IMPROVEMENTS IN Treating EXCREMENTAL MATTERS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James Smith, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN Treating
EXCREMENTAL MATTERS."-A communication from abroad by Cyprien
Marie Tessié du Motay, of Paris, France, Chemist.
Scaled the 4th October 1870, and dated the 11th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas James Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th April 1870.
I, THOMAS JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Strect, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING EXCREMENTAL MATTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a new mode or treatment in order to reduce
to the insoluble state, in the form of fertilizing matter, all the soluble
substances contained in human and animal excrement, and to separate
thus, by means of precipitation, the liquids with which they are combined

page_text: or mixed. Taking human or animal excrement the Inventor disinfects
it by one of the metallic salts or antiseptic agents which are now
employed when it contains ammonia in the state of sulpho-hydrates, or
sulphurets, or sulphuretted hydrogen in the free state. After this
operation he adds to the mixture of solids with liquids, or separately or
united in one and the same liquor, soluble phosphates, acid or neutral,
magnesian salts, fluo-silicic acid, or even soluble fluo-silicates, alkalino
terrous, or metallic, such as fluo-silicates of lime, of magnesia, of alumina,
or of iron, and the like. When these reagents separatively or collectively
employed have reacted upon the soluble portion of the excremental
matters in such a manner as to form a combination with them the
Inventor adds, in order to cause them to pass from the acid into the
neutral or alkaline state, either lime or carbonate of lime, or magnesia
or carbonate of magnesia. If after this treatment the excrement still
gives off sulpho-hydric odours a metallic salt should be added in order
to complete its disinfection.
The above reactions are explained as follows:-The acid or neutral
phosphates added to the fecal matters take hold of the ammonia; the
magnesian salts thus decomposed then form double phosphates of
ammonia and magnesia, whilst the fluo-silicic acid or the fluo-silicates
react upon the alkaline salts of potass and soda and precipitate them
in an insoluble state. The lime, the carbonate of lime, the magnesia,
or the carbonate of magnesia neutralize the liquors which have
remained acid until then and effect the precipitation of the ammoniaco-
magnesian phosphate, which as is well known only precipitates in
neutral or alkaline liquors. Of all the fluo-silicates above named the
Inventor prefers to employ the fluo-silicate of alumina, because it has
the property of aiding the deposit of the matters held in suspension,
for in this case it is transformed partly into chloride of aluminium
which is itself also decomposed by water into oxychloride of aluminium
and alumina. This alumina in precipitating into the gelatinous state
draws with it the animal or vegetable matters held in suspension in
the excremental liquors. The fluo-silicate of alumina acts therefore
not only as a precipitate of alkaline salts but also as a mechanical
agent. Whence it will be seen that this reagent should be employed
in preference to all others when treating excremental and dungy matters
as well as sewage.
When after a certain time of repose the solid
excremental matters are separated from the liquid, the latter still
contain urea, a substance which it is necessary to transform into com-

page_text: pounds capable of becoming soluble in the form of fertilising matters.
For this purpose the Inventor either separates the solid from the liquid
matters or leaves them in contact, and he adds a liquid containing a
solution of free baryta or salt of baryta. It also precipitates cyanurate
of baryta and it leaves in the liquid medium either ammonia or
ammoniacal salts.
The Inventor has always perceived that the quantity of cyanurate pre-
cipitated being a very small fraction of the proportional quantity of
ammonia engendered in the liquor by the splitting up action of the baryta,
whence it becomes probable that by the reaction of this base it produces
all at once cyanurate and cyanate which is ulteriorly decomposed into
carbonate of baryta and ammonia. In order to render the free ammonia
or that which is contained in the salts insoluble he employs then either
an acid phosphate or a neutral soluble phosphate and a salt of magnesia.
It precipitates into a double phosphate of ammonia and magnesia.
In order to produce this last reaction if the Inventor uses chloride of
barium in excess, he employs sulphate of magnesia, which precipitates
into the state of insoluble sulphate of baryta, the baryta of the
chlorine. If he makes use of sulphuret of barium he preferably
employs instead of the sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of iron, which
by producing the same reaction takes up the sulphur from the sulphuret
of barium, passing into the state of sulphuret of iron. When the
cyanurate of baryta is held in the insoluble state in solid excrement,
it passes ulteriorly into the soil in the condition of fertilizing matters
transforming into carbonate of ammonia. When, on the contrary, it
is precipitated in the middle of the liquids previously separated from the
foccal matters it is collected either by decantation or filtration. In this
state it is dried and then heated until complete decomposition ensues, for
under the action of heat it rapidly becomes transformed into carbonate
of ammonia and carbonate of baryta. The ammonia collected in the
mineral acids combines with them in the state of fixed salts suitable
for the purposes of manufacture and agriculture. The carbonate of
baryta remaining dissolved may be employed to generate chlorides
of barium, which are suitable for decomposing the urea of focal
matters.
The Inventor has also remarked that the transformation of urea into
ammonia or ammoniacal salts, which will precipitate into the state
of ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, may be effected by the double re-

page_text: action of the fluo-silicic acid, or of the acid fluo-silicates employed alone
or mixed with other acids and alkaline or alkalino-terrous bases,
employed in excess all at once, in order to saturate the free acids and
to disengage the ammonia from the liquors containing the decomposed
ureas.
The Inventor has ascertained, lastly, that the lime dissolved in different
saccharine compounds, such as sugar, molasses, and glucose, will act
like baryta in transforming the urea contained in sluices, sewers, or
urinals, into ammonia equally transformable into ammoniaco-magnesian
phosphate.
It will be seen from what precedes that the object of the present
Invention, viz., the precipitation into the soluble state in the form of
fertilizing matters of all the soluble substances contained in human and
animal excrement has been completely attained.
The characteristic features of this Invention are as follows:-
1st. The separate or simultaneous employment of a series of re-
agents comprising soluble acid or neutral phosphates, magnesian salts,
fluo-silicic acid, and fluo-silicates.
Secondly. The employment of alkalino-terrous bases.
Thirdly. The employment of fluo-silicate of alumina as a mechanical
agent for the precipitation of organic or mineral substances other than
the fecal matters, the whole in order to precipitate to the insoluble
state all the matters contained in the excrement, urea excepted.
Fourthly. The employment of baryta or its salts, in order to split
up the urea into insoluble cyanurate and ammonia or ammoniacal
salts.
Fifthly. The precipitation of this free or combined ammonia into the
insoluble state in the form of ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate.
Sixthly. The alternate employment of fluo-silicic acid or acid fluo-
silicates, and of alkaline or alkalino-terrous bases, in order to decompose
the urea from sluices, sewers, or urinals, and to transform the decomposed
urea into ammonia which will precipitate into the state of ammoniaco-
magnesian phosphate.
And, seventhly. The employment of lime rendered soluble in saccha-
rine matters to replace the baryta in order to produce the same effect as

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas James Smith in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas James Smith Her special licence that
I, the said Thomas James Smith, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas James Smith, 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
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING EXCREMENTAL MATTERS," (communicated to me from abroad by
Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay, of Paris, France, Chemist), upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas James Smith, 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 Thomas James Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in a new mode of treatment in order to reduce
to the insoluble state, in the form of fertilizing matter, all the soluble
substances contained in human and animal excrement, and to separate
thus, by means of precipitation, the liquids with which they are combined
or mixed. Taking human or animal excrement, the Inventor disinfects

page_text: it by one of the metallic salts or antiseptic agents which are now employed
when it contains ammonia in the state of sulpho-hydrates or sulphurets,
or sulphuretted bydrogen in the free state. After this operation he adds
to the mixture of solids with liquids, or separately, or united in one and
the same liquor, soluble phosphates, acid or neutral, magnesian salts,
fluo-silicic acid, or even soluble fluo-silicates, alkalino-terrous or metallic,
such as fluo-silicates of lime, of magnesia, of alumina, or of iron and the
like. When these reagents, separately or collectively employed havo
reacted upon the soluble portion of the excremental matters in such a
manner as to form a combination with them, the Inventor adds, in order
to cause them to pass from the acid into the neutral or alkaline state,
either lime or carbonate of lime or magnesia, or carbonate of magnesia.
If after this treatment the excrement still gives off sulpho-hydric odours,
a metallic salt should be added in order to complete its disinfection.
The above reactions are explained as follows:-The acid or neutral
phosphates added to the focal matters take hold of the ammonia; the
magnesian salts thus decomposed then form double phosphates of
ammonia and magnesia, whilst the fluo-silicic acid or the fluo-silicates
react upon the alkaline salts of potass and soda, and precipitate them in
an insoluble state. The lime, the carbonate of lime, the magnesia, or the
carbonate of magnesia neutralize the liquors which have remained acid
until then and effect the precipitation of the ammoniaco-magnesian
phosphate, which, as is well known, only precipitates in neutral or alkaline
liquors.
Of all the fluo-silicates above named the Inventor prefers to employ
the fluo-silicate of alumina, because it has the property of aiding the
deposit of the matters held in suspension, for in this case it is transformed
partly into chloride of aluminium, which is itself also decomposed by
water into oxychloride of aluminium and alumina. This alumina in pre-
cipitating into the gelatinous state draws with it the animal or vegetable
matters held in suspension in the excremental liquors. The fluo-silicate
of alumina acts therefore not only as a precipitate of alkaline salts but
also as a mechanical agent. Whence it will be seen that this reagent
should be employed in preference to all others when treating excremental
and dungy matters as well as sewage.
Therefore this method of treating excremental matters has for its
object, first, to precipitate in an insoluble state all solid matters con-

page_text: tained in sewerage or other impure waters; secondly, to transform the
free or combined ammonia contained in these waters, also in an insoluble
state in the form of ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate.
In the employment of this process it happens that after precipitation,
the solid excremental matters are mixed with the ammoniaco-magnesian
phosphate, which thus cannot be separated or isolated in order to be
employed in the state of salt. It is necessary, therefore, to effect the
separation of the ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate from the solid matters
other than this salt. In order to accomplish this object the Inventor
digests the mixture of solid excremental matters with the ammoniaco-
magnesian phosphate, either in water charged with carbonic acid or in
any other vegetable or mineral acid. The phosphate being soluble in
dilute acid, while the particles of solid excrement are but slightly so
or not at all, the Inventor isolates it in these liquid acids in which it
dissolves. When the ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate is thus separated
from all foreign solid particles he re-precipitate it by saturating it with
magnesia, or the carbonate of this base, or with dolomy (dolomie), or
a mixture of lime and magnesia. The precipitate thus obtained is the
ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate in a saline state.
As in very diluted liquors the ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate is
slightly soluble, and very little or not at all so in an aqueous liquor,
so diluted as to contain alkaline basic phosphates. The Inventor adds,
in order to complete the precipitation of the ammoniaco-magnesian
phosphate, a certain quantity of alkaline basic phosphates.
The characteristic features of this Invention are therefore the follow-
ing:
First. The separate or simultaneous employment of a scries of reagents,
comprising soluble acid or neutral phosphates, magnesian salts, fluo-silicic
acid, and fluo-silicates.
Secondly. The employment of alkalino-terrous bases.
Thirdly. The employment of fluo-silicate of alumina as a mechanical
agent for the precipitation of organic and mineral substances other than
the focal matters. All the above being employed in order to precipitate it
into the soluble state all the matters contained in the excrement under
treatment.
And, fourthly. The employment of dilute acids, followed by an addition
of magnesia, of a carbonate of magnesia or of dolomy, (dolomie), or of

page_text: a mixture of lime and magnesia, in order to completely separate the
ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate from the solid particles of foreign
matter.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.