OBTAINING SULPHATE OF AMMONIA FROM URINE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Howard Stephens, of Glasgow, in the
˚ County of Lanark, North Britain, Merchant, for the Invention of
"OBTAINING SULPHATE OF AMMONIA FROM URINE."
Sealed the 2nd February 1872, and dated the 18th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Howard
Stephens at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 18th October 1871.
I, HENRY HOWARD STEPHENS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
5 North Britain, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention of "OBTAINING SULPHATE OF AMMONIA FROM URINE," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention, which relates to the obtainment of sulphate of
ammonia from the urine of man or other animals, consists in placing
O the urine in a boiler wherein it is heated by a fire placed below it, the
result of which treatment is that the aqueous portions are driven off, the

page_text: residue consists of crude sulphate of ammonia, and this may be refined
by precipitation with acids, after which the precipitate is dried by
heating it in a kiln.
In place of collecting. the sulphate of ammonia in the manner herein-
before described it may be precipitated from the urine, after being partly 5
heated, by mixing therewith sulphuric, muriatic, or other acid, the
precipitate being then dried by heating it in a kiln.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Howard Stephens in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 17th April 1872.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HOWARD STEPHENS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Merchant, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Howard Stephens, Her special licenso
that I, the said Henry Howard Stephens, executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Howard Stephens,
my exccutors, 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
“OBTAINING SULPHATE OF AMMONIA FROM URINE,” upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Howard Stephens, 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 Patcut.

page_text: NOW ANOW YE, that 1, the said Henry Howard Stephens, 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 said Invention, which consists in the obtainment of sulphate of
ammonia from the urine of man or other animals, may be carried into
effect under several processes.
According to one process the urine is placed in a boiler or vessel
which is heated by a fire or fires placed below it, or gas, or hot air,
hot water, or steam may be circulated through pipes contained in the
boiler or vessel.
The effect of thus heating the urine is to drive off the aqueous portions
and the volatile ammonia, which are passed through one or more pipes.
into one or more receivers or vessels containing sulphuric or other acids.
When sulphuric acid is used the ammonia becomes crystallized salts
of ammonia or sulphate of ammonia which is taken from the receiver
and dried in drainers, or by heat applied in any convenient manner,
sulphuretted hydrogen is set free and escapes through a pipe to a fire,
where it is burnt and thus rendered inodorous.
The rosidue left in the boiler or heating vessel consists of "spent
liquor" and crude sulphate of ammonia. The spent liquor is first
withdrawn by means of a pump or otherwise and may be used as liquid
ammonia, or not being exhausted can bo re-utilized by mixture with fresh
urine, the crude sulphate of ammonia being taken out through an
opening in the boiler and drained, and if necessary dried in a kiln or
otherwise.
•
According to a second process the urine contained in the boiler
or heating vessel is gently heated. The vapour arising therefrom
is conducted through one or more pipes to a second boiler or heating
vessel, wherein the ammonia is precipitated by sulphuric or other acid.
Under the second arrangement, when using gentle heat only, nearly
the whole of the ammonia is in a short time driven off from the first
vessel, and passing into the second becomes therein precipitated as crude
salts or sulphate of ammonia, which is then dried as herein-before
described, and any "spent liquor" is withdrawn by a pump or other-
wise and used as liquid ammonia as described in reference to the first
process.

page_text: Under a third process or series of operations and in cases whero the
urine is sufficiently rich in ammonia the ammonia may be precipitated
into salts or sulphate of ammonia at once by adding sulphuric or other
acids and sulphate of lime direct to the urine.
After allowing the acids, urine, and other matter to remain admixed 5
for a length of timo sufficient to insure assimilation, heat may be
applied until the liquor becomes pulpy, and sulphate of lime being added
after the liquor is drawn off converts the residue into a second quality
of sulphate of ammonia, and the salts or sulphate of ammonia or
residue before mentioned is afterwards dried in a kiln or by other heating 1
apparatus.
Lastly. And also in cases where the urine is sufficiently rich in
ammonia, it together with the acid is strongly heated in a suitable
vessel wherein part is at once converted into sulphate of ammonia, the
residue being conveyed through a pipo or otherwise to shallow evapo-
rating pans or dishes until sufficiently concentrated by the evaporation,
when it is ready for cooling and drying.
. Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may be used
or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what 2
I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before-in part recited Letters Patent is, the
processes of obtaining sulphate of ammonia from urine herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Howard' Stephens, have 2
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April