An Improved Method of and Process for Utilizing Town and other Refuse.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Dec., 1896-Accepted, 1st May, 1307
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of and Process for Utilizing Town and
other Refuse.
I, LAJOS CSÉRY Junior, of 19 József-Korút, Budapest, in the Empire of
Austria-Hungary, Landed Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The removal of house, kitchen and market refuse and other waste products,
daily accumulating in large quantities, is generally a matter of great anxiety to
the municipal administrations concerned, and they have generally collected the
refuse and simply deposited it at some distant place on the outskirts of the town.
The principal consideration in such cases has been directed to the speedy removal
of the refuse from the town, a measure of great importance from a sanitary point
of view.
Although attempts have been made to practically utilize the refuse which,
in fact, contains a highly valuable manure, no appreciable success has hitherto
been attained in this direction; the failure being due to the fact that the refuse
has usually been directly transported to the fields, and without further treatment
distributed and worked into the soil.
It is evident that the object in view, namely the fertilization of the soil cannot
in this manner be efficiently carried out because bodies or fragments of metal,
glass and clay, pieces of paper, fabric and the like, always forming a large
percentage of refuse, by their shape and impenetrability, prevent the fertilizing
principle of the manure from entering the soil and from being assimilated by the
plants, such fragments forming, as it were, an insulating layer between the upper
and the under soil or mould; in fact by working such substances into the soil,
the fertilizing quality of the refuse can only be impaired.
In consequence of the unfavourable results obtained by these experiments,
the problem of utilizing refuse as 'a manure had been entirely given up and the
sole object then aimed at was to solve the problem of its removal-which has
become gradually more important in proportion to the gradual development of
the principles of hygiene--by completely destroying the refuse by burning it
in specially constructed furnaces. But even this method did not meet the
requirements in view, even apart from the consideration that the process
necessitates the use of complicated and expensive apparatus which renders the cost
of removing refuse in this manner disproportionately high.
The process forming the subject of this invention allows of the practical
utilization of domestic refuse and other waste products, by separating the main
constituent parts, namely the manure, from those parts which are unfit to serve as
a manure and then sorting the latter into parts according to their special nature
and applicability; out of these substances, those which appear suitable for and
which are not otherwise applicable, are employed for generating the power used to
actuate the machinery required for carrying out this process forming the subject
of this invention.
This process which substantially consists in separating and sorting the refuse
matter by the aid of any suitable apparatus, is carried out in the manner hereinafter
described, that is to say, the refuse matter is first placed in a sorting apparatus of
any suitable kind (for instance a revolving screen, shaking sieve or the like),

page_text: through the meshes of which the smaller constituents will pass, whilst the larger
constituents are retained thereon or therein; those of the latter parts which lie on
the top surface and which are comparatively light, such as paper, wood, straw and
the like, are burned whilst the heavier lower parts are carried along with the
remainder to a second sorting apparatus. The parts which passed through the
screen or the like are then passed into a second scrting apparatus consisting of a
number of screens arranged longitudinally in succession and having gradually
widening meshes.
By the aid of this sorting apparatus, the smaller substances such as cinders,
earthy matter, dust and the like, which is especially suitable for manure, are
separated from the other, coarser parts; the former will pass through according
to their fineness, whilst the latter are discharged from the sorting apparatus and
are exposed to the action of an air current produced by a fan or the like, which
blows out all the comparatively lighter bodies or matter that may be still present,
such as paper and the like or adherent dust and deliver these substances upon a
conveying device of any suitable kind, for instance a cloth or belt from which they
are discharged at a suitable place in order to be used like the matter separated out
at the first sorting apparatus-for burning in the generator, for instance a boiler
used to supply the steam for working the whole arrangement.
The remainder of the refuse matter, after the manuring and lighter substances
and dust have been separated therefrom, is placed in a special closed space in
which the refuse substances are spread out upon a belt or any other suitable
conveying device by the movement of which they are slowly carried forward, so
that they may be sorted as they move along.
The sorting is preferably done on the transporting or conveying device by
workpeople each of whom picks out a certain kind of body or matter, according to
the nature of the refuse, and throws the same into a receptacle; thus for instance,
one person picks out metal pieces, another glass fragments and so on.
By this method apart from the previously separated easily combustible bodies,
and of valuable manuring substances and dust in a closed chamber it is ensured
that all other valuable constituents that may be present in the refuse can be collected
in a state free from dust and the defects adhereut to previous methods of separating
or sorting refuse matter, from the sanitary point of view, are entirely obviated.
Refuse matter however also contains substances, which cannot be directly
utilized; but even these substances, mostly organic matter, which are left unsorted
upon the transporting band or belt are not lost to practical utilization when
carrying out this process, since they are subjected to further treatment in retorts
or similar apparatus, applicable for dry distillation, and of any known construction,
which retorts are on their part likewise heated by the fuel taken from the refuse
matter during the separating process above referred to.
Valuable volatile substances, such as ammonia, acetate, and gases containing
nitrogenous compounds, all developed during this dry distillation, are separately
collected in vessels according to their nature, whilst the residual matter left in
the retort after the distilling process has been completed, and which contains
substances valuable for soil cultivating purposes, is added to the manure separated
out during the first stage of the process.
It is evident from the preceding description, that the process, forming the
subject of this invention, by which the principle of the preservation of matter is
practically carried out, solves the problem of the utilization of refuse matter in a
most periect manner, the more so, as it most efficiently fulfils all requirements
from a hygienic point of view.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven
tion and in what manner the saine is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
An improved method of practically utilizing domestic refuse and similar waste
substances, consisting in separating and sorting the same as follows, that is to say

page_text: first the comparatively light and combustible constituent bodies such as paper,.
wood, straw and the like are separated and used as a fuel for working the
separating and sorting machinery, then the manure substances proper (such as
ashes, earthy natter and the like) are separated from foreign matter (such as
metal, glass and clay pieces or fragments, and the like) contained therein and then
the latter after dust and other light substances still present therein, have been
removed therefrom by any appropriate blowing device while being carried along
upon a continuous cloth or belt in a separate space-are picked out and sorted
according to their nature; and finally those substances, which ultimately remain
unsorted upon the cloth or belt, principally organic matter, are subjected to dry
distillation in retorts or other suitable apparatus, worked by the fuel obtained by
separation from the refuse, the volatile products resulting from this dry-distillation
being collected in separate vessels, whilst the final residual products of the
distillation are added to the previously obtained manure products.
Dated this 23rd day of December 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, W.C., Agents for the Applicant..