THE APPLICATION AND USE, AS MANURE, OF CERTAIN SUBSTANCES OR COMPOUNDS NOT HITHERTO 80 EMPLOYED, AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING SUCH COMPOUNDS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
BINKS, late of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, and now of the Friars
Goose, Gateshead, in the said County, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her:, most Excellent Majesty, by Her Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of April, in the Eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Christopher Biuks, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power,sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Christopher Binks; my
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Christopher Binks,
my exors, admors; and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
and Her Majesty's Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and also within the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, Man, and
all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "THE
APPLICATION AND USE, AS MANURE, OF CERTAIN SUBSTANCES OR COMPOUNDS NOT
HITHERTO 80 EMPLOYED, AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING SUCH COMPOUNDS; "
in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso required that I, the
said Christopher Binks, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said
[Price 8d.]

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the now reciting Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Christopher Binks, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by this present instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, in the words herein-after written, and by reference to the Drawings
hereafter referred to.
"Whereas I have ascertained that the compound known by the name of
cyanogen, now extensively employed in the arts, possesses in a high degree the
property of promoting vegetation, and has not hitherto been employed for that
purpose. Now the nature of my said Invention consists in the application and
use, as manure, of certain substances or compounds, of which cyanogen forms
the principal or most important ingredient, and in certain improvements in
manufacturing such compounds. And the compounds to which I have more
particular reference are the following:-Cyanogen in a state of aqueous solu-
tion or combined with water; the cyanides and cyannrets of potassium, sodium,
ammonia,calcium,and magnesium,sulpho-cyanogen,and the sulpho-cyanides of
potassium, sodium, ammonia, calcium, and magnesium; the cyanates and
cyanurates of potash, soda, ammonia, lime, and magnesia; and the ferrocyanides
and ferridcyanides (called also prussiates) of potassium, sodium, ammonia,
calcium, and magnesium. Ana I use these compounds, whether existing in
form of an acid, or radical combined with one base, such as the ferrocyanate
of potash (otherwise called ferrocyanide of potassium) or of an acid or radical
combined with twobases,astheferrocyanate of potashand lime (otherwise called
ferrocyanate of potassium and calcium.) These compounds may be either
used by themselves or in combination with other manures or substances, and
they may be sprinkled or strewed upon the soil before or after sowing or
planting, or the seeds or plants may be previously steeped in solutions of such
compounds, and so impregnated with them before they are sown or planted.
My improvements in manufacturing such compounds have reference chiefly to
the mode or modes of manufacturing the cyanides, which it is expedient to
produce in the first instance, and then to convert into the said compounds by
the application of well-known chemical agents and processes. As cyanides of
potassium or soda, or of some other alkaline base, are those to be preferred,
I shall first describe my improved modes of manufacturing these cyanides.
At present cyanide of potassium or sodium is chiefly manufactured as a
preliminary step or product in the manufacture of prussiate of potash or soda.
To obtain it, refuse animal matter or vegetable matter, containing nitrogen or

page_text: guano, or some other substance containing carbon and nitrogen, is worked into
carbonate of potash or soda, contained and melted either in an iron pot or in a
reverberatory furnace; or ammonia or atmospheric air is made to pass through
alkalized and heated carbonaceous matter, consisting of wood, charcoal, im-
pregnated with an aqueous solution of carbonate of potash or of soda, and then
well dried and heated in an earthenware or iron retort. When iron pots are
employed'in so obtaining the cyanide,a great waste of materials is occasioned,
firstly, by the dissipation of the greater portion of the nitrogen, giving matter.
used from the surface of the mass, and before contact or combination with the.
alkali; and secondly, bytherapid destruction of theironitself of the pots through
the action upon it under a high temperature of the materials contained in
them. When reverberatory furnaces are used a still greater loss is occasioned,
for not only is the nitrogen giving matter rapidlydissipated and swept off from
the surface of the melted alkali before contact or combination with it, but even
after such contact and combination the effect of the free current of heated air
and other matters passing through the furnace is to convert the cyanide.so
formed into cyanate, and finally (for the most part) to destroy it. When atmo-
spheric air is used as the source of the required nitrogen, the method now
employed is to place the alkalized charcoal within a large clay or earthenware
retort, or one built of fire bricks, and to heat this retort on the outside so
intensely that the materials within it shall be raised to and kept at a white
heat during the passage through and consequent combination with them of
the nitrogen of the air. The disadvantages of this method are, first, that to
maintain the high temperature requisite to transmit the heat through the
mass of badly conducting matter of the retort an excessive expenditure of fuel
is needed; and second, that the retorts are liable to be rapidly destroyed bythe
continued effect of so high a temperature, and by the action upon them of the
materials inside. Now instead of either the iron pots or the reverberatory
furnaces aforesaid I employ a furnace constructed in the manner repre-
sented in Figure 1 and 2 of the Drawings hereto annexed. Figure 1 is a
section of the furnace, and Figure 2 a plan of it through A of Figure 1; but
in the Figure 2 the opening or door C for feeding the fire is placed in the side
and not at the top of the furnace A, as in Figure 1. It is built of fire bricks
or stone work. A, is the fireplace; B, its ash pit; C, the opening through
whichthe fire is fed, and closed in the intervals by aquarl; D,is the decomposing
chamber of the furnace, in which are lodged the materials to be operated on;
E, is the opening through which the decomposing chamber is charged with the
materials, and this can be closed at pleasure, or may be furnished with a hopper,
holding and supplying the materials as they are consumed, and withdrawn by

page_text: the action of the contrivance placed for that purpose at H. F, is the exit flue
for carrying off the waste gases, vapours, &c.; G, is the receiving chamber in
which the solid products from D are finally deposited; it is furnished with an
opening at I, and with a door fitting air-tight; H, is an iron screw shaft
enclosed within an iron cylinder, and moved by suitable machinery, by the
revolution of which the contents of the decomposing chamberare gradually
removed from the bottom and thrownintothereceiver G; by which arrangements
a continual stream of the solid matter is made to flow through the decomposing
chamber,and in its passage to be acted on and transformed intotherequiredcom-
pounds. Connected with the exit flue F is an air pump, or fanner, or other
contrivance adapted to cause a current of the external air, the flame, and other
gaseous or volatilized matters generated by the fire and by its action upon the
materials within the chamber, to flow through the fireplace and decomposing
chamber in the direction of the arrows. There are therefore two currents in
operation,one of the solid materials caused by the action of the screw apparatus
at H,and the pressure of the superincumbent mass in D,and another current of
the aeriform matter or products, and caused bythe action of the apparatus con-
nected with the flue F. To shew the mode of using this apparatus, and the
results obtained, I shall select two cases, one in which common animal matter,
as, for example, horn, is used as the carbon and nitrogen giving substance,
and cyanide of potassium or other alkali is the immediate product to be
obtained; and another, in which the nitrogen is procured from ammonia, or
from some gaseous or volatile compound of ammonia, and cyanide of sodium
or other alkali is the immediate product. The fireplace is charged with ignited
coke or coal, and the whole furnace well heated thereby before submitting
the materials to its action. The decomposing chamber is then filled up to the
point a which pieces of charcoal (or with one or other of the kinds of alkalized
carbonmixturesherein-afterdescribed) which have previously been impregnated
with a solution of charcoal of potash, and then weli dried, and which are now
mixed in certain relative proportions with the pieces of horn.
The best relative proportions of horn (or of any other kind ofnitrogen giving
substance) and alkalized carbon to be employed can always be ascertained and
regulated so asto produce the most economic result, by observing the following
general rule, namely:-The theoretical quantity of nitrogen required to convert
the whole of any given quantity of carbonate of potash, or other base, into a
cyanide, is well known; but, practically, let the proportional quantity of the
nitrogen giving substance used be such that it shall contain only one third of
the nitrogen required by theory to convert the whole of the alkali present into
a cyanide. By attending to this rule no loss or waste of nitrogen, or of

page_text: materials supplying it, will occur; it will generallybe all absorbed in the forma-
tion of the cyanide. I wish it, however, to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the use of these particular relative proportions, since much will
obviously depend upon the attention paid by the operator to theworking order
of the apparatus. The furnace being thus charged, the fire is made to play
upon and throughthemass bythe action of the machineryattached to the flue F.
Whengaseousammoniaisthe nitrogen giving substance,and cyanide of sodium
is the immediate product to be obtained, the opening at E is furnished with a
conductingpipe for conveying into the chamber the ammoniaderived fromany
convenient source exterior to and distinct from this apparatus, or the double
furnaceseen in Figure 3,and herein-after described in detail, is employed; and
in which the arrangement is such that the same furnace serves both to generate
theammoniaandtowork it up in the production of the required compounds; or,
in place of making the production of the ammonia and its consumption two
distinct processes, another and in many cases a more advantageous method is,
to mix the alkalized carbon with the salt of ammonia, or with the mixture of
materials yielding the ammonia, and theu to treat this mixture in a similar
manner to that above described in the case wherein the mixture consists of
horn and alkalized carbon; or carbonaceous matter, as pieces of charcoal,or
one or other of the preparations herein-after described, is impregnated with a
mixed solution of sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of potash, or of soda or lime,
and then well dried, and this impregnated carbonin small pieces is mixed along
with the alkalized carbon,and the whole treated in the same way as above de-
scribed whenhornandalkalized carbonare the materials or mixtures employed;
(thebest relative proportional quantities to be used of the sulphate and nitrate
are those of their chemical equivalents); or the solution of the kind of alkali
used is first mixed with a solution of the nitrogen giving salt, as, for instance,
carbonate of soda with nitrate of soda, and the carbonaceous matter is impreg-
nated with this compound solution and then well dried. If the matter to be
diffused through the ignited or heated materials held in the decomposing
chamber be in the form of gas or vapour, or it be some volatile matter, then
the mode of proceeding may be one or other(according to the circumstances)
of those modes before directed to be followed when ammonia is referred to by
way of example. The gas or vapour may be generated by suitable apparatus
placed exterior to and distinct from this new apparatus, or by means of the
double furnace, shewn in Figure 3, or that shewn in Figure 5, or by mixing
the materials yielding the gases or vapours directly along with the alkalized
carbon contained in or sent through the decomposing chamber. If it be from
atmospheric air alone that the nitrogen is sought to be obtained, then the

page_text: opening at Emay be closed, and it will only be that nitrogen which is supplied
by the air passing through the fire itself which is drawn through the alkalized
carbon in the chamber. The mode of adding or using solid matters, as, for
example, dried blood or common coal, &c.,may be either that already directed
to be followed in the case where horn is used, namely, by throwing it in along
with and strewed amongst the pieces of alkalized carbon; or it may be more
intimately mixed up with the alkalized carbon, and as one of the ingre-
dients of the kinds of carbon mixtures herein-after described. An exa-
mination into the peculiar action and results obtained by the use of
this apparatus will best define and shew the nature of this partof my Invention,
and the advantages to be derived from its use. Let it be supposed that the
decomposing chamber is filled up to the point a with alkalized carbon, con-
taining carbonate of potash, and mixed in proper proportion with pieces of
dry horn. The effects of the action of the flame, heated gases, and other
matters proceeding from the fire A, and impinging upon the materials at a,
are such that at the surface and throughout the upper statum about a the
alkali is fused and simultaneously the horn decomposed, and the volatile pro-
ducts of that decomposition drawn downwards and diffused through the entire
mass of materials contained in the chamber D. At the same time the pro-
gressive downward motion of the materials, and the fresh supply of them at
the point a, ultimately removes the heated stratum a to a point lower down as
at b, where no free oxygen can exist, and consequently where there is no
combustion, only converted heat, but that heat still intense enough to retain
the alkali in its meited state, and to effect its reduction by the action upon it
of the contiguous carbon. Simultaneously the nitrogen or cyanogen, or the
elements thereof supplied by the decomposition of the fresh materials thrown
in at a,and passing through the furnace,is or are brought in contract with the
reduced alkali at b, and a cyanide of the metal then and there produced. The
further downward progress of the mass of materials next removes the cyanide
on to c, and beyond the point where any further chemical change materially
affecting the cyanide can occur, and finally deposits it in its unchanged form
of cyanide in the receiver G. In the practical working of this furnace care
must be taken that a quantity of fresh materials introduced at the point a
should not be disproportionate to the strength of the fire. The quantity must
not at any time be so great as by its cooling effect to reduce the temperature
of the subjacent mass below that degree required at the decomposing and
combining point b. And again, the length of the column of materials between
a and c must be so proportioned to the heating power brought to bear upon it
in other words, to the quantity of current flame and ignited gaseous matter)

page_text: that the point of reduction and combination, and that point immediately below
it at which all further chemical action materially affecting the cyanide ceases,
must be kept at a convenient position within the column, which is about that
shown at 6 in Figure 1. Beyond that point (namely between band c) there
should be leftspace enough to permit the resulting mass during the time of its
passage to be sufficiently cooled down before being finally deposited in the
receiver G.
From what has been stated it will be seen that amongst other advantages
of my improved mode of manufacturing these cyanides are the following,
namely:-
First, the nitrogen giving matters used (of whatsoever kind) are greatly
economized, for the said matters, or the products of their decomposition
(which hitherto by any of the old processes have been for the most part
thrown off from the surface of the melted alkali and wasted), are by this
methodnecessarily broughtinto actual contract with the other matters engaged
in the process after decomposition, and under such conditions that the whole,
or by far the greater part, is secured in the required form of combination.
Second, the apparatus I employ is more durable and thereforeless costly than
the old iron pots or reverberatory furnaces.
Third, the results obtained are uniform in regard to the kind of products
produced; for inasmuch as no free oxygen or aqueous vapour can pass through
the upper stratum of the column of materials unaffected or uncombined, and
becomes therefore inert or inoperative in relation to the contents of the lower
part of the column, it follows that a cyanide of the metal is not only readily
formed (but is also preserved in that condition to the end of the process,
a result which cannot be secured by any of the old processes, in all which
a current of free and strongly heated oxygen, or of steam, is continually
playing upon the contents of the furnace, and either preventing altogether the
formationof thecyanide, or, whencyanide is partially formed, again destroying it.
Fourth, this apparatus allows of the application in such manufactures of a
greater variety and number of materials than could be operated upon by the
old processes, and in any other respect its employment greatly facilitates and
economizes the manufacture. When atmospheric air forms the source of the
nitrogen the operation is freed from the disadvantages attending the inter-
vention between the fire and the materials to be acted on of the non-conducting
or badly conducting body of the clay or brick retort hitherto employed.
The form and arrangements of another furnace to be used in certain cases
in the practical application of my Invention are shewn in Figure 3. A is
its fireplace; B, the ash pit; C, the opening through which the fire is fed;

page_text: D, the decomposing chambers; E is a flue situated towards the upper
part of the fireplace, and F one towards the lower part of it.
G, G,
is its exit flue, leading, as in Figure 1, to an outlet chimney, and connected
with the apparatus used to cause a draught through the fire and the chamber
Din the direction of the arrows. His the discharging apparatusas in Figure 1';
I, the receiving chamber; and K, door or opening used for clearing it, and
fitting air-tight when closed. By this arrangement the portion of flame and
heated gases passing through E serves to prepare the materials placed in D
before their arrival at the point b, at which they become subject to the action
of the higher temperature of that part of the furnace. In some instances this
preparatory action is only that of heating the materials, in others it is that of
decomposition and volatilization of them atand about a,and subserving in this
way the purpose of a retort or distillatory apparatus, which in the arrangement
shewn in Figure 1 is placed exterior to and distinct from the furnace itself.
By the use of dampers, fixed and adapted so as to regulate the quantityof heat,
&c. passing respectively through E and F, a perfect control of the working of the
furnace is secured. Another mode of operating with this arrangement is, to
place within the fireplace A itself the materials generating the gases or vapours
or volatilized matters intended to be applied or to act in the decomposing
chamber, and to charge the chamber only with the alkalized carbon. In this
way the generating materials may be mixed with the fuel in A, or that
fuel may itself be the generating material, as, for instance, when coal or one
or other of the carbon mixtures hercin-after described is the fuel, in which case
the upper stratum of fuel or other matters will supply the gases or vapours
or volatilized matters, &c., whilst the lower and more intensely heated stratum
will supply the requisite heat, flame, and heated air, &c., for the decom-
positions and combinations to be effected in D. Again, by the arrangement
shewn in Figure 4, this fireplace may itself be applied directly as a
distillatory or decomposing apparatus, by having it divided into two
compartments, and separated by perforated fire brick or other division
or grating at X, through which a part of the flame, &c. from A will pass
and act upon any materials placed in the upper compartment A'.
Figure 4, y is the door or opening through which the fuel is supplied
to the fire A. The materials to be decomposed, or distilled, or volatilized are
passed through the opening C into A. Figure 5 represents another form and
arrangement: A is the fire place; B, ash pit; C, the main flue leading to the
decomposing chamber D; E is flue leading from the upper part of the
decomposing chamber, and F is another flue leading from the lower part of it,
and each flue is furnished with a damper to regulate the passage through the
a
In

page_text: arrange-
one or other, or both, at pleasure; G is the main outlet flue or chimney; H,
the receiving chamber for the solid products from D; I,the apparatus for with-
drawing those products from D, and depositing them in G. In this
ment the flame and heated air and gases may be passed through the column of
materials contained in D in a direction contrary to that used in the other
arrangements, or both an upward and a downward current, or either the one or
the other, may be employed at the will of the operator, or according to the kind
and character of the materials operated on, and the products to be formed, and
such current is produced or caused in the same way as in the arrangement
represented in Figure 1, by means of machinery of any appropriate kind
attached to the outlet flue or chimney. Figures 6 and 7 represent another
arrangement: A is the fireplace; B, ash pit; C, an intermediate chamber
within which to place any materials yielding gases, or vapours, or volatile
products intended to be passed into and through the decomposing chamberD,
as, for example, mixtures yielding ammonia or its volatile compounds, by the
action of the heat passing over them from A. It is not an essential condition
in the construction of these furnaces that the decomposing chamber shall be
inclined at the exact angle shown in the several figures, or that it should be
perpendicular, for since one object of that part of the arrangement is to
facilitate, by the action of the pressure of the superincumbent mass, the move-
ment of the materials through the chamber and their removal from the bottom,
it is obvious that the same object may effected by several other kinds of eon-
trivances, as, for instance, the chamber may be horizontal, and it may be filled
to the top with the materials so as to compel the passage of the flame and
heated gaseous matters directly through them, and their passage or movement.
through may be effected by the action of a revolving screw placed in any con-
venient position, and finally discharging the materials at the opposite end. But
I prefer the arrangements shown in the Drawings as being, in my judgment,
most convenient and economical. The size or dimensions of these furnaces
will of course be regulated by the quantities of materials to be worked upon
at a time. In the practical working of this Invention, it may in some cases be
desirable to collect and make use of the gaseous products or volatilized matter
passing through or generated by the reaction of the materials, and for this
purpose I interpose between the furnace and the exhausting apparatus the
machinery requisite for this purpose, and according to the kind of product and.
use to be made of it. If regard be not paid to the proper heating and working
of the furnace and to the relative proportions of materials, it may occur that
nitrogen, or cyanogen, or ammonia, or combinations of these and other
products, will escape combination, and, if not intercepted, occasion some loss.

page_text: To prevent this the superfluous products from one furnace may be conveyed
into an adjoining one by passing them through the contrivances before men-
tioned in connection with Figure 1, and used when gaseous matter is sent
into the chamber; or a series of condensing vessels may be interposed and
charged with water or a solution of any salt capable of absorbing or combining
with the products. The cyanides may be either used in the state which they
are deposited in the receiving chambers, or they may be afterwards formed, in
combination with other substances, into any of the compounds of cyanagen
before mentioned by such processes as are ordinarily adopted for that purpose,
and which, being well known, need not therefore be here described. When,
instead of a cyanide, it is desired that the ultimate product should be a cyanate
or a hydrocyanate or hydrocyanic acid itself, any of the furnaces and modes
of manipulation before described may be employed, but water or steam must
be injected into the decomposing chamber in addition to the other materials.
A further improvement in the manufacture of the said compounds consists in
the application of one or other of the following kinds of mixtures or prepara-
tions to be used in the place of wood charcoal, either when that substance is
employed to furnish carbon in the production of the cyanogen or as an agent
for the reduction of the alkale, and at the same time as a vehicle through
which to present it to the action of the other matters engaged in the operation.
Common coal or coke is ground up with coal tar, pitch, and with the kind of
alkaliintended to be operated on. When thoroughly incorporated this mixture
is warmed in order to bind the particles together by the adhesive action of the
pitch, and the mixture is then broken or cut into pieces of about the size of a
walnut, in which state it is ready for use. The relative proportion of these
ingredients must be so regulated that the resulting mixture shall possess the
following properties, namely, first, that when cold the pieces shall be so hard.
as not to adhere together or become liable to do so under any moderate
increase of temperature; second, that when exposed to the strong heat of the.
furnace they shall not run together by the melting of the pitch, but retain their
form, and when all volatile matter is expelled produce a light spongy mass of
carbon intermixed with the alkali, and freely exposing it to the action of the
gases or vapours passing through the furnace. These conditions I find to be
obtained by mixing about one hundred parts of common coal or coke with from
five to ten per cent. of pitch, and from five to twenty per cent. of alkali.
Another mixture regulated in the relative proportions of its ingredients by the
same considerations, and compounded and prepared in the same manner, con-
sists of sawdust, pitch, or coal tar, and the alkali. The sawdust may either be
impregnated with an aqueous solution of the alkali, and afterwards dried, or

page_text: the alkali in a dry state may be mixed with it. In place of sawdust, ground
peat or peat moss, or any other ligneous substance in a comminuted state, may
be used; the kind of alkali,or the peculiar state of combination in which it may
be used, will depend on the kind of products finally required. An economical
source of such bases will be found in the ashes of seaweed, and in the crude
soda ashes or black balls of soda makers, in sulphate of soda itself, in muriate
of potash, and in muriate of soda or common salt. The same carbonaceous
preparations form also a vehicle through which to operate upon the mixture of
sulphate of ammonia and nitrates before referred to, in which case the saline
inixture is ground up with the coal and pitch, and this preparation, in small
pieces, is intermixed with the pieces of alkalized carbon,and in this way passed
through the decomposing chamber of the furnace. Or the alkali intended for
the base and the nitrogen giving salt may be mixed together, and along with
one or other of these carbon mixtures; for instance, carbonate of soda and
nitiate of soda in mixture may be used, and the carbon may either be steeped
in a solution of the 'salts and then again dried, or the salts in a dry state may be
ground up with the carbon mixture. The waste of animal matter in the
manufacture of cyanides may be much diminished, even when the old iron pots
are used, by means of an apparatus of one or other of the forms represented
in Figures 8 and 9. The object of this apparatus is to force and retain the
nitrogen giving matter below the surface of the alkali, and thus to prevent to
some extent the usual waste caused by the dissipation of the materials from the
surface of the heated alkali. In Figure 8 P is the iron pot containing the
alkali with which the material is to be worked; C, an upright shaft carrying
the cross arms or agitators working within the pot; B is a horizontal disk
wheel fixed to the shaft C, and revolving by the action of another wheel A,on
which it rests, and through the centre of which passes.a horizontal shaft con-
nected with a steam engine or other moving power. The disk wheel A is of an
elliptic form, and thus causes by its revolution and by the friction between
A and B, both the horizontal and vertical motions of B and the shaft C. In
Figure 9 the circular disk wheel A is perforated by a horizontal shaft at a point
somewhat removed from its centre, and thus communicates to the verticle shaft
Ca similar motion to that obtained by the revolution of the elliptic wheel in
Figure 8.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention in the several
parts thereof, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim under the first head or branch of my Invention is, the application
and use as manure of all those compounds which are artificially formed by the

page_text: combination of cyanogen with other substances, as before exemplified; that is
to say, all those cyanogen compounds in which the substance combined with
the cyanogen is of a nature calculated to subserve, develope, or give effect to
the property of promoting vegetation possessed by the cyanogen itself, and
whether such artifical cyanogen compounds are so applied and used by them-
selves, or along with any other manure or manures.
And I declare that what I claim under the second head or branch of my
Invention, which includes the "Improvements in Manufacturing such Com-
pounds," is as follows:-
First, I claim the employment, in the manufacture of such compounds, of
furnaces constructed according to any of the different forms represented in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Drawings hereunto annexed and before
described,and worked in the manner also herein-before described, whereby in
each and every case the earthy, or alkaline, or alkalized materials are exposed
to the direct action of the fire or current of heated air, and other matters,
which at once supplies both the higher temperature requisite and thequantity
of nitrogen and other elements necessary for the formation of the cyanogen
compound, and however such furnaces may be varied in subordinate details, or
however the process or processes of manipulation may be modified, as long as
the said distinctive and peculiar effect is produced.
Second, I claim the employment in the manufacture of such compounds of
carbonaceous matters previously alkalized by any of the alkaline substances
before specified as useful for that purpose.
Third, I claim the employment in such manufacture as a source of nitrogen
of a mixture of sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of potash, soda, or lime.
Fourth, I claim the use of the apparatus occasionally interposed between
the furnace and the exhausting apparatus for the purpose of collecting the
gaseous or volatilized products as herein-before described. And,
Fifth, I claim the employment, in combination with the ordinary iron pots
used in the manufacture of cyanogen compounds, of the apparatus represented
in Figures 8 and 9 of the said Drawings, for the purpose of preventing or
diminishing the waste now attending the use of such iron pots.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh
day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
CHRISTOPHER (L.s.) BINKS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Christopher Binks came before our said
Ladythe Queenin Her Chancery, andacknowledgedtheSpecification aforesaid,
and all and everything therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.