> IN TREATING SHODDY AND OTHER ANIMAL WASTE TO OBTAIN AMMONIA ANDA, SALTS OF AMMONIA THEREFROM.
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Morris, of Doncaster, in the County of
Yorkshire, and Mulgrave Daniel Penney, of Stockwith-on-Trent,
in the County of Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS >
IN TREATING SHODDY AND OTHER ANIMAL WASTE TO OBTAIN AMMONIA ANDA,
SALTS OF AMMONIA THEREFROM.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said Richard Morris and
Mulgrave Daniel Penney at. the Office of the. Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 7th January. 1870.
We,. RICHARD MORRIS, of Doncaster, in the County of Yorkshire,
and MULGRAVE DANIEL PENNEY, of Stockwith-on-Trent, in the County
of Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for $6
* IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SHODDY AND OTHER ANIMAL WASTE TO
OBTAIN AMMONIA AND SALTS OF AMMONIA THEREFROM," to be as follows:
:
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating shoddy and
other animal waste to obtain ammonia and salts of ammonia therefrom..
For this purpose we submit the shoddy or other animal waste to .

page_text: destructive distillation in a retort or vessel from which the gaseous and
vaporous products are led into a second highly heated vessel containing
dry and caustic lime or other alkaline substance. Here the greater
part of the nitrogen which the shoddy or animal matter contained is
converted into ammonia. The ammoniacal gas is passed into a suitable
absorbing vessel in which it may be brought into contact with sulphuric
acid, if it be desired to obtain sulphate of ammonia, or with muriatic
acid if sal ammoniac be the product required. More than one alkali
vessel may be employed in order to render the conversion of the nitrogen
more complete, and these vessels may in some cases contain different
alkaline substances; thus, one vessel may contain lime to commence
the conversion and remove impurities, and a second or succeeding vessel
may contain soda to complete the conversion.
་
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Morris and Mulgrave Daniel Penney in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th July 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICHARD
MORRIS, of Doncaster, in the County of Yorkshire, and MULGRAVE
DANIEL PENNEY, of Stockwith-on-Trent, in the County of Nottingham,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Richard Morris and Mulgrave Daniel Penney,
Her special licence that we, the said Richard Morris and Mulgrave
Daniel Penney, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others.
as we, the said Richard Morris and Mulgrave Daniel Penney, our
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
TREATING SHODDY AND OTHER ANIMAL WASTE TO OBTAIN AMMONIA AND SALTS
OF AMMONIA THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,

page_text: the said Richard Morris and Mulgrave Daniel Penney, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Richard Morris, on behalf of
myself and the said Mulgrave Daniel Penney, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating shoddy and
other animal waste to obtain ammonia and salts of ammonia therefrom.
For this purpose we submit the shoddy or other animal waste to
destructive distillation in a retort or vessel, and the gaseous and
vapourous products are led into a second highly heated vessel containing
dry and caustic lime or other alkaline substance. The ammoniacal gas
thus formed is passed into a suitable absorbing vessel in which it may
be brought into contact with sulphuric acid, if it be desired to obtain
sulphate of ammonia, or with muriatic acid if sal ammoniac be the
product required. More than one alkaline vessel may be employed
in order to render the conversion of the nitrogen more complete; these
vessels may in some cases contain different alkaline substances.
In order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect we will proceed to describe more in detail the
manner in which we prefer to conduct the manufacture.
We decompose the shoddy, or it may be leather cuttings, horn piths,
or such like animal waste in clay or iron retorts heated to a cherry
red, and we admit jets of steam into the retorts. Retorts such as are
used for the manufacture of gas and similarly set in a furnace may be
employed.
The gases and vapours from these retorts are passed into a main as in
the manufacture of coal gas where tar and ammoniacal water are
deposited. From the main the gases and vapours pass into the retorts
containing the alkaline matter. Lime is the material we commonly

page_text: employ. The lime retorts are similar but of greater length say: 20 feet
or thereabout. They are heated to a white heat. The gases and vapours
are passed in succession through the lime retorts (six retorts is a con-
venient number to employ), and then they are caused to enter an
absorbing tower where the ammonia formed is absorbed by acid, by
preference sulphuric acid. The gas, of which the quantity is large,
is collected in gasometers, and it may be employed for the purposes
of heating and lighting. An exhauster may advantageously be cm-
ployed to draw the gas and vapour from the retorts as is usual in
the manufacture of gas. The shoddy or animal matter retorts arc
recharged in succession as soon as it is found that the material in them
is spent, and the residue is useful as animal charcoal, or as manure.
The lime retorts are also recharged from time to. time whenever the lime
is found to have become clogged with deposit and spent; the gas and
vapor is caused to pass first into the lime retort which has been longest
charged and last into that which has been most recently replenished.
Sometimes we charge the last retort of the series with soda lime- or
with caustic soda, in place of with lime, and so get a most perfect
conversion of the nitrogen of the animal matter into ammonia. We
purify the sulphate and other salt of ammonia by crystallization in the
usual way and from this ammonia salt caustic ammonia may be obtained
by heating with time, as is well understood.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that what we
claim is, the manufacture of ammonia and salts of ammonia from.
shoddy and other animal waste,, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Morris, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy..