IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William White, of York Villa, Kensington Park,
Bayswater, Consulting Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES."
Sealed the 12th January 1855, and dated the 12th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William White at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th October
1854.
I, WILLIAM WHITE, of York Villa, Kensington Park, Bayswater, Consulting
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of preparing and combining the matters herein
mentioned in the manufacture of manures. For this purpose I introduce
into a retort or apparatus, in which is charcoal in a state of incandescence,
a quantity of potash, or ashes of wood or vegetable matter yielding potash;
I also prepare blood by the action of sulphate of alumina, and obtain the
same in a dry and pulverulent condition, and I combine the same with the
charcoal above mentioned, and also with matters yielding phosphoric acid and
other fertilizing elements; and in some manures, in order to prevent disease
in plants and vegetables, I combine the following matters:-Hydrate of lime,
sulphate of alumina, sulphate of protoxide of iron, sulphate of protoxide of

page_text: magnesia, charcoal, and chloride of sodium; and I obtain products by the
destructive distillation of night soil and animal matters, by condensing the
products which come over, and I combine these 'matters in the preparing
manures, as above mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WHITE, of York Villa, Kensington Park, Bayswater, Consulting Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent,, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William White, Her special licence that I, the said William White, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
White, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF MANURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William White, 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 White, 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):-
This Invention consists of preparing and combining the matters herein
explained in the manufacture of manures. For this purpose I introduce into a
retort or apparatus, in which is charcoal in a state of incandescence, a quantity
of potash, or ashes of wood or vegetable matter yielding potash; I also

page_text: prepare blood by the action of sulphate of alumina, and obtain the same in
a dry and pulverulent condition, and I combine the same with the charcoal
above mentioned, and also with matters yielding phosphoric acid and other
fertilizing elements; and in some manures, in order to prevent disease in
plants and vegetables, I combine the following matters-Hydrate of lime,
sulphate of alumina, sulphate of protoxide of iron, sulphate of protoxide of
magnesium, charcoal, and chloride of sodium; and I obtain and apply products
by the destructive distillation of night soil and animal matters, by condensing
the products which come over, and I combine these matters in the preparing
manures, as above mentioned.
I will now describe the manner of performing the same.
In the prepa-
ration of the cyanic manure, I take night soil, or other animal refuse, or fish,
and having dried it, in combination with waste tanners' bark, sawdust, or other
absorbent material, I place it in a close retort, and apply heat until the mass
is completely carbonized; whilst in a state of incandescence, I introduce a
quantity of impure carbonate of potash, impure carbonate of soda, or other
substance yielding a high per-centage of those principles (potash or soda), and,
closing the mouth of the retort, I expose the whole to a full red heat for the
period of about an hour. During this process, a portion of the carbonaceous
matter contained in the retort combines with a portion of the nitrogen of the
atmosphere which finds its way into the retort, and these constitute cyanogen;
these again in combination unite with the metallic base of the alkali employed,
and result in the formation of a cyanide of potassium or sodium.
The retort is furnished with a beak, for the exit of the vapour, steam, and
gases evolved during the process, which passing through a hydraulic main into
a condenser charged with a strong solution of common salt, or some diluted
mineral acid, to decompose or neutralize the active volatile principles of the
foeces, animal refuse, or fish employed, forming with the contents of the con-
denser a compound, to which I give the name of the distillat, to be afterwards
incorporated with the cyanic charcoal, above described, and blood treated with
sulphate of alumina and desiccated. I agitate fresh blood, so as to prevent
the separation of the serum and the coagulum, and then stir in sulphate of
alumina in powder, in the proportion of about half a pound of the salt to
each gallon of the blood, and afterwards desiccate the mass at as low a tempe-
rature as possible, in combination with about fourteen pounds of the charcoal,
prepared as above.
To these preparations and products I then add matters, as bones dissolved
in acid, dried night soil, soot, and other articles yielding phosphoric acid and
other fertilizing principles, in the preparation of the cyanic manure, varying

page_text: the proportions of each ingredient according to the nature and requirements
of the crops for which the composition is to be subsequently employed.
I would state that although the proportions of these materials may be
greatly varied, I recommend the following proportions in the particular cases,
but do not confine myself thereto :-

page_text: I hereby claim as a novelty the formation of a cyanic compound, by the
herein-described treatment of excrementitious matters, animal refuse, and fish,
the peculiar collection and employment of the volatile principles which are so
evolved from the destructive distillation of such refuse matters; and also the
treatment of blood by sulphate of alumina, together with the employment of
the so-called cyanic charcoal, and the distillat, in combination with other
fertilizing principles, in the manufacture of the cyanic manure; as also the
combination herein described as the plant preservative.
I disclaim the mere charring of fœces and animal and fish refuse, and their
application to the formation of manure. I disclaim also the employment of
any kind of human exreta, save that obtained in its normal condition as it is
found to exist in cesspools and privies, and unaffected by excess of extraneous
moisture. I further disclaim the employment of all the other matters specified,
except in combination, as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William White, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
GEO. PITT,
4, Old Square.
W. WHITE. (L.8.)