IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richardson, of the Town and County of
Newcastle upon Tyne, Chemist,. for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES."
Sealed the 27th June 1865, and dated the 31st December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson at the-
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his. Petition, on the:
81st December 1864.
I, THOMAS RICHARDSON,. of the Town and County of Newcastle upon
Tyne, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in reducing the various phosphatic material, now in
use by manure makers, to the finest state of division by levigation instead of
what may be termed the process of dry grinding. This levigated phosphatic
material may be used as a manure for green and other crops instead of super-
phosphate of lime; it may also be used in a wet or dry state with sulphuric
acid for the manufacture of superphosphate of lime. It may also be used in
a wet or dry state with a solution of phosphoric acid- or of acid phosphate of
lime for the manufacture of superphosphate of lime.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Richardson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RICHARDSON, of the Town and County of Newcastle upon Tyne, Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Richardson, Her special license that I, the said Thomas
Richardson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Richardson, my executors, administrators, or 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 MANUFacture OF MANURES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Richardson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of tho 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas, Richardson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to obtain by means of levigation phosphate of
lime in a finely divided state from such sources as bone ashes, animal char-
coal, coprolites, apatite or mineral phosphate, and also to reduce and obtain
such guanos as kooria, mooria, sombrero, or navassa to or in a state of the
finest possible division by means of levigation.
Most of the above-named materials are now generally reduced to powder
by means of edge wheels or horizontal stones, and the powder so obtained
is used for the manufacture of superphosphate of lime. This powder is more
or less mixed with grains more or less coarse, and to remove the coarse
particles I pass all the powder through the well-known washing apparatus of

page_text: the dolly or other suitable washing and levigating machine. The coarse portion
is retained in the dolly and spouts, while the fine impalpable powder floats
with the current of water into large tanks or reservoirs, where it subsides to
the bottom. When the tank is full the material is allowed to subside and
the superincumbent water is run off by syphons or otherwise. A further
quantity of water may be removed by stirring the mass with poles when the
water comes to the surface and can be syphoned off.
I obtain a larger proportion of fine powder by grinding the phosphatic
material with water under edge wheels or horizontal stones conveying the
produce through a dolly, and treating it as already described; I then expel
the moisture wholly or in part from this levigated phosphate of lime by
exposing it to the atmosphere in a covered shed or to artificial heat on a
drying flat, or in an ordinary reverberatory furnace. This dry levigated
phosphate of lime is an impalpable powder, and I propose to use it as a
manure in the usual way, or mixed with the seed in the drill for green, white,
and other crops.
The manufacturing operations for making superphosphate of lime are so
well known as to require no special reference, and I use and employ this
levigated phosphate of lime for this manufacture in the wet or dry state.
When in the wet state I ascertain by analysis the per-centage of water
present, and regulate the proportion of sulphuric acid accordingly. If the
quantity of water remaining in the levigated phosphate of lime be such as
would reduce the strength of the sulphuric acid to such an extent as to
prevent the formation of a dry commercial superphosphate of lime, I continue
the poling or drying of the levigated phosphate of lime until the per-centage
of water is reduced so low as not to interfere with its use for the manufacture
of a good commercial superphosphate. I also employ this levigated phosphate
of lime either in a wet or dry state with a concentrated aqueous solution of
phosphoric acid or of acid phosphate of lime for the production of super-
phosphate of lime.
I do not confine myself to any proportions in which these materials may be
mixed provided the superphosphate of lime is sufficiently dry to be packed
in bags in the usual way.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-

page_text: First, the reduction of the various phosphatic materials now in use by
manure makers to the finest state of division by levigation.
Second, the application and use of levigated phosphate of lime as a
manure, and also its employment in the manufacture of superphosphate of
lime.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of June,. One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five..
THOMAS RICHARDSON. (LS.)