AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING FOCAL AND OTHER MATTERS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st December 1881. A com-
munication from abroad by Philibert Schlosser, of Paris, France.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING FOCAL AND
OTHER MATTERS." [A communication from abroad by Philibert Schlosser, of Paris,
France.]
This Invention relates to the treatment of focal matters which has hitherto been
imperfect, both from a hygienic and economic point of view, and it has for its
object to collect the matters in as small a volume as possible to avoid nuisance
in any form, and to produce a manure rich in fertilising properties.
The process consists in a combination or series of operations, and is more
especially characterised by the separation of the inert and foreign substances from
the products possessing fertilising properties.
The practical carrying into effect of this Invention involves-(1). The employ-
ment of the portable cesspool or tub provided with a filter, described in an
application for Letters Patent of even date berewith, whereby the solid and viscous
matters are separated and retained, and their noxious and other organic principles
neutralised and fixed, whilst liquid portions are purified and allowed to escape into
a drain or sewer.
(2). The employment of the disinfecting absorbent composition described in an
application for Letters Patent, dated 28th November 1881, No. 5199, and which
acts in a continuous manner in the filter until after its periodical removal.
(3). The preliminary treatment at the works of matters which contain foreign
substances (such as paper, &c.) in order to separate therefrom the essentially
fertilising products which are subsequently treated with a view to their employ-
ment for the purposes of manure. This is effected by the division or separation,
and notably by the draining or drying and pressing said matters, a method of
treatment which has never been hitherto practised. All methods of drying focal
matters heretofore in use have been subject to inconvenience arising from the
presence of inert and foreign substances, such as debris of wood, metal, broken
earthenware, vegetable, and other substances which are commonly thrown into the
cesspools.

page_text: To avoid these objections I subject the matters in course of treatment, prior to
the drying operation, to a mechanical process of separation consisting of a series of
draining, pressing, filtering, or straining operations performed with the liquid,
semi liquid, and viscous constituents. To this end I employ any convenient forms
of apparatus at present in use, or which may be devised to effect the separation at
suitable periods of the utilizable matters from those which are useless or liable to
prejudicially affect the subsequent operations. This may be carried out in practice,
whether the filtration or straining takes place from within outwards, or vice versa,
as, for example, in certain kinds of bolting mills, or as when a pump is made to
draw through a rose. The principle of the method of separation remains the same
whatever may be the means employed.
(+). The final drying of the fertilising products thus obtained and separated by
a drying apparatus described in another application for Letters Patent of even date
herowith, the employment of which is advantageous from all points of view.
The advantages resulting from the process of this Invention are as follows:-
(1) The collection and removal of the focal matters in a very small bulk, and
consequently at less expense than heretofore.
(2). The complete disinfection of the matters during the whole course of their
treatment.
(3). The production of a rich concentrated manure, either by simple desiccation
of the matters or by the addition thereto of various fertilizing matters for
producing a compound applicable to different soils and kinds of crops.