IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN APPARATUS FOR
THE SAME."-A communication from abroad by Jean Georges Lucien
Renard, Manufacturer, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th March 1867.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE AND IN APPARATUS
FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a means of transforming fecal and other matters
into hard solid blocks so as to be readily transportable and capable of being
stored for use. For this purpose I, 1st, separate the liquid from the solid
part; 2ndly, I thicken, work up into a paste, triturate and incorporate the

page_text: solid matters by mixing them with all kinds of refuse, such as dung, street
scrapings, refuse of slaughter houses, fish markets, or manufactories; 3rdly, I
mould this compost into cakes or blocks of various forms, or it may be used in
a pulverized state.
The Invention further relates to apparatus for working up, mixing, cutting
up and forming the above and other matters into blocks. For instance, in
addition to the various organic matters above referred to, I may add fertilizing
or inert animal matters either natural or artificial, such as phosphates of lime
and coprolites, or it may be lime, plaster, marls, calcareous matters, clay, or
seaweed; these several matters, which are used as manure themselves or
serve to improve the same, are added for the purpose of drying, solidifying,
and enriching the manure produced according to these improvements.
The processes and apparatus of this Invention may be used either separately
or in combination. The component parts of the manure being determined
on, I first pass the matters through a hopper having a sieve or grated bottom
into one or more pairs of crushing cylinders in order to crush any foreign
matters and render them suitable for incorporation by the hand. The matters,
thus triturated, next pass into a mixer similar to those employed in the manu-
facture of bricks or ceramic products. On leaving the mixer the materials
are subdivided in order to reduce the straw, paper, or other matters con-
tained, after which the compost is moulded in any suitable apparatus, such as
those used for moulding bricks, but I prefer them to be of continuous action;
for this purpose. I employ an apparatus consisting of a cylinder having
recesses on its periphery. This cylinder, which rotates in a space of excentric
form, receives and compresses the material; it thence passes through a mould
plate on to a roller surface, where the material is cut up into cakes by a self-
acting apparatus formed of iron wires stretched between two wheels. These
wheels are turned by contact with the rollers, which are rotated by the
material as it passes out, the wires cutting it up into cakes of suitable size,
which are then dried for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Clark, 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 MANU-
FACTURE OF MANURE AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," a communication to
me from abroad by Jean Georges Lucien Renard, Manufacturer, of 29,
Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Clark, 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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to a means of transforming fecal and other ferment-
able fertilizing matters into hard solid blocks so as to be readily transportable
and capable of being stored for use. For this purpose I first separate the
liquid from the solid part; 2ndly, I thicken, work up into a paste, and
triturate and incorporate the solid matters by mixing them with all kinds of
refuse such as dung, street scrapings, refuse of slaughter houses, fish markets,
or manufactories, fossil and other phosphates, ammoniacal alkaline, and other
salts; 8rdly, I mould and compress this compost into cakes or blocks of
various forms, or it may be used in a pulverized state.
The Invention further relates to apparatus for working up, mixing, cutting
up, and forming into blocks the matters above mentioned and others; for
instance, in addition to the various organic matters above referred to, I may
add fertilizing or inert animal matters, either natural or artificial, such as
phosphates of lime and coprolites, or it may be line, plaster, marls, calcareons

page_text: matters, clay, or seaweed; these several materials which are used as manures
themselves, or serve to improve the same, are added for the purpose of
drying, solidifying, and enriching the manures produced according to these
improvements. The processes and apparatus of this Invention may be used
either separately or in combination.
The following is a description of an arrangement of apparatus for the
manufacture of the cakes, although I do not limit myself to this exclusively,
as other apparatus may be employed for producing similar results.
Figure 1 of the Drawings shows a central vertical section of the apparatus,
and Figure 2 an elevation at right angles to Figure 1. The apparatus is
composed of the following parts :—
1st, a crusher placed at the upper part of the apparatus consisting of two
grooved cylinders a, a¹, turning in contrary directions and driven by the
gearing 6 and pullies 6¹ for receiving the elements of which the manure is to
be composed, such as fecal matters, urines, street refuse, lime, plaster,
nodules, phosphates, or others, which are fed simultaneously by the aid of one
or more lifts or otherwise into the hopper c for feeding the crusher. Several
pairs of cylinders, grooved or not, may be used, or millstones, stampers, or
other crushing apparatus so disposed as to permit of hard matters passing
between them, and which is regulated by the aid of springs, screws, or
counterbalance weights. Measuring apparatus may also be adapted to the
hopper, opening and closing automatically if desired, for determining the
proportions of each of the elements of which the materials to be mixed is
composed; a grating is also used for retaining substances of too great a size;
this apparatus is driven by a shaft c¹, either direct or by the aid of pullies or
gearing d¹. Immediately below the crusher is placed a mixer D driven by
the gearing E, E, F, F, and pullies G, g. The mixer may either be placed
vertically or in an inclined or horizontal position, its shaft being provided with
a screw plate for discharging the materials after they have been worked up
either laterally or at the bottom of the cylinder through one or more openings.
I may also further subdivide the paste by fixing points or cutting surfaces in
the interior for reducing the mass. The materials after being crushed fall
into a mixer for the purpose of rendering the whole homogeneous, and after
the mass has been stirred for a sufficient time it passes out at opening H.
On leaving said opening the mixture is acted on by the rotating knives I,
which are driven by the bevil gearing J, the axis of which is shown by a
dotted line J, Figure 2. In this manner any fibres of too great a length
which may have passed through the crushers and mixer are at once reduced
by the knives I, which is sometimes necessary in the case of cotton fibres,

page_text: paper, straw, and other matters. Instead of the mixer being arranged
vertically I may cut up the matters before mixing, and then work them as in
the arrangement shown in Figure 8 in a cylinder placed in an inclined
position, mounted on a rotating shaft 2, provided with screw blades 3, by the
aid of which the matters are forced through a dod plate for moulding the
paste into strips suitable for cutting up into cakes. The cutter may either
a to-and-fro or rotary motion, and may be placed vertically or hori-
zontally, either above or below the cylinder or separate therefrom, so as
to cut up the matters before they are stirred, in which case the matters after
being stirred up would pass direct to the moulding and compressing machine.
The matters after being thus crushed, worked up, and reduced fall into the
hopper K of an apparatus for moulding into cakes, consisting of a compressing
cylinder L of the form shown in the section, Figure 1, to which motion is
imparted by the gearing M, N, and pullies O, O'. It should be observed that
the shaft of pulley O is separate from that of cylinder L, although these two
shafts have a common axis. The cylinder rotates in the direction of the
arrow, the matters falling from the mixer on to the grooves of the cylinder,
which they fill, and on being carried round by it become forcibly compressed
against the cylindrical casing P of the same. The matters are thus introduced
into the space R by the force of compression. A knife or scraper r¹ is kept
in constant contact with the grooves of the cylinder so as to prevent the
matters from being carried round beyond a certain point; this scraper also
serves to clean the surface of the cylinder, and it may be kept in contact
therewith by springs if desired, but in the Drawing I have shown it as
provided for this purpose with a weighted lever mounted on the axis of the
scraper. The space R is entirely closed, except at the openings S, through
which the material is forced out in four or other number of strips in a
horizontal direction S, T, on rollers U, either placed close together or covered
with a jointed surface. In order to keep the surface of the matters issuing
from the dod plate constantly lubricated the latter may be enclosed in a
steam or hot water casing supplied by a boiler. I thus obtain a surface by
the partial evaporation of the matters without increasing its moisture by the
addition of a lubricating liquid; this casing may if necessary also serve for
the injection of water or urine, in which case it would be provided with small
perforations for the passage of the liquid.
Figure 4 of the Drawings shows a sectional elevation of this mode of encasing
the dod plate, taken on the line 1, 2, Figure 6; Figure 5 is a side view on the
line 8, 4, Figure 4; and Figure 6, a plan of the arrangement. 4, 5, casings
having a space 6 between them for steam or water entering by pipe 7 ;

page_text: 8, discharge cock for the condensed steam or water. The strips of material
travelling on the rollers are cut up into cakes by the aid of gearing, the
cutters of which consist of iron wires stretched between two end plates V
turning on an axis X. There are ten of these wires, which imbed themselves
in the strips of material by the rotary motion imparted to said wires by the
motion of the strips themselves. The series of dots around the circumference
of the plates V in the Drawing indicate the position of the wires; these latter
cut up the material into lengths equal to the distance between every two of
the wires, the portions so cut up falling down in front of the rollers, where
they are collected on small platforms and carried to the drying apparatus
either by hand or machine. Instead of these wires I may use a series of
movable blades or cutters; I may also employ a cutter having a to-and-fro
vertical or horizontal motion imparted in any suitable manner instead of the
rotary cutter before described. Lastly, to ensure the preservation of the rich
fertilizing and inodorous properties of the cakes which are dried either in the
open air or in drying apparatus I dip the products in a solution of milk of
lime or plaster or other agent answering the same purpose; in this manner
I coat the whole so as to render it impervious to the air and capable of drying
quickly, the concentrated fermentable matters, the decomposition of which is
prevented, arrested, or retarded by protection from all contact with air or
damp as long as the casing enclosing the matters remains. The liquid nature
of the bath will of course be regulated according to the thickness of the coating,
and the several compositions may be indicated by using baths of different
colors. After this the cakes are dried and stored for use, when they are
readily pulverized and distributed either by hand or machine.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the improved mode of solidifying, drying, and mixing fecal matters
in the manner described.
Secondly, I claim the arrangement of apparatus herein described and
represented as applied for solidifying and forming organic manures into cakes
for the purpose of rendering them portable, the chief features of the apparatus
consisting, 1st, in the crusher; 2ndly, the mixing cylinder; 3rdly, the cutter
or reducer, to which may be added a drier when it is desired to harden street
scrapings or other matters to be reduced to pulp before being mixed; 4thly,
the moulding and subdividing apparatus for forming compressed cakes, the
whole being arranged in the manner described, without limiting myself to the
precise details of each of the parts, which may be varied in form and

page_text: dimensions. All these machines may either be grouped together and driven
by the same motor, as in the example shown in the Drawings, or they may
be used separately and driven by one or more motors, this depending on the
locality and the nature and amount of the matters to be treated. Instead of
cakes I may also with these apparatus manufacture solid or hollow products
of square, spherical, cylindrical, or other form, similar to those made of plastic
materials or fine charcoal.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)