IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd August
1860. A communication from abroad by Messrs. Louis Joseph Frédéric
Margueritte, Chemist, and Alfred Lalouël de Sourdeval, Proprietor, both
of Paris.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, 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 PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF MANURE," to
be as follows:-
The essential qualities necessary in matters employed in the preparation of
manure are their solubility and easy decomposition. I do not, however, say
that all soluble substances easily decomposed can be made use of for manure;
but it is evident that those manures applied to plants should comply with these
conditions above all others.
.These are, for example, ammoniacal salts, salts containing urine, dung
desiccated, night soil, guano, animal charcoal (phosphate of lime of bones),
and others. The insolubility of natural phosphates of lime and iron, which
have recently been introduced in agriculture, has caused their rejection as
inefficacious. The relative imputrescibility and insolubility of wool, horn, or
tanned leather also retards or destroys their influence on vegetation. These
matters, notwithstanding, contain very considerable quantities of azote, which it
would be of advantage to utilize.
The present Invention consists in utilizing this product, and further in the

page_text: preparation of what I term "humus," prepared as herein-after explained; the
fertilising properties of which are well known. Its action renders the ground
porous & pervious to the air, and fixes the ammonia scattered by the rain, and
absorbs that furnished by manure; and lastly, by its decomposition, which
produces carbonic acid, in fact, the presence of "humus" in ground is an
incontestable cause of fertility.
The operation is effected in the following manner :-First, subdividing by
means of a rasp or other apparatus the horn, leather, or other animal matter
to be treated. Water is then added until the whole becomes a thick paste,
and the powder poured in with a concentrated solution of any alkaline sul-
phuret, such as sulphurets of sodium, potassium, barium, or calcium. The
whole is kept at a temperature about equal to boiling heat, care being taken
to stir the matters until completely dissolved and there only remains a few
colored flakes in suspension. The liquid is then allowed to cool: The solution
of the animal matters may also be effected in a closed vessel by. means of a
weak solution of an alkaline sulphuret. In this manner also a lye of soda
may be employed or an alkaline solution of lime in molasses (saccharate
of lime).
In the preparation of "humus," sawdust, leaves, straw, hay, and any
vegetable detritus are mixed with a concentrated solution of an alkaline
sulphuret, (sodium, for example,) which is heated, and the mixture stirred
until it commences to bubble. It is then removed from the fire, and ulmic
acid is thus produced, combined with soda, in the form of ulmate of soda.
The same result may be obtained in a simpler and more expeditious manner
by mixing the organic refuse with an alkaline sulphuret in a closed vessel, and
operating at a much higher pressure and temperature than with animal
matters, there being no danger of disengaging the ammonia, which only exists
very small quantities in ligneous matters.
in
After having prepared the solution of animal matters, a certain proportion
of animal charcoal or phosphate of lime is added. The whole is then dried in
the atmosphere or in slightly heated stoves. The addition of a little sawdust
will render the mixture pulverulent, and will hasten the desiccation. This
artificial guano is then reduced to powder and placed in barrels for use.
The average proportion of azote contained in wool, horn, leather, or other
animal substance being ascertained, it will be easy to know the quantity
introduced by the kind and amount of materials under treatment. The
quantity of phosphate also cannot be doubtful, as it is added separately.
This new manure may thus be enriched as much as is necessary with azote
or phosphate of lime. The preparation of dried and pulverized "humus
"

page_text: should be kept separate or mixed with the preceding in determined proportions.
It will be, however, preferable, from the difficulty of distinguishing it from
the animal matter, to keep it separate, so that it may be mixed as required.
Further details with reference to the preparation of the animal matters is
as follows: After having dissolved them in the alkaline sulphuret, they may
be precipitated by means of an acid, and thereby rendered solid. It is neces-
sary to mention this method, although it sensibly increases the cost of
preparation, and does not possess many of the advantages of the mixture
combined with the alkaline sulphuret.