduced into the
mortar mill or other apparatus and there mixed with more cement until
it reaches the required degree of consistency. After withdrawal from
the mill or other apparatus the product begins to set into a hard sub-
stance. Deodorization commences with the contact of the cement and
proceeds with the setting of the latter, until in a few hours the substance
becomes as dry and inodorous as imported, guano without injury to its
fertilizing properties. When the setting process has rendered the mixture
sufficiently hard and dry it may be crushed down by suitable machinery
into powder for use as a manure. In correct nomenclature I would now
call the powder "carbonic acid guano." When Portland or Roman
cement is used in the mixing process it may be further improved by the
addition of acids or salts, or by calcination whilst in the indurated
condition, but when the Portland or Roman cements are mixed with the
proportion of copperas, as herein-after explained, or the special cement,

page_text: herein-after mentioned, are to be employed it is unnecessary to mix with
acids or calçine the product. Any salt remaining in the sewage water
after subsidence of the other solid portions can easily be precipitated, if
desired, by a series of cements of which clay and other salts from the
basis. An improvement in effectual deodorization is caused by the
addition of peat charcoal and salt to the raw material when in the
mortar mill or mixing apparatus, and it may also be enriched with bone
ash, salts, acids, alkalies, earths, and refuse in general from manu-
factories or elsewhere for the manufacture of any desired quality of
manure.
For the purpose of cementation I prefer to manufacture a special
cement having powerful absorption, setting rapidly, and then disin-
tegrating into powder. It is by preference composed of four parts of
alum and one part of clay or sulphate or phosphate of lime in solution
with water, the mixture to be boiled until dry and afterwards calcined i.
a small proportion of caustic lime or phosphates may be added. Devon-
shire clay calcined with a proportion of alum is the most suitable for
finally cementing the precipitate sewage into a dry manure. Of all the
cements at present in use I prefer "hydraulic building Portland cement"
or "Roman cement," on account of their great power of absorption
and rapid setting propensities either in or out of water. It is found by
experiment that Portland or Roman cement mixed with one part of
copperas to six parts of the cement entirely fixes the ammonia of the
sewage and prevents its escape, thus proving a valuable deodoriser and
specially suited for the process of cementation of sewage, night soil, and
other refuse. The proportion of copperas named may be augmented to
equal parts with the cement dependent upon the putrescent character
or density of the sewage.
It being generally understood that manures are improved in effect by
admixture with one another, the application of cement for this purpose
forms another part of this Invention. It is used with water, the cement
being in the same proportion as when mixed with sand for mortar;
carbonic acid is formed during the setting process, and as this element
is as essential to the life of plants as ammonia, this ready presentation
(in an available form) of carbonic acid proves a material service to the
growth of the plants, and therefore in the manufacture of manures from
night soil, sewage, and such like refuse matters by the system of cemen-
tation herein-before set forth, the generation of carbonic acid is rendered

page_text: very effectual and is further increased by introducing peat charcoal and
other sources of carbon. The carbonic acid may be said to be in a
soluble state as found in the crushed down sewage after cementation,
and the extension of this principle in all mortars and cements when set
with water and afterwards ground up into powder for agricultural
purposes, and the direct absorption of acids (more particularly carbonic
acid) by the setting process into cement for agricultural purposes forms
a very important feature of this Invention. Spontaneous cementation
may be effected by allowing the sewage to flow over or through tho
cement, and the cement can also be introduced into night soil closets
after the dry earth system producing deodorization and cementation upon
contact with the excreta regulated by suitable machinery.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in or under which the same is or may be used or practically
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The cementation of sewage, night soil, and the other refuse
matters hercin set forth for the purpose of converting the same into
useful manurial products so as to deodorise and render the same non-
injurious to health, as herein-before described.
Second. The combination of substances constituting the special cement
to be used for treating sewage and other refuse, in the manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Hughan, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILLIAM HENKY HUGHAN. (L.S.)