CERTAIN IMPROVE- HENTS IN MANURES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Elliot, of Saint Helen's, Lancashire,
Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
HENTS IN MANURES."
Sealed the 27th April 1853, and dated the 4th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Elliot at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th March 1853.
I, GEORGE ELLIOT, of Saint Helen's, Lancashire, Manufacturing
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CER-
TAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANURES" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in producing a material or materials applicable
to the purpose of manures by the saponification of sprats, herrings,
pilchards, or other oily fish, which can be obtained on a large scale at
low prices; also butchers' off'al, carrion, or animal matter of any kind,
procurable at a low price.
The animal matter is reduced to the form of a soap by means of
solutions of the caustic alkalies, or mixtures of the alkaline earths with
water, and the soap or saponaceous matter thus procured is in a state
of powder, which, being dried by any of the ordinary means, is fit for
use for manuring purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Elliot, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 3d September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE ELLIOT, of St. Helen's, Lancashire, Manufacturing Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Elliot, Her special licence
that 1, the said George Elliot, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as 1, the said George Elliot, my executors, adminis
trators, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Elliot. 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 George Elliot, 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 of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANURES" has for its
object the production of a material or materials applicable to the pur-
poses of, manures by converting certain fatty and animal matters into a
species of alkaline or cartby soap, which may be dried or otherwise
treated, as may be found convenient for use.

page_text: And I accomplish this object by combining oily fish, such as sprats,
herrings, pilchards, and other similar fish, with alkaline or earthy matter.
such as soda, potash, or lime. I also combine refuse animal matter, such
as butchers' offal, carrion, or animal matter of any kind, procurable at a
low price, with the same alkaline or earthy matter; and with this com-
bination I form a species of alkaline or earthy soap, which is the
material that may be used in any convenient form for manuring
purposes.
In order, however, that my Invention may be fully understood, I
will describe a mode by which it may be readily carried into effect;
but I do not confine myself to such mode of operation.
When potash or soda is used as the alkaline part of the combination
it should be previously rendered caustic by lime, as in the ordinary
process of soap making. In order, then, to effect the required com-
bination, the fish or other animal matter is placed in iron pans, to
which heat is applied, and the caustic leys of soda or potash, or the
lime (as the case may be), are added. The proportions which may be
found desirable for the purpose are, when soda is used, about five or six
parts of real soda to the one hundred parts of animal matter. When
potash is used, about from seven to nine parts of real potash to the
same; and when lime is used, about from four and a half to six parts
of real lime to the same.
The whole material, consisting thus of animal oily matter and caustic
alkali or alkaline earth, is then boiled down until the material resulting
from such combination under the application of heat becomes so thick
as not to be easily stirred. When potash is used, the process is carried
no farther than this, as, when so combined and treated, it forms a soft
soap, which cannot easily be reduced to powder by drying, but may be
used diluted with water as a liquid manure.
When, however, the soap has been formed by the combination of
the fish or animal matter with soda or lime, the material, as soon
as it is boiled down to such a consistence as not to be easily stirred, is
to be transferred to iron plates, heated by steam, over which plates the
material is to be spread, so as to lie on the surface of the plate barely
half of an inch thick. It is here dried, and is subsequently crushed,
and is then fit for use as a manure.

page_text: I would here remark, that in the process of boiling down, above
referred to, in order to prevent burning of the material, I prefer
applying the heat by means of a double pan, the intermediate space
being filled with a solution of chloride of calcium, and the fire is
applied below the vessel containing the chloride of calcium.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that
I do not mean or intend to confine myself to the precise mode of
reducing the said materials to the form of a soap, which has been
described above, nor to the exact proportions above stated, as my
Invention does not relate to any particular-mode of operation, nor to
any particular proportions in which the necessary ingredients should be
combined; but what I claim as of my Invention is, the manufacture or
production of a material or materials applicable to the purposes of
manures by the saponification of oily fish and refuse animal matters,
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Elliot, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
GEORGE ELLIOT. (L.S.)