Year: 1847

page_text: [The enrolled copy of the Specification and Drawing of this Patent (Dated 20th
April 1847) having been stolen from the Petty Bag Office, the following
Specification and Drawing of a Patent obtained in Scotland for an Invention
bearing the same title, dated 4th May 1847, have been supplied in place thereof
from the Records of the Office of Chancery in Edinburgh.]
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PHILIP
BURNARD AYRES, of Number 12, Howland Street, Fitzroy Square, in the
County of Middlesex, M.D., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Seal kept and used in Scotland instead of the Great Seal
formerly used there, and sealed at Edinburgh on or about the Fourth day of
May, in the year One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, did give and
grant unto me, the said Philip Burnard Ayres, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Philip Barnard Ayres, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others, as I, the said Philip Burnard Ayres, my executors, adminis-
trators, or 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 mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Scotland, my Invention

page_text: of "CERTAIN PLANS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING PUTRESCENT ORGANIC
MATTERS, SUCH AS NIGHT SOIL, THE MATTER IN SUSPENSION IN THE WATER OF
SEWERS, AND OTHER SIMILAR MATTERS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF MANURE, OR FOR OTHER
PURPOSES, AND FOR APPARATUS FOR THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said Philip Burnard Ayres,
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, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's Chancery in Scotland within four calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Philip Burnard Ayres, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by this present Specification or instrument
in writing, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to
say:
"My said Invention consists, firstly, of a mode or modes of preparing
putrescent organic matters which are intended to be used or applied for the
purposes of manure or other purposes; and, secondly, of certain apparatus
applicable in the preparation of such putrescent matters according to the first
part of my Invention.
My mode of preparing putrescent organic matters consists in causing the
putrefactive fermentation of the putrescent matters (which may or may not
be mixed with other substances) to cease, by drying the same at a heat below
that at which the matters would be decomposed, and at the same time causing
the gaseous products of the putrescent matters disengaged by heat, or some of
them, to be absorbed, destroyed, or decomposed, in manner herein-after
described.
In order to dry the putrescent matters, I introduce them (either alone or
mixed with any other substance with which it may be thought proper to
combine them) into a close chamber or covered vessel (which may be con-
structed in manner herein-after mentioned), and in which chamber or vessel
I apply heat to the matters to be dried in any convenient manner, the heat
being kept at a temperature lower than that at which the matters would be
burned or destroyed, and which will generally be found to be below the
temperature of 400° degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The heat must
continue to be applied until the matters have been thoroughly dried, and the
farther progress of the putrefactive fermentation arrested, after which the

page_text: dried matters may be removed from the chamber or vessel, the process of
preparing them being completed. The chamber or vessel in which the
putrescent matters are dried should have an opening for permitting a sufficient
quantity of atmospheric air to enter for carrying off the gaseous products of
the heated putrescent matters, and the chamber should also be furnished with
a pipe for conducting the air containing such gaseous products to other vessels,
apparatus, or parts of apparatus, where they may be absorbed, decomposed, or
destroyed. For this purpose (if I intend to cause any of the gaseous products
of the heated matters to be absorbed, condensed, or combined with any
liquid) I conduct the air containing the gascous products of the heated
matters to and cause it to pass through any convenient vessel or vessels
containing the water acid or other liquid by or with which I intend to cause
any of the gaseous products to be absorbed, condensed, or combined. Thus,
for example, putrescent matters heated in this manner will generally evolve a
considerable quantity of gaseous ammonia, which I cause to be absorbed by a
liquid acid placed in such a vessel as just mentioned; and I either cause the
air containing the ammoniacal gas to pass over a large surface of the liquid
acid, or cause the air to pass through the liquid acid, so as to ensure the
absorption thereof. If it be desired to preserve any other of the gaseous
products of the heated putrescent matters, I cause the air conducted from the
before-mentioned chamber to be passed through any other vessel or vessels
containing any liquid or other substances by and with which I intend such
other gaseous products to be absorbed, condensed, or combined. If the air
conducted from the chamber as before mentioned be still loaded or mixed with
an excess of aqueous vapour, and if it be desired to free it from such vapour,
I cause the air to be passed through a refrigerator or any other suitable
contrivance for condensing such vapour, and then cause the air so dried to be
passed through a fire, or through or over the surface of burning fuel of any
description, so that hydrogen or any other gaseous products of the heated
putrescent matters still remaining mixed with the air may be effectually
decomposed or destroyed, and the escape of all noxious effluvia prevented.
But although I have described the absorption, combination, or condensation
of the before mentioned gaseous products and aqueous vapours as part of my
process, all or any of these parts of the process may be omitted, the air con-
taining such gaseous products as aforesaid being however passed through a
fire, as before mentioned. The process before described may be performed by
any chamber, vessel, and apparatus convenient for that purpose.
But I will now, with the aid of the Drawing hereunto annexed, describe
the second part of my Invention, or the apparatus which I have invented,

page_text: and which is applicable in preparing such putrescent matters as aforesaid,
according to the said first part of my Invention.
The Drawing hereunto annexed is a longitudinal section of the apparatus
which I have invented for the preparation of putrescent organic matters.
A is a chamber or covered vessel heated by steam pipes (marked J), but
which may be heated in any other convenient manner, and upon the bottom
of which are to be placed the putrescent matters (a, a, a,) to be prepared.
The chamber has an opening K, by which air may enter the chamber, and
passing over the surface of the heated putrescent matters, carry away with it
the gaseous matters driven off by the heat; at the opposite end or side of the
chamber is another opening and a pipe or flue B' for conducting the air
charged with the gaseous products of the putrescent matters to the chamber
or vessel C, containing a liquid acid, with which the ammonia arising from the
putrescent matters is intended to be combined. The chamber is so constructed
as to cause the acid, when poured into the chamber, to spread over a large
surface; which is to be exposed to the current of air passing through the
chamber; and the extent of such surface may, if desired, be increased by con-
structing the chamber or vessel C with shelves having shallow troughs upon
them, in which may be poured some of the liquid acid just mentioned; the
liquid acid in this chamber will absorb and combine with the greater propor-
tion of the ammonia arising from the putrescent matters; and the air still
charged with the aqueous vapor and other products of the putrescent matters
is conducted by the pipe or tube B2, B3, B, and B, to the ash-pit or under side
F of the furnace E. The horizontal part B³ of the pipe or tube passes
through a tank or reservoir of cold water D, D, D, D, in order that as much
of the aqueous vapour as practicable may be condensed before the air comes
to the fire, as any excess of aqueous vapour in the air might prevent the fire
from burning so freely as it ought. The liquid condensed in the pipe or
tube Bs passes through the pipe L, and falls into a reservoir or receiver. The
refrigerator or contrivance for condensing the aqueous vapor may, however,
be constructed in any other convenient form, or the vapor may be condensed in
any other manner which may be convenient. The ash-pit F of the furnace is
made air-tight, or nearly so, in order that the air necessary for supporting the
combustion of the fuel in the furnace may be drawn through the orifice K,
across the chamber A, and through the chamber or vessel C, and along the
pipes B', B, B, B³, and B', to the ash-pit F of the furnace E. The air thus
drawn into the ash-pit will then rise up through the fire or ignited fuel in the
furnace, the heat of which will decompose and destroy all the remaining
gaseous products of the putrescent matters which are capable of being burnt,

page_text: smoke and gaseous products
Above the furnace is placed
and the residue (if any) will pass away with the
of the combustion by means of the chimney G.
the steam boiler H, from which the tube I conveys steam to the pipes
(marked J) by which the chamber A is heated; the furnace E thus answering
the double purpose of heating the putrescent matters in the chamber A, and
decomposing or destroying the gaseous products of those matters, or such of
them as may not have been previously absorbed or condensed in manner before
mentioned. Although I have described an acid condensing chamber and a
water condenser or refrigerator as parts of this apparatus, both or either of
those parts may be omitted, the air from the chamber A being (in case they
are both omitted) conveyed unchanged, or nearly so, to the ash-pit F by the
pipes B', B³, B, B³, and B', or other convenient pipes or flues.
Having now ascertained and described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I claim
as my Invention,—
Firstly, the mode of preparing such putrescent matters as aforesaid by
drying the same, and causing such gaseous products thereof as aforesaid to be
burnt or destroyed in manner herein-before described, and either with or
without causing any portion of such vapours or gaseous products as aforesaid
to be absorbed, condensed, or combined in manner herein-before described.
Secondly, the apparatus herein-before described, and which is applicable in
preparing such putrescent matters in manner aforesaid, and which I have
invented for the better practising or carrying into effect the said first part of
my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Philip Burnard Ayres, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-seven.
(Signed)
PHILIP BURNARD (L.s.) AYRES.
Taken and acknowledged by the within-named Philip Burnard
Ayres at the Chancery Affidavit Office, Symond's Inn, in
the County of Middlesex, this Thirty-first day of August,

page_text: This Specification is enrolled in the Records of Her Majesty's Chancery in
Scotland, by me, John Ewart, Depute of Archibald McNeill, Director of said
Chancery.
(Signed) JOHN EWART. Depute.

page_text: N:11,600.
Manufacture of Manure.
Ayres' Specification.
The enrolled copy of the Specification and drawing of this Patent,
(dated 20th April 1847)having been stolen from the Petty Bag Office.
the Specification and drawing of a Patent obtained in Scotland, for an.
invention bearing the same title, dated May 4th have been supplied
in the place thereof, from the Records of the Office of Chancery in
Edinburah)