IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN THE PRODUCTION OF SALTS OF AMMONIA
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Edward Réina Newlands, of Charlton,
in the County of Kent, Analytical Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN THE PRODUCTION
OF SALTS OF AMMONIA."
Sealed the 2nd February 1869, and dated the 3rd October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Edward Réina
Newlands at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 3rd October 1868.
I, BENJAMIN EDWARD REINA NEWLANDS, of Charlton, in the County
of Kent, Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN THE
PRODUCTION OF SALTS OF AMMONIA:
This Invention relates, firstly, to the manufacture of manure from
organic matters containing nitrogen; and secondly, to the production of
salts of ammonia.
In carrying out the first part of my said Invention I take any organic
matter containing nitrogen, and treat it wth vitriol at
Price 8d.1
an elevated

page_text: By this
temperature, and allow the mixture to stand till the organic matter has
been thoroughly acted upon and converted into a black mass; I then
add native carbonate of magnesia or magnesian limestone.
means I obtain a dry substance (containing a high per-centage of
nitrogen and sulphate of magnesia) which I use either by itself or mixed
with superphosphate in the course of its manufacture, or afterwards, so
as to form a manure. In some cases I prefer to wash the acid out of
the black mass before referred to and use it (without the addition of
carbonate of magnesia or magnesian limestone) as a manure.
Under the second head of my Invention I utilize the nitrogen
contained in the impure sulphocyanide of ammonium, obtained by
washing oxide of iron (general known as spent oxide of iron) which
has been used for purifying gas, in the following manner:-I distil off
the ammonia it contains (which I collect in an acid) by boiling it with
lime, and I then take the sulphocyanide of calcium remaining in the
distilling apparatus, and if dry mix,.it with slaked lime, but if wet I use
dry lime, and submit the mixture to dry distillation, collecting the
ammonia evolved in an acid. Or I add slaked or dry lime to the
sulphocyanide of ammonium, according as it may be in a dry or wet
state, and submit the mixture to dry distillation, collecting the ammonia
given off as before described. I also propose to convert the nitrogen
contained in sulphocyanide of calcium into ammonia by dry distillation
with slaked or dry lime, as the case may be, and collect the ammonia
in the usual way.
In any of the above cases where ammonia is evolved it may be passed
into nitrogenized organic matter, which has been treated with vitriol as
before referred to under the first head of my Invention, whereby a highly
ammoniacal substance is obtained, which may be used in the manufacture
of manures.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
7
filed by the said Benjamin Edward Réina Newlands in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 3rd April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
EDWARD REINA NEWLANDS, of Charlton, in the County of Kent,
Analytical Chemist, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of October, 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 successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Edward Reina Newlands, Her
special license that I, the said Benjamin Edward Reina Newlands, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Edward Reina Newlands, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and 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 MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
AND IN THE PRODUCTION OF SALTS OF AMMONIA," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Benjamin Edward Reina Newlands, my executors
or administrators, 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 Benjamin Edward Reina Newlands,
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:
This Invention relates, firstly, to the manufacture of manure from
organic matters containing nitrogen; and, secondly, to the production
of salts of ammonia.
In carrying out the first part of my said Invention I take any organic
matter containing nitrogen, such, for instance, as dried blood, woollen
waste, and leather clippings, and treat it with vitriol or sulphuric acid
at an elevated temperature, by preference from about 300 to 400 F:,
and allow the mixture thus resulting to digest until the organic matter
has been thoroughly acted upon and converted into a black mass.
To the result thus obtained I then add native carbonate of magnesia or .
magnesian limestone, by preference in a state of division, so as to
neutralize the excess of acid, and thus I obtain a dry substance (con-
taining a high per-centage of nitrogen and sulphate of magnesia) which

page_text: I use either by itself or mixed with phosphate of lime in the course of its
manufacture into superphosphate, or afterwards, so as to form a manure.
In some cases I prefer to separate or wash out the excess of acid from
the black mass before referred to, and to employ the resulting carbonized
material (without the addition of carbonate of magnesia or magnesian
limestone) as a manure; the acid thus separated may be again employed
for similar or other purposes.
Under the second head of my Invention I utilize the nitrogen con-
tained in the impure sulphocyanide of ammonium, obtained by washing or
triturating oxide of iron (generally known as spent oxide of iron) which
has been used for purifying gas. The solution thus obtained I treat in
the following manner-I add the requisite amount of lime to liberate
the ammonia contained in the solution, and I distill off the ammonia
it contains, as is well understood, which I collect in an acid, such, for
example, as sulphuric acid; I then take the sulphocyanide of calcium
remaining in the distilling apparatus, and if dry mix it with slaked lime,
but if wet I use dry lime, and submit the mixture to dry distillation,
collecting the ammonia evolved in an acid, by preference sulphuric acid.
Or I add slaked or dry lime to the sulphocyanide of ammonium,
according as it may be in a dry or wet state, and submit the mixture to
dry distillation, collecting the ammonia given off in an acid as before
described.
Another part of my Invention relates to the conversion of the nitrogen
contained in sulphocyanide of calcium resulting from the purification of
coal gas into ammonia by what is known as dry distillation, either with
slaked or dry lime, as the case may be, and collecting the ammonia in
the usual way.
In any of the above cases where ammonia is to be evolved, retorts
or stills, as are well understood, are to be employed, and the ammonia
evolved may be passed into an acid, or it may be passed into acidi-
fied nitrogenized organic matter which has been treated with vitriol
.as before referred to under the first head of my Invention, whereby
a highly ammoniacal substance is obtained, which may be used in the
manufacture of manure.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention the proportion of
sulphuric acid or vitriol to be employed will vary according to the
materials acted upon; thus, for example, I have found that good results
may be obtained when leather clippings are to be utilized by employing

page_text: the same in the proportion of about 100 parts by weight of leather
clippings, and about 75 parts by weight of 70% vitriol; but these
proportions, as has been before mentioned, will vary with the several
nitrogenized substances employed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The production of an azotized material capable of being
employed as a manure by treating substances containing nitrogen, similar
to those herein-before mentioned, with sulphuric acid, and then either
neutralizing the excess of acid by means of carbonate of magnesia or
by means of magnesian limestone.
Second. In the employment of the carbonized azotized mass obtained
as herein-before mentioned, and freed from the excess of sulphuric acid,
as a manure or as one of the constituents of manure.
Third. The obtaining of ammonia from the nitrogen existing as sulpho-
cyanide of ammonium in the so-called spent oxide of iron, in the manner
and for the purposes herein-before described.
Fourth. The obtaining of ammonia by the treatment of sulpho-
cyanide of calcium, resulting either from the decomposition of sulpho-
cyanide of ammonium or contained in what is known as spent gas,
lime, or gas refuse, by the methods and for the purposes herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Edward Reina Newlands,
have to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Third day,
of April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
BENJAMIN EDWARD REINA NEWLANDS. (L.S.)