THE MANUFACTURING OF SALTS OF AMMONIA AND COMPOUNDS OF CYANOGEN FROM A SUBSTANCE NEVER BEFORE APPLIED TO THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILTON
GEORGE TURNER, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Doctor in
Philosophy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eleventh day of March, in the seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Wilton George Turner, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Wilton George
Turner, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Wilton
George Turner, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "THE MANUFACTURING OF SALTS OF AMMONIA AND COMPOUNDS OF
CYANOGEN FROM A SUBSTANCE NEVER BEFORE APPLIED TO THAT PURPOSE;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging the said Wilton George
Turner, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by

page_text: the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Wilton George Turner, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion consists in the application of guano for the purpose of producing salts of
ammonia, that is to say, muriate and sulphate of ammonia, and compounds of
cyanogen, that is to say, prussiate of potash and of soda and Prussian blue;
and in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Wilton George
Turner, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be
performed, by the following statement thereof:-
And first, I will describe my method of producing both salts of ammonia
and compounds of cyanogen from guano by one process; the salt of ammonia
in this case being the muriate of ammonia or sal-ammoniac, and the
compound of cyanogen being ferrocyanide of iron or Prussian blue. This
is effected by subjecting the guano in its state as imported to destructive
distillation in close vessels, the products of the distillation being conducted
into water. A convenient method of operating for this purpose is to use iron
retorts, similar to those commonly used for making coal gas, and similarly
arranged and connected by pipes with what is commonly known as a Woulfe's
apparatus, by which the gases evolved by the distillation may be made to pass
two or three times through water before escaping into the air. This apparatus
may be formed of large wrought-iron vessels, connected by cast-iron pipes.
They ought also to have an open pipe passing through the top, and trapped by
the water in the vessels to serve as safety valves. They must also be furnished
with convenient taps for filling and emptying them. A series of three vessels
will be sufficient, or even two close Woulfe's jars, the third being an open
water cistern. The products of the destructive distillation, which should be
conducted at a low red heat, but which temperature must be increased towards
the close of the operation, consists principally of hydro-cyanic acid and car-
bonate of ammonia, and carburetted hydrogen. These being conducted into
the Woulfe's apparatus, the two first are rapidly absorbed by the water, and a
strong solution of hydro-cyanate of ammonia and carbonate of ammonia is
formed. The ammoniacal solutions should be removed from the first receiver of
the Woulfe's apparatus, and replaced by water after the distillation is complete,
if it be found that much ammonia has passed into the second receiver, as this
is a criterion that the first water is saturated. The same course is true of the
second receiver as soon as the ammoniacal products begin to pass into the
third. To this solution of hydro-cyanate and carbonate of ammonia removed
from Woulfe's apparatus to convenient vessels, such as cisterns of wood, I add

page_text: a solution of proto-muriate of iron in such quantities as shall yield sufficient
iron for the conversion of the hydro-cyanic into hydro-ferro-cyanic acid, and
for the conversion of the latter into Prussian blue, which is formed on the
addition of muriatic acid in sufficient quantity to neutralize the free ammonia.
The requisite quantity of muriate of iron is determined by testing a small
portion of the liquor for hydro-cyanic acid by the known methods. An excess
is unimportant, as shewn below. The precipitate thus formed is now allowed
to subside, and carefully separated from the solution. The precipitate,. by
being boiled with a solution of potash or soda, will yield the ferro-cyanate of
the alkali, which is obtained by crystallizing as usual. The solution should,
first, be freed from any excess of iron it may contain by the careful addition
of a fresh portion of the ammoniacal liquor, by which the oxide of iron will be
precipitated, and a neutral solution of muriate of ammonia obtained. The
precipitated oxide and cyanide of iron having subsided, the solution of murinte
of ammonia is drawn off by a syphon, and the sal-ammoniac obtained from it
by the usual processes. The oxide of iron is added to the next quantity of
hydro-cyanate of ammonia. By the use of sulphate of iron and sulphuric acid
the sulphate of ammonia will be the ammoniacal salt produced; but the
chemical changes and operations are similar.
And now, secondly, I will describe my method of adapting the usual process
of manufacturing prussiates or compounds of cyanogen, when horn is the sub-
stance employed (namely, by burning it in fused potash), to the manufacturing
of prussiates or compounds of cyanogen from guano. If, without any pre-
paration either of the potash or the guano, the latter be used as if it were
dried blood, or any of the ordinary matters employed in the manufacture of
prussiates, it will be found that no prussiate is obtained, at least not until after
a sufficient quantity of guano has been burnt away for the residuum to form
the excess of carbon which I have discovered is required for the purpose,
while at the same time the ammonia evolved is stifling.
By the proper
admixture, however, of carbonaceous matter with the guano, and by charging
the potash with free carbon, the whole of the nitrogen may be converted into
cyanogen, instead of escaping as ammonia. The particular kind of carbona-
ceous matter used for mixing with the guano is unimportant; but I prefer coal
tar or pitch and a good clean coal. The tar is peculiarly beneficial, as it not
only furnishes carbon, but binds together the dry powder of the guano, thus
not only preventing the dry powder from being thrown out of the pot by the
rapid combustion that is going forward, but from its tenacious qualities holding
in the ammonia till it be decomposed by the fused potash. As innumerable
mixtures may be found, all of which may be usefully applied, I shall merely

page_text: state one formula which I have found to be very advantageous. Bring forty-
two pounds of good Montreal ashes to a perfect fusion by a strong red heat;
add a mixture of seven pounds of coal and three pounds and a half hæmatite
in fine powder, in small portions at a time; and after it is well worked in,
allow the pot to gather its heat again. Now, work in a mixture of seven
pounds of guano perfectly dried, seven pounds of coal, and three pounds and a
half of tar; then finish by working in twenty-one pounds of guano, mixed with
ten or eleven pounds of tar.
The ball of metal or compound of cyanogen thus
produced is as rich as those made from forty-two pounds of potash and
eighty-four pounds of horn, and should then be treated in the usual manner for
turning it into prussiate of potash. It is obvious, if soda had been used in this
process instead of potash, the compound of cyanogen obtained would have been
prussiate of soda.
Now, I do not claim as new, and as my Invention, any particular form of
vessel or apparatus in which or with which my operations may be conducted.
But I claim as new, and as my Invention,―
First, the use of guano for the production of salts of ammonia and com-
pounds of cyanogen by one process of destructive distillation and treatment, as
herein-before described; and,
Secondly, I claim as new, or as my Invention, the use of guano instead of
other animal matters heretofore commonly used in the manufacture of com-
pounds of cyanogen, and the adaptation of guano to this process by the
admixture therewith and use of tar, coal, or other carbonaceous matter, as
aforesaid.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used in that part of Her Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wilton George Turner, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Wilton George Turner came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.