IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Richardson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Richardson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
February 1861.
I, THOMAS RICHARDSON, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE,"
to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in treating bones, bone ashes, apatite; coprolites,
Sombreno guano, and other similar phosphates of lime of commerce with
sulphuric acid, and in afterwards exposing the mass to a low heat to drive off
the excess of water...

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Richardson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Richard-
son, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Richardson, 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Richardson, 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 Richardson, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
These improvements consist in treating bones, bone ashes, apatite, copro-
lites, Sombrero guano, and other similar phosphates of lime of commerce
with sulphuric acid, and in afterwards exposing the mass to a low heat to
drive off the excess of water.
In order to insure as perfect a decomposition as possible of the phosphate:
of lime in bones, bone ashes, coprolites, &c., it is desirable to employ the
sulphuric acid largely diluted with water; but when the object is to produce a
portable manure a limit is imposed on the degree of dilution of the acid, by
the necessity which this trade requires in having a dry and pulverulent
article. This necessity is met in some degree by employing calcined gypsum,
porous, organic, and other substances termed in the trade "driers," to absorb
the excess of moisture arising from the dilution of the acid. This excess of
water, and the use of the drier, however, are accompanied by a reduction in
the fertilizing value of the manure. Some makers, when using driers, expose
their manures to heat to obviate in some degree this latter objection. My
process consists in mixing any of the ordinary phosphatic materials with sul-
phuric acid in the usual proportions, but I employ this acid in a very dilute

page_text: state as weak as from 1.300 to 1.400 specific gravity. The mixture is allowed
to lie in heaps for a few days, and is then thrown into an ordinary close fur-
nace heated by flues running below the bottom of the furnace. The arch or
roof of the furnace is from 18 to 24 inches above the bottom, and the open
space placed in connection with the draft of a chimney to cause a current of
air to pass over the manure. The manure is repeatedly stirred by the work-
man to bring each portion in contact with the warm bed of the furnace, and
expose a fresh surface to the drying current of air passing over it through
the working doors at the sides to the chimney.
The difficulty hitherto experienced in attempting to carry out this plan
arises from the facility with which the free phosphoric acid acts upon the
sulphate of lime, thus reforming the original insoluble bone earth.
I protect myself from this danger by inserting in that part of the furnace
bottom over the fire, or in the hottest part of the furnace, a pyrometer such
as Gauntlett's, and never allowing the temperature to rise higher than
170° Fahrenheit.
An ordinary drying flat, similar to that employed in drying bricks, may
be substituted for the furnace, and regulating the temperature in the manuer
I have described, but it is not so rapid in its action. I am thus enabled to
employ acid of any degree of dilution to decompose the phosphates, and to
dispense with use of all organic or inorganic driers.
I claim the use of a regulated heat to manufacture superphosphate of lime
and other manures without the use of artificial driers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
THOMAS RICHARDSON. (L.S.)