IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FISH AND SEA ANIMALS FOR MANURE, AND IN APPARATUS CON- NECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jacob Jervell at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th March
1861.
I, JACOB JERVELL,.of Molde, in. the Kingdom of Norway, Shipowner, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PREPARATION OF FISH AND SEA ANIMALS FOR MANURE, AND IN APPARATUS CON-
NECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows :-
Hitherto the processes in use for the conversion of fish and sea animals into
manure have involved the application of heat to a greater or less extent to the
fish material to dry and prepare it for manure.
My Invention consists of machinery and a process whereby the fish material
can be taken in a perfectly fresh condition and converted in the course of a few
minutes into a state sufficiently dry to be capable of being preserved without
liability to deterioration by decomposition, and suitable for manure. For this
purpose I subject the material to be acted upon to the action of crushing by
means of rollers, or a crushing apparatus, so as to break up all the bony parts
of the fish or sea, animal to make them best susceptible of the effect to be
produced by the, next operation. I prefer to effect this crushing by means of
rollers, of which one has not only a. revolving motion, but one at the same
time from side to side, and of which the surfaces are so shaped as to be best
adapted to break up the bones; but I do not confine myself to this particular
mode of crushing, but, the same may be effected by any of the ordinary

page_text: processes, such as, for example, that used for bone-crushing. I then at once
introduce the broken material into centrifugal machines of the ordinary nature,
such, for example, as are used in sugar making, that is, into circular boxes
perforated with holes, or made of wirework fitted into an outer case of a larger
size; this inner case is then caused to revolve at a very high speed by the
action of adequate motive power, by which means the aqueous and liquid and
oleaginous particles of the material will in a few minutes be driven off into the
outer case, and the whole of the solid matter will remain in the inner box
freed of the requisite amount of its moisture, and in a condition to be packed
in a temporary manner till it is subjected to the subsequent process. The
partial process thus described is intended more particularly to be applicable to
the preparation of the manure in a ship or vessel to be employed when
circumstances allow of the fish material being collected and made available
with the greatest convenience while it is in a perfectly fresh state. The motive
power I should employ in such case would be the steam created for an ordinary
steam engine, as used in a steam ship, and the application of the power to
drive both the rollers or other crushing apparatus, as well as the centrifugal
machines or boxes, is easy and perfectly intelligible to any engineer or person
conversant with steam engines; but if the process is conducted at any fixed spot,
the motive power may, of course, be equally well obtained from water or wind,
as well as steam. In the case of the manufacture being conducted in a ship,
as before described, it is more convenient only to continue the working of the
centrifugal machines or boxes till the moisture is drawn off only to a sufficient
extent to prevent the material being subjected to decomposition by the action
of beat, moisture, or atmospheric influence, until it can be removed to a fixed
factory, where the same process may be continued until a still further quantity
of moisture is driven off, and by this rapid revolution of the boxes, sufficient
of the moisture can be drawn off to make the material capable of being
preserved until it is actually used by agriculturalists as a manure.
In some
cases it may be found more convenient and economical to substitute for this
second continued revolving action the process of completing the desiccation by
spreading the partially dried material to the action of heated air, until the
"necessary quantity of the moisture is fully exhausted, and the material is dry
enough to be preserved against decomposition for practical use. I then subject
the dried material to partial pulverization in a grinding mill of any ordinary
description till it has become sufficiently small to be suitable for use by the
farmer. Much of the oily matter of the fish will be found driven off by the
centrifugal motion, and this may be readily collected at the bottom of the
outer case of the centrifugal machinery. I have found this process attended

page_text: with very great advantage and success by avoiding disadvantages and de-
terioration and loss of the better ingredients of the fish material which the
action of heat necessarily occasions to a greater or less extent; and I believe
fish and sea animal material thus prepared will be found chemically to retain
more of the valuable properties of the fish and sea animal material than any
other process known or in use.