IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE of and IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING MANURE FROM SEWAGE, NIGHT SOIL, AND LIKE MATTERS, AND IN THE PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FOR DEODORISING SEWAGE, NIGHT SOIL, AND LIKE MATTERS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Howard Kidd, of Wrexham, in the County
of Denbigh, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE of and
IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING MANURE FROM
SEWAGE, NIGHT SOIL, AND LIKE MATTERS, AND IN THE PREPARATION AND
APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FOR DEODORISING SEWAGE, NIGHT SOIL,
AND LIKE MATTERS."
Sealed the 5th March 1875, and dated the 19th 'September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Howard Kidd
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th September 1874.
I, JOHN HOWARD KIDD, of Wrexham, in the County of Denbigh,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MODE OF AND IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING
MANURE FROM SEWAGE, NIGHT SOIL, AND LIKE MATTERS, AND IN THE PREPARATION
AND APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FOR DEODORISING SEWAGE, NIGHT SOIL,
AND LIKE MATTERS," to be as follows:-
Firstly. My Invention consists in taking the sewage to a tank, where
the solid matter is allowed to settle until the liquid becomes comparatively

page_text: .
free from solid matter, when it is drawn away; then the sediment is
removed from the tank on to a filter bed of any well known construction.
I prefer to form it of gravel below and sand above, over which there are
iron grids. On this filter bed the moisture is allowed to drain away,
and the sediment is then removed from the filter bed to an hopper
having a series of rotary shafts armed with teeth, the teeth on one set
of shafts passing between those on the other set of shafts to break it up
and feed it into one end of an horizontal pipe or cylinder, the exterior
of which is heated by a flue from a furnace, or by having a casing round
it, through which steam, hot water, or other heating medium passes;
the material being carried slowly through the cylinder by a screw or
shaft armed with screw blades rotating in the axis of the cylinder. The
material may be passed from this cylinder to another, if on the same
level, by a screw; if below the first cylinder it drops into the second,
and so on through several cylinders until sufficiently dry; being dis-
charged from a spout at the end of the last cylinder into sacks ready for
the user.
On entering the first drying cylinder the material meets and
mixes with a jet of diluted sulphuric acid brought by a pipe from a
cistern, which helps to fix the ammonia and render it less volatile.
Night soil is treated in like manner, except that no settling tank is
required, the night soil being placed directly upon the filter bed to
separate the solid matter from the urine, a small per-centage of which
may be added to the dry material from the drying cylinders if desired.
Such of the volatile ammonia as may be driven off by the drying process
is conveyed by pipes from the drying cylinders to a tank containing
sulphuric acid.
Secondly, My Invention consists in applying as a deodorizer car-
bonaceous or coal shales, or coal washings, which materials are heated.
or carbonised in a suitable furnace, such as a retort or coke furnace, and
is then pulverized if desired. When thus prepared it is mixed with the
sewage or night soil, or other like matters requiring to be deodorized.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Howard Kidd in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HOWARD KIDD, of Wrexham, in the County of Denbigh, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Howard Kidd, Her special license that I,
the said John Howard Kidd, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Howard Kidd, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 MODE OF AND IN
ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING MANURE FROM SEWAGE,
NIGHT SOIL, AND LIKE MATTERS, AND IN THE PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF
CERTAIN MATERIALS FOR DEODORIZING SEWAGE, NIGHT SOIL, AND LIKE MATTERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Howard
Kidd, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Howard Kidd, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say)
Firstly. My Invention consists in taking the sewage to a tank, whero
the solid matter is allowed to settle, and when the liquid becomes com-
paratively free from solid matter it is drawn away; then the sediment

page_text: is removed from the tank on to a filter or drying bed of any well known
construction. I prefer to form the filter or drying bed of gravel below
and sand above, with iron bars, about ten inches apart, passing length-
way of the bed to form a grid, upon which scrapers may rest when
removing the sludge after the liquid has drained away and the sludge
has become comparatively dry, when such sludge or sediment is taken
to an hopper, which may have a series of rotary shafts armed with teeth,
the teeth of one pair of shafts passing between those of the other pair
of shafts to break it up and feed it into one end of a horizontal pipe or
cylinder, the exterior of which is heated by a flue from a furnace or
by having a casing round it, through which steam, hot water, or other
heating medium passes; the material being carried slowly through the
cylinder by a screw or shaft armed with screw blades, which shaft is
placed to rotate in the axis of the cylinder. The material may be passed
from this cylinder to another, if on the same level, by a screw; if the
second cylinder is below the first cylinder it drops into the second, and
so on through several cylinders if required until sufficiently dry, being
discharged from a spout at the end of the last cylinder into sacks ready
for the user.
Night soil is treated like sewage, except that no settling tank is
required, the night soil being placed directly upon the filter or drying
bed to separate the solid matter from the urine, a small per-centage of
which may be added to the dry material from the drying cylinders if
desired.
:
Whilst the sewage sediment or night soil is upon the filter or drying
bed, or while it is entering the hopper of the drying cylinders, it may
be sprinkled with diluted sulphuric acid, or carbonaceous materials may
be added, so as to dry and deodorize the sludge or night soil. Ammonia
driven off as the material passes through the drying cylinders may be
conveyed from them by a pipe to a cistern or tank containing sulphuric
acid.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan shewing arrangement
of settling tanks, filter or drying bed, and drying cylinders, as I
prefer to use them; and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on the line A, B,
Fig. 1.
:
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section upon an enlarged scale of one set of
the drying cylinders; and Fig. 4 is an end elevation.
.

page_text: a represents part of the settling tanks, which run in their lengthway
at a right angle to the building (6), in which the filter or drying bed is
formed; there being a narrow path c between the end of the tanks (a)
and the building (6) for the filter and drying bed. This building has
side doors at suitable intervals, so that the sediment from the tanks (a)
may be removed in the most direct manner and placed upon the filter
or drying bed. The filter or drying bed d is formed over an arched
fluce that passes under the lengthway of the drying bed and com-
municates with a chimney f at the extreme end of the building. The
filter or drying bed d is formed by gravel, and then sand, and iron bars,
the lengthiway of the bed, forming a grid; and side chains are made
to allow the liquid which passes through the filter bed to run to the
tanks (a) or pass away with the liquid drawn off from the tanks. The
space above the filter or drying bed forms a chamber, which com-
municates with the chimney (f) at that end, so that air or the products
of combustion from the fires heating the drying cylinders may pass into
the chamber at one end and out of the chamber to the chimney at
the other end, carrying away with it the moisture from the material on
the drying bed; and a large (if not the main part) of the products of
combustion from the furnace that heats the drying cylinders passes to
the chimney through the fluc e under the drying or filter bed, but a part
of such products of combustion may be allowed to pass to the drying
chamber at h, see Fig. 2.
Three sets of drying cylinders k are shown, each set consisting of
three cylinders, one above the other, being the furnace for heating
the three sets of cylinders. The chamber 6, and filter or drying bed d,.
may be of any convenient length, according to the quantity of sediment
or night soil to be treated, two sets of drying cylinders being shewn in
the plan, Fig. 1.
The drying cylinders / are supported at each end in wall boxes m of
iron, as shewn, so that the cylinders may be replaced without disturbing
the wall. The shaft n, which passes through each cylinder, has an
helical screw w¹ upon it, or a series of screw blades. The shafts are
geared together, as shewn, and may be driven by the power employed
in the most convenient manner; p is the hopper through which the
material is fed to the first cylinder k, which hopper has four shafts, as
shewn, armed with teeth or arms; the teeth or arms on one shaft in
each pair passing between those upon the other shaft, which shafts may

page_text: be geared and driven as shewn; ³ is the outlet from the lower cylinder
for the dry material.
I have now particularly described the nature of my Invention, and
the mode of carrying it into effect, and claim as my Invention the
treating of sewage and night soil, substantially in the manner and by
the arrangement and apparatus herein-before described and illustrated
by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Howard Kidd, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of
Our Lord One thousand night hundred and entanto five