IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE FROM CERTAIN MINERAL PHOSPHATES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Spence, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE FROM CERTAIN
MINERAL PHOSPHATES."
Scaled the 22nd June 1875, and dated the 21st April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Spence at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st April 1875.
I, PETER SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE FROM
CERTAIN MINERAL PHOSPHATES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a method of treating phosphates of alumina,
or phosphates of alumina and iron, whereby I obtain a valuable manure.
The substance I have chiefly in view is that phosphate of alumina and
iron, commonly called rodóndo phosphate, and for a certain treatment of

page_text: which Letters Patent were granted to me dated June 9th, 1870,
No. 1676. In that process I in the first place obtained alum from the
mineral, and recovered phosphoric acid as a bye product, which was
subsequently brought into a condition to be used practically as a
manure.
By my present Invention I do not separate the alum from the dis-
solved mineral, but use it for the purpose of absorbing water, whereby
the phosphoric acid becomes a manure in a comparatively dry condition,
while at the same time the greater part of the alumina is taken up,
leaving the phosphoric acid free to act as a fertilizer.
To effect these objects I treat the mineral phosphates with dilute
sulphuric acid until no more can be dissolved, and then evaporate the
solution to a specific gravity of (say) 1.5, after which it is run into a
suitable receptacle, and sulphate of ammonia or other alkaline sulphate
is added, and when dissolved I add sawdust or similar material, and thus
I obtain a dry friable manure fit for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Spence in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
SPENCE, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellen Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the 1
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter Spence, Her special
licence, that I, the said Peter Spence, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Spence, my executors,
administrators, 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

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE FROM CERTAIN MINERAL PHOSPHATES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Spence, 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 Peter Spence, 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 :—
My Invention relates to a method of treating phosphates of alumina,
or phosphates of alumina and iron, whereby I obtain a valuable manure.
The substance I have chiefly in view is that phosphate of alumina
and iron commonly called rodonda phosphate. According to a known
process of treating this mineral alum is in the first place obtained there-
from, and phosphoric acid is recovered as a bye product, which is
subsequently brought into a condition to be used practically as a
manure.
By my Invention I do not separate the alum from the dissolved
mineral, but use it for the purpose of absorbing water, whereby the
phosphoric acid becomes a manure in a comparatively dry condition,
while at the same time the greater part of the alumina is taken up
leaving the phosphoric acid free' to act as a fertilizer.
The following is a method by which my Invention may be carried
out on a commercial scale :-The mineral as imported is in lumps of
various sizes mixed with some small, and the whole mixed mass is
placed in a leaden vessel fitted with coils of lead pipes, to which high
pressure steam may be admitted. Into this vessel sulphuric acid is now
poured, diluted to about 14 specific gravity, and steam being now
admitted to the coils of pipe the whole is kept heated for, say, eight
or ten hours, or until the acid has dissolved all of the phosphate which
it can take up. The solution will now be about 1.575 to 1.6 specific
gravity, and it is then run off into a brick or other suitable cooler, and
for every cubic foot of liquor ten pounds of sulphate of ammonia are
added and stirred until dissolved, after which for the same bulk an equal

page_text: weight of sawdust is added and stirred up with the solution. The whole
is now left for a night, with an occasional stirring, and it is then
thrown out. Being now in a solid condition it is passed through any
suitable crushing apparatus, and it is then ready to be packed for the
market. The material thus produced is a dry granular powder, and
contains about twenty-five per cent. of tribasic phosphate made soluble,
or the equivalent of that in phophoric acid, and ten per cent. of sulphate
of ammonia. More sulphate of ammonia than that above mentioned
may be added, and the sawdust decreased in proportion.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, the production of a manure by the treatment substan-
tially as described of such mineral phosphates as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Spence, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.